WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.02
World End Economica 2. Even though my recommendation wasn’t exactly glowing for the previous one, I would definitely recommend this one if you made it through the first. In my honest opinion, it was definitely better than the first.
The story this time around is four years on from the end of WEE episode 1 and is still economics based but the plots shift a bit. He is no longer making money for the sake of some ludicrous dream. In fact, he is no longer making much money at all. He and some Swiss (?) noble attempt to fight the corrupt giants of the financial world and a romantic sub-plot creeps in. He is stuck in a love polygon between several girls (yes this is a visual novel) but, this being WEE you do not get a choice in the matter. Fighting for justice is not simple and Haru (this translation team changed his name from Hal) must learn this while walking the razor’s edge and not lose sight of what really matters.
– Real player with 21.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Crowdfunded Sci-fi Games.
Took five hours to burn through the entire thing in one shot.
If your think 13 bucks is worth five hours of reading, then buy this. ‘Cause it’s amazing. The game is full of references to the first game though, so if you haven’t played or read that, you’re probably going to be pretty lost for the first hour or so, upon which the information is reiterated so many times that you can probably piece together even if you didn’t know that yes, there was a WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.1 even though this is episode.2. Really, if you’ve played one, then you might find the constant reminders irritating. I sure did after, what, the twentieth time?
– Real player with 13.1 hrs in game
Walkerman
-The game has a some nice backgrounds and overall the art is good but the backgrounds get used over and over and over. The same can be said about the characters, you get the odd flip left and right but the amount of actual unique art is very limited.
-The sound/music is alright, nothing to right home about, but the blaring “Walkerman” headbanger outro after each act… fml.
-The game/narrative is a blatant rip off of The Witcher, I am actually surprised that the developer hasn’t had a legal injunction filed against him, maybe there is just enough changed for it not to be considered intellectual property theft… If you have never played the Witcher, do yourself a a favour and run and grab it and stay clear of this.
– Real player with 12.8 hrs in game
I am a big fan of a well written story a a choice centered story where the choices you make have a real effect and this game very much delivered on that for me. It’s a shame it hasn’t gotten more attention really.
+Pros
-The music is very enjoyable for the most part, the main theme was a bit jarring at first but it grew on me in a campy way.
- The main character seems to have a lot of depth to him and has an actual personality in him, rather than many games like this where the main character is as much of a blank slate as possible.
– Real player with 8.0 hrs in game
WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.03
And finally, number three in the WEE series. The story here is another four years on from the previous episode (why four again? They seem to like the number four). This time, we are playing financial lecture with romantic subplot. Hal makes a big bet, wins big, things turn to crap and he chases after the girl he loves and we get a nice, happy, romantic ending. But, they really went full on this time with explaining how things work and even give definitions for some of the terms used. Why they didn’t do that from episode one, I will never know. On top of that, they even give diagrams to show how some things work. Diagrams that simplify or break down how some of these investments work. Diagrams. DIAGRAMS. To me, putting diagrams in was wholly unnecessary because reading this you need at least a basic understanding of how these things work and because this is number three in the series, and you have almost certainly read one and two, I feel like everyone reading this has that.
– Real player with 29.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Crowdfunded Sci-fi Games.
World End Economica. An epic tale about greed, dreams, and moon stocks. Set four years after the second game this story concludes the series in one hell of beautiful finale.
First off, if you’re here to check out whether or not this trilogy is worth getting, YES. ABSOLUTELY. This series is great with each installment being an improvement over the previous which were already good and great games, respectively, in their own right. Be warned though, there’s a lot of economics terminology that may fly over your head, but even if you don’t understand a lot of the terms the underlying story is always easy enough to follow that it shouldn’t be a real issue. In fact, it may even interest you. At the very least you’re bound to learn something about stocks and the economy.
– Real player with 16.3 hrs in game
KARAKARA
This is a plaintext version of the full GameCynic review (with gallery)
Supported in part by a successful Indiegogo funding campaign earlier in 2016, Japanese developer Calme’s debut title is a short visual novel centered around the daily life of Leon, who struggles to keep his café open in a post-disaster era.
Visual novels — games which are essentially watching anime at your own pace, with little to no actual gameplay — are often a difficult genre to do well. Their simplicity means that storyline often makes or breaks a game, and a market saturated by home made, amateur titles can often overwhelm new developers. Luckily for KARAKARA, this isn’t a problem, thanks to strong personalities for the main characters.
– Real player with 19.1 hrs in game
If I had to describe KARAKARA in one sentence, I’d say “It’s Fallout meets NEKOPARA, but not as competent as either one”. Now if that intrigues you, please read on.
KARAKARA is a fully kinetic visual novel. That means there’s no plot choices, no dating sim elements, not even a petting button or localized earthquakes. It functions like a standard visual novel, with static backgrounds and slightly animated character sprites. I really like the visual style, particularly with how colors are balanced. If I had to complain about anything, I’d say everything is just a bit too bright, but it’s not bad. As for audio, the music isn’t exactly remarkable, but it makes for a good background. There’s also sound effects that get the job done similarly, and the voice acting was at least good enough that I didn’t mute it.
– Real player with 14.1 hrs in game
Ne no Kami: The Two Princess Knights of Kyoto
Bought this lured by the yuri… ended up enjoying the main story a lot more than I expected, and the romantic aspects a lot less than I expected.
The story in this game is mainly about a civilian girl getting dragged away from her everyday life and enlisted to fight in a centuries-long war, her reactions to it, and her questioning of the validity of the conflict.
I found that very interesting, and I thought the battle scenes were especially well done. I enjoyed the detail and tactical aspects to them, and the music for those scenes is really good; almost Guilty Gear style music.
– Real player with 48.4 hrs in game
I just red through this VN and I’d like to share my opinion on this one.
I am no VN connoisseur but I can appreciate a good storytelling. This story had me confused the first few minnutes, thought I am missing something, like a game that came before this but no, right after chapter 1 I was hooked. There’s war upon us and you just get thrown in the middle of it and have your perspective on reality shaken. As you go through this, you encounter more and more mysteries not only about the world but about the hero herself. It’s exactly those mysteries that kept me going through.
– Real player with 16.4 hrs in game
Ne no Kami - The Two Princess Knights of Kyoto Part 2
Part 2 of the Visual Novel is as action and story rich as the first part.
With a ending twist with the last part, and a intense battle on the start of the second part, with an even more deeper story buiding with all the events and hint gathering, the story continues its fascinating way towar the hardest of the emotions, be itlovee, be it pain, or even sadness and Bloodspread. The events take quite a harsch turn of pace, which deepens aswell the resolve of the young generation.
The twist between humor and seriousness akes it a very lively, yet grabbing story which captivates any reader in an amazing adventure.
– Real player with 27.6 hrs in game
Good shit. A pretty significant upgrade from the first game; plot and characterization were both very strong and the yuri scenes (do purchase the accompanying uncensor patch from denpasoft) were significantly sexier. I’m definitely hyped for (a potential?) part 3.
Regarding the ending, although part 2 does leave room for continuation, it comes to a much more concrete/complete ending point compared to the cliffhanger from part 1, in a sense completing in arc. For readers worried about being left on the brink of a story that never gets finished I would say that no longer applies to this series.
– Real player with 14.6 hrs in game
Broken Age
Broken Age is a game that I haven’t yet sat down to distill my thoughts on. It’s the game that brought Double Fine to my attention and would eventually lead me to becoming a key member in the community. Between running Game Club , Bad Golf , becoming a volunteer moderator on the forums, and so on, it’s hard for me to think about Broken Age or the DFA as a whole without stopping to ponder the impact of those activities on my life.
– Real player with 36.3 hrs in game
My rating: 7+/10
Based on: two playthroughs (one full and one speedrun)
TL;DR: Double Fine’s Broken Age may have been one of the early success stories for the Kickstarter-backed projects, but it didn’t live up to the expectations of a long-starved fan of the point-and-click adventure games such as myself. Admittedly, that wasn’t entirely its fault: it’s a good game with a great production value for its budget, but it doesn’t exactly stand tall among the all-time greats of the genre, either. Not an instant classic, but very charming, it offers an intriguing coming-of-age story, memorable characters, excellent writing, art and sound design, but the second act is sort of a drag.
– Real player with 20.7 hrs in game