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Disclaimer: A review key was provided by the studio.
ESPRESSO REVIEW
Not a meditative, relaxing game as I assumed, but more a good reflex dodge em up with great rotational labyrinths to escape from. The remaining impression of rotating, expanding and collapsing levels will stick with you after you are done.
PROS
Intricate mazes to figure out
Monochromatic layout is a gorgeous modern art experience
Not as easy as you would expect
Music is a very nice low key electronic soundtrack that is well composed
– Real player with 11.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Atmospheric Minimalist Games.
Follow me, says the game with a chime.
A week ago, I received an email from Expand developer Chris Johnson inviting me to play the game ahead of release. Since it was a game I was already interested in, I jumped at the opportunity.
Chris describes the game as a “meditative exploration through shifting circular labyrinths”. It is a game that I find hard to frame my thoughts on - Chris' words are certainly accurate, but the game has another quality to it that’s a little more difficult to define.
– Real player with 9.3 hrs in game
Gone Home
Sometimes I worry when my opinion on an especially beloved piece of work differs from that of the overwhelming majority of game reviewers. I wonder if perhaps I’ve missed something along the way. I think to myself “Did I play this the wrong way?” or “Was I not paying close enough attention?” BioShock Infinite, with its near universally high review scores and fleeting comparisons to Citizen Kane, was a recent example of the difference in opinion I felt with professional game critics. I found Infinite to be uneven, with the emphasis on narrative being overshadowed by the disconnect between it and the gameplay.
– Real player with 10.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Atmospheric Walking Simulator Games.
Gone Home is a first-person exploration game set in the 90’s in which you play through the eyes of 21 year old Katie. After spending a year overseas she returns to her family home only to discover there is nobody there to greet her. Pinned to the front door she finds a letter written by her younger sister Samantha telling her to not come look for her, but Katie decides otherwise.
Estimated reading time: 2,5 minutes.
Sounds interesting, tell me more.
It’s hard to talk more about the plot without majorly spoiling the important bits of the story, so I’ll focus on the gameplay and presentation instead.
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game
passenger seat
/tts Sokpop
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Atmospheric Indie Games.
This one got lost somewhere along the way
Passenger seat tries to do too many things at the same time. The luck-based process of tracking down map pieces degrades the experience of people who like difficult puzzles like this one. The repeated attempts to emphasize the spooky graveyards degrades the intended relaxing tone of the game.
There are two games here: A basically non-interactive relaxing mood piece about chilling in the passenger seat, and a significantly difficult map-based puzzle where you’re having to switch between looking at the map and tracking landmarks and turns. These two games clash with each other, and by the time I beat the game, I wasn’t fond of either of them.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
Plague Doctor: Contagion 430 BCE–2020 AD
Plague Doctor Contagion, was a short and sweet retelling of different pandemics through time. I greatly enjoyed the music in the game, the graphics are nothing special but still stylized in a unique way I wont forget soon, and the game play could do with more interactivity (examples could be, puzzles, finding objects to help people, or having your decisions affect your outcomes in a more prominent sense.).
For $3 this game is not bad, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the descriptions of the diseases and what they were doing to people, and I liked seeing history played out in front of me like they did.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
You can pet the dog
10/10 Game Of The Year
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
Summoner’s Mess
Worth every cent (and much more) of its price, it’s very entertaining to discover the map and each unsuccessful run makes you go for another one to see how far can you go this time.
It has a really nice art direction, and the sound ambiance goes perfectly with the game. Just buy it, with that price it’s like a gift.
– Real player with 3.8 hrs in game
This is a very nice and interesting game, the graphics, the music, the mood… everything fits perfectly.
I really enjoyed playing it and doing all the possible endings. It is cool to be able to easily remember the rooms and little by little knowing all the place like it was my own house.
If you enjoy games where the progression is based on your own knowledge instead of unlockable skills, then give it a try!
The game gives you a proper amount of hours of game time given the fact that is super cheap!
– Real player with 3.5 hrs in game
The Plan
IT’S FREE!
Well guys and girls…
This game is very simple, but has potential to become a great game.
Graphics are very good, but has some crashes when you’re playing like change window and real crash when you click on the credits to gain your achievement.
The music is very touching. 9/10
The SFX in the game are almost hidden, you must be patient to percept then, like the cry of the leaves when you drop down on then, and the florest souns, like birds and even the grass movement.
If you wanna check out a diferent concept of game, this is for you.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
For your experience, please play through the game before reading the following review.
A game about the way of life.
The game is about being a fly and flying upwards.
In the beginning, you start out on the ground, with the dirt, grass, leaves surrounding you. You are right in front of the camera, with the details on your body very clear. You inquisitively explore your surronding, excited about its possibilities. Soon, you discover that up is the only way.
As you rise, what surronds you becomes less interesting, and you become fixated in your only goal – rise up. The camera gradually zooms out.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Wide Ocean Big Jacket
I liked the writing in this game, what themes the game dealt with and the overall mood and pacing of it.
This has my type of art style and colours, loved them. Thank you for making this game. I hope to see more games like this. I would like to see our cast of characters in a future game :) but I will not hold you to it, do what you want or can.
Is It worth the price? Yes.
Is it boring? Definitely not! It’s very enjoyable.
Should you find ways to support this studio? Absolutely! regardless of what their future plans are and how long they take.
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game
And an even bigger heart.
As the car hums past different scenery everyone fidgets slightly. The young girl and boy in the back seats look around, bored probably, as the car zooms along towards a destination unknown to the player. Steering the bright red convertible, a brunette woman in shades shifts her gaze slightly, accompanied by a man that lets his arms hang outside the car every now and then. This is the beginning of a quiet little camping trip.
Full Sentimental Jacket
From the store page alone the expectations for Wide Ocean Big Jacket should be set: it’s a short camping trip about a niece, her new boyfriend, her aunt and her uncle. But this simple premise houses lots of simple, slice of life moments that add up to something more. The feelings it’s able to portray with bold colors and sparse lines of dialogue is impressive. The design of the game, from just the menu alone, speaks volumes in terms of the artistic approach of the game.
– Real player with 2.4 hrs in game
driftwood
It’s one map in Unity. You make no sound and move at one inch per minute. The poems are ten words long, they don’t rhyme and they have no rhythm. The eponymous driftwood is perfectly rectangular. Otherwise it’s good.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
There is almost no content in this game and it should be in a group of other games for the same price.
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
qomp
A short, but great experience! Qomp is a platformer(…?) where you control a ball from Pong, and you’re able to change your y-axis by pressing space or clicking… and that’s it! There’s only button, making the whole game extremely easy to get into.
Don’t let the simplicity of the controls fool you, however - qomp is very innovative, brimming with cool level gimmicks. On one level, you’ll be quickly switching between sets of buttons to open previously-inaccessible paths, with this switch also triggering new traps on the way back. On another, you’ll bounce and stumble through a maze that constructs itself before your very eyes. Or maybe you’ll be under water, having normal jumping physics while dodging a giant fish ready to make you his lunch! For a 3-hour long game, there’s an insane amount of variety, with the perfect balance between exploring those setpieces without overusing them.
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Manages a surprising breadth and depth of mechanics despite having only one button. Boss fights feature extremely minimal opponents, but somehow still require a great deal of thought. One point which might put people off is the need to continually press the spacebar or mouse button. I found this to get uncomfortable at certain points, not necessarily due to a volume of clicks at any one point, but simply because a keyboard and mouse do not have motions condusive to spamming over a play session. Honestly, this feels like a game which would be perfect for mobile because of that, but I am very happy it is not a mobile game (at least not yet), since I would never have tried it with ads and whatnot.
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Sentris
Sentris is definitely worth looking into if you have any interest in creating music. It reminds me of my days playing with software such as FruityLoops, but puts its own unique spin on things. I’ve enjoyed playing through the provided songs and am starting to create my own unique setups (as well as attempting to emulate some more widely-known music too).
“What is Sentris in 2 Minutes?” Video:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=502221656
Overall the game is a lot of fun, and quite a versatile tool once you get to grips with it. That said, there are a few features I would love to see implemented going forward. Primarily these are just additional expansions for added versatility when creating songs. It would be great to be able to select notes outside the standard scale that I choose, and to apply effects (such as reverb or echo) to specific instruments during remix.
– Real player with 7.6 hrs in game
I played an early version of this game at PAX last year and could not get my head around it. I dropped blocks haphazardly in to a wheel, not understanding what I was supposed to be doing and not enjoying the sounds I was creating. I walked away feeling embarrassed that I had failed to ‘get’ Sentris.
The tutorial in the release version immediately got me on the right track and removed my doubts about this game. Within five minutes I was creating funky loops that went beyond the tunes the game was feeding me and I felt the thrill of composition that I know the designer was aiming to inspire. There is a real satisfaction in building loops layer by layer and it is especially cool to see how the sound evolves as later layers start to push earlier ones out of the loop. The way the progression of songs helps you learn what the game has to offer in terms of depth is almost perfectly executed, the only thing that I struggled a little to figure out was how to change octaves in freestyle mode (you have to climb or descend the scale to reach the octave you want to play in).
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game