Codename Nemesis
Codename Nemesis is an indie, top down, action/stealth RPG set in a 70’s Noir themed world with story rich movie styled cinematics and retro low poly, comic book styled graphics.
Follow Sam, a goofball hitman through a dark city filled with scum as he tries to find his friend, Neil, who’s in the wind after the alleged assassination of their boss, a powerful crime lord. With every goon in the city wanting Sam and Neil dead, our hero takes off into the dead of night in search of his brother while eventually coming face to face with his ultimate nemesis.
Key Features:
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Immersive story-line and movie styled in-game cinematics.
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Choice of gameplay between Action & Stealth.
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Striking, stylized comic book and retro low poly graphical extravaganza.
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70’s era urban themed characters and RPG environment.
Read More: Best Cinematic Action RPG Games.
Conscious Existence - A Journey Within
This is something that I honestly think everyone should see - pick a reason. But a few suggestions: 1. This thing is VERY system intensive. I have a 9900K system with 32gb RAM, a RTX2080Ti Founders ed., and m.2 nvme primary drives. I didn’t install this on a primary drive, I put it on a slower external as I do for new things. Well, the slow drive alone was enough to make this experience clip and stall on me, badly enough that I stopped it part of the way in as it ruins the experience utterly. (@dev, I sure hope there is some additional work that can be done on the buffering?) This means if you have an SSD, put it there or risk stutter and stalls, which ruin it frankly. 2. Put away the bitter sarcasms and stresses of the day before you experience this, and commit to just be open and present. The author is clearly trying to make a statement, but that statement may not be for everyone. Nor does it need to be. This is a beautiful experience in imagery, message, and sound (I am not sure what kind of headphones some reviewers are using, but my audio was extremely clear and full spectrum) I certainly would have a hard time thinking of a better way to practice being present, listening, and letting go of the cynical side for a few minutes than this. 3. I would suggest that you watch this while alone, and only so that you can react open and honestly to it and not react how others might expect of you. @Dev as others have suggested tweaks for replayability would be a nice add. I can think of several guided meditations that would fit beautifully and it should be relatively inexpensive to sound-engineer someone in to read. That is, If you are open to increasing your target objectives a bit (but I think, in doing so you would be promoting the spirit of the intent anyway)
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cinematic VR Games.
I’m rather PISSED OFF I did not experience this on the index. The audio alone would of tested the index spatial performance to the max.
Imagine dying and coming back to life and then appreciating your room. YOUR ROOM! A feeling enhanced by Infinity! That feeling! The production crew managed to pull that out of me. I appreciated life, looking at the sky, the sun, the ground, the trees. Even an ANT I observed under a magnifying glass. It’s like all your senses melted into one neural pulse. This is how I felt after I came back from death. And after the high, I am now feeling normalized and I validated my existence now and for ever more.
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
Ricerca VR
This is one of those ones where you just lie down and watch in the middle of your play place. It does go on a bit long though, but if you’re looking for a evocative, subtle, meditative experience (and you really do want to kill 15 minutes) you will enjoy this. I don’t think it features any advanced positional audio technologies, but it nice to have the sound come at you from varying angles.
! Incidentally, I need to purchase a bean-bag chair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a651Dd_mP04
– Real player with 14.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cinematic VR Games.
It is a genuine looped art demonstration that fits perfectly into a VR space (with added binaural audio).
The screens use heavily compressed video, though, and it shows in the darker scenes and the ones with lots of slower movement.
When I purchased it, it was $0.99 which I feel is perectly priced for what it is. This is a good demonstration of what VR can do outside of games.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
VACUULUS
FEAR. THE. VACUUM. MAN.
Vacuulus is a survival-horror game, but without blood/gore or macabre elements. You play as a young boy known for being a slob, waken in the middle of the night by a legendary monster known as the Vacuum Man (or Vacuulus). According to legend, you must clean your house to vanquish him, but while remaining unseen. For if it sees you, it will take you away.
The game is in first person perspective with a heavy emphasis on sneaking, with features such as full body awareness, a dynamic music system, and 3D cinematics with fully animated characters as well as 2D animated sequences, with voice acting and its own bone-chilling soundtrack to boot.
Autumn Dream
Introduction
This is the 4th game I’ve played by GDNomad and the 6th one that he has developed. I hate repeating myself, but this game is following a similar pattern with his other titles, it’s the best one so far but unlike Nomad’s other titles, this one is actually not all that bad.
Gameplay
Gameplay in Autumn Dream is virtually the same as GDNomad’s other titles. The game plays primarily as a horror game along with some puzzles added in different sections, even if they’re pretty unnecessary, they’re still rammed into sections of the game.
– Real player with 6.2 hrs in game
Autumn Dream is another indie horror asset flip from GDnomad.
Story:
You play as a man who inherits an old house, but with a small catch, you have to stay for a few days so you can fully inherit the house. But also the document states that you can’t leave the house at night or go to the basement.
If you read my previous reviews for GDnomads games or played one yourself you already know that the game will have broken English making it impossible to follow the storyline as the character speaks nonsense all the time. For example when you first go to the house the main character says ‘This place looks wonderfully’. So imagine reading a bunch of lore building documents with the same type of English.
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
Awake: Episode One
OMG! This experience is a MUST SEE! I read about AWAKE: Episode One on Upload VR and thought it looked interesting, but I was totally unprepared for how much of an emotional impact it would have on me!
It’s short (takes me about 25 minutes cos I want to study every detail), but I’ve never had a VR experience quite like it - being able to get right up in front of these real characters and just want to go back in there again and again. Still working through the deeper levels of what the bigger story means. What a head trip, brilliant performances and cannot wait for more episodes!!!! Where is it all going???
– Real player with 4.4 hrs in game
Awake makes you feel like your in that in-between state when your neither fully awake or fully asleep. The ability to light the characters faces makes you feel like you can hold their chins in the palm of your hands — that moment when you become Harry or Rose positions the story centrally in your psyche. When the light shone out of me, I am sure I burst. Look you give me an experience where it tells me to dream I will dream but, even the greatest cynic has to appreciate when a story envelopes you whole. I would love to dive into the teacup.
– Real player with 2.1 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
It’s Not About The End
Although the game was very short, I can say that it filled me with peace. Except for a few bugs, I found it quite successful. Of course, you shouldn’t expect too much. It was a game that I finished over and over again by enjoying it in general terms. It could have been nicer if it was longer. It was a gripping game that I wanted it to never end. I also liked the graphics and I can say that the atmosphere of the game is really amazing.
– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game
This game has some good visuals. Not the best, but they are pretty decent. You might have to mess with the settings a bit to find that sweet spot or else the game will be laggy or have some sickening motion blur. The story confused me a little bit at times. It has easy achievements if that is your thing. Some of the objects were boring to find mainly because the area is so big and spread out. It’s a nice game to play if you want to take a break from Overwatch, Destiny, DOTA, or any other chaotic game.
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Mosaic
Striking visual designs and themes I usually enjoy aside, it’s a bit on the nose with it’s message about rejecting the hamster wheel of only working and never living. It’s also a bit too simplistic in it’s presentation. Real life isn’t as simple as just daring to choose between being happy and doing fun stuff you enjoy and working yourself to death in a boring dead end job with unreasonable demands. Real life usually is a mix of the two sides, and all the thousands of little bits in between those two extremes.
– Real player with 7.5 hrs in game
Some Tiles Are More Equal Than Others
Mosaic is a game secretly about another game. Blip Blop, the bare-bones clicker game contained on employee 978-067443006’s phone. In-between guiding him through his non-life, you’ll find your brain defaulting to your Blop accumulation and when you can next stop to Blip. You’ll reach for your virtual phone when ignored every morning in lifts and on train platforms and, to hell with it, stop in the middle of crowds. Even after the most harrowing visual set piece of late-stage capitalism’s worst excesses and neglect you’ll immediately open your phone to invest your auto-Blops, lest you be inefficient. This pernicious little app is the only source of stimulation - empty and soulless stimulation though it may be - in a world and game so utterly devoid of it.
– Real player with 7.3 hrs in game
Morphine
Morphine puts us in the shoes of an 18-year-old high school student who experiences a lot of bullying in his class. I think the idea of putting school bullying in the focus is commendable as not many video game use it for storytelling purposes. It should also be noted that it was mainly developed by Kerim Kumbasar - upon completion you can read his notes saying the game is based on his own experience.
Now, Morphine is, first and foremost, one of those first person exploration games. It is not an FPS in its true sense as shooting enemies is kept to a minimum. It is more about walking, interacting with objects and minimalistic puzzle solving. We relive the many times Peter was bullied by his classmate, Ted and these are often followed by dream-like sequences with a giant rabbit that is akin to the one in the film Donnie Darko. The main jumpscares are attributed to the appearance of this otherworldly creature.
– Real player with 3.8 hrs in game
Morphine is the first and only game made by Kerem Kumbasar - a name that we see in nearly every available space of this game - a Turkish indie developer. For a one man project and a first trial at unity to produce something presentable, I’d say that it is a semi-success. The game has some imaginative value and is brave enough to take the risk of undergoing a psychedelic horror display, but it has its unforgivable parts which led me into casting a downvote.
To arrange a non-spoiler summary, our character is a high school student with some background and popularity issues. He is the subject of constant bullying for his whole high school experience, because why not? He is insecure and intolerant, with an impending psychosis on the side. The game invites us to go through a psychedelic journey in his memories, eventually bringing us to the point where he decides to get violent. It should be noted that the name of our protagonist is a bit ambiguous, since the names of our protagonist and antagonist got mixed-up half-way through the game. For the most part, he is referred as Peter - the bully being Ted, yet nearing the end game, our silent nerd is called as Ted and the bully is called as Peter. It is quite frustrating. It might be declared that they were the same and the one person altogether, but that really doesn’t fit into the story, so… if anyone managed to get that part, inform me.
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game