99 Fails
Journey through Zeebo’s surreal nightmare in this impossibly difficult to master casual, genre-bending precision platforming game with a rich, bizarre dreamworld. Traverse 11 dream layers in 9 iterations, each with their own gameplay mechanic, transforming Zeebo. Control Zeebo with one to three action buttons, depending on which mechanic you’re playing. Each mechanic and iteration will make an appeal to your sense of timing, rhythm, and anger management skills. Unlock more and more entries in the dream journal and analyze them in a game-wide puzzle to finally find the source of Zeebo’s torture.
THE FEATURES
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Easy to play. So easy, your grandparents can play. But they won’t master it. By the way, neither will you.
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Eleven different dream layers, mechanics and morphs, nine dream iterations each. That’s right, that makes 99 levels.
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Each dream has 3 modes: 99 Pillars for anyone. 666 Pillars for the maniacs. Endless pillars for the masochists.
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Countless bizarre, trippy and surreal creations, events and unforgettable characters.
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Procedurally generated levels, including paths, events and enemies, no playthrough is the same.
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Adaptive audio and music that evolves along with you as you traverse dreams, in full stereo.
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Explore Zeebo’s bedroom in old-school PC point ‘n click style to learn more about his life and issues.
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Perform dream analysis within a unique elaborate puzzle mechanic in the dream journal to figure out what’s fueling his nightmare.
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What more could you possibly want? More fails? That can be arranged.
NEEBOTA - NOOBOTA
Zeebo’s world is called Neebota. Neebota is an alternative universe to ours. Humans don’t exist there, but portals do open up and items and beings sometimes slip through. There are many legends about such events and Zeebo and his friends love going to abandoned places, forests to look for portals and things from earth. Noobota, on the oher hand, is the dreamworld of any Neebotian. And it’s Zeebo’s Noobota you have to conquer in 99 Fails!
THE COGNIZOIDS
Cognizoids are entities in Noobota. They represent everything from abstract concepts like death, love, to particular objects or persons from Zeebo’s real world, Neebota. They can be a person Zeebo knows, or represent his fears or joy. Which one represents what is for you to figure out!
THE UNFAIRY
You’ve heard of fairies. But have you heard of The Unfairy? Whatever she is, she doesn’t always mean well. And her transformation is a bizarre, gruesome sight to behold.
NEEBOTA’S REVENGE
When real life is poking you in your dream lobe.
UCHO
Musical rainbow-peeing ear. Sounds like random drizzle on a piano.
LARTUM THE GIANT
The not-so-gentle giant of optical deception, a dreamlord that will give you vertigo and toy with your playthrough.
BED OF REBIRTH
That feeling when your clone shows up pregnant with a hatched egg and mature chicken inside. Which is…an entirely new sort of feeling.
HEKKE & HEKKEDERIAN
Last, but certainly not least: Hekke! Zeebo’s squiddly, cuddly jelly pet who follows him everywhere, even into his dreams. Though in his dreams, he’s not quite as cuddly…in fact, what is up with that split tongue? Is that mom and dad?
THE DISCLAIMER
We are not responsible for any harm that may come from playing this game. We are certainly not responsible for any rage-induced attacks on other objects, persons, or damage caused by throwing or stomping on your controller, keyboard or mouse.
Read More: Best Difficult Singleplayer Games.
Our Secret Below
Curator page here -- [url] DaRevieweD #30[/url] -- [i]New review every Sunday[/i]
Brian Clarke of DarkStone Digital makes a comeback with his second major game! This time it’s a mystery-thriller with some psychological elements and a lot of challenging puzzles. If you’ve read my previous review of Inner, you’d know I was quite taken by his work thus far and his fresh set of eyes in the horror genre. He has a certain charm in creating smaller scale projects but still promising spacious room for players to ponder upon and enjoy.
– Real player with 19.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Difficult Puzzle Games.
Alright strap yourselves in because I’m about to go on a whole rant of details that are probably going to make me sound like a madman hunting for Pepe Silvia but here goes…
This game is absolutely delightful across the board. It’s definitely not for everyone, but as someone who is REAL dumb at puzzles and has the memory of a PS2 memory card, this game makes me feel like mf Sherlock Holmes. A lot of “hrmm….hrm….no that doesn’t make sense….wait…A HAH!”
Also full disclosure, I technically received one copy of the game, but I truly believed in this game for the reasons below and backed it on Kickstarter for an additional two copies to giveaway for a charity. So I’m not exactly sure if I’m supposed to claim I got this for free when I bought multiple copies? There’s the info though, you decide. But check out my other reviews, I got no problems being critical on games received for free.
– Real player with 13.5 hrs in game
Emanate
You awake in limbo with a choice - await your fate, or find an escape. Leap your way to freedom with high speed movement and high-stakes obstacles. Experience Emanate’s atmospheric environment and fast paced soundtrack as you climb your way to the top in this single-level 3D platformer!
Gameplay
Emanate is a single-level, vertical world filled with jumping patterns made up of various platforming mechanics. The most common of which are the orange/red bounce pads, purple wall-jump pads, and the fading platforms, that vanish from under your feet after a very short amount of time. Combining these simple mechanics urges you to keep moving forward, making for some incredibly challenging and intense platforming gameplay.
What to expect
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Moody, atmospheric environments: Starting from the bedrock of oblivion, up through deep ethereal forests and vast looming clouds, to huge other-worldly cathedrals.
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Fast, exciting soundtrack: An ambient, break-techno tracklist that increases in speed and intensity as you progress through the game.
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Emanation orbs: You have three chances per checkpoint to learn the patterns ahead of you. If you fall, expend an orb and you’ll recall back to the last checkpoint you activated. Any misstep after your orbs are gone and you’ll find yourself falling back down below.
Read More: Best Difficult Parkour Games.
Psychocat: The Door
Yes. The best. Thumbs up
– Real player with 15.6 hrs in game
A real good follow up to the answer. It adds more complex layers of the button swapping which keep the gameplay fresh and interesting. The soundtrack is a fitting choice again and this time the game is split into many smaller levels instead of one long run which does make for a little bit more manageable obstacle training and also keeps the early stages from becoming boring as you master the easier difficulties. With a bit of insanity and a nice little catch at the end an overall well rounded sequel.
– Real player with 14.9 hrs in game
Color Souls
Incredibly amazing game. The movement of the character is a lot of fun and every boss and mechanics in the game are really surprising. The levels that you can jump on the monster’s head in sequence were very well thought out.
– Real player with 2.2 hrs in game
A pretty good platformer. I really like this unique aesthetic and gameplay concept where you can’t see the enviroment, so you have to move and jump to splash ink revealing the obstacles and platforms.
– Real player with 1.7 hrs in game
Fomalhaut Flowers
Written for 1561’s Thoughts - Honest reviews, for busy people.
Fomalhaut Flowers :: noir, luck, and an unresponsive jump button :: side scrolling puzzle (?) platformer that comes off as frustrating due to the awkward physics and unavoidable deaths. 4.5/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPfPvDid2yE
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
Syzygy
perfect for whom looking for a nice puzzle game with some innovative mechanics.
– Real player with 21.6 hrs in game
Unique difficult puzzle game
– Real player with 14.0 hrs in game
The Void
Oh boy, where to start. That’s a big one. That’s a huge one.
The Void is a game about… Well, this is what I meant when I was wondering where to start. The Void could be considered to be a game about many things. The feeling I got after a few hours in was “wow, this goes deep”, and that feeling only got stronger and stronger the more I played. I experienced something similar while playing Pathologic, another amazing game from Ice-Pick Lodge : a very unique universe, brutally unforgiving in terms of both gameplay and story, which immediately sucked me in, in a much deeper, more “personal” way than anything I had ever played before, and I mean that.
– Real player with 103.6 hrs in game
This is one of those Slavic games that wants to be a big “Tim Burton on acid” surrealist trip. Nothing is really explained directly, just implied, but the notes of implication are too heavy-handed for you not to realize when something is supposed to mean something.
The story revolves around your character either dying or at least being on the verge of dying, and passing through “limbo”, although maybe you’re just inside your own mind during your dying moments. The Void itself is shaped like a heart, and each “cycle” of the Void involves an additional heartbeat of the Void itself, so, again, the metaphor isn’t exactly explicit, but it’s far from subtle.
– Real player with 78.1 hrs in game
Altered
Altered doesn’t appear to be on many wishlists so I thought I’d give peeps the heads up: it’s a really good game! There. Now you know. Wishlist it and get it in the next sale.
At its core I suppose Altered is sokoban-ish, but that description is inadequate as the game features some clever and thoughtful mechanics that elevate it way above yer run-of-the-mill block pusher. It’s genuinely hard to explain these mechanics but thankfully at the time of writing this review there’s a demo. I urge you to give it a try (assuming you enjoy well-designed puzzle games).
– Real player with 22.9 hrs in game
Just unlocked the electric figure and this is an amazing puzzle game; it has solid mechanics that has depth and subtlety, and a beautiful Zen aesthetic to boot. The graphics looks just as polished and elegant as the tough but logical puzzles hidden underneath it. I especially appreciate the transitional music note and the dreamy flash of light when the level is finished; I can find nothing that is so therapeutic, rewarding and Zen. It is a nice touch. Overall, it is a 10/10 and a “would recommend”. Do expect this game to be rather difficult, as it is meant to be. There will be plenty of hair scratching and it can get frustrating fast; one principle that I find very helpful, however, is to not repeat stuff that does not work. If a strategy or a theory does not seem to work, it is best to try to understand why it fails (whenever you find a move is impossible, for example), and continue from there. :)
– Real player with 16.2 hrs in game
Cosmic Express
If this game appeals to you, chances are you’ll like it. It’s a delightful puzzle game. I like games like Divide by Sheep and Dungeon Warfare, and this scratches a similar itch.
WARNING: The puzzles are not unlocked in order of difficulty. You’ll have easy puzzles and impossible ones right next to each other as if they’re on the same level. This can be disheartening if you get stuck because you feel like the puzzles are only going to get harder and that’s not the case.
My suggestion is to forget about any particular puzzle that’s pissing you off and move on. Don’t spend hours on one puzzle or you’ll start getting upset with the game. For example, Andromeda 14 is one of the earlier puzzles that gets unlocked, so it seems like you should be able to beat it in the beginning. IT IS THE HARDEST PUZZLE! At least it was for me and lots of other people online (which I found out when I looked up the solution; something that killed me inside but I had to move on with my life because I was having dreams about that damn level).
– Real player with 160.9 hrs in game
I think I have to give a thumbs down (Though itd probably be a neutral), because of some of the later levels.
Id get stuck on them for hours, I tried literally thousands of paths, worked on the logic of which routes could or could not work, and finally had to get an answer to the level in the game I simply couldnt do.
So I guess Im doing this out of spite? Well, I thought about that, but I dont think so. I believe its because ultimately there was no trick. There was nothing special going on, no deeper logic I was missing, I looked at the solution I put in and there was nothing at all in there that gave me any idea of what Id been missing for all that time, it was just a raw path finding task which is inherently tough to complete if you cant just pluck it out.
– Real player with 100.6 hrs in game