AR-K: The Great Escape
After playing the first 2 episodes I can safely say that this is the best episode so far!!! The developers certainly improved the game quality in both ways: technically and direction-wise. The following points sums up the following:
Pros:
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Gameplay quality much improved from first 2 episodes
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Puzzles more interesting
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Protagonist given more depth in character
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Story development much more natural
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Render quality improved
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This episode is much more bug free than previous 2 episodes
– Real player with 27.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Dynamic Narration Minigames Games.
It’s great when you come to a game and it’s a lot better than you thought it would be. While I enjoyed ar-k 1 and 2 and I do recommend those games to play first, this for me is a lot better - story, graphics, setting. The writing was very good and if you didn’t want to read everything, you didn’t need to click on that character’s bit of conversation but could come back to it if you wanted. I liked the humour, and it was witty in parts. It is the perfect balance of not just a good story which is vital in an adventure game but also good interactive gameplay.
– Real player with 18.4 hrs in game
A Case of Distrust
𝗔 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝗶𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝟮-𝟯 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀.
My favorite two aspects of the game were the art and the story.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁, 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰, 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀' 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘀. Never did it feel like it was missing something as it definitely fit the format.
Now, the story took me by surprise. 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗜’𝗱 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝘆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻; it’s sort of reminiscent of Agatha Christie stories, where you’re presented with a handful of characters connected to the case and you have to use every tiny piece of information you get to come to conclusions.
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Dynamic Narration Adventure Games.
Introduction
I like detective stories and video game adaptations of crime novels. It’s no secret that my favorite game of all time is LA Noire and that my nickname is a wordplay on one of Agatha Christie’s most elusive antagonists, U.N. Owen. Unknown until the appropriate moment, as any worthy mystery should be. A Case of Distrust is the Steam debut of Ben “The Wandering Ben” Wander, a gaming industry professional (not quite vetern yet) which left the AAA standard and its various limitations/pressures for the overall freedom offered by the indie scene. A wise choice, no doubt.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
The Journey Down: Chapter One
Overall, this is a solid P&C Adventure game, with reasonably logical puzzles once you immerse, and no Guide-Dang-It solutions- it’s possible to work out all the solutions given the information available in the game. That said, there was at least one puzzle that refused several plausible solutions in favor of what seems to me to be a less-plausible (though more amusing) one, and several in which I knew the concept of the solution, but there wasn’t much of an indication about how to actually do that. Plus the traditional complex “solve it because it’s there” puzzle that turns out to massively help your protagonist progress in a somewhat illogical way, but that’s so common in the genre that it might actually be considered a lack if it weren’t present. :-J There is the usual complete refusal by the protagonist to clean up after themselves- I wish more of these games would let us give people their stuff back once it’s not needed any more. Hopefully, there will be uses for the items still in Bwana’s pockets at the end of the chapter, instead of the traditional “lost everything during the cutscene” trope.
– Real player with 6.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Dynamic Narration Adventure Games.
This title really surprised me with how well it was made. I came in having no expectations. I had bought the game as part of a bundle on indiegala, and was only really going to try it out while waiting for another (and much larger in size) game to download, and was frankly blown away right from the start.
You start off in dire straights with your electricity having been shut off because you hadn’t paid your bills for a while. This means you can’t make any money because the pump in your gas station that you own an operate relies on the power to run. However with some cheeky DYI smarts, you’re soon back to normal… If normal means no customers, which… it does.
– Real player with 6.1 hrs in game
Curious Expedition
The Curious Expedition is yet another Kickstarter-spawned entry into the ever-growing field of Rogue-Likes, but with a refreshing new twist. This time around, the player takes on the role of a small party of 19th-Century explorers engaged in a gentleman’s wager - to travel the world on six concurrent expeditions, competing to see who can gain the most fame. It’s a fairly quick and lethal game, but that’s exactly what it’s meant to be - a good way to kill a few hours at a time, running expedition after expedition off to their doom.
– Real player with 150.3 hrs in game
The Short Pitch
TCE is one of the best games in its class, a Roguelike-inspired strategy/adventure game that will leave you wanting more. Easy enough to beat several times in one day if you’re dedicated, yet hard enough to make every victory feel like you clawed your way to it from the depths of hades.
If you’re looking at this game and you’re even half sure you want it, get it. If looking at it fills with you a warm and gooey sense of longing for the hours spent huddled around CRT monitors taking turns playing The Oregon Trail, buy it. Even if you’re a more modern gamer, but you’re a fan of FTL, Caves of Qud, the Binding of Isaac, or similar, buy it.
– Real player with 82.6 hrs in game
AR-K
I received this game as a part of some bundle I bought way back.
I want to like this game. I wish the development team the best. But unfortunately I cannot recommend it, not even for $8 USD.
There are good, or at least decent, things here. There is some humor, including physical humor, that works. The actual voice lines are mostly fine, and what faults there are there in this audio itself are much more likely on the VA director and/or scriptwriters. Barring one jarring segment of lines I noticed in the 2nd episode where something obviously went wrong in recording or compression or something, but the team decided to use it anyway, which… fits with some of my suspicions about how out-of-time/energy/money they were feeling at the time.
– Real player with 16.5 hrs in game
AR-K may be a study in how to have an okay story, okay graphics and good voice-acting and still come out with a bad game - soo manyy problems.
This title consists of the first two episodes of the game, “Gone with the Sphere” and “The Girl Who Wasn’t There”, and the second feels way better than the first. Still, we see a lot of beginner’s mistakes in the handiwork. Basically every aspect of the game is flawed in some way or another.
Note: Review was rewritten to fit Steam’s transparent character limit.
– Real player with 15.9 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
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