Wonderful golfpurgatory Desert Golfing tees off on PC

Desert Golfing--the best mobile game of 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and every year until I die--has now arrived on PC. It's an arcade-y side-on golf 'em up whacking the ball along a seemingly endless desert, each hole filling one screen. Click and drag to set your shot's strength and direction and away you go. It's often simple and calm but the procedural generation can spit out some fiendish levels full of pits, jumps, cliffs, overhangs, and slopes. No courses, no pars, just thousands of holes of golf stretching out before you and a score tracking your strokes. Simple and tricky and peaceful and wonderful, and now on PC.

Desert Golfing is a peaceful game. With no leaderboards, par targets, music, game over, beginning, or (seemingly) end, it's just... golf. You are in a desert where golf exists and nothing else. Each holes follow on from the next, your ball rising from the cup as the world scrolls to the right and reveals a new hole ahead. Difficulty does escalate a little, with some real humdingers coming at times, but a difficult hole might be followed by several where you simply hit the ball straight along gentle ground.

Without the game explicitly judging whether I'm doing well or not, I have developed a little self-policing routine of trying to keep a certain average, always glad when I can catch back up and quietly frustrated when I 'lose' seven strokes to a particular hole. You, hell, you can play how you want.

Desert Golfing is out now on Steam for £1.69/1,99€/$1.99.

It's the work of Justin Smith, who also made bear driving game Enviro-Bear, road-building puzzler Freeways, Realistic Summer Sports Simulator, No Brakes Valet, and other fine games.