Anodyne
[Spoiler-Free Review]
Anodyne is an exploration game which borrows heavily from classic 2D Zelda titles (especially Link’s Awakening). The dialogue is introspective, the subject matter is mature (sometimes even disturbing). It’s also one of the strangest games I’ve ever played.
Exploration is at the core of the game. If Anodyne was a protest piece against hand-holding in video games it would be considered a masterpiece. You aren’t given a whole lot of instruction regarding where to go next. This feels liberating, for the most part, as you alone are free to decide your next course of action. It’s also intimidating and frustrating though, as getting lost/stuck at some point through your playthrough is pretty much a given. It’s not necessarily bad game design, it’s a product of having too open a world and too linear a path to success (i.e. to get past this next section, the player will have needed to speak with this person to get this item). There aren’t many indicators letting you know whether you fulfill the prerequirements for an area so there’s a lot of trial and error involved. Be patient or look up a guide.
– Real player with 20.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Adventure Exploration Games.
note, this games not for everyone.
Pros: very simple, bewildering exploration into these surreal worlds. the characters themselves can act unpredictably, like walking by a bunch of normal npcs, but suddenly one looks over and runs after me to attack. the world, dungeons, and puzzles are all very very connected and have shortcuts if you ever wish to backtrak. its quite a unique experience and im glad i actually bought it.
Gamplay: the biggest draw of this gmae to me is the exploring, the dungeons, puzzles and brutal enemies wihtin are all very well doen and get hard in their own right with puzzles and mazes makign you have to think outside the box to see how the areas you are in are connected. but aside form all that the experience of thes eplaces as a whole was the most fun for me. if youre not exploring a dungeon, youre explring the otuside world or some area without enemies. but all areas have plenty of paths and variety in music and play to amke them feel unique, it really helps for not getting lost as well. the music and the off tone of the game and the text youll get from people really gives you this unsettling feel, you're made out to be a protagonist as you go off into this world and commit horrible acts, some good some not, but the game doesnt tell you if what youre doing is right or wrong. you end up pondering it yourself and makes it a much more rmemeberable expeirence imo than say "heres the bad ending, bad things happen" or such or even consequneces. yeah there are consequences for some certain actions but it comes off as geniune from the characters themselves.
– Real player with 15.8 hrs in game
The Franz Kafka Videogame
A point & click which celebrates surrealism more than the novelist himself.
It is an original puzzle/adventure game inspired by the writings of Franz Kafka. But unfortunately, the story has very little to do with Kafka, except that the protagonist of the story, named simply K. is involved in events that are beyond his own control and tries to find the way out of it (kind of, there are no clear motives for what he’s doing), which is somewhat Kafkaesque, I must admit.
The art style is well-done and nice. Although is nothing surprisingly spectacular, is queer enough to allow characters like K. to seamlessly inhabit the same world as the Duck or Insect Detective without being too jarring. I also genuinely enjoy a lot of the music the game has to offer, even if the loops are relatively short. It manages to generate the correct theme and feeling the game clearly want the players to feel.
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Adventure Atmospheric Games.
Do I ever try and like this game…
There are a great many issues that are hard to overlook and a great many subtle nuances I keep trying to convince myself are worthwhile canceling out the problems, but ultimately I can’t…I just can’t.
On first playthrough I was excited about the artstyle and potential subject matter… and upon delving in I was even more pleased with the small pieces of detail and pastice that are probably lost to most; be that the Scheele green walls, the SS Blumfeld (the elderly bachelor), and I did get so many giggles from the vulture wine advert; but so much of it was just so shallow and of no substance and concequence. The more I tried to prove that was not the case to myself the more I found quotes and disclamers from the sources proving my wimsy wrong.
– Real player with 7.4 hrs in game
A Chamber of Stars
Each person has a universe inside of them.
A personal universe with characters influenced by the observable reality around them. Your friends, the fans, the local shop clerk, each person you pass without giving pause is another universe. You make up a story about them, they form a story about you. The universes expand.
I always wonder how similar our universes can be. You and I. Will I ever be able to pierce through and present myself, my real self, or will the information be lost in translation? The thing rattling around in our heads can’t be all that different. We both still get choked up over the same melodies, it’s only human to do so, right?
Maybe, if you would like it, I could play something for you. Lord knows your songs are still rattling around in my head.
The singularly named Starr, an enigmatic performer, guitarist and songwriter, has somehow survived the constant shifting tide of the musical landscape. Decade after decade, this artist has remained relevant in culture’s eye. After multiple personas, genre manipulations and controversies, the public is still buzzing. “What will Starr do next?” The rumors say their upcoming album will be the fated magnum opus…
A Chamber of Stars is the sequel to 2018’s The Endless Empty. Through six unique worlds the life of the rock n’ roll hero, Starr, will be pieced together. Exploration, choices and performances will change the course of a life and will alter the songs that are produced. A Chamber of Stars will feature a mix of classic adventure games, puzzle solving and unique rhythm game performances all within a fully realized surrealist universe.
Nothing heavenly or divine; just filthy mortal music here.
Read More: Best Adventure Story Rich Games.
Aquarelle
Really unpleasant gaming experience. Incorrect/buggy settings, and even when these were finally fixed by lots of fiddling baout, the game is still virtually unplayable due to the unskippable tutorial, which is just awful. Definitely do not recommend. Dreadful.
– Real player with 1.0 hrs in game
7 out of 10 user reviews.. purchased reviews mind you.. gave this game a positive review.
- sniff * * sniff *
..Something smells really fishy and really foul here.
This game is mediocre at best, but with all the bugs and broken controls, I’d give this game a 3 out 10 .. IF it was $5 USD.
…It’s NOT $5 or under however, and instead this developer has priced this POS at a ridiculous $60 USD price tag!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVzrH8gM1xU&t=936s
Hey dev.. you could price this game at “$69 million USD”, but that wouldn’t make it a better game or worth more. - JS.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
All That Remains: A story about a child’s future
The good: The island looks really good, and the controls handle smoothly.
The bad: The notes that you have to find are waaaaaay, way, way too long and uninteresting. I generally love exploring games and piecing together stories through notes, but this game just falls completely flat. It’s not fun or interesting at all.
Also, I’m not sure what audience they’re wanting to appeal to, but it feels like this game was made for 6-10 year olds. The themes and style of writing seem like they’re aimed at children. Since you play as a ten year old, perhaps this really is meant to be a children’s game.
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Here is the first in-depth review of the game:
Game Revision I Played: 3.1
Game play:
The description of this game on its store page says it all. It is essentially a walking simulator. You walk around, find one of several panels, click on said panel, and the text that pops up is read to you. That text goes through different aspects of a girls life starting from 10 years old to about right before the start of college. That’s the whole game. Very basic in design, no mechanics in any way. It is ONLY story driven by the voice narrator.
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Altered Destiny
(Foreword: You may ignore my playtime; I played the crap out of this upon original release. Now I’m just having a bit of fun running around the world.)
Altered Destiny is an adventure game where the player controls the character with the arrow keys and types commands with the keyboard.
There are two specific issues I want to address with this review, which could affect your decision to purchase Altered Destiny:
1. This is the inferior MS-DOS version, and not the Amiga version, which has significantly better graphics. I realise there used to be some commercial rights issues with running Amiga games via emulators. However, Amiga Forever provides a solution for selling Amiga games on PC running through emulators. Publishers like this one should look into it.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
Anamorphine
Experienced on Windows Mixed Reality, Samsung Odyssey+
VR Review Only. You can view my full review here: https://youtu.be/0pFWewYJlpA
Although VR support was taken off the store page by the developer, I can confirm that as of today (January 2, 2020) that VR still works fine. However, I would warn anyone to not buy this for the VR experience in the future as who knows when and if the VR will stop functioning properly without official support. There is full locomotion with smooth turning or teleportation. Your motion controllers are used as a gamepad (you might as well use your gamepad).
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
Anamorphine breaks new ground in so many ways that it’s hard not to recommend it to anyone who likes alternative and experimental games.
You progress through the story fluidly without any loading, cut or jump: instead, there are seamless transition across time and space that put you in a dreamlike feeling of not knowing how you got to where you are, nor how to leave. It is beautiful and anxiogenic at once, and it reminds me of the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in that regard – that’s definitely a compliment.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
Cardboard Ground
The humour kept me hooked. I found myself repeatedly talking to the same characters to see what would happen.
I got addicted to some of the mini games which definitely side tracked me from the main story. Took me 18 hours to complete. Some of the puzzles can be difficult so just remember if you get stuck that I’m smarter than you.
– Real player with 26.7 hrs in game
Be on the watch for a cannibal as you traverse the naked city of Offbay.
It’ll make you cry, it’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you fling fecal matter at other men without remorse or dignity.
It’s a puzzle platformer with a brand of dark humour and wit that encapsulates the off colour world of Cardboard Ground.
Built from the ground up from sole developer Matt Close; this debut game will make you question your friends about this new game maker, asking:
H A V E Y O U S E E N T H I S M A N?
– Real player with 20.2 hrs in game
Interactivity: The Interactive Experience
7/10
As the name makes it quite explicit, Interactivity is a game about interacting with things. The goal of the game is to reach The Button, with some puzzles to be solved along the way and things changing each time the game is replayed, as you walk through what seems to be a museum about interactivity, with a narrator that explains things to you along the way. Some Stanley Parable feelings are felt during the game, though not in the same way.
Even with the game changing each time it’s replayed, it’s still a very short game, but an interesting experience while it lasts.
– Real player with 3.5 hrs in game
A very dull and repetitive experience. It leads you along with a somewhat interesting beginning that tricks you into thinking there is something worth playing for, but just ends up making you feel like you’ve wasted your time. Each time you beat the game, it loops and alters some things but never adds much content, if any.
Without getting too into spoilers, there is a reveal at the end that further cheapens the experience by making the game completely and utterly pointless in retrospect. I think I would’ve actually kind of enjoyed this aspect if the game was free, or maybe even a dollar, but after spending 4 bucks on this, I just felt a bit cheated. This, as well as all artsy games, have a lot of subtext which I usually enjoy. I might’ve read into it wrong, however the feeling it left me with personally was very cynical and nihilistic, and not in a tongue-in-cheek way.
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Mango
I have to say its the most unique game I played the last few years and don’t take unique the way of not polished or not deep enough because you’ll be surprised how deep and how detailed the world becomes even if it looks simple. The Sounds/Music is Great, The Colors/Textures are vibrant and I’m sure the moods comes out exactly how the developer wished for. Making the game all the more fun to play. The story is easy to digest and relatable yet becomes deep and lets you wonder. I really enjoyed it. It surely was a unique experience.
– Real player with 11.7 hrs in game
I came in thinking this was going to be a chill walking sim with crazy visuals, a few spooks, and no real story. I was wrong.
Mango was a delightful surprise. Stunning visuals, clever puzzles, prominent atmospheric horror and a story about the journey of a man going through an episode of mania and madness.
– Real player with 10.2 hrs in game