Heroes Rise: The Prodigy
Heroes Rise was one of the, if not THE one game that brought me to enjoy interactive fiction so much. It is not, perhaps, the most shining example there is of its genre, but it is so engaging and unique that all else can be forgotten.
Most interactive fiction stories have a single tool for controlling the story, which are the choice branching (which is great by itself) but this game, and every other good Choice of Games out there, carry yet another tool which is incredible in and out of itself, which is the stat system. It allows you to shape your character in different ways and explore the story multiple times with different personalities, not just by choosing different pathways.
– Real player with 16.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choose Your Own Adventure Indie Games.
The Short of it:
Heroes Rise: The Prodigy a fun, short game (which is reasonable given it’s price) that can give you one heck of an adrenaline and emotional rush if you let it. I would also recommend this game (and the series as a whole) to anyone who wishes for more sexuality and gender diversity in the superhero genre. Only down side is the thin line between simple and shallow the game dances on, and the hack job of “romance” implemented as an optional subplot.
The Long of it:
The best thing about The Prodigy, and the Heroes Rise trilogy in all, is that it doesn’t reward you for being the writer’s idea of a “Hero,” but for being consistent in your morals (basically: don’t play as a character that’s all over the place). While the game does scale this consistency on dichotomies of “lawful” vs. “lawless,” “fame” vs. “justice” and “soloist” vs. “team player” none of these scales are mutually exclusive (despite what the color-coded bars imply) to one another or are viewed as inherently wrong: you could have a defensive soloist with the law on your side but have a penchant to showboating, or an offensive team player that distrusts authority but will work for the best of the group. During my first run I felt like my choices really mattered, but I was let down during the rail-roaded chain of events nearing the (only) climax, but it does pick up the ball again near the very end of the final fight, though it may seem railroaded again because unless you have a wishy-washy character the final choice for the fight is practically chosen for you depending on the “lawlessness” vs. “lawfulness” scale.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
Appointment With FEAR
An on-screen production of one of Steve Jackson’s Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.
A radical change of direction from the usual sword&sorcery style games set in the world of Allansia, this one is a superhero-comic inspired story set in Titan City. You are a superhero, with a choice of one of four special powers, who must find the time and place of the next meeting of F.E.A.R., an organisation intent on world domination, and destroy it’s maniac cyborg leader Vladimir Utoshski.
You have a choice of costume style and colour with the superhero cliche that your character looks almost identical in costume and in street clothes haha….
– Real player with 13.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choose Your Own Adventure Indie Games.
The game is text based adventure where you choose your own path that determines the kind of ending you’ll get. The main antagonist in this game is called F.E.A.R. (the Federation of European American Rebels) led by Vladimir Utoshiki a.k.a. “Titanium Cyborg”. The other leaders of the evil organization, who are set on conquering the world, are having a meeting and it is up to you to stop them. You have three (3) short days to search for clues to discover the exact place and time it’s gonna happen.
– Real player with 12.7 hrs in game
Community College Hero: Trial by Fire
First point of the review: This game has a free demo (insert rant on how demos seem to have mostly replaced by DRMs and on what that says about the game-making industry). Go play it. It’s what sold me on buying the game.
I’d played a COG gamedemo before (Tin Star) and I skipped on buying it, as it didn’t catch my interest. This game? This? I played the demo and when I reached the end I immediately bought it because I just had to know what would happen next. What happens next? It gets better, that’s what happens next.
– Real player with 27.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choose Your Own Adventure Indie Games.
TL;DR: A by-the-numbers fanfic in game form. Wait until the story is completed or at the very least an editing pass is done.
Community College Hero is a novella-length text adventure game. I drew a comparison to a novella because certain events will take place in a certain order regardless of the choices you make. This is in comparison to “choose-your-own-adventure” games where the genre can shift dramatically and the game is full of ways to die at random.
Our story takes place over a semester at Speck Community College’s Heroes Among Us Program. The story hinges around conceits that are straight from the bad fanfic stock trope list:
– Real player with 17.1 hrs in game
Community College Hero: Knowledge is Power
Despite having the usual drawbacks common to stories that are Part 2 in a 3 Part series, CCH:KIP is a solid buy for those planning to play the entire series. Not recommended as a starting point however. Anyways, CCH:KIP starts your character off getting involved in fellow hero Crook’s plan to hunt down Manipulator. I found it annoying personally as I had chosen in Part 1 to stick within the law to bring Manipulator to justice. The story goes on from there. Your choices DO matter in this one more than some COYA games I’ve played. You will probabbly re-start several times when things don’t go the way you thought, unless that is not a big deal for you.
– Real player with 71.3 hrs in game
One of those “If you loved the first one, you’ll love this one” type of recommendations.
The stakes are higher and the risks get bigger as major powers come into play and a new ‘Ouch’ bar becomes a concern. Admittedly, a number of stats and details either did not carry over from the last game or hardly had any significant effect at all on this one, however it still serves as a pretty good setup for the third and probably final installment of the series with major decisions cementing your path to heroism. It provides new character stats to further mold your main character’s personality and disposition.
– Real player with 29.0 hrs in game
Fallen Hero: Rebirth
Where to even begin? Well, the simplest way to go is with a list, but much of what I could say/commend is already covered in the product’s description. So I’ll be foregoing that in favor of a wordy paragraph[or two].
Still, what a story! Maybe it isn’t the “perfect book” for everyone, and there are probably a fair number of people who’ve never considered if they would enjoy playing a CYOA game that could make you feel like you’re fighting a losing battle even as you successfully accomplish what you set out to do without a hitch. This book gives that feeling. Oh boy does it ever!
– Real player with 317.7 hrs in game
So, I never, ever, did a review on any game I have ever played. But this one… This deserves it.
For those people who just wanna know if its good: Yes. It is the best cyoa game I have ever played. Go buy it.
And for those who want to know more…
Story
In a world where Superheroes are real, you were a member of the Justice League Avengers Titans Rangers, a team of heroes to protect the innocent. But after a failed mission that left you assumed dead, you return seven years later to become the greatest villain Los Diabolos has ever known.
– Real player with 70.3 hrs in game
Heroes Rise: The Hero Project
I recommend this adventure right off the back because if you played Prodigy, then you will want to continue “your” story. It took me awhile to get used to the writing style in these stories, as it doesn’t feel exactly like a “choose your own” kind of story. Some of the reactions from “My” character feels closer to watching a character, instead of controlling myself. This adventure takes you into a reality TV show for superheroes, though I’m not sure I would want any of these heroes saving me.
One of the biggest issues I have with “my” adventures up to now are the romantic options. Maybe spoilers, but the romantic choices suck. At least, during my adventure they have. I think the writing overall was better then the first story, I wasn’t pulled out of my adventures as much as I was in Prodigy. After seeing where Prodigy took the storyline, I was extremely curious to see where the next adventure took me. I’ll be honest, I was a little disappointed with a reality show setting, but after finishing the adventure I can at least see why it was chosen.
– Real player with 46.3 hrs in game
Here are my thoughts and feelings about Heroes Rise: The Hero Project. (Spoilers ahoy)
The Good
The story is even better than the last one, with twists and turns that will keep you guessing on your first time playthrough. It has a feeling to it that really gets you tense and pumped up for what happens in the story.
The characters have varying types of personalities and most have semi-realistic personalities.
The Bad
Even though the story is better this time round it has even more problems than the last one. While the first one felt linear it wasn’t glaringly obvious, unlike in this one. Never before have I felt that the choices I made had no impact to the game. Everything I did just felt like poking a wall, it changed nothing. No matter what you do you will ALWAYS get as far as the final eliminations and all that changes is how the ending starts off.
– Real player with 21.9 hrs in game
![Winning Love by Daylight [Ep 1 Demo]](https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1539780/header.jpg)
Winning Love by Daylight [Ep 1 Demo]
In all honesty for a two person project (coding\story\writing and artist) it’s pretty good. The character designs and personalities are interesting and some character powers are pretty unique. Like (spoilers) but someone being a siren was in my opinion a pretty under appreciated thing, and being able to sing people to sleep is pretty interesting. though my main gripe is in certain story skips and dialouge. Like for example, the protagonist is told in a huge moment of exposition that shit is wack and the world might end and that he/she/they might have powers. thing is somehow everyone else in the story knows this later on. Without the protagonist ever explaining that to them. there are also times where the dialouge is akward at point but i think that adds to the charm of it. Like characters are all highschoolers, it makes sense that sometimes the conversations are kinda stiff and akward cuz that’s how it would actually go in real life. Like if a goth girl who most likely is a fan of arson came up and started talking to you, of course you’d be a bit akward in your speech. But my last two complaints about it are the music and facial expressions. In all honesty, the music is terrible, it’s better than that royalty free ukelele from hell but im sure theres other stuff out there you can use without copyright. mainly the music I’m talking about here is the resting abd casual time music, it’s a weird mix of meowing and beeps and i often found myself turning the music all the way off and playing my own mix. And the complaint i have abnout the expressions is later on in the story, i don’t have any complaints about reused assets especially in visual novels, but (spoilers ahead here) maybe after a character like willow loses a loved one maybe don’t show a kind of ‘meh’ face when what she feels is true sorrow. You see that sorrow shown later on but my point still stands. other than those (admitibly small things for a game made by two people with one doing most of the heavy lifting) I think it’s a great game and absolutely my new fav comfort game. good work on the game guys hope you get episode two out soon :)
– Real player with 9.2 hrs in game
This is overall an ok experience. I’ve only played through it once and it’s not really that long but there are a lot of different choices and I assume tons of backstories to discover. The characters are overall pleasant to talk to but the story doesn’t really come together well. It feels as if every choice somehow expects me to have taken all the previous options as to create a more authentic group feeling from knowing the characters. That is to say, a lot of characters I hadn’t interacted with were friendly to me and I to them and I even knew their secret or something at times. This made no sense from what I had played. Usually visual novels circumvent this by having routes and a long intro section as to establish a backstory. This is not the case here at all and the game has tons of choices early on. I would assume that at least the first one is just for flavour but overall it starts too early for meaningful ones or doesn’t incorporate the choices made on future events. Another big problem I had was figuring out how fantastical the setting is. From the start I was expecting a normal world setting with abnormal characters but later on it seemed that supernatural phenomenons were actually canon and well known. This was quite a jarring switch for me and I couldn’t really figure out if the early events were just not the kind of abnormal people were used to or if the setting was inconsistent. The plot later on felt really quite weird but I was imagining some kind of child detective setting and therefore not as unusual for this group or something, even if I wasn’t even aware how close they were. Overall it felt like I was supposed to have read the web comic or played out each choice to be eased in. The story itself felt quite unengaging and frankly unrealistic from my point of view. The only truly engaging part was just at the end of the demo, which was too late. Apart from that, the art looked quite good but there were tons of small problems, some weird lines in some character’s drawings, some really rough edges on objects, a character’s art was extremely blurry and the way side character’s were displayed was inconsistent and the distance to the camera was very different to the main cast’s. Also there was a clock which was quite wide. There also was a night sky picture that certainly didn’t seem drawn and was fairly low quality. There was a rain scene in which the rain drops' position resetted on the next text box. I’m looking forward to how the finished release will be.
– Real player with 7.5 hrs in game
VERSUS: The Deathscapes
OVERALL: I strongly recommend Versus: Deathscapes - there is a lot it does really well, but also some big flaws. (The first 2 parts of the series were the best, on par with the great Infinity Series, and The Wayhaven Chronicles). I’ve tried to lay out what makes me think the experience is really worth it, as well as warning what to prepare for, so you can decide.
PROS:
Some particular strengths are its DLC content, allowing you to opt-in to extra advice. It structures its choices clearly, so you’re not left guessing as to whether the choice aligns with the stats you have been culviating.
– Real player with 555.2 hrs in game
I loved the sense of being thrown into a whole new world in Book 1, and enjoyed the thought of learning more about the mystery and characters of Versus. Book 2 enhanced my fulfillment of the series by turning it into a story of intrigue and politics, where it wasn’t just about beating stuff up, but about simply surviving against something more massive than your puny mortal power or comprehension.
….I feel like book 3 took all that suspense and character development and shoved it out the window. I was fine when half of the cast was put on the bus, since I understood it was a chance to develop other characters. I liked how the stakes were raised, even if the tonal shift was a bit abrupt. I just felt let-down by the pay-off. All the investigating, politicking, and careful character choices were rendered moot. I mean, it’s a game. It was always going to be moot, but it would’ve been more fun getting to that point if the ending had been satisfying.
– Real player with 13.5 hrs in game
Batman - The Telltale Series
I have some friends and people-I-know who like to judge me. All these judgement comes from their inability to accept that people can be different and their tastes can vary, it highly depends on what kinda person you are, your lifestyle and your education.
Telltale Games are always a reason for discussions and some weird talks like “what do you exactly call a game in there?” and every time I hear it I start to get mad. Truth be told, I never understood why people like to judge the genres they don’t like and people who play them, ‘cause it’s never been a big problem for me. If I don’t like the game or genre, I just don’t play it, easy as that.
– Real player with 67.9 hrs in game
By now, Batman is a well known character who’s had probably the largest exposure among comic book characters. Across the years there have been many interpretations of the character, some focusing on the hero, others on the darker aspects of his personallity and most of them on his growth. They’ve all been done to death. How does Telltale’s Batman fare? Do you need to know his character to enjoy this game? Is this a cashgrab or is there some worth to it, something that make the game shine ? Telltale’s catalogue is formed of both kinds. Batman season 1 is an interesting one. It starts as the former and ends as the latter. Before I go on with the narrative and technical details, I’ll get something out of the way: If you intend to play it on a low-tier device, better stay away! The engine of the game served as a prototype and therefore not many things could be fixed. To this day, the framerate can drop to the half of your display, there’s some stuttering in few moments on high-end machines, but it’s much worse on lower-ends. With that out, here’s the actual review:
– Real player with 35.3 hrs in game
Super/Human Identity
Waking up with superpowers and no memory, five strangers find themselves in a struggle for survival and a search for answers. Pursued relentlessly, will their hardships bring them closer together or turn them against each other? And will everyone make it to the end?
Playing as Subject 5, the number designated to you is your only clue to a former life you have no memory of. On the run, fighting for your life, you join up with Subjects 1-4. Together, you must cross a ruined city to get to safety and find answers. Beset by an external threat as well as internal conflict, you have to navigate your way through alarming revelations and difficult choices before finding your freedom.
Superhuman or only human - you must reclaim your identity, or define who you are anew.
FEATURES
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Choose your avatar, pronouns and name as you develop your main character into who you want them to be with frequent, nuanced choices.
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Influence each of your companions’ fates. Will they live or die? Who will they become if they survive?
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Experience different group dynamics as a consequence of your choices. Any two characters can be friends or bitter enemies.
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Romance one of 6 different characters – 3 male and 3 female – available for all genders.
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Think fast and use your telekinetic powers on the environment to defeat enemies. Choose between 4 difficulty settings ranging from Narrative to Superhuman.
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7+ hours long, highly interactive, narrative gameplay. One story with vast variability.
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Stylized, cel-shaded characters and backgrounds, with painted CG artworks illustrating key story moments.
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Epic, emotional, original soundtrack from composer Edwin Montgomery (Warhammer 40,000: Regicide, Wasteland Remastered, Ghost In The Shell, Neverwinter).
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Accessibility features: Opendyslexic font, large UI, self-voicing support with additional descriptive text, captions.