đ§ OUT OF THE BOX
It really is a shame that this game doesn’t seem to be getting much attention. I think it is quite a hidden gem.
I really like the art style. All the character sprites just ooze personality. The only thing that bothers me a bit is that the idle animations in some cutscenes look a bit exaggerated, with some characters constantly headbanging for no reason. Less animation would have been more here. But I am willing to overlook that minor flaw because I just enjoy the style so much. Also, don’t let the cutesy look fool you. There are some really brutal scenes in this game.
â Real player with 12.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choices Matter Singleplayer Games.
It’s a good game where you play a bouncer hired by your maffia boss after being released from prison and no one else will give you a job, while all the while trying to stay on the straight and narrow and keep your bills paid. You have to check people coming into the night club for simple stuff to start with (dress code, ID, correct tickets, not under age, not drunk etc) but as things go along, you start getting extra requests and criteria to meet.
There’s a basic storyline. It doesn’t have many ways it can significantly branch from the linear storyline (so far the majority I tried don’t make a lot of difference or cause you to hit dead ends (sometimes literally.) So unless you enjoy the ticket checking side of things, replayability is limited. Checking tickets is fun and challenging for the first round, but does have threshold where it starts to lose its shine. (I kind of wish it was mixed up a bit with more variation.)
â Real player with 12.0 hrs in game
Loretta
Loretta is a psychological thriller that would make the player an accessory to the heroineâs crimes and would lead her through a self-crafted nightmare. This story is about a woman, dealing with betrayal, her husbandâs infidelity, relationships problems and difficult social situation of the 1940s.
Conceptually and aesthetically, the game is inspired by the American art of the twentieth century, the works of Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper, film noir of the 40s-50s, thrillers by Alfred Hitchcock, the Philip Ridley movie “The Reflecting Skin”, the books “1922” by Stephen King and “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov.
Story
The year is 1947. Lora and Walter Harris move to a farm, which used to belong to his parents. Walter is a writer and Lora is a housewife. Both are quite unsuccessful.
The family is going through financial difficulties. The situation is also complicated by the fact that Walter owes money to people from New York. And although the husband keeps it a secret from his wife, Lora has a suspicion. Moreover, she suspects him of cheating.
Lora understands that she gave up her job, her dreams and other opportunities for her failure of a husband she doesnât even love. Now she is stuck in a cold empty house barely making ends meet.
As she struggles to make loan payments, she finds out that Walterâs publishing house has insured his life. In the event of his death, the insurance sum would be 30.000$. A plan is born in Loraâs mind.
Loretta is a story-driven adventure game in which gameplay focuses on choosing phrases in dialogue, interacting with objects, and making decisions: planning the murder and getting rid of the evidence. Killing a husband, trying to cover a crime, Loretta makes a player an accomplice.
Features:
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The plot can either turn into a web of dodgy lies, or into a crescendo of bloody murders.
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Player is free to decide the fate of the character.
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Freedom of choiceâ.
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Many endings.
Time Loader
A wonderful little game
Not many hours are needed for completion, but the replay value is immense
You control a little robot, sent back in time to save your creator from a debilitating accident
You need to try and remove that which causes the accident to happen
On the way you will need to gather more capabilities
Tighten or remove screws with a screwdriver, or fix electronics with a soldering iron
Also, scattered throughout the game are glyphs, which you will need to collect to unlock the secret ending
â Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choices Matter Multiple Endings Games.
Short but very lovingly designed puzzle platformer with a well-told story. The short duration of the game is not particularly bad, as it is worth playing through the game several times to reach the different endings. The puzzles are clever and playful, but will hardly overwhelm anyone. Some jumps need a bit of timing, but there are hardly any frustrating parts. The controls and the extensions that are gradually being added work flawlessly. Only the grappling hook is a little inaccurate.
â Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
Dead Man’s Rest
A very good game, even in early access (it’s almost complete at this point, anyway).
I follow Argent Games ever since Requiescence, even if I tend to purchase their titles elsewhere due to Steam censorship, which isn’t relevant here since the game is not explicit in content.
It has to be my favorite of their games, alongside Requiescence itself.
The storylines are interesting, and with a very short common route (that has more than one path to access the various routes), it makes replaying each route a whole new experience, especially since what is true in one route won’t be in another, aside from core traits and background elements about the characters.
â Real player with 17.0 hrs in game
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Dead Man’s Rest
Developer: Gallium Games
Publisher: Argent Games
Pros:
1. The Wild West, a place where a balance of lawlessness and peacekeeping is a mainstay. Gunslinging, alcoholism, and tensions between Americans and Natives run in the back. What happens if we add in a little love to that? A more taboo love such as homosexuality in a time where heterosexuality was the overwhelming factor? You get Dead Man’s Rest, a finely packed visual novel with short routes varying from 5 love interests, each being variably different from each other but keep the characters consistency almost each time. It does a great deal in being faithful to old western culture that involves your standard by the book sheriff, trifles with Native Americans, and some small scenes of gunfighting, however it does an excellent job at adding in the romance aspect. It feels down to earth and realistic, with morals that reflected the time back then whether it be about sexuality or your culture, and how people react.
â Real player with 12.3 hrs in game
Welcome To… Chichester 2 - Part III : NightFall
This visual novel is the last in the Welcome To⊠Chichester 2 trilogy, and the penultimate episode. Playing the previous episode would be beneficial.
The Story
For a short while after the events of No Regrets For The Future, life returned to normality for the protagonist and Grendel Jinx. However, with William making an unwanted return from the Happy Glowstick Funtime Re-education Camp, everything starts becoming more complicated for Grendel as she has to contend with final school exams, her parents divorcing, and an unwanted new stepsister.
The protagonist is naturally dragged into these affairs as he/she has to contend with an assassination attempt by Grendel’s father, being abducted by Grendel’s mother, an increasingly hostile (to The Council Of The Unseen) secretary and a debauched boss, culminating in the protagonist being forced to destroy The Council Of The Unseen, by using their own weapons against them.
Spanning five years from the end of No Regrets to the start of The Spy Of America And The Long Vacation, this episode concludes the main prequel arc - with a bang
Features :
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11 bad endings and one true ending
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Multiple routes
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100,000+ word story, with an estimated play time of 6 - 8 hours. Complete the game, and subsequent playthroughs will extend the story by around 2 to 3 hours, with extra detail for certain events.
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Option to display current route (and choice)
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Visual impairment modes as well (font change, font size and so on)
Freelance Trucker: Insurance Fraud Edition
Neat little game to waste some time, I enjoyed causing some mayhem and trying to survive until the goal (it’s not always that easy). Far from perfect but enjoyable for sure for an indie title. Good job!
â Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Ninja Girl and the Mysterious Army of Urban Legend Monsters! ~Hunt of the Headless Horseman~
There is good and bad with this V/N.
Pros:
God tier art quality! The characters are absolutely gorgeous, and leave you craving more. It almost makes it unbelievable, because 2 of the girls are supposed to be hardened ninjas, trained from birth to push their bodies beyond their limits, and to expect death at any time. Yet they look like perfect china dolls, with no scars, perfect skin and hair, and still have their teenage innocence. Obviously not realistic. At least the perfect appearance of the 3rd girl who isn’t a ninja can be explained.
â Real player with 11.9 hrs in game
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ăă»ăȘçąșèȘăćłèłŒć „ćźäș
OMG it’s Kiseri Shut up and take my money
â Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
Pandemic Train
What is Pandemic Train?
In Pandemic Train you are in charge of the crew aboard a train roaming the postapocalyptic wasteland, ravaged by both war and a deadly plague. Your goal is to survive long enough to discover the cure⊠or die trying. Humanityâs fate is in your hands! Start your journey now!
You are in charge!
Pandemic Train is a survival simulation game in which you manage the crew as well as the passengers aboard the old school train carried by a steam engine. The in-game universe is characterized by an alternative timeline, in which a catastrophic viral outbreak has decimated the worldâs population. The mysterious plague kills the infected within 24 hours, leading to widespread panic, riots, and war. The world is in ruin, and you are the only hope for its survival. Travel through the wasteland, gather the resources, fight off the bandits, and do your best to research the cure for the disease!
Survive!
In Pandemic Train the world has become a very inhospitable place. Every person can carry the disease, so you have to choose your crew very wisely. People will die along the way, and you have to minimalize the damage. The resources are scarce, so you have to distribute them very carefully. And worst of all - there are lots of hungry wolves around. And by âhungry wolvesâ we mean desperate people who perceive your train as a fat prize. Or sometimes - as an opportunity for a better life. You have to decide whether itâs better to fight them off or welcome aboard.
Manage the resources
In the harsh reality of Pandemic Train, you need to be self-sufficient - you grow your own food, breed the livestock, gather and purify your own drinking water, and do the essential repairs. You have to utilize every bit of scrap or junk you have at your disposal and turn it into something useful. This often leads to some difficult decisions, for example - rarely thereâs enough medicine for everyone, so youâll have to decide who is worth the treatment, and who is going be left to die.
Fight the plague!
The main goal of your actions is to create a vaccine and save the remnants of humanity from extinction. The longer you manage to keep the train moving, the less likely the crew will have the contact with the virus, and your scientists - more time to work on the medication. You can customize the train to your needs - decide how many people are on it and how many train cars are going to be attached to the engine. But remember - the bigger the party, the harder it is to keep it in check. You are the only hope for mankind. You are the last hope⊠for humanity.
Best Month Ever!
Best Month Ever is a modern point-and-click story-driven adventure of Louise and her son Mitch. Life is hard for Louise as a single mom, struggling to make ends meet. But things can always get worse, and after being diagnosed with a terminal illness that leaves her with one month to live, the clock is ticking for her to raise her son. But how do you explain that to an 8-year old kid? Mitch is picking up things fast - like a duckling, he observes his mother and imitates her behavior - but time is running out and Louise has to think carefully about making the right decisions and setting a good example for Mitch to follow. Together, they hit the road to take back the time that was stolen from them and live a lifetime as mother and son in 4 short weeksâŠ
This intense family trip takes place during a groovy 60s era. Mother and son are thrown into both dangerous and funny situations, all of which impact their relationship and future. Their intimate tale plays out against the backdrop of a United States torn apart by political tensions and divided by brutal social inequality.
You will learn about the facts and decisions from the past in flashbacks and through memories of the grown-up Mitch - the narration constantly switches between the âpastâ (the 60s) and the âpresentâ (the 70s). Finally, we jump back in time to decide what choices Louise made and how they affected the future of the two. Playersâ decisions will also help shape a unique image of her as to what kind of person she was.
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Decisions REALLY matter! To keep track of Mitchâs growth as a person, each choice you make adds positive or negative influence to three statistics: Righteousness, Confidence, and Relations. As a result, this changes your story on the go, which makes each player’s experience feel unique.
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Mother & Son relationship - Not only will their individual fates be subject to change, but also their mutual relationship. Best Month Ever is above all else the story of the touching, challenging and unique bond that can only exist between a mother and son.
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Different Outcomes - Turn on, tune in, drop out⊠and decide! Different choices result in different endings of the game. It is up to the player to decide what kind of person Mitch will become and what exactly happened during his memorable journey through the USA with his mother.
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Weird 60s trip - What a time to travel it was! Canned Heat was singing about âGoing Up the Countryâ while Bob Dylan asked âHow does it feelâ to have no home and live on the street. Louise and Mitch travel across the country, meeting bikers, hippies, Klansmen, Native Americans, and far-out wanderers of all sorts.
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No losers here! - Donât be a square, you canât âloseâ in Best Month Ever! Your decision will shape Mitch as an adult person. He may of course get some kicks on the way, but hey, the story will still be unique and rewarding! Can you dig it?
City Maker
I’m finding City Maker extremely addictive. Simplified compared to other city builders I’ve played in that there’s no complex micromanagement. I thought I would miss that, but actually it’s a pleasant change. With building up the city and economy, managing finances and meeting demands, there’s still plenty of strategy/forward planning and challenge to be well entertained.
The puzzle element is refreshingly different as you are limited to 1 of 3 available structures per turn. Initially, thereâs just houses and farms and then a gradual unlocking of other structures. Thereâs quite a variety overall and Iâm still discovering new ones! They provide services, have needs and give effects and some come in different shapes, a bit like Tetris. Thereâs no building rotation, which is good here, as it adds to the challenge of placing the structure you want where you’d like it to go and where it’s needs are covered. Without that cover, youâll start to get demands with limited time to meet them. Itâs game over after 10 failed demands or youâve overspent.
â Real player with 22.5 hrs in game
Challenges too random. There appears to be no way to anticipate city needs. Crisis occur and solutions to problem do not appear in timely fashion, causing frustration. This game is only okay at the lower difficulty levels. Higher levels seem to take away players ability to adapt.
â Real player with 16.3 hrs in game