Psycholonials
So the trailers are very honest about the kinds of things this game does that might need content warnings. Guns and blood and mental anguish and stuff. But I also kinda wanna warn people about one other thing this game does because it’s pretty unpleasant. It’s also like my favorite thing this game does so, idk, up to you if you wanna keep reading.
This game fucks with you. The pretentious way to say it would be to call Psycholonials a “challenging piece of art” which I think definitely applies but, you know, jerk off hand motion. I’m not a writer but I’ll try to find better ways to phrase this because… it’s complicated. It keeps doing this thing where it puts you on the defensive by saying something super iffy, but I think after playing the whole thing that I’ve settled on giving Hussie the benefit of the doubt that that’s intentional and making a point. It drops a lot of really big, really red flags but all of them have a more charitable reading that is good actually but requires a lot of unearned good faith reading on your part to see it.
– Real player with 16.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best America Visual Novel Games.
Hi, sit down and bear with me. Keep in mind i have never felt the need to write a negative review to a game in my entire life. I am just sad.
This game is simply awful, just incredibly bad. There is nothing to like about anything except the music and SOME of the art. Jokes are bad, it’s just “2020 haha” moments and it’s boring. Seriously, i would never finish this if i played it alone, it’s not interesting. Bear with me, what is there to like about an edgy mental “celebrity” who destroys an entire country just BECAUSE? What’s to like about dumb conversations and just “oh, society is bad and i have the right to act like this because… i don’t know, i guess i can”. A lot of deaths occur simply because, too.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
Home: A Quarantine Story
A realistic narrative that builds a unique yet somehow familiar setting, Home: A Quarantine Story will softly resonate with anyone who can’t decide if their heart is with the home they’ve made for themselves or the home they grew up in. I’ll admit it doesn’t look like games I’m normally drawn to, but it’d be a mistake to judge this visual novel by its graphics. Home: A Quarantine Story is, may I remind you, free, so there’s really no reason not to pick it up.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best America Visual Novel Games.
A relatively short story about how family and the concept of “home” can be as poisonous as it is comforting. Detailed descriptions of items throughout the house breathed more life into the characters and character relationships, and the relationship between the main character and her mother in particular was quietly unsettling from start to finish—especially because it leaned into believable emotional manipulation tactics.
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Red Embrace: Mezzanine
Red Embrace: Mezzanine is a short (~1 hour or even less) free visual novel with point-&click elements, 2 endings rewarded with 2 achs. Unfortunately, for now the game has limited features, so those achs won’t appear on steam profile((
I’m sure even if someone didn’t play Red Embrace or Red Embrace: Hollywood the game will be interesting enough. I have almost nothing to complain about: visuals are great, music is perfect to set that gloomy mood, the writing is so potent dragging you deep into that dark atmosphere. That’s really amazing how that short story, maybe not even the whole story but some kind of prologue for the future game, can awake such powerful emotions. Really impressive!
– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best America Dark Games.
As usual, fine. As usual, there is a light sadness after passing the game. And not only because the story itself is sad, because it concerns loneliness, loss and hopelessness, but because it shows us what we dream about at some point. We all probably dreamed that on some day someone (and preferably some handsome guy) would offer us to change our lives. But this did not happen.
It’s very nice that the story echoes Red Embrace: Hollywood. I am very glad that I somehow found Argent Games.
Как обычно, прекрасно. Как обычно, после прохождения игры возникает легкая грусть. И не только потому, что сама история печальна, ведь она касается одиночества, потери и безнадежности, но и потому, что она показывает нам, о чем мы мечтаем в какой-то момент. Мы все, наверное, мечтали, что когда-нибудь кто-нибудь (и желательно какой-нибудь красавчик) предложит нам изменить нашу жизнь. Но этого не произошло.
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
Adventures in Morality: An Interactive Case Study
First to the creator(s) of the ICS, you should be aware that there appears to be a bug with the cassette recordings. Every time you find one and play it, it also plays all the ones that you have found and played before, simultaneously, making understanding anything pass the third one nearly impossible. Onto the review.
This is an interesting experience. The idea being that an AI is the one conducting the Case Study on you is both intriguing and perhaps a bit alarming and I mean both of those ideas in as to whether you accept that at face value or if you accept that as part of a fictional narrative. I was actually most interested in finding and reading the log notes about the “childhood” and growth of said AI, and I got a good snicker at the mention of bonono monkies (i dont have to google, i actually saw a N.G show on them so totally got it ;) As for the Subject of the case study, this idea of sympathy types, while the particular labels used to describe said types might be newish, the idea behind it is not. I was reading about where people fall into self, tribe, and human kind in self help and spiritual enlightenment books back in the 80’s and 90’s. And those authors were NOT representing the knowledge as something new; but, rather as something very old and mostly forgotten or purposely suppressed (Those in power naturally tend to keep those below them divided and weakened through the use of Us vs them, whether thats Individualism vs Communism or Tribalism in one form or another.) The one thing none of those authors ever did was threaten to use the knowledge being shared to bring about an apocalypse and try to divide up the world based on results of some case study. Really not sure what to make of that.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Opening video has a couple good lines.
The rest is random questions that don’t make any sense as a test of morality. Not to mention that just by walking around you get 80+ ‘Humanity’ rating.
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Crown Land
What if medieval Europe and precolonial America were swapped? Crown Land is an epic fantasy visual novel set on an alternate Earth. Meet kings in Texas, lords in California, knights in New York, Cherokees in France, and many more! Crown Land features a cast of over THIRTY fully drawn characters, medieval twists on locations from all over North America (Texas, California, New York, Canada, and more), and a dark, gripping plotline. Wishlist Crown Land now!
Hunt down the horrendous Horned Face and avenge the death of his betrothed. That was the mission, and obsession, that Ethan Primrose had walked away from. Now, he lives his life peacefully and rules the State of California as the heir of both House Primrose and the Western region of the Fifty States. There he lives with his guilt-ridden squire, Olivia, and his wide-eyed sister, Novah. But everything changes when an old friend, one also with an insatiable obsession for finding the Horned Face, vanishes under mysterious circumstances.
To the north of the Fifty States, Premier Nyanna of the Province of Ontario has tried her best to keep the Republic out of a war with its southern neighbor. But when she learns about her brother’s unnatural circumstances, she commits herself to find the truth about her brother. Just as determined as she are her remaining brothers Sawyer and Hayes Maple— the first an arch-priest pushing for controversial reformations, the second the new and unprepared heir of House Maple.
Although separated by thousands of miles and vast landscapes, the actions of each character are concretely and profoundly felt by each and everyone else. With the entire Continent tenaciously teetering on the edge of a full-scale war, each character must understand that their actions and desires impact not just themselves, but the fate of the entire Continent.
Crown Land features a massive cast of over THIRTY drawn, original characters. The following is merely a small sample of them all.
Democracy 4
Solid 7/10 overall. Just don’t base your own politics on it. I’d say this game shines in its core mechanics and falls down in the accuracy of the policies/objectivity of the developer.
The only mechanical issue is that GDP is not generated by population but is in stead seemingly separate. So growing the population of a prosperous country does not correspondingly grow GDP.
Certain policies (cough college tuition cough) are way off in terms of cost versus performance and seem more like a policy ad from the dev than balanced game elements.
– Real player with 174.0 hrs in game
Good game, more polished than the predecessor. Don’t be afraid of early access. It would be suitable as a finished game.
Would be nice to have some scenarios or what not to spice it up.
– Real player with 16.9 hrs in game