Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka with Love
Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka With Love
Pros:
š
šSuperb Voice Acting
šBold and Colourful Hand Drawn Graphics
šPuzzles Had Just the Right Amount of Difficulty
šSatire was amusing and fun to uncover
šMeaningful Achievements
šTrading Cards
Cons:
š
š Only Six Save Slots
Short Analysis
Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka With Love is developed and published by Artifex Mundi, usually attributed to making Hidden Object Games. Recently they broke the mould a little when releasing My Brother Rabbit and have now released their first adventure in the point and click world.
ā Real player with 14.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cold War Indie Games.
Irony Curtain is a delightfully clever adventure in the ‘old style’ of point and click classics. It has all the elements - meaningful story, detailed graphics/animations, professional voice acting, obtuse inventory-based puzzles, mini-games, and a lot of running back and forth across scenes. It does not have complex dialog trees, which I appreciated. Instead, it has simple dialog choices and a number of cut scenes.
You play Evan - a child of capitalism who is in love with the idea of communism. Through a wild series of events, he ends up in Matryoshka and discovers that life under ‘The Great Leader’ is not what he imagined. He is thrown into playing a role in a revolution of the people and the rest is just good fun. Evan is a bumbling hero and his antics within the communist bureaucracy are quite entertaining.
ā Real player with 13.7 hrs in game
Stalin vs. Martians 4
Stalin vs. Martians 4 is a massively soloplayer action game which tells a story of the conflict between Stalin and the Martians. It has a narrative-based story with a plot and rich dialogues of humorous nature, which beautifully highlight the story’s narrative-based narrative and plot.
Also Stalin vs. Martians 4 is a rather unexpected sequel to 2009ās infamous real-time strategy game. GameSpot named the original Stalin vs. Martians āperhaps the worst RTS game ever createdā. Thatās high praise. You donāt hear it every day.
Well yeah, the original Stalin vs. Martians featured some brilliant, but questionable ideas in the fields of game design, level design and some other designs as well. So we sent most of the original developers to Gulag, we’re making a proper and, which is important, playable game. It is powered by Unreal Engine. And you’re gonna like.
Could you please be a little more serious?
OK, Stalin vs. Martians 4 is an isometric action/shooter game. Which is frankly quite obvious from the screenshots and gameplay videos provided. But it must be understood, that SvM4 is not entirely about the core gameplay. It is more about the overall user experience. In a way, it can be compared to Catherine. Which is essentially a puzzle game, but in fact it is so much more than that.
Even more serious
SvM4 is built around the core gameplay of an isometric shooter, but it is conceived as a pythonesque over-the-top project, that puts a very unlikely protagonist against a very unlikely backdrop. All the time, mission after mission. Itās a sketch comedy about an evil idiotic buffoon. You have Stalin in Candyland, then he emerges in the Lovecraftian setting and fights Cthulhu, then he goes to Mars, then he travels to Ancient Greece, etc. Occasionally the game spoofs other games and introduces absurd mini-games. Sometimes it changes the genre, but within reason. And then you have crazy video intermissions (think of Red Alert or, you know, the original Stalin vs. Martians).
As mentioned above, the game is very narrative-based. Kinda like Firewatch, but, you know, better. It is also very cinematic. So we intend to provide a stable, very cinematic rate of 24 frames per secondā¦ Oh, wait. Okay, maybe more if the audience expects a certain digital fidelity in this field.
Features
ā¢ A follow-up to one of the craziest games in history
ā¢ Campy humor, insane concept and ridiculous storyline
ā¢ A āsketch comedyā approach with a variety of settings and mini-games
ā¢ Fast-paced isometric combat
ā¢ Physics-based destruction system (āKatamari Damacy in reverseā)
ā¢ At least 12 levels, separated by absolutely insane video intermissions
ā¢ Narrative-based missions (āFirewatch on drugsā)
ā¢ Some of the levels include mini-games, some are just switching
the genre, because why not?
ā¢ Character upgrades, crazy weapons and special abilities
ā¢ Ranks system which defines the progress through the game
ā¢ Survival mode
ā¢ The bestest soundtrack ever
ā¢ Actual gameplay
The game may also feature nudity if we’ll be able to find someone nude. (Which is unlikely).
Read More: Best Cold War Action Games.
Fidget Spinner
At first glance, this game may seem as if it was made by a child. The icon seems a bit abstract, but when you look closer, you’ll understand all the hidden meanings behind this game. What they are? That’s for you to find out. I can’t ruin this surprise for any one of you. But now, I must tell you the story; one of the absolute power this game actually contains. Some say that words can’t affect you, but these words can. My daughter once had cancer. Every breath, every step, every motion was painful for her, but she still clung on to life. She was determined to beat her cancer and live on, sitting in the flower forests that she always loved to visit whenever she played with her fidget spinner. Gosh, she loved those flowers. Even now I tear up when thinking about her. I remember the day she was told that she had a year left to live. She was shocked; she thought that her fighting was enough, but it seems that it wasn’t. The cancer was too strong. However, through it all, she still prevailed, and so did her love for the simplicity of a small hand held toy, basic but passes time in a unique way. Coming across this game was a large surprise to myself, saying that I have not heard of this artistically crafted video game beforehand. But, after buying this masterpiece, I feel ashamed for not holding the passionate story line like The last of us in my possession before this point. Never before in my life have I played such diligent and thoughtful storytelling spilled out upon these pixels.The cover of this game is a beautifully hand drawn masterpiece. It is a mind baffling precursor to the extreme design of such a game. I will tell you why. After you play this game, you experience your body being cleansed from head to toe. this is only the beginning. Your sadness will go into the yawning abyss, and an extreme amount of happiness will wash over you like a wave. This game is exquisitely well coded. I look back on our many memories from back then and cry. On that last, fateful day, I held her hand close. I held it tight. Her mother couldn’t be with her, but she’s alright with just me. She left us a while ago. I can’t blame her for it; our living situation is terrible. I couldn’t stand to see her in a situation like this, and I suppose that she couldn’t stand being in it. I remember her asking me to play this game with her, with a great big smile on her face. Her grin went from ear to ear; something I barely saw anymore. I do remember tearing up. But her heart rate was slowing down. I had played it before she left me. Each level, each spinner, each breath I took gave her a smile. I remember her always wanting to play this but never getting the chance to, so I got it for her. She closed her eyes with a smile after I unlock the final spinner and closed the closed the game. A final beep, then nothing. But her heart rate decided to come back. I practically jumped out of my seat; I was surprised. I alerted the doctors right away. Was it this game? Was it this game that had brought her back? Fast forwarding to now; my daughter’s in college. She has left fidget spinner behind, but still visits it from time to time. This is her favorite game. Thank you, dear developer, for putting such care and effort into this wonderful game. I hope it continues to spread its blessings throughout time, lovingly teaching kids about the joys of a toy. I hope this game gets to those in need, and I hope the meaning behind the story will inspire them as well. And again, thank you. 3
ā Real player with 4003.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cold War Memes Games.
Ok how do I even start this review. Ok so im a EPIC DESPACITO GAMER and I gotta say after playing 24+ hours of this game I acheived true immortality. This game has completely set a new standard on how future games should look and feel. Comparing this to Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto V should not even be a discussion. This game is far superior than all of these other AAA games that are currently being released. This game is far tooooo under priced for a game on this level.
This game features revolutionary game mechanics. The atmosphere is incredibly deep to the point where it ACTUALLY makes you feel like batman. The music in this game is also top notch and I cant wait for a soundtrack to be released for this masterpeice. Another thing that makes this such a perfect game is that the graphics surpass that of Grand Theft Auto V, Fallout 4, Call of Duty Black Ops 4, ETC.
ā Real player with 87.3 hrs in game
Jazzpunk: Director’s Cut
The 1960’s were a strange time, atomic paranoia fueled the cold war as the space race allowed mankind to make monumental leaps forward technologically. Global espionage was the tool with which the cold war was fought as agents from both of the world’s super powers battled for information and technology. Amidst all of this, counter culture exploded and use of psychedelics became a new past time. Jazzpunk uses this period of time as an aesthetic springboard for it’s comedic hijinx and in doing so plays out like an episode of Saturday Night Live with an overarching theme to it’s skits.
ā Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
Jazzpunk isā¦well it’s…umm…hmm…
Sitting here having finished the game, I haven’t the least bit of an idea how I’m supposed to describe the bloody insanity that is Jazzpunk. I could say it’s a psychedelic love letter to obscure references; an outrageous consolidation of ridiculous moments and hilarious dialog, brought to life with a bizarre art style and deadpan delivery. But what is Jazzpunk really? Well I guess it’s all of these things and so much more; an barrage of creativity held together by forces beyond our understanding. It’s insane and absurd, and I love it so much.
ā Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
UnMetal
Worshipping its inspirations, yet being a unique game
What to expect?
If you are at the age of about 30+, Ā»UnMetalĀ« might have gotten your attention due to its graphical similarities with the top-down Ā»Metal GearĀ« games (MSX2, NES, GameBoy), and Ā»UnMetalĀ« plays very much like those: While escaping from your prison cell, which you were thrown into for Ā»a crime you didnāt commitĀ«, you explore your surroundings and stumble upon files about an imminent terrorist action you then try to prevent. Sneak around your opponents, distract them, knock them out with your bare hands or even shoot them (but with a catch), use mine detectors and nightvision goggles, disable surveillance devices and so on. In contrast to the aforementioned Ā»Metal GearĀ« games, Ā»UnMetalĀ« follows a rather humorous approach while referencing iconic scenes from its inspirations. To get a first impression, I recommend playing the free demo.
ā Real player with 24.5 hrs in game
I first heard about this game a couple months ago and was interested when I saw the retro NES Metal Gear style game play. I played the demo and loved the humor in it. I was excited to give it a go when the game came out and it did not disappoint. The gameplay is great. My only complaint about it is that at times, it’s hard to get right up behind somebody to punch them if you’re approaching them vertically without alerting them. It’s probably more to do with the 2D design than anything else but I had to knock a slight point off for that. Fortunately, after the first few chapters, you get chloroform which you can hold from a greatest distance so you won’t run into that issue again.
ā Real player with 18.9 hrs in game