The Cursed Forest

The Cursed Forest

I originally played this game when it was released and posted my thoughts in a review at Just Adventure. It is still accessible even though the site is dormant. At the time, I gave The Cursed Forest high marks.

I just finished replaying the game and my intention was to run through and pick up the achievements I had missed. Instead, I became totally absorbed and played a ‘new game’ all the way through.

The game begins with you receiving a phone call in the middle of the night and rushing off in your car. You are in a hurry and end up crashing in a mysterious forest. Your task is to find your way out. The Cursed Forest has been created in great detail with cabins, swamps, cliffs, lakes, campfires, caves, etc. There is a lot to explore and you quickly find that no people remain in the forest (only their possessions and homes are evident). The story of what happened to them is discovered in dozens of notes that you find along your journey.

Real player with 15.5 hrs in game


Read More: Best Atmospheric Exploration Games.


This game has a lot of problems; it is mainly an exploration game, but areas are big and secrets are sparse. Achievements are fine, I didn’t use a walkthrough and found all of them but two on my first playthrough (and the other two I didn’t find accidentally, I almost did). However, if you like exploring, like me, there isn’t enough in this game to keep you invested with exploration, and you’ll end up getting bored. In addition, there is a bug that makes some notes not appear where they should (I’m not even sure why, seems to be a random thing), and you can lose a lot of time searching for them, not realizing it was a bug (if you miss one note on Section 1 and one on Section 4, try restarting the section; also, the last section says there are 9 Sarah letters, but there are only 7, according to developers).

Real player with 14.2 hrs in game

The Cursed Forest on Steam

EchoBlade

EchoBlade

EchoBlade is a puzzle-combat dungeon explorer. You find yourself blind and trapped inside an expansive tower labyrinth. Shrouded in total darkness you must navigate your way to freedom using only sound as your guide.

DISCORD NOW AVAILABLE! https://discord.gg/mN6s5zdZXE

See the world in ultrasonic: every footstep, every metal clank of armor, or swing of blade illuminates your path. Stride with care to avoid pressure plates that spring a variety of traps.

Equip your sword blade or let loose crossbow bolts when encountering the armored crusader knights who lurk the dark dungeon hallways.

Explore the perilous tower. Each level is built with varying mechanics: patrolling prison guards, uncover hidden switches that open secret doors, and solving puzzles with platforming elements.

Venture forth and find your way to freedom.


Read More: Best Atmospheric Puzzle Games.


EchoBlade on Steam

Let Me Die (inside)

Let Me Die (inside)

In principle, the game in places resembles Russian locations both by entrances and gloomy surroundings, it seems to me that the developers want to teach us how to cope with despair, and it is also instructive with the stories of the characters

Real player with 3.9 hrs in game


Read More: Best Atmospheric Philosophical Games.


After 3 hours of playing, I came to the conclusion that the game is rather boring and monotonous, I don’t even know who might like it. I believe that such games only exacerbate the situation and very rarely can help someone. Friends, I do not recommend it.

Real player with 3.1 hrs in game

Let Me Die (inside) on Steam

MUTATION PHASE

MUTATION PHASE

Mutation Phase is a very basic FPS with some RPG elements that seems to be more fluff than substance. It starts off promising with a story about how the zombies came to be and your character needs to collect weapons and find a way of communication to destroy them. There are 6 levels that unfortunately never really pick up after the first level.

The gameplay is very repetitive and boring, which can be summed up like this: move along the predefined path and listen for footsteps, which indicate another zombie mob is on their way. Take out the zombies, search their bodies for health and ammo, and reload weapons/restore health. Rinse and repeat. The first few levels are the same 3 zombie enemy types and then the last few levels introduce a new bigger zombie into the mob.

Real player with 3.4 hrs in game

This game was surprisingly solid. Not very long, but I thought it was pretty challenging. It had plenty of monsters sneak up on me, and the enemy models are 100% the highlight of this game. I got this one off Indie Gala for pretty cheap. Not really into survival challenges, but the game adds that as an extra reason to play after you finish the “story” mode. I look forward to seeing more from these developers.

Real player with 2.4 hrs in game

MUTATION PHASE on Steam

Stela

Stela

First impression: It has flesh-eating bugs (instead of rats like in Plague Tale) to oversized Gollum and a pyramid-shaped Tet that zaps you into “Oblivion” (movie with the same name)

Well, I’m kinda fond of the atmospheric, minimalistic game that’s has a puzzle/maze element and this one makes no exception. However, this particular puzzle-platformer has a lot to desire compared with other similar games I played before. Visually, Stela is a striking atmospheric game in a side-scrolling format but technically it’s low-poly though enough care has been put into the visuals and environments where they all feel alive.

Real player with 3.6 hrs in game

B-E-A-UTIFUL! That was the first thing that sprang to mind when I delved into STELA.

From the barren wastelands of fields to the cold and desolate snow-swept landscapes, STELA is absolutely caked in artistic imagery. Everything is designed with a keen eye and attention to detail.

This is particularly important as, much like games such as Limbo and Inside (which this game will no doubt draw comparisons to) there is no dialogue to tell the story. Much of what you gleam of this tale is from the images presented to you. Without spoiling anything, much of what this story entails is told from pillars found throughout the game.

Real player with 3.4 hrs in game

Stela on Steam

Bear With Me - Episode One

Bear With Me - Episode One

Well, for some reasons I played this game many months ago, more than a year, and then the third episode came out few months ago so I bought it as soon as possible and played it, enjoyed it a lot and so on.. now the collector’s edition’s out on Humble Bundle as far as I know.

Anyways this game’s is a great hidden object/graphic adventure with an awesome story; I loved everything here although the whole game setting is probably too restricted thus don’t allowing you to explore as much as I wanted to.

Real player with 23.6 hrs in game

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a clawsome game that is impawsible to furget. Having a charming yet grizzly atmosphere that you won’t find too polarizing, I just couldn’t bear to put it down.

Sorry, I’ll stop the bear puns now.

Promise.

Ahem, so ‘Bear with Me’ is an episodic point and click game with a heavy noir detective theme. But you know that from reading the description, and really if you’re interested by that idea then you’re probably going to enjoy this game. Yet if you’re still a bit sceptical then let me assure you, it is worth the time to go through.

Real player with 20.6 hrs in game

Bear With Me - Episode One on Steam

Breath

Breath

Breath is not an easy game, but it is not a long game too.

Start as a simple life-form and evolve your way by defeating the bosses in any order you wish. One ability gained from one boss can help you to defeat another one.

Can you beat the game without deaths? How fast can you beat it? Try yourself in “1 Life Mode” and “SpeedRun Mode”! Compete against your own time or set a custom time to try to be the fastest in the world!

Play multiple times trying different routes and, as you play, unlock new abilities to start the game with, adding layers of complexity.

Don’t forget to try to find all the hidden spider webs.

If you ever feel lost on how to play, pause the game (esc or start) and a button map will show up.

Life is but a Breath!

Breath on Steam

Dark Space

Dark Space

Dark space is worth the money.

the atmosphere is amazing and the puzzles are fun and challenging.

Definetly would recommend!

Real player with 7.0 hrs in game

Starts off pretty interesting, then you get annoyed, half the time you’re fighting with the controls and bad camera angles.

Even the menu is a bit hit n miss if the controller navigates the menu correctly or if you even have the ability to navigate the menu’s with the controller, I had to resort to using the keyboard most of the time I wanted to access menu, like when trying to exit.

enjoy 5 minutes of watching someone else give up at the same point I have got to.

https://youtu.be/1ymGrwd8eFc?t=743

Real player with 3.7 hrs in game

Dark Space on Steam

Network

Network

NETWORK

When you surf the internet, you never know what you might stumble upon…

This game reveals a problem related to the Internet. Now the global network has turned into a dump, in which there is a lot of everything, and you never know what file you can stumble upon. So-called “deadly” files are no exception. Now, with almost complete freedom of action in the network, this has become especially important.

The plot of the game will take us to various locations, such as: the apartment of the main character, a construction site, friends ' apartments, a stairwell.. Where we will face various tasks: find certain items, solve plot twists, or just get out and survive..

We also spend a certain part of the game on the computer of the main character, communicating with our friends on the network, looking for answers to questions. The storyline depends on your decisions, what do you write to this or that person? What tactics do you prefer - to respond calmly or more directly and rudely? Find the information yourself in the game browser or go through a mini-game? The player’s choice affects both the course of events and the further plot.

Plot:

We play for an ordinary guy 17-18 years old. The main character has just moved with his family to a new apartment, which is still under renovation and not even all the furniture has been delivered, plus constant power outages. The hero comes home from school, immediately sits down at the computer, goes online, sees a new message, clicks on it and STARTS….. It all depends on you…..

Tired of the same type of horror?

The game includes a variety of gameplay, in different locations.. The game will not let you get bored, and will allow you to spend a couple of evenings in suspense, with a full immersion in the atmosphere of fear, “deadly” files, correspondence with friends, Internet legends and hopelessness…

Features of the game:

    • Unique concept;
    • Diverse gameplay;
    • Interesting plot;
    • Various locations;
    • An atmosphere of fear and tension.
Network on Steam

Obsolete

Obsolete

~FUN INTENSIFIES~

An enjoyable game, I really appreciate my run! Considering it’s the developer’s first game, I must say I’m really impressed. You can feel it was made with a lot of passion and a lot of reflexion to make it nice. There are a lot of secrets so don’t rush it and take your time to discover everything!

The world is truly immersive, I was really touched by the story and I liked discovering it all along the levels. The MC is incredibly LOVELY (he’s so cuuuute when he walks!! Even when he dies. Which sadly happens often with my pitiful skills).

Real player with 4.9 hrs in game

Simple but enjoyable atmospheric platformer. Well constructed and fun to play through - can be completed quick if you’re good, but the puzzles are fun enough to keep you engaged.

https://youtu.be/UwGaUzyxwA8

Real player with 4.6 hrs in game

Obsolete on Steam