Lucid: Parables of the Ubermensch
Great platformer, Fantastic story and nice soundtrack. Recommend it to anyone who doesn’t have any good games!
– Real player with 2.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Abstract Philosophical Games.
I love the game. Unique music and cool game design would recommend.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
EPONYMOUS
DISCLAIMER: This is a first impressions review, and NOT a full review
EPONYMOUS is a game developed and published by Minor Key Games
The game offers some nice graphics, although some ugly glitches here and there, it is pleasant all the same
The game does suffer with some repetitiveness at certain areas of the game but a fun game nonetheless
EPONYMOUS overall, however, is a fun game to play, yet sometimes repetitive and it does get boring and tedious if being played for a long time, but is a great little horror game to play in short bursts!
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Abstract Psychological Games.
Not really sure what or even if there was a story or message, but as a visual experience I enjoyed this. Plenty of options for sound controls fov to make it a comfortable experience and really let you get lost in the game for a bit. Levels aren’t too confusing, but the dialog is. Maybe it’s because I haven’t put in the time to read the footnoted content in the credits before playing to understand the placement of quotes and such, or maybe it’s just simply meant to be confusing as part of the experience. Also Found a potato so that was the most rewarding thing I got from this game lol. I appreciated the potato. I played through it a second time to look at the things I missed which was nothing major, just a few quotes as far as I can tell. Anyways, it’s cheap, takes a few minutes give it a try if the screenshots look appealing to you.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Recursive Ruin
Lose yourself in the Infinite Realms, a dying, fractal world of strange beauty and mind-bending physics that repeats eternally inward and outward. Uncover the secrets of seven unique locations filled with hidden spaces and strange denizens. Overcome the impossible and use circular logic to manipulate recursive physics and solve challenging, self-referential puzzles.
Begin an introspective search for meaning and experience a bittersweet story that cascades into the surreal. Use your unique abilities and shape the world to beat back the scourge known as Ichor, a malevolent substance eating away at the fabric of reality.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1561890/Recursive_Ruin
Read More: Best Abstract First-Person Games.
Hylics
Fans of Lisa and Undertale, rejoice. Hylics is one of the most greatest JRPG influenced games ever created. A masterpiece that will be talked about for generations to come
Rarely and every couple of years, in the indie gaming scene tends to appears a new creator whose name is destined to be inmortal and referenced in future articles for decades to come. A creator that based in the originality and unbelievable degree of talent showed in his first major commercial attempt, will be cited by future designers, writers and artists as a major influence.
– Real player with 8.9 hrs in game
Hylics is an awesome, super cheap, underrated light RPG. It’s short but not too short, oozing with style, and actually has some very deep and intriguing gameplay mechanics in-lieu of not having an experience point/leveling system. Not needing to get into battles for levels doesn’t mean this game is easy, as there are some very tricky encounters, it just means you have to think and be pretty strategic depending on how dirty the enemy likes to fight.
As for the story, there intentionally isn’t much of one since it’s very abstract, clearly. From what I can tell, you play as a bored farmer who rolls into town, meets up with an archaeologist in search of paper cups, and you set forth to journey finding more paper cups,
! running into a bug shaman who wants to murder livestock and a retired knight who travels with you to kill things. A corrupt and paranoid king assumes you’re journeying to kill him, which is pretty self-fulfilling since he’s antagonistic towards you. Pretty great, honestly.
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
Manifold Garden
I have been waiting for this game for a long time and when it finally landed on Steam a year late, it was a day 1 buy in no questions asked. I finished it in a couple of days and it was worth every penny. I played this one off the back of finishing Antichamber and it might just be the perfect comedown game to that, The Witness, Portal or The Talos Principle. That hollow feeling I get when I say goodbye to an awesome game was nicely filled in by Manifold Garden and I’m here to tell you why.
PROS
– Real player with 26.0 hrs in game
It’s a great game. Fun and satisfying puzzles, interesting mechanics and themes, and fantastic visuals. For me, the first playthrough was just right in gameplay and difficulty - some thinkers, but nothing that stumped me for too long. A very enjoyable experience. One minor criticism is that it’s very linear, whereas I was expecting something more in the vein of Space Hole.
[Spoilers may follow, I’m making this a mini-guide to secret content.]
However, if you only play it once to the ending, you’re missing out on a significant portion of the game (including a second ending). And yet the game barely even prods you in that direction. I only knew to look because of the achievements and a couple things I noticed in my playthrough (not that I had any recollection of where they were once I was done). You have to really, really be looking and scour every nook to find the path through the second playthrough. I almost felt like I needed a map of the whole game - and I have no idea what that would look like, given the nature of the physics. Compared to the relative ease of the primary path, it’s a big change. I personally did not want to spend the dozens of hours on it, so I used guides when I wasn’t sure where to go next. The guide on Steam is too vague, so I recommend the video by Lilith LeBlanc.
– Real player with 17.6 hrs in game
Raven’s Point
Raven’s Point is a town. Raven’s Point is also a game. Solve puzzles and explore a seemingly never-ending maze of unnerving hallways and rooms inside a terrifying house of secrets. You’re not only trapped within the town of Raven’s Point, you’re also trapped within the game.
DEEP EXPLORATION
Dive down into the rabbit hole of Sara’s mind-bending, ever-changing home. Rooms will appear and disappear and new paths will unearth themselves as you explore deeper and deeper into the darkest recesses of the house. With dozens of alternate paths to take and hundreds of secrets waiting to be found, the world of Raven’s Point is shrouded in both mystery and intrigue.
ABSTRACT PUZZLE-SOLVING
In Sara’s attempt to escape her home, the house itself is a puzzle waiting to be solved. New branches can be unlocked and discovered, hidden areas can be unearthed, and secrets can be found through unconventional puzzle mechanics that test both your creativity and abstract puzzle solving skills.
CONFRONT YOUR INNER DEMONS
During her journey, Sara must learn to confront and overcome the demons hunting after her. Taking the form of her own personal traumas, her own mind is often the greatest enemy. Unsure who to trust, she must find a way to avoid different terrifying threats whilst piecing together the fragments of her mind to feel whole again. She must decide whether the greatest enemy is herself, or the person controlling her.
LEARN NEW LOGIC
Raven’s Point is a game that constantly changes around you. Each room is unique and offers multiple secrets and methods of exploration. Objects that weren’t there before may suddenly appear, rooms that were there before are suddenly different, things that wouldn’t normally be possible are suddenly viable. Raven’s Point is a game meant to be played like it’s a game. It aims to create a whole new world of logic that leaves you questioning what is real and which secrets were meant to be discovered. A feeling of accomplishment yet emptiness. A feeling you didn’t want to experience. Become immersed in the town of Raven’s Point but don’t forget everything is trapped within the window. Don’t be afraid to break the rules.
FEATURES
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A house with a seemingly impossible layout that changes around each move you make.
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Unique puzzles with surreal solutions.
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A variety of twisted bosses, each with their own new gameplay elements.
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Numerous characters to encounter with their own tragic tales and questionable motives.
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Lots and lots of secrets.
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Places you aren’t meant to find.
Disclaimer:
This game contains themes of depression and anxiety which may make it unsuitable for some audiences.
Daardoa
This game is the definition of helplessness. From the start, you are thrown into an eerily empty world filled with nothing but trees and impossible architecture. No one to hold your hand, just an ominous message subtly hinting you towards your goal. The game is oddly calming yet incredibly tense at the same time, which made it difficult for me to put a pin in any feeling in particular, making the experience much more frightening. The fear of the unknown is real in this game.
From a technical standpoint, the game runs smooth as butter. There’s a creepy glow and shine on the textures, and the graphics are really crisp. The overall gameplay loop is simplistic enough to understand rather quickly, but the game turns things around and takes the bit of familiarity you gain with your surroundings and completely throws it away, rendering you almost petrified to move into the dark. The sound design is superb, with low ambient drones and rumbles filling the environment, leading to scraping, horrifying sounds as you encounter enemies.
– Real player with 1.0 hrs in game
If you enjoy Vidas Games, then this is something you’ll like. If you don’t know who this is, then you may feel different. What I enjoy is the world you are place in. This includes the atmosphere present and the story shown. I enjoyed the environment, but the story felt like “Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time”. You walked a good two minutes to reach either end of the map in order to collect a total of three “Ancients”. Each had their own housing area with a jumpscare attack present. I would be fine with this if dying wasn’t so punishing. There is no save and you have to start from the beginning if you died at any moment. Dying extending my gameplay three times what it was meant to be. It’s scary to be chased and at times the area is unsettling, but that is it. It’s an okay game, but it has you walking a lot with the threat of starting over.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
COPPER ODYSSEY
This game is one of the best I’ve seen from the RPG Maker crowd. It’s non-linear, and you can technically defeat the four bosses in any order, so if you enjoy exploring weird and colorful labyrinthine worlds, check this one out for sure.
Beyond the main quest, there are TONS of secrets and optional content you can do that kept me wanting to go back. It’s very short and not that hard, so doing multiple runs with different builds looking for easter eggs is easy and fun.
– Real player with 33.8 hrs in game
Copper Odyssey is a pretty nice-looking game.
The art direction is its strongest aspect thanks to excellent character designs and a good variety of art styles.
The designs of the enemies are especially really gorgeous and very distinctive between each other (putting aside the variations of some obviously) and certain art styles manage to either enhance certain scenes pretty well or contribute to the surrealist aesthetic of the world in general.
The music gives also a positive contribution to the mix. The best themes are the ones of each world you’ll visit, making the exploration of these more satisfying.
– Real player with 25.9 hrs in game
Rememoried
Rememoried is a decent enough game with some smart ideas that shoots itself in the foot with shoddy gameplay, which is always frustrating to witness.
The main gameplay mechanic is the ability to ‘rememory’ objects (mainly platforms) by looking away, meaning the world changes when it is not observed. That’s a good idea, but it doesn’t make a good game alone. Despite being compared to and tagged as a walking simulator, Rememoried is actually a confused puzzle platformer, where you spend half your time stuck on levels whose solution doesn’t make a lick of sense (BECAUSE SURREALISM!) and the other half on drawn out, poorly-designed platforming levels where the camera, the jumping mechanics and the hypercontrasted graphics all conspire to make you fall to your death for the umpteenth time in a row.
– Real player with 7.8 hrs in game
Summary:
Rememoried is a short adventure puzzle game about exploring the surreal world of dreams and memories. You might think this is just another walking simulator without any proper gameplay but you’d be wrong - the game is focused on puzzles and platforming.
All puzzles are based on moving or jumping, there aren’t any items to pickup or interact with. You just have to wander through the levels and find the way out. Many environmental elements are usually not stable and (almost) every time you stop looking at a platforms (clouds, for example), they change their positions.
– Real player with 5.4 hrs in game
The Power Latch Kid
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Play as the Power Latch Kid in this classic arcade style twin-stick shump! Enjoy the complex gameplay experience of physics melding with shooting anarchy! How long can you stand to dwell within the crushing madness of the Amalgotron before you succumb to its mighty insanity? Play for highscores, honor, and for your own personal reasons! Or don’t! I’m a game description, not a cop.