As a video game player and also a video game developer, I've spent quite a bit of time playing and researching the cozy video game genre, and I've even released my own cozy RPG A Weekend in Puzzleburg. So I decided to sit down and write out my recommendations for the best cozy video games ever made, as well as the best ...
Since I make spy video games, I've spent quite a bit of time researching the spy genre in all media. Here are my picks for the best spy novels and graphic novels ever written. If you'd like to see my spy picks in other media, links are provided at the very end.Last updated: January 2025
The best spy novelsIan Fleming ...
Since I make spy video games, I've spent quite a bit of time researching the spy genre in all media. Here are my picks for the best spy TV shows, including both dramas and comedies. If you'd like to see my spy picks in other media, links are provided at the very end.
Last updated: March 2025Dramas
Mission: Impossible
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Since I make spy video games, I've spent quite a bit of time researching the spy genre in all media. Here are my picks for the best spy films, including both dramas and comedies. If you'd like to see my spy picks in other media, links are provided at the very end.
Last updated: January 2025Dramas
Mission: Impossibl...
After releasing There’s Always a Madman: Fight or Flight about the male superspy Franklin Benjamin, I wanted to turn my attention to the female superspy Virginia West (only ever referred to as Virginia, no last name, in the first game). For too long, I have consumed stores about capable female spies who go overlooked b...
As a video game player and also a video game developer, I've spent quite a bit of time playing and researching the spy video game genre, and I've even released my own multi-game spy video game series There's Always a Madman. So I decided to sit down and write out my recommendations for the best spy video games ever made...
Yes, but with an asterisk. As you progress through your mission to save the world from a madman, you will receive achievement notifications popping up in the corner of the screen based on your choices and how they lead to certain mission outcomes.
However, these are not tied into the Steam achievement system. Why is t...
Yes! The There's Always a Madman series is technically a spin-off from A Weekend in Puzzleburg.The character of Franklin Benjamin was first introduced in A Weekend in Puzzleburg. You can come across the fictional character of Franklin Benjamin in the world of Puzzleburg (similar to how Radioactive Man, Itchy & Scra...
It's doubtful that There's Always a Madman: Fight or Flight will be translated/localized into other languages. The game is entirely text-based, so it would be a lot of words to translate, and there is a lot of humor, which increases the difficulty of translating the game to other languages.
As a result, all efforts are...
For now, There’s Always a Madman: Fight or Flight is only slated to release on Steam. I do feel that the game would play well on console, but at this time, all efforts are focused on the Steam version of the game.
This decision may be revisited in the future, however.
If you wish to take on this mission and save the w...
There’s Always a Madman: Fight or Flight is played by making decisions on how you want your character to proceed. To do so, you can play using only the mouse, as you need only hover over the option you wish to select and then click to choose it. You can alternatively make these selections with a video game controller i...
James Bond, Jason Bourne, Jack Reacher, and Jack Ryan all started off in text format with novels. As such, I believe this is the right move for this project - as they say, the book is always better, so I think a more book-like experience works here. Although There's Always a Madman: Fight or Flight has similarities to ...
It's simple - I believe there are not enough great spy games out there. Sure, there are plenty of games where you shoot 100 enemies each level and do a few spy things along the way, but I want to make a true spy game - a game where the main character carries a gun and is empowered to kill when necessary but largely uses...
In A Weekend in Puzzleburg, there's a built-in hint system for completing every quest in the game (just talk to the hotel concierge Dante, and he can point you in the right direction for any step of any quest), but how can you know if you've FOUND/STARTED every side quest in the game?You'll of course come across every ma...
With A Weekend in Puzzleburg now less than three weeks from release, this is a good time to reflect on how I think the game turned out before the reviews start coming in and influence my perspective. So these are my own thoughts now that the game is complete (save for some playtesting and bug fixing) before putting it o...
If you've played the demo for A Weekend in Puzzleburg, then you may have noticed that the splash screen when starting up the game says, "A Game by Adam L Bernstein" (indicating it's been made by a man) but you play the game as a woman named Cindy. Might seem a bit strange at first.
When making this game, I realized tha...
As it seems that Twitter may be on its last legs, I figured I should do a write-up of where else you can follow the progress of A Weekend in Puzzleburg (and future games from Sunny Demeanor Games). Hopefully, this can also serve as a useful guide for keeping up with any other indie games you may be interested in. Here ...
A Weekend in Puzzleburg will cost $18 at launch ($20 normal price with a 10% launch discount to reward early players). I would like to emphasize that with A Weekend in Puzzleburg, you're not buying a video game so much as you're buying an entire vacation. One that you can play over and over again whenever you want, get...
Yes, the fictional town of Puzzleburg is inspired by a wide variety of (mostly coastal) cities and locations across the United States. Here is a sampling:Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Catalina Island (all are island communities, like Puzzleburg)Los Angeles (Venice Beach)San Francisco (Fisherman's Wharf)
Wilmington,...
I expect that a first playthrough of A Weekend in Puzzleburg will take about four hours. The exact amount of time will of course differ for each person based on how many side quests you do, how quickly you read the on-screen text, and many other factors, but the general idea is that this is not some 100+ hour RPG. This...
