The Solitaire Conspiracy
Bithell? More like Bit heaven! Mike Bithell and his team have a genius where they can take something familiar and well worn (platformer, text adventure, stealth, er… John Wick?) and infuse it with so much character, intelligence, story and warmth that it’s the kind of art that changes you when you experience it.
Their treatment of solitaire may not kick you squarely in the feels like Thomas was Alone or the Circular games BUT it is a great game and has a great twist where the picture cards are characters with powers that alter the game. The short story is great and keeps you hooked until the end (I’ll say no more to keep this spoiler free) and then there are the modes you unlock play playing the campaign - this is what you’ll be playing tomorrow and after that. Countdown is a cool endless mode with a global leaderboard which is both exciting and addictive with that “just one more turn” quality to it. Skirmish mode lets you experiment with the different spy teams - analogous to the suits (clubs, hearts etc) except there are much more than four to choose from, each with their own unique abilities!
– Real player with 28.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cyberpunk Solitaire Games.
I’ve played a bunch of solitaire games on Steam, and while I can’t say The Solitaire Conspiracy is the most anything - not the most challenging, not the most creative, not the most innovative - it’s so well put-together as a package that I absolutely have to recommend it, and with a roadmap for even more content coming, it’s going to keep getting better.
The core of the game is simple; four suits scattered across a board. Move cards on the top of any given pile onto another one of higher value to reach what you need, try to build the suits in the centre from ace to king. You can see every card’s location from the very start, and consequently you won’t ever have to actually bank on RNG to save you. Every face card (jack, queen, king) has a special single-use ability determined by its suit, which you can use to get yourself out of a sticky situation. That’s it, that’s the game. From the first level to the last, regardless of difficulty, the basic rules of playing TSC will stay the same.
– Real player with 7.8 hrs in game
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure
I have been a fan of Tex Murphy since Under a Killing Moon – nearly twenty years! That said, I will not do this game or the community a disservice by writing anything less than a fully honest review. The game succeeds far more often than it fails, but is far from perfect, so I will not score it 10 out of nostalgia, or 0 out of disappointment.
First, let me give this game a score out of ten. In my opinion, it falls somewhere around 7.5. I think this game will please Tex fans and newcomers alike, even if it isn’t perfect. If you like a good story or adventure games, then check this one out. If you like it, I highly recommend trying out Tex’s past adventures.
– Real player with 31.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cyberpunk Adventure Games.
As a Tex Murphy fan, I was stoked after hearing about the newest installment, and boy was I eager to play! But after playing half-way through, I found myself questioning whether I should even bother finishing the game. It was only through sheer force of will and a weird, nostalgic obligation, that I managed to see it through to the end. sigh So where to begin?
Let’s first talk about the things it did well:
Revisiting Chandler Avenue and reuniting with the old cast was a treat for old Tex Murphy fans like myself. And honestly, I didn’t mind the mediocre graphics, as it felt reminiscent of the old Tex Murphy games. The FMV sequences were well-done for the most part, and I enjoyed exploring areas without running into loading screens or having to change discs. (I know I’m throwing a bone here, but it’s the little things that count, right?) Unfortunately, that’s where the good ends. Now on to my personal gripes:
– Real player with 15.8 hrs in game
Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive
Tex Murphy is one of those things you either had to grow up with or which you’ll probably never get.
That being said, it remains one of the least worst FMV series in existence. Some would even go as far as to call all of them a masterpiece. Personally, I won’t but there’s definitely historical merit to them and the story is indeed actually quite cool.
The acting is not as cringeworthy as the old C&C in between mission movies and has its moments, but all things considered this age pretty terrible.
– Real player with 126.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cyberpunk Adventure Games.
Truely awesome game. Had this back in the day but forgot how good it really was. The story line is great and the puzzles are devious but not un-doable with a little logic. All in all, it took me 38 hours to complete. ( although that includes time spent going off to make a cup of tea while I thought about where to go next) . Some of you may find that the initial scenes, discussions and traveling a little tedious at first but the game does become more exciting as it goes on.
The Tex Murphey games are the leaders in this genre. IMO.
– Real player with 71.4 hrs in game
Wetlands
When I saw this game appear on Steam, a long forgotten memory came back to me! This is actually my very fist video game! I remember when my parents bought me my first PC, this “new game” was delivered with the PC. I didn’t like it because it was too difficult (for a 9 year old). The cutscenes are excellent, beautiful cartoony style, but the gameplay itself is a very bland railshooter … which is fine, I guess … but if you don’t care to play this game (which is a challenge if approached without nostalgia glasses), then just watch the cutscenes on YouTube. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2536351711
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
Tex Murphy: Overseer
First thing first: You need the K-Lite codec and FFDSHOW to be able to play this without issues. That being said, Tex Murphy: Overseer is the 5th Tex Murphy game and probably one of the best FMV games ever released, featuring actual gameplay with lots and lots of dialogues.
Overseer is basically a remake of Mean Streets without the ridiculous flight simulator and it ends with a cliffhanger which was resolved 15 years later with Tesla Effect.
A sci-fi noir adventure of old at its best.
– Real player with 37.2 hrs in game
I think i reached my limit in this game. I keep getting error messages as i am at Gideons house using the poles to try and get across the pressure sensitive floor. As a kid i played this game and would get stuck all the time because we didnt have a strategy guide online to follow like i do now. Makes it a lot easier but it is also a clear MUST if your going to play this game. Anyone thats says its cheating and they never used it is a liar OR they spent YEARS trying to beat this game. If they can fix the game i will finish it. As of now i am S.O.L. !
– Real player with 34.4 hrs in game
Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon
When Under a Killing Moon debuted in 1994 it was a marvel, the first story-based adventure game to incorporate both 3D first person movement and FMV (Full Motion Video). When it showed up on Steam at a bargain price I decided to replay it and see how it held up against the recent spate of indie-made story games that I’ve been playing. The verdict - it’s still pretty amazing.
Sure, the graphics are pixellated and the controls are a little…odd. But the production values are stellar - great sound, acting, writing, and game design. The mouse-based movement control took a little getting used to, but actually worked much better than the fidgety controls in recent games like Edith Finch and Stories Untold, which just about drove me mad.
– Real player with 23.0 hrs in game
Trawling through the relics of adventure gaming’s past can often be more frustrating than fun, but I’m happy I gave Tex Murphy a chance! Under a Killing Moon tells a great tale set in a near-future, post-apocalyptic world, done up in the most advanced tech 1994 could muster. Even if – unlike myself – they don’t see beauty in jerky live-action videos so low res they contain weird rainbow blotches, everybody who enjoys adventures will find something to love in the silly-serious narrative, and especially in the character of Tex Murphy: a down-on-his-luck, fedora-wearing PI torn straight from the pages of a Raymond Chandler novel. Some of the actors are pretty good, some are so bad they’re good, and some of them are just straight-up bad – tough, yet affable, yet goofy ol' Tex, though, is consistently played to perfection (perhaps that’s because he’s portrayed by Chris Jones, who is also the series' head designer). It’s easy to see why this character picked up such a cult following!
– Real player with 16.8 hrs in game
Tex Murphy: Martian Memorandum
The second game of the Tex Muphy series did less genre crossover and had a great strength with its LucasArts-era classic adventure design. Graphically it’s a solid retro adventure FMV mix, the only downside being missing hotspots: even when hovering the mouse over interactible objects there is no cursor feedback whatsoever which made and still makes the game terribly hasslesome on a first playthrough due to easily missing out on interacting with key items on the quite blurry screen. A walkthrough or a frustration tolerance made out of steel might be required for new players. Truth be told, the entire gamedesign is extremely oldschool due to the inherent actual age of the game and it might prove too much of a bother altogether to newer gamers.
– Real player with 78.7 hrs in game
Loveable nostalgic experience! Game runs on DOSBOX and is like 27MB in size. Classic point-and-click adventure set in a dystopian post-WW3 era. You play as Tex Murphy, private detective. It absolutely feels like a mixture between Blade Runner and Total Recall and I love it! It borrowed heavily from these two movies but offers enough unique content to stand on it’s own.
Martian Memorandum features a very simple interface with big buttons on the bottom of the screen. Just click on either “LOOK”, “OPEN”, “USE” etc. and then on the object to interact. Unique for it’s time is the usage of some FMV sequences starring real actors. Dialogue sequences play a big role in this game. Chosing the wrong dialogue option leads to uncooperative behaviour. There are also a few “action sequences” like using a hoverboard to pass through a security area with pressure plates and lasers or traversing a ventilation shaft in full 3D!
– Real player with 16.1 hrs in game
![[ECHOSTASIS]](https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1558000/header.jpg)
[ECHOSTASIS]
STEP INTO YOUR [CHAMBER]
LET [HER] DO THE REST
In [ECHOSTASIS], you take control of the lead engineer at ENIGMA RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT. While testing a new device that can generate personalized realities known as [ECHOES], a cyber-attack is launched on [ENIGMA] HQ.
Splinter
Splinter is a first-person movie/video game hybrid where the player explores the warehouse of a transhumanist hacker collective, watching full motion video clips that answer the question: What happened to Mason?
Splinter is an experiment with a new style of storytelling. A full playthrough is approximately 2 hours long, similar to a feature film.
Cyberia
A great classic which aged terribly.
This Cyberpunk themed Action/Adventure augments rail shooter action scenes with adventure exploration and puzzle elements for an enjoyable, albeit all too brief experience. An odd feature is the game having 2 difficulty settings, one for “Arcade” and the other for “Puzzle”, both scaling from 1-3. One can not set both difficulties to “1” as the game informs you would be “too easy”.
Highs:
A cheap classic.
A fine historical blast from the past.
Fun rail shooter bits.
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
It’s EXACTLY as I remember, not better or worse – I suppose it deserves to be called a graphic adventure game with action scenes. The voice acting is cheesy, the 1990s CGI looks hideous and plastic, you probably die a lot and…
There’s this element of masochism involved in playing Cyberia – take one late puzzle disguised as an action sequence, for instance, where you have to pick the right doors and eliminate enemies in the rooms so you can proceed. Pick a wrong door and you get a video clip of you getting shot in the back. Repeat a couple of times. For some reason, you don’t get a save point nearer to it, so you have to rinse and repeat through a different puzzle as well.
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game