I think in retrospect the one thing that makes UFO 50 "work" isn't actually anything to do with how the games are designed, but just the graphical/audio unification across all of them - the "fantasy console" conceit.
…crossposted from fairysvoice.net/microblog/…
That, by itself, lends a certain credibility to all the games. Making all the games look and sound like they belong together makes you more open-hearted to giving them all a chance.
It's like how the PICO-8 is so beloved, even though its limitations are practically hellish.
…crossposted from fairysvoice.net/microblog/…