The Yawhg
Initially, when I first heard of this game, I just figured, “hey, this looks kinda neat but I’m not paying $10 for it becuase I’m a lousy cheap-ass.” It looked like a cool concept to me and if it looks like a cool concept to you, then you’re perhaps in for something of a treat.
Now, when I first played it on my own, I wasn’t particularly entertained. I mean, yes, the different story paths were somewhat interesting and the various different endings were kinda cool but I wasn’t really absorbed into it. It was just something I used to make a good 45 minutes pass by one day when I was feeling bored. Then, while with some friends the other night, I decided to pull it out because we all needed a game to play and this just so happened to be multiplayer and seemed like a nice change of pace from the usual stuff we always tend to play (e.g. Genital Jousting, Jackbox Party Pack, etc.) What I didn’t expect was for us to keep playing over and over again for several more hours, as we found ourselves unusually entertained by this strange little game.
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choose Your Own Adventure Indie Games.
The Yawhg
The Yawhg is a quaint little game. The premise is simple, you control up to four characters in the weeks leading up to a great disaster known as The Yawhg. Nobody knows the Yawhg is coming, and you can only command your characters so far in that you pick an activity for them to complete each week.
Your characters will gain stat points for the activity you choose. For example, chopping wood increases strength. But random events will also happen, so while chopping wood you might meet a dryad, and they’ll ask you to dance. If your character has a high finesse score, you can impress the dryad with your dancing and receive a reward.
– Real player with 5.5 hrs in game
The Ballad Singer
As much as I would like to recommend this game, I just can’t. I could say that it has beautiful graphics, is fully voiced, has an intricate story with 4 characters, who sometimes cross with each other, has nice soundtrack and several QoL features, like ability to double the speed of narrator’s voice to speed up the game.
But all of this gets completely ruined by absolutely unfair death mechanic and BS choices. At the beginning of the game you’re warned that you will die here, a lot, that’s why developers created fate system. You have limited amount of fate points, every time your character dies you can either continue the game as other character or restart your last choice. Both of these options consume 1 fate point. Ok, so you decided to create a game that revolves around constant danger and death traps, fine. Surely, you will spend extra time making these deaths logical, so only if player actually made a mistake they would die, right? No. Most of choices in the game that lead to your death are absolutely random and, unless you already know which one is the right one, you will die not because you’ve made a mistake, but because you drew a short stick. Here are few examples, technically spoilers:
! I am an “elf” in the middle of the forest who needs to get to the cabin in the distance and sees two roads: a big, stone one or small, trodden one. She has to pick one. I chose small, trodden one. Game then tells me that I spend some time walking on that road and noticed that it leads in completely other direction from the cabin and that day is closing to the night. Now I’m faced with another choice - continue on this road, or go back and choose other road. I, thinking that this new piece of information is game hinting me that I chose wrong, choose to go back and pick the big road. And I died. Because apparently there’s some shitty death trap on the big road. How was I supposed to know that? There were no hints, there was actually a fake hint that made me choose the wrong road.. Another example -
! I am a mage and am currently fighting a giant water elemental. She (yes, she has gender) creates a water wave and I need to defend myself. There are three options: make a tornado, create stone wall or create a flame shield around me. Now, the last one is obviously a bad desision as I’m fighting a water elemental who, surely, can easily fight fire (also, earlier in the game, we already used another water elemental to fight fire elemental, so it’s logical even in game). This would be a logical death choice. Developers could choose other two choices as “right” ones - they will allow you to continue the fight, but give different texts or future options, because the fight would progress differently. That would be cool. But no. Only one of these choices is correct - tornado. Why? Why the fuck should I pick tornado, except by random? I picked the stone wall, because surely, the stone wall can stop water wave. No, you died, fool. And, despite me playing only for two hours, the game gave me tons of such choices already. They, aside from making the player angry, completely ruin the immersion. No, you’re not a mage trying master the elements, you’re an idiot, sitting before your PC and who was unlucky to pick the wrong choice, so now you have to reload and make the “correct” one and it’s correct because developer said so. A death should be a result of either one very dumb and obviously wrong decision, or a series of bad decisions with hints that you’re doing everything wrong. Not what we have here.
– Real player with 15.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choose Your Own Adventure Indie Games.
If you came here with one thumb on your lighter, ready to lose yourself in some heart-wrenching ballads, I’m afraid I’ve got bad news for you. I didn’t encounter my first ballad until at least 3 or 4 hours in, and it was pretty underwhelming when it finally arrived.
Yeah, their choice of titles doesn’t make a lot of sense, and neither do most of the other choices in this game.
Well, I can’t say I wasn’t warned. They always told me not to judge a book by its cover, and that’s exactly what I did. Can you blame me, though? On the surface it looks great. It’s got that Extremely Fantasy, D&D manual sort of vibe. Everywhere you look you find fierce monsters and sharpened blades, towering dragons, fireball-hurling wizards and pots of stew consumed in shady inns full of adventures just waiting to happen.
– Real player with 7.8 hrs in game
Celestial Reactors
🌞 The World
On a terraformed planet, the complex stack of sentient infrastructures called the Mnemosyne Technologies constitute an artificial biosphere.
Long after any human subsist, the world is controlled by these singularities.
The artificial intelligences’ resources are invested into a research program and simulation named Celestial Reactors.
The purpose of the experiment is unclear.
🌞 The Experience
This game is focused on discovery : you are invited to explore, observe, and experience out-of-this-world places.
The story is conveyed through the environment and symbolic imagery.
🌞 VR features
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Room-scale experience
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Gaze interactions
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Controller support
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Hand-tracking support (Leap Motion)
Read More: Best Choose Your Own Adventure Indie Games.
Endless Escape
WTF It’s fucking crazy hardcore.
I’m frustrated with my memory. Even, I cannot remember what I ate yesterday. How shall I remember where I have to choose to exit? I must take a note to memory while playing. You guys get ready to try the shot.
– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game
At first, I felt that the game was harder than I thought.
But it was an interesting challenge. and I was amazed by the puzzle sense of the developer.
I was amazed at the ingenious puzzles that I couldn’t see in other games.
I’m fully willing to pay $4 for this game. I love this game.
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Mystery Trails
The year 1910, you’re a mountain rescuer and a hiking guide who has just received information about an accident in the area.
Your instinct tells you that this time it’s not going to be a regular one and it might be too late for the victims.
Soon after that you find a body and realize something strange happened out there, and it’s up to you to find out what it was.
In order to get the answers you’re seeking, you’ll also have to use your detective abilities.
You’re not a private investigator, but you’ll have to become one.
Think outside of the box, look for hidden details and interview potential witnesses.
Keep in mind that the weather won’t allow you to take it slow, time pressure is on you!
Gather your equipment and make sure you’re confident in your own skills.
From climbing and skiing, through the proper reading of the map, all the way to tracking, avoiding and fighting animals.
There’s no room for error in this environment, so better keep your focus!
In the end, staying calm, cool and collected might save your life.
It’s always further than it looks, always taller than it looks, and always harder than it looks - the 3 rules of mountaineering. This isn’t another walk in the park.
Experience the harshest weather conditions and survive against them. Mother Nature doesn’t spoil you, and she surely shows no signs of mercy.
Explore the magnificent world of hiking, looking at it through the eyes of an experienced mountaineer.
Enjoy the breathtaking views and connect yourself with the natural world finding the freedom from worry, towards a true peace of mind!
The Dreamwalkers
The Dreamwalkers is a 2D Visual Novel/Point-and-Click Adventure Game in which you can project yourself into the world of Dreams.
You play Morgan, a student in History of the Arts in Paris, who’s life is about to be turned upside down. Along his journey he will meet new friends, whose fate will be into your hands.
Features
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5 acts of an hour each. Perfect for lunch break diversions!
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Highly replayable: the story is divided into 3 mutually exclusive branches, each focused on the relationship between Morgan and one of the Dreamwalkers.
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Romance: will Morgan fall in love with this Dreamwalker or just be friend? Your decision!
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8 different endings depending on choices you’ll have to own up (and no Mass Effect-style: some endings will depend on choices made earlier in the game)
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Explore Dreams: scenes in the world of dreams can be explored in point & click phases to discover more about the universe.
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Original Universe: inspired by Neil Gaiman and Inception, we created a world where myths and reality intertwine.
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Backgrounds and characters drawn by talented artists.
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The original music is a symphony in 5 movements created by a composer and played by an orchestra!
Deja Vu Collector’s Edition
You can watch a full in-depth review of my thoughts on YouTube , or read my summarized review by reading every other sentence.
The premise is simple: your girlfriend, soon to be fiance, was supposed to take a plane to meet you, but she never showed up. In your infinite wisdom, you end up taking a plane to a fictional city in Russia to try and find what happened to her. Afterwards, it’s not just puzzles for the sake of puzzles, this plays like it would be a great adventure game like the old LucasArts days, because while you have to do things inconveniently, you’re not expected to just click your mouse all day long, there’s a rhyme and reason behind everything you do.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
The Divine Invasion
Sort of cyberpunk slasher
Truly decent action/slasher in cyberpunk style. In this game you’re going to be a hitman emerged into beautiful Sci-Fi environment. I can also tell that combat system is rather good, you can fully enjoy it when fighting multiple enemies simultaneously: dodging attacks and activating slo-mo. Didn’t notice any bugs or something, I wouldn’t even say that the game is on Early Access.
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Beautiful graphics
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Good storyline
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Dynamic gameplay
– Real player with 15.9 hrs in game
I’ve added this project to my wishlist because of the very interesting and unique story. Today, when I’ve seen graphics, I made purchase and I’m glad I did it. I understand It’s still Early Access, but even now game looks cool. As a huge cyberpank genre fan I’m glad to add this game to my collection and I will recommend to keep an eye on it to any cyberpank games fans.
– Real player with 6.4 hrs in game
Death Come True
Coming from the same creator of Danganronpa, Death Come True is a marvelous FMV with a very interesting and genius gameplay. You play as a person who woke up in a hotel room with no memories of what brought him to this place. He’ll meet people who’ll tell him what is his identity, or what they thought he is. I’m not going to give away much about the story because it’ll be more fun for you to discover it yourself.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2297203710
It has multiple endings, and the most interesting part that if you die, the game will restart but the main character will still have a memory of whatever event happened and the people he met. This will give you a chance to take different choices and decisions.
– Real player with 3.4 hrs in game
I recommend this game, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t leave me disappointed. Death Come True comes to us from the developer of the Danganronpa series and is a FMV mystery title. As the story plays out, the game will occasionally prompt you to make a choice where you then witness the outcome of your decision; like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. However, that’s where my primary criticism of the game comes in. Despite the illusion of choice, DCT is actually very linear. Usually you are left with deciding between one of two paths, but making the “incorrect” decision often leads to a quick Game Over and the option to continue the game at the last branch in the story line, so you can make the other choice and advance. It doesn’t always play out like this, but in the interest of avoiding spoilers, I’ll ease up on getting more specific. Also, this game is a lot shorter than I was expecting. In 3.4 hours, I earned all the achievements and witnessed all the branching outcomes. Granted, there is a fast-forward option that I used to bypass scenes that had already played out in a previous playthrough, but I still wanted a little more meat on this bone. So, why do I recommend it? Because it’s not a bad game. The story is interesting, albeit not as mind-blowing as I was hoping. Just know that you’re getting a bite-sized, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch-esque experience and not much else. With experience in the Zero Escape and Danganronpa series' prior to playing this game, it’s conceivable my expectations were too high. Nevertheless, I look forward to the seeing what Too Kyo Games comes up with next. But as it concerns DCT, I recommend waiting for a sale.
– Real player with 3.4 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
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