Systematic Insanity
This is not a game.
If you cannot speed read do NOT buy this!!!!
This is a basic “modern media” project that would be regularly seen in the late 1980’s to the early 2000’s as a “media arts” project requirement in North American universities.
That being said it is visually well done.
however:
a) all interaction is disabled entirely except during “dating game” style dialogues.
this is a major issue since the speed of the dialogues is far to high so even a person like me that can absorb the entire LOTR + The Hobbit in under 25 hours of reading still misses nearly 1/4 of the dialogue
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cinematic Action Games.
Virginia
Worst outcome from the entire affair is the more I look into them and play them, less tolerance I have for walking simulators as such. Which is a shame because Virginia is honestly quite a good one. High production values all-around and obvious effort went into this project. It’s also a walking simulator seemingly hellbent on setting your pace and putting its intentionally jumbled narrative ahead of everything else it may have had to offer.
So, what’s cooking? We step into the shoes of one Anne Tarver, fresh FBI graduate who just got her first case assignment. Paired up with a more experienced partner the two embark to a fictional town of Kingdom where they are to investigate a missing child case. Twist is Anne’s superior instructs her to keep a close eye on her new partner, Maria Halperin. She may have some secrets of her own. That’s the premise and what we have to work with for a while, but as the game itself quickly reveals, there’s more underway and you can’t tell WHEN a lot of it is happening. So don’t let anyone tell you there’s no story in Virginia because there sure is. It’s simply told in this fragmented fashion where everything will only click towards the finale as you get context for game’s multiple events.
– Real player with 4.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cinematic Detective Games.
As much as I’m an old school action, adventure and RPG gamer from ‘85 onward, I got heavily into point n’ click/investigative mystery games as time went on. Even in more mixed offerings from the genre like The Suicide of Rachel Foster or the pretty ho-hum Call of Cthulhu redux I can usually find enough mystery elements to stay engaged.
Virginia is a detective game where I didn’t feel like a detective the entire playthrough. I didn’t even feel like I was the janitor on hire to clean out the department’s bathrooms. The Twin Peaks' vibes are strong with this one, there’s a touch of Kubrick happening as well but juvenile, thuddingly heavy-handed cliches and plot twists so insulting the ending may as well be the main character f*rting in your face, absolutely destroy any momentum that the game might have worked up.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Where the Snow Settles
Absolutely loved Where the Snow Settles! It’s a beautifully put together game with a wonderful narrative and art style. I additionally loved the soundtrack and would often have the game playing in the background whilst I would work from home because I loved it that much. Great to see an Australia team do such terrific work!
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cinematic Atmospheric Games.
Where the Snow Settles is a gorgeous cinematic experience that’s almost perfectly sized, easily playable over a single long session or two smaller ones.
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
Beyond: Two Souls
DISCLAIMER
The review you are about to read is based on my own experience with the game, my judgment, and the rating system! No third party has impacted anything said in this review. This review is also 100% spoiler-free, so you don’t need to worry about that either.
Gameplay and Interaction (16 out of 20)
So, as far as the gameplay is concerned this game is the interactivity festival in a good way. Since Beyond: Two Souls is mainly focused around the actual delivery of the story, it is expected for the number of interactive elements to be higher than what you’d usually see. One thing that might surprise a few people is that everything you interact with has a purpose, and there’s no single object that you interact with being there just to fill the space up. Unlike other similar story-based games, there are no interactive components that are wasting your time for the sake of prolonging the playtime - everything is pretty much associated with the story itself. The only thing on the interactive side which doesn’t make sense is that the game is (in certain sequences) almost unplayable without a controller. Considering that this game was a console release at first, without any plans for a PC release does help me look past some of the decisions that were made for the PC release. The only frustrating thing is that the developers did not even try to alter the originally designed mechanics and make them at least a little bit easier to cope with on the PC. Let’s be honest, the PC is the platform where most of the players do not own a controller, to begin with.
– Real player with 25.1 hrs in game
I burned the house because she said rock music sucks
I am Quantic Dream fan since Fahrenheit, after I played it I fell in love with narrative games and couldn’t wait for more similar games. Heavy Rain came out after some time and again I enjoyed it very much but it had flaws. And then Beyond Two Souls have been released. Wow I loved everything about this game, it’s hard to find to say anything bad about it.
Beyond Two Souls tells a story of Jodie and her entity Aiden. Don’t expect realism here, it’s kinda similar to Life is Strange 2 in some way or Fahrenheit. A girl with supernatural power. Aiden is always with her, he doesn’t leave her, he protects her and even lets her see souls and past events. In her childhood Jodie was taken by the scientists to do tests and experiments and her life has been a real roller coaster. No need to talk about the story much because of spoilers on every step so you need to experience it yourself.
– Real player with 21.9 hrs in game
Last Dance
Last Dance, a full-fledged VR short animation that has been highly evaluated by many international film festivals and famous artists for its epic scale and unique VR presentation, is finally available worldwide!
Synopsis:
The human race has devoured itself in war, resulting in the destruction of our home, the Earth.
Only an AI created by human wisdom was able to survive.
The AI escaped into space and was given a single mission: the Regeneration of Mankind.
It kept recreating the Earth and humanity over and over, hundreds of times.
However, the cycle of human extinction did not stop – it only repeated itself every single time.
Just when it seemed history would only repeat forever, a woman danced alone right before the end of her life.
The AI, interested in this woman, could not help but to land on Earth to ask her the reason for her Last Dance.
The encounter between the AI and her would change the fate of the Earth.
Director’s Comment:
This story is a “myth” in the distant future, in which a god-like omnipotent AI falls in love with a human woman.
But what is so attractive about a human to an AI whose existence is beyond human knowledge?
Perhaps, for an AI that can live forever, the short life of a human is like a trotting horse lamp, with their inconvenient body bound by gravity.
Maybe under these limitations, their glittering dance may look peculiarly attractive.
I hope it can become the VR experience that allows us to rediscover the fleeting existence of human beings and the joy of love through the eyes of AI.
Toshiaki Hanzaki
Producer’s Comment:
This is my first time making a feature-length VR animation.
I worked together with Director Hanzaki to create the original story, with our staff gathering the creativity and techniques from all over the world.
Together, we have successfully created a wonderful work that made full use of the goodness of VR media.
I would like to thank everyone for their hard work.
For the time being, we will mainly be exhibiting the film at different festivals.
However, we are planning to broadcast it and release it through events next year.
Please look forward to it.
Kodansha VR Lab
Representative Director and President
Kenji Ishimaru
Dance of Death: Du Lac & Fey
First of all, it’s fair to say that I bought and started the game a few weeks after main launch, so all the critical patches and fixes were already implemented. Played it through twice and encountered no bugs or glitches both times, except for one where the game crashes right before rolling credits, apparently only happening on W7 64 bit… Eh, nothing game-breaking. Later updates also added more interactive points and SEVERAL additional achievements, so I would say by now it’s pretty polished.
– Real player with 34.5 hrs in game
I now arrived at about the middle of the game and I will certainly recommend it, but…
It is a game which enchants you by its really interesting and unusual setting and a great art style. I can think of no other game (point and click adventure - like ) where you play such a stylish hero or rather pair of heroes. The dynamics between the human character and his animal compagnion is original and fun. The dog Fey talks to animals and uses her nose while du Lac interacts with humans and you can change between them almost any time, this is cool. Although -at least until now- this dynmaics is not living up to its potential.
– Real player with 19.4 hrs in game
HARU
A single-player third-person adventure set in the Eastern Icelandic tundra, where you must brave not only the cold, but the spirits that wander the night.
Key Features
Play notes. Fight ghosts.
Playing her harmonica, Haru can ward off evil ghosts and make friends with benevolent spirits that rise in the darkness.
Breathtaking graphics.
With a built in “photo mode,” you can take cinematic-quality screenshots of your adventure.
Pet the cat.
Yes, you CAN pet the cat!
A game by Sheehan Ahmed and Weston Bell-Geddes
Martha Is Dead
Martha Is Dead is a dark first-person psychological thriller, set in 1944 Italy, that blurs the lines between reality, superstition and the tragedy of war.
As conflict intensifies between German and Allied forces, the desecrated body of a woman is found drowned… Martha!
Martha is dead, and her twin sister Giulia, the young daughter of a German soldier, must alone deal with the acute trauma of loss and the fallout from her murder. The hunt for the truth is shrouded by mysterious folklore and the extreme horror of war that draws ever closer.
What will prevail?
Features
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Unashamedly authentic voice acting in Italian
The first Indie game to launch using the native Italian language as the default setting – for full immersion into the story and the characters.
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From the creator of The Town of Light
The second game from LKA, the award-winning developer of “The Town of Light” and specialists in reality-based narrative games focused on tough subjects.
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Deep and dark multi-layered narrative
Martha Is Dead is an exploration of loss, relationships and the psychological undertones of a dark period of history through the eyes of a young woman who seeks the truth, but who also has secrets of her own to hide.
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Explore a detailed recreation of the Italian countryside
Freely explore the breathtakingly realised Tuscany countryside on foot, by boat, or bike. Grounded in reality, Martha Is Dead’s setting and historical context are inspired by real facts and places that have been faithfully reconstructed in true LKA fashion.
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Play with dolls
Play with numerous marionette sequences in the puppet theatre to remember repressed memories.
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Mixing folklore with superstition
Unlock symbols and use tarot cards to unveil new aspects of the game and to summon the spirit of The Lady.
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A backdrop of War
Collect newspapers, telegrams and listen to the radio to keep updated on what is occurring in the world during the war.
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Virtual photographic greatness
Take pictures for the sheer pleasure of doing so, and also to progress through the story and discover more about the game world. A simulator will guide you through 1940s photography, where you’ll be able to develop your actual photos through a fully working in-game darkroom!
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Authentic Italian music of the era
Immerse yourself in a deeply evocative and atmospheric soundtrack containing underwater music specialists Between Music and their Aquasonic project; The Town of Light composer Aseptic Void and his moody yet spinetingling tones; and held together in true vintage style featuring reimagined versions of classic tracks including Schubert’s Ave Maria, O Bella Ciao, with original tracks written and sung by Francesca Messina, AKA 90s disco star, Femina Ridens.
Dark Tales from México: Prelude. Just a Dream… with The Sack Man
DARK TALES FROM MÉXICO
This is a saga of 9 short games and a prelude in a 3D survival horror style, based on tales from the real Mexican folklore in which every monster it´s originally a physical sculpture made and painted by hand and then 3D scanned using photogrammetry.
IN THIS EPISODE
You are a young girl who is sleeping and having a nightmare in the middle of which your grandmother appears giving you a key, then a black cat starts talking to you and tells you that if you want to wake up, you must recover, in less than an hour, a dagger that is inside a labyrinth where the Sack Man lives, the monster that steals children from that old legend that your grandmother also told and warns you that this labyrinth is alive, that it changes its shape and that it will protect the monster by showing you your own fears, and that if you fail, you will remain inside the labyrinth forever and you will never wake up again.
FINAL FANTASY® XIII
From what I have gathered, this game is somewhat controversial. I have 3 playthroughs now, looking forward to a 4th, and I would like to bring up a few points and offer my opinions, that potential players might have a better perspective on the game beforehand. This review will be quite lengthy, for there is a lot to cover, even scratching the surface as I am. I assure you there are no story spoilers.
Journey - The game is very linear. The first 80% of the story takes you on a singular path from one locale to the next, with little deviation, before it opens up into the main side-questing hub. (Firsttime players: at this point, I strongly advise following the map and pressing on with the main story for the best experience; there will be plenty of time later to complete this content, and you will be much better prepared.) Those of you looking for a cohesive, story-driven rpg that will keep you glued to your controller for 40 hours before you even get to the endgame, look no further.
– Real player with 956.1 hrs in game
God have mercy on my soul
This is without a doubt the most difficult review I’ve ever written, but this game is so fascinating from multiple perspectives; I’ve challenged myself to throw my hat into the ring and explain why I resonate with it despite the overt shortcomings.
It’s my Focus, really.
FFXIII is a game that was fraught with a lot opposing views amongst Square Enix’s devs on how to create a “perfect hybrid” between inputting command-based strategies for party members whilst being simultaneously cinematic akin to the battles found in FFVII: Advent Children, an animated film adaption of the highly adulated FFVII.
– Real player with 134.8 hrs in game