Aground vs Merchant
Aground
Aground is a 2D, side-scrolling, survival-themed adventure game where you'll be digging out the bowels of the earth for precious ores to turn into tools, weapons, and armor or to sell to gain coins. Similar to games like Kingdom: Classic or its sequel, Kingdom: New Lands, the game will have you venture out to explore new islands to discover more about the story behind the land, to meet new characters and to obtain better resources to craft superior items.The storyline in this game is pretty intriguing as well. It features a Bermuda Triangle-like area where people often get shipwrecked and are washed up to one of the shores of the small archipelago. The islands are filled with weird creatures and is rich with minerals and resources. As survivors starting from scratch, they do not have access to the technologies they used to enjoy that is until apparently a mysterious tribe, called the Mirrows, helped to set stuff up.
Aground offers players the sort of freedom that Minecraft is able to provide and yet, is not fully a sandbox game nor does it have a procedurally generated map. Of course, this game has a great storyline, along with quests to help drive those plot points forward, and that alone makes it a really fun game to play.
Merchant
Merchant is a fun little idle game that's designed to be played on the side, while you're doing something else on the computer. In the game, you'll need to hire heroes who you will then send out on adventures to gather crafting materials. The materials obtained can then be turned into numerous types of armor and weapons, which you can in turn equip on your heroes or sell them off for a tidy profit. There are two main ways for you to sell your goods - you can either put it up for sale in your shop or you can fulfill the orders of passing merchants and heroes.Although the game starts out as pretty fun, the progression in this game gradually becomes rather grindy after a while - imagine: sending the same hero on the same quest will require the same amount of clicks as sending the hero on a new quest or even sending a new hero. Some automation would be great here, especially considering that the game's an idle game.
So, despite the fun concept and gameplay, its progression can truly kill your interest in the game. That being said, if you just want a simple game to play as you watch Netflix or YouTube on your computer, Merchant might just be the kind of game for you!