The Almost Gone
Well, this isn’t brilliant, but it is fairly fun and some of the puzzles are quite clever, so it is overall an enjoyable game.
-Positives-
Gameplay: Some of the scene rotations can be a little janky (I use a keyboard and mouse), and it’s not always 100% clear what you’re looking at due to the stylized graphics, but taken as a whole the puzzles are intuitive and straightforward, and absolutely don’t all into “galaxy brain” territory, i.e. it all makes sense, and you’ll feel pretty clever when you finally figure out the solutions.
– Real player with 7.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Beautiful Puzzle Games.
Full video review: https://youtu.be/Pal_VDynj0Y
Summarized version below!
I seem to always find myself playing these minimalist puzzle games. Something about the laid-back nature of their gameplay, their light aesthetic, and nice music always keep me on the lookout for new ones. So here we have one that seems to fit all of that and tell an actual story in the process — I had to check it out.
Gameplay:
If you’re familiar with game The Room and its sequels, this game plays very similarly. You’re given this puzzle that involves a bunch of smaller steps to complete and moving around the puzzle will slowly reveal bits and pieces to help you put together a solution. This can be anything from an object that needs to be picked up and placed elsewhere to an electrical panel that needs to be tinkered with to unlock the next area. This is also where the game’s puzzle design shines, as, just like The Room, these seemingly small puzzles add up to something much more and it’s cool to have this sense of progression while playing.
– Real player with 5.9 hrs in game
The Academy: The First Riddle
I really enjoyed this game! It has a great sense of place, the world is quite detailed and the different areas take a while to be revealed. It is set in a school with first year characters. There are heaps of puzzles but some of these are really obscure. Great that there are hints although some of these are no help. There is a cool facility to scribble on the puzzle pictures so that helps sometimes. There is a bit of a familiar feel due to the school environment and bits of magic. On the down side, the game often crashed on a puzzle timing out. I had to do as another player suggested and switch immersion on.
– Real player with 30.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Beautiful Puzzle Games.
Why is this game so underrated? Why??
I played through the first chapter and have little to complain about so far.
- Some riddles are a little far-fetched or weird but this is also due to the translation which could have used some polishing. The characters you can interact with are limited which is a little sad but still fine.
- The story is good enough for a puzzle game, the characters are versatile and the school is fun to discover. Riddles are enjoyable and not too hard or too easy.
Overall: Can recommend. No idea why this did not get more attention on release.
– Real player with 24.5 hrs in game
Haven Moon
The short of it:
Haven Moon is a relaxing diversion into a visually pleasing world. It’s almost criminally short, however, and at times its puzzles can be a little obtuse and arbitrary. I give it a thumbs-up because it matches the description in the store, kept me entertained for a time, and is quite an impressive game when you take into account that it was the product of a sole contributor.
The long of it:
The environment and buildings have obvious nods to Myst and Jules Verne. In particular, the influence of Myst is incredibly strong. Gameplay elements such as powering things up before you can solve their puzzles, traveling between small, isolated environments using fanciful means, and deciding on an ending once you’ve collected everything all make appearances. For those who enjoy a world that itself is a puzzle, rather than a world that happens to have puzzles in it, by and large this fits the bill. The locations have matching music that subtly adds to the mood of each space, and I believe a lot of people would want their interior decorator to take inspiration from the places you visit while playing.
– Real player with 15.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Beautiful Puzzle Games.
The harsh summary:
This is a piece of beautiful graphical art with a few puzzles thrown in and uses something akin to and as believable as a government cover story for depth.
The in depth description:
I very much enjoyed the game. If it was priced more to its playtime and story and not to its beauty, I would give it a serious thumbs up. I feel like it is a stunningly beautiful person (in my case a woman) who lacks any personality worth mentioning. Great to look at but will not keep your attention beyond a few hours. It is very Mystesque but lacks Myst’s depth, story immersion, and length. Actual casual, non-rushed, and lazy play time is 5 hours (possibly less for others). My time played says 14 hours, however I spent more than half of my time on projects in the house or watching Netflix, but did not exit the game, I just left it on the ESC menu. While the story concept is fairly good, but it lacks any real depth. The story part of this game is in written notes, and there are not very many to read. As with all Adventure/Puzzle games replay ability is minimal at best so such a short playtime is very disappointing. When I read the Dev’s comment “It is neither too long nor too short”, I thought to myself “well then I should be able to get at least a good couple of days out of it. Not just a few hours. To sum up, the game itself is good but I cannot recommend at its current price due to lack of content. I would rather pay more for something more developed and not just a beautiful painting.
– Real player with 14.6 hrs in game
FATAL FRAME / PROJECT ZERO: Maiden of Black Water
The best horror game this year.
When i first saw the announcement of this game being released on Steam and modern consoles I was very excited. Years ago I used to play Project Zero on my Xbox original and I finished it quite a few times they were excellent games and very scary, I also enjoyed the third one on my PS2.
This game is just as good if not better I like the fact that the gameplay is something a little bit different. I think the game is creative for requiring the player to use the Camera Obscura, its a really cool way of fighting the ghosts and spirits. To be honest I cant really find many modern horror games that are similar to this one except for a few. The story had me immersed from the beginning and I enjoyed many of the cutscenes, the characters or the girls mostly are awesome I like Yuri she is my favorite one.
– Real player with 59.4 hrs in game
Pros:
The camera mechanics
Atmosphere
Sound
Cons:
Playing multiple characters with different stories in one sitting
Repeated and recycled levels and scenes
limited enemies
Recycled enemies
Enemies are easy, extremely predictable, and boring
Story fell flat and feels all over the place.
Characters and enemies are over sexualized and the bouncing breast are distracting. It takes away from the game being a horror genre and more like someone’s creepy fetish.
Controls were sluggish when it came to moving the character around.
– Real player with 45.0 hrs in game
Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon
See the world through the eyes of an arachnid in Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon!
Spider: RotSM is a puzzle-platformer type game that’s a sequel to an earlier title by Tiger Style, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor. It’s a game with a unique premise to it - you’re a tiny lil' jumping spider, living her spidery life in the mysterious Blackbird Manor where you hatch. As a spider, your only goal in life is to hunt down insects and eat them, either by catching them in webs or tackling them like real jumping spiders do. The gameplay for this part of the game is really quite fun and interesting. It’s really fun to plan out where you should spin your next web, how to lay webs in sequence, how to catch each insect, and where to find secrets, all in lush hand-drawn and hand-painted levels with soothing music. The game’s smart too - it can look up the weather and moon phase in your area, and use that to change the way the levels work. In fact, that’s a big part of the game’s mechanics, since some insects only come out at night or during certain weather conditions, and some puzzles can only be solved during certain moon phases. The game really, really encourages you to try and find all of its secrets, neatly and intricately tucked away in the hidden corners of its mansion locale, all of which is only made more fun by its surprisingly deep lore.
– Real player with 43.3 hrs in game
Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon is a unique experience and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a change of pace.
As a spider, you will puzzle your way through each level by catching insects, either in your webs or with your swift predatory leap. Once you’ve caught enough, a portal will open somewhere enabling you to finish the level. Scuttle everywhere: under the floorboards, up the walls, and inside the many cracks and crevices of the old estate, seeking prey.
As a player, you will be driven by curiosity about the story behind the scenes your spider explores, and the secret, hidden spaces that your spider finds its way into. A winning example of “show, don’t tell”, Spider succeeds in striking an unusual balance. Finding secrets and “Clues” to solve the mysteries of this place feels rewarding and it’s often unexpected. You will learn to eagerly search everywhere you can to uncover the things that may be hidden in unexpected corners, or in a place which will open to you when you find the right mechanism and figure out how to trigger it.
– Real player with 37.6 hrs in game
Maquette
A good game, but not worth $20.
I haven’t kept up with this game much after the initial announcement but after seeing how cool it looked I decided to blind buy it.
What I didn’t realize is that this isn’t really a puzzle game so much as the game is a medium to tell a love story.
That’s fine because other games like Edith Finch/Story About My Uncle have done this great, but my god I have not felt this disappointed in a long time.
I expected some loose story to go with this game about wacky mindbending puzzles and I got the complete opposite.
– Real player with 15.8 hrs in game
I was super excited for this game, and immediately purchased and downloaded it as soon as it was possible on Steam. I grew up with games that used to be called “adventure games” but today are generally labelled “walking simulators”. ‘Myst’ was the first computer game I played and ended up being hugely influential on my gaming tastes along with its sequel ‘Riven’ and then the forgotten classic ‘Obsidian’.
So obviously a game like ‘Maquette’ immediately piqued my interest and I waited and watched for any updates on it that I could find, especially after finishing ‘The Witness’, I needed something to fill that adventure/walking/puzzle game void that was left.
– Real player with 14.7 hrs in game
The Room
Very awesome. I highly recommend for anyone who love puzzled game! I love it!
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
Didn’t expect it to be a puzzle box game with breathtaking graphics. I thought it would be an escape the room type game. Pleasantly surprised! Amazing 3D modelling of old English tables, contraptions and gizmos. Bought it on sale and definitely worth it, even if I’d have bought it off sale even.
– Real player with 5.7 hrs in game
Draugen
I always wanted to visit Norway. Well, maybe not always, but for a long time, and Draugen finally allowed me to do just that. Kinda.
NOTE: I deliberately avoided ALL imaginable SPOILERS about the story, characters and title origins - so enjoy your bulletproof ride through this hand-crafted insanity.
Yes, the Norwegian setting, and ‘Fjord Noir mystery’ fancy description quickly picked up and sparked my curiosity and I closely followed this game to launch and played it shortly after the release date. Over a year later I’ve revisited it and played one more time - to complete my achievements' hunt and to add my 2 cents to the review score.
– Real player with 15.6 hrs in game
How to learn Norwegian in few hours
Draugen is a walking sim, in other words a narrative game with lots of walking around and exploring the beautiful surroundings while trying to uncover the secrets.
I enjoyed the story, I loved the fact it’s kind of based on Norwegian folklore.
You arrive at a small village to look for your sister. The town seems completely empty and you along with your friend Lissie start looking around for people and clues where the people are gone. Can’t say more because it’s hard without spoilers.
– Real player with 8.0 hrs in game
Before I Forget
Goddamn. It’s been a while since a game made me cry. Before I Forget managed to pull that off. I guess it’s personal on some level. I have lost a dear family member to Alzheimers and I work security in a hospital, so I encounter many patients with dementia.
As a game, it’s not all that much. It’s barely even a walking simulator. As an hour long experience, I totally recommend it for the price point! It carries it self very gracefully and portrays the subject matter in a painfully beautiful way. If you have any interest in the subject matter, there are basically no better ways to spend an hour and five euros than playing this game.
– Real player with 5.1 hrs in game
Short, but worthwhile experience.
Sad with moments of joy.
A very deeply touching game for me, having watched several family members over the decades affected by Alzheimers or Dementia, wondering what they were seeing, feeling, remembering, forgetting.
The voice acting was so good.
The narrative was so good.
The way the game threw you from one location and memory to another was a bit jarring and confusing, but that was the point.
The way the rooms became colorized and revealed details was clever and stylish.
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
CINERIS SOMNIA
9/10 so far so good only the main character emo tall guy sasuke look a like needs a cool voice acting DEVS if you read this please add cool voice acting for the main character adn also please put in the map where the main character is at like GTA and other gmaes that specifies where your characters at it gave me a lot of damage “that’s a lot of damage” to my brain and eyes playing for hours looking where my character in the map at :D just kidding this good game needs a sequel. Now first guys I will give you a hint
! dont pick the black butterfly first or you’ll regret it. First I thought this isn’t a horror f@%ing game cause it became so crazy when I pick the black butterfly all you need to do is dont get hit and killed or you’ll wake up and never finish that story tips always save the game and load it whenever you wake up. Gameplay mechanics is good like your character interacts with things and people other than that it lacks speech where the main emo tall guy sasuke look alike or eren look a like lacks speech Devs please add cool voice acting speech of the main character when he interacts with people and stuff not just some subtitles. Now about the game: It is a series of events where you solve errands of girls, first pick the gold butterfly, next is the blue and last but not the least the black one or else you’ll end up like me with a heart pulsating over 9000 such an insane mode for this game requires a lot of knowledge memorising places and where to hide in them such thrilling event in the game just dont get hit or else you’ll wake up and regret you will never finish the rich girl’s story. I never finish it yet but I’m almost done with the black butterfly, while the blue butterfly seems peaceful but i’ll try to now if it is, because it is a mystery game after all. So thank you so much everbody for watching and as always I will see you in the next vi… joke ahahhahaha I’m not mark just some random dude I hope Markiplier plays it. And also the main character indeed was the black angel. :D
– Real player with 19.4 hrs in game
This is an interesting, very creepy, and (at times) frustrating exploratory adventure. You play from a 3rd person perspective, controlling a tall man in black. In separate chapters, he encounters different girls who have been the victims of a family tragedy. He unravels their story (by finding notes and objects in the environment), resolves their ‘unfinished business,’ and then guides them to ‘follow the light.’ Each chapter is set in a unique and complex environment. Two areas (the Sanitarium and Ophelia’s House) are multi-floored buildings with dozens of doors and halls. A map is provided but it is still tricky to develop a feel for the floor plans and move about without getting lost. This is compounded by doors locking and unlocking and hallways becoming blocked during the course of the story.
– Real player with 12.6 hrs in game