CURSES
★ ★ ★ SPELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT ★ ★ ★
Play as Girl (a 17 year old with dark feelings and major troubles) in CURSES, a hand drawn point-and-click game about navigating the rocky road of self definition. With the help of her cynical cat familiar and a sprinkle of magic, you’ll decide Girl’s path - curse everyone else or care for herself.
CURSES is a game of five acts and five feelings. You can explore world through different, dark emotions that change the tone and trajectory of the story. By interacting with objects in her room you’ll learn more about her past and present to help you decide her future.
Magical Features Include:
★ Tarot
★ Anthropomancy
★ Terrible Poetry
★ Conjuration
★ Seances
★ Mirror Magic
★ Astral Projection
★ Possession
★ Potion Making
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Anachronism>
Detailed review:
This is based on my own opinions.
I will try not talk about the events and details of the story in my review. I think the less you know about it before you start, the more enjoyable it’ll be!
Context:
1. Value for money
2. Gameplay
3. Story
4. Graphics and Art
5. Nice-to-haves
6. Negatives
7. Recommendation to players (+18)
8. Summary
1. Value for money
For the price I payed, I have definitely got my money worth from this game. I have 40+ hours and enjoyed most of the game. I personally think anything below $2 that provides 40+ hours of fun is worth it, for sure!
– Real player with 44.3 hrs in game
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The game was nostalgic for me. The sounds of the computer, keyboard, floppy disk are sensational and the fact that the game doesn’t have music gives you a very good immersion. The story holds your attention and you want to know all the endings. I loved this game, waiting for the second one already! :D
– Real player with 7.8 hrs in game
Linda & Joan
Linda & Joan is a forthcoming narrative game about a British family. You play as Russell, Linda, and Joan — son, mother, and grandmother — switching between them to help the family cope with a series of traumatic events. Based on a true story.
The main game is scheduled for release in 2022. It will be part two of the Linda & Joan story. Part one is Prologue: “Four Months Earlier” which is available now.
Players experience the events from the perspectives of Russell, Linda, and Joan through exploration, conversation, and tasks designed to give emotional insight into the themes of caregiving, dying, bereavement, and homeland.
What sets Linda & Joan apart from other branching-narrative experiences is that while the player has many choices to make, nothing can change the core events that follow — there is only one ending.
However, actions, dialogue choices, and task completion, do affect the characters’ perception of events. By spending time with happier memories, taking care of themselves, and choosing the right things to say to each other, the characters — and therefore the player — will find themselves able to deal with the impossible.
The characters’ emotional states will be graphically represented in the game. The player will have to carefully balance the needs of the characters to progress, sometimes requiring difficult zero-sum tradeoffs.
These mechanisms attempt to mirror the real-life feeling of being powerless in the face of looming trauma, when you realize that no decision can affect the outcome, but you can affect how you and others feel about it.
Even when life’s story feels like it’s on rails, we still have some power over our own realities. There is still room for dignity, compassion, honesty. For fear and for love. There is a time for self-care. There is a time for duty. The choices we make will define the memories we hold for the rest of our lives.
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Time Loader
A wonderful little game
Not many hours are needed for completion, but the replay value is immense
You control a little robot, sent back in time to save your creator from a debilitating accident
You need to try and remove that which causes the accident to happen
On the way you will need to gather more capabilities
Tighten or remove screws with a screwdriver, or fix electronics with a soldering iron
Also, scattered throughout the game are glyphs, which you will need to collect to unlock the secret ending
– Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
Short but very lovingly designed puzzle platformer with a well-told story. The short duration of the game is not particularly bad, as it is worth playing through the game several times to reach the different endings. The puzzles are clever and playful, but will hardly overwhelm anyone. Some jumps need a bit of timing, but there are hardly any frustrating parts. The controls and the extensions that are gradually being added work flawlessly. Only the grappling hook is a little inaccurate.
– Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
Growing Up
Interesting spin on the “visual novel” genre that is lovingly crafted, but has its issues and is not quite as expansive as the store page makes it out to be. Still, considering the price, it is worth it, and given the casual nature and the topic, also suitable for people just interested in trying out this kind of games, or for those who would be turned off by weeb stuff.
Rating: 7/10
As is obvious, the game revolves around growing up and going through all of the early stages of life, and it does a remarkably good job at it too, at times at least. The characters, although in some regards laden with cliches, are fairly well written and I am not ashamed to admit, objectively looking at how I behaved and what I thought as a teenager especially, and what I remember of my friends, this is pretty spot on, lol. Unfortunately, the earlier stages of the game are quite rushed, and they are more of a short tutorial than anything, which is a bit of a wasted oportunity - the game really starts when you reach teen years.
– Real player with 38.2 hrs in game
UPDATED REVIEW @ 22 Hrs:
Growing Up is a life simulation that fairly-accurately simulates the experience of growing up in a relatively affluent family in a reasonably well-to-do area of the United States in the mid-to-late 1990s.
I’m a fan of this game for a lot of reasons. The writing is pretty good, and the resource management gameplay is challenging enough to be fun while never feeling unfair or too difficult. The music ranges from unobtrusive to fantastic, and the interface is intuitive; simple without being too stupid (more on this below). If you’re a fan of resource management games, or if you like visual novels and don’t mind some casual gameplay mixed in, this is one to pick up even at full price.
– Real player with 31.1 hrs in game
Kells
Try the Free Demo Today!
Kells is a retro puzzle game similar to the original Lemmings except instead of issuing specific commands to your Kells, you manipulate their movement using special Gravity Tiles instead. These tiles change the direction of gravity as Kells walk or fall over them, allowing you to manipulate your Kells in crazy ways like making them “fall upwards” to clear obstacles, “fall forward” to avoid dangerous spike pits, and even walk up or down walls!
Objective
The objective seems deceptively simple! All you have to do in each level is figure out how to get your Kells from the entrance to the exit flag. The thing is, you can’t control them directly and unlike in Lemmings, you can’t issue them commands either. What you can do is place tiles around the level to change the flow of gravity! Can you figure out how to make use of careful Gravity Tile placement to guide your Kells on a journey through 100 levels and 8 themed islands to find the mysterious Last Level?
The Kellective
As you progress through the game, you’ll find many lost Kells on your journey to build up The Kellective and make it stronger and stronger. You will care for your Kells - you can rest them when they are injured, check in on them between levels to see how they are feeling and mourn them when they die.
Uncover many secrets and hidden treasures
Kells is full of secrets and unexpected twists and turns! There are secret coins that initially seem impossible to reach. There are secret passageways and areas to uncover. There are mysterious competitions and game modes to unlock. Rumour has it, apparently there is even an entire secret island hidden away somewhere on the world map!
Other Highlights
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There are various routes to the Last Level - will you opt for the easier, longer route or risk the difficult route in order to reach The Last Level quicker?
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There are 100 Levels in total scattered across the World Map. Can you complete them all? Better still, can you PERFECT them all?
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Can you track down all the missing Kells and fully restore the Kellective?
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For completionists, there are 10 Purple Kellectibles scattered around the levels in difficult-to-access locations. Can you kellect them all?
no more surffer
enjoy this obscure 2d platform game with two paths the top as the truth and the bottom as the lie being told in the cutscenes the path you choose
You are Toni a renowned psychologist with several important awards that made everyone’s dream of having her apartment married having a very intelligent child but for sins you lose them and after all because you are in this bar drinking two in the morning the only thing you What you can do now is tell the truth or lie and maybe you will find a way to bring your family back.
Stories of Mara
I always have a soft spot for the lore of a well-crafted world, and that is exactly what this game gives you. Summer in Mara (and Deiland for that matter) do a wonderful job of creating rich, heartfelt worlds. As such is the case it can be hard to fit everything into one game, and that is where this game fills in.
A good remimder that we each have our own story and motivations, not just “the blacksmith”
Chibig Studio remains a bit of a hidden gem in the game community. Each release full of heart and genuine care for their community. Stories of Mara is no exception.
– Real player with 4.8 hrs in game
Stories of Mara is a short free slice-of life visual novel. Only the first chapter is released for now. This episodic tale presents lots of diverse characters you could see before if you’ve played Summer in Mara. I haven’t. And I’m sure I was missing something but this game may be played separately for sure. As I understood the main chars are missing and we just have the chance to know better some of the side characters. For such a short story the number of chars was really great and the way they looked was quite unique. In general, the game is very bright and kinda relaxing. I’m not a fan of dating sims or mini games. I prefer just to read and make choices, the more the better. But here making different boat models was surprisingly great fun. The very image of MC able to fix anything was rather appealing.
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game
The Big Con
The game has a lot going for it, it’s designed with optional content in mind, the locations are fun to explore, the aesthetic is very captivating, the soundtrack constantly changes to match the environment, and it has funny characters that create a grounded, but enjoyable narrative. I think the story had a good pace to it, if you take into consideration all of the things that can grab your attention, they managed to keep it together very well. You can casually complete the game around 5 to 7 hours, there are many optional achievements and cosmetic trinkets, although it would be nice to have the ability to replay specific chapters. Having played the game only once, I am not sure how much impact the narrative choices actually have, the only thing I can confirm is that certain quests have more than one soluton. It’s not a difficult game in terms of puzzles and mechanics, there is usually a place to get hints, and sometimes the game offers you a way to skip a puzzle with a payment. As for the ‘thief’ gameplay, there is not much to it, it’s just a simple timing event with little to no punishment for the failure - I guess it does not make for a deep con game, if you were expecting that.
– Real player with 10.8 hrs in game
Absolutely charming and filled with character. I don’t normally gravitate toward things for nostalgia but this game captures the 90s feel so well I can’t help but grin like an idiot while playing. The art style reminds me of so many cartoons and sitcoms from the era, complete with (optional) laugh track. The music is fantastic throughout. The dialogue has an endearing sense of humor. The areas are fun to explore and puzzles fun to solve. And the game, at least as I played it, feels strangely and incredibly wholesome given it’s a game about stealing.
– Real player with 8.0 hrs in game
Fine Sweeper
50 hours in and I think it’s time to write a review. Been playing it on and off rather addictively for the last month or so, most of that due to my unrelenting addiction for minesweeper (and achievements) as well as just wanting to top those leaderboards to make my life seem less worthless…
This is the best minesweeper remake I’ve ever played, it is a hell of a lot better then the windows remake that was on the windows store (not sure if they actually made it) which was a tragedy.
Like that one this too had pickups, which is an obviously new addition to the classic minesweeper formula and whilst I was pretty skeptical at first it’s a very well incorporated addition unlike the other version. There is also classic mode where you only have 1 life and therefore you hit a bomb you die (just like in real life!).
– Real player with 254.5 hrs in game
It’s a good Minesweeper remake! There are dozens of levels now instead of just three, Steam leaderboards to show off with, and the options and controls are just like how you remember them. (Plus, it’s got a nice background track that sounds roughly like a cat playing Team Fortress 2.)
That being said, Minesweeper is much more boring than I remember it. It’s mostly just a game of matching: spotting which numbers on the board are equal to the amount of adjacent tiles or flagged mines. The only real puzzle aspect to Minesweeper comes when you’ve spotted all the possible matches, and the only way to progress is to use some deductive reasoning on the remaining numbers. But no matter how hard you try, if there are too many mines clustered together in the wrong way, you’re eventually going to have to start guessing, and that’s ultimately Minesweeper’s biggest downfall.
– Real player with 54.4 hrs in game