AREA MAN LIVES
AREA MAN LIVES. Or does he? If you could join a radio drama already in progress, talk to the characters and interact with the environments the story painted in your mind, you might find yourself in the world of the area man.
A quirky radio drama unfolds around you in VR while you do your best to keep the radio station humming along as its new DJ. You record commercials, interview callers and try your best to piece together how your actions inside the station impact your listening audience in scenarios so wild they can only live in your imagination.
Read More: Best Experience Puzzle Games.
Gloomy Eyes
Played with Oculus Quest 2 and Virtual Desktop streaming.
This was incredibly pleasant. Totally worth it on sale for a half hour experience. Worth it regardless if you don’t need to be as concerned over finances. But I would like to see more of these at $5. Girlfriend watched it first and then I did. Was a nice activity for the weekend.
You don’t need controllers once it starts up simply looking at the 3 chapters will start them.
You will want a decent guardian area set up as you’ll want to get in close at times or change your viewing perspective. It’s 360 degrees although things aren’t happening everywhere all the time. It’ll be clear where you should be looking. Sometimes it’s lower to the ground or higher up. Similar to Allumette: The Little Match Girl in style. I do wish it was a little brighter even if it’s supposed to be dark.
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Experience Singleplayer Games.
Stars received: 7.5/10 _ Note: v.5 [0.0 to 1] = personal impressions
[0.7] Controls & Training & Help
[0.3] Menu & Settings
[0.8] Sound & Music
[0.7] Graphics
[0.6] Game Design
[1] Game Story
[0.7] Game Content
[0.8] Completion time (level/game)?
[0.7] is it Enjoyable & Fun?
[0.2] Could it hold a spot in Favorites? (& if the Game can be repeatedly played again)
[0] BONUS point: Multi-Player related
[1] BONUS point: Review for VR
[N] - if Registration is required with providing PII
Game description key-points: a 30 minutes long story in 3 episodes
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Shrinking Pains
Shrinking Pains is a visual novel type game that tackles the difficult subject of anorexia.
It is a fairly original idea for a game, as the concept of mental health is usually very unexplored. It does have somewhat of a replay value, just to change the sex of your partner and the different outcome of the story.
The graphics are unique but feel like an unpolished sketch page from a Tumblr blog post. The music is original, but the sound effects are jarringly sandwiched in. The controls are not very pleasant and there is no option to turn back to a previous page if your mouse accidentally double-clicks which was frustrating, as I was forced to play until the end of the game and then restart to see what text I was missing. This makes the gameplay unpleasant. The story feels rather unrealistic to the real life. The text options that are given, are extremely limited. There are two endings to the story,
! one in which you die at your own bedside and one in which you get rushed to hospital.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Experience Singleplayer Games.
This is a powerful, honest, and gut-wrenching narrative on eating disorders. The developers address the reality that you can’t simply recover or “get better” for someone else, and that it’s far more complex than meets the eye. The game speaks of the anxiety of being in the kitchen for hours and hours. The “I’m fine” repeated over and over. The disordered and obsessive thinking surrounding food, no matter what kind of food it is. The ability to control it, yet feeling out of control at the same time. I liked the inclusions of characters who are mostly worried, but also show their frustration in not being able to directly help. Eating disorders are often secretive and thrive in isolation; they can make a person feel helpless. I feel that even though this was a super short visual novel, the developers understood the severity of one’s mind when an eating disorder takes over every thought and aspect of one’s day. For a free game, it’s worth clicking through. We need more narratives that express the realities of eating disorders, that they are mental illnesses that aren’t solely about weight and food (weight and food are often symptoms, but eating disorders are far more intricate and can be derived from trauma or be used as a coping mechanism).
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Dr Livingstone, I Presume?
Dr. Livingstone is a very well thought out adventure that tells a fictionalized account of the friendship between Henry Stanley and David Livingston. You play from the first person perspective of Henry and have arrived at David’s house in Africa to check on his well being. You find the house in disarray and must work your way through looking for your friend.
The game is like an ‘escape the room’ exercise with an ongoing narrative told through David’s letters/memos and Henry’s comments. You solve a variety of puzzles in each room in order to find the key to the next room. In this manner, you work your way through the house.
– Real player with 14.7 hrs in game
Dr Livingstone, I Presume? is an astonishingly beautiful escape room game based on historical characters and facts, yet the game’s narrative is given a slightly fictional interpretation, as envisioned by the creators.
You take the role of the journalist Henry Morton Stanley, who receives a letter from his friend, David Livingstone - a renowned explorer - urgently asking for his help. While historically Stanley embarks on an expedition to Africa in search of the famous missionary who had vanished several years earlier, here he is summoned to the professor’s house. Upon his arrival, he finds the rooms devoid of any presence and no trace of Dr. Livingstone.
– Real player with 6.9 hrs in game
Oneiros
Oneiros is an absolutely fantastic experience that falls on blind eyes: It’s realistic yet mysterious approach to world building, the bright color palette, ways in which the story progresses, transitions through-out the journey, comedic moments, strategic methods regarding puzzles, and enjoyability from beginning to end. All of it together paints a journey…of a man, created by Coal Valley Games.
This new endeavor for the creator’s developmental journey, was a way for the developer to branch out. After years of experience as a game developer, he always felt the need to make a story-driven game, so in 2018, he started production. After two years of hard work, on March 27th, 2020, Oneiros was public for the world to see…or…not…see…
– Real player with 29.4 hrs in game
Oneiros
First Impressions🤔
After completing the game I am glad I stuck with it, and enjoyed most of my time playing Oneiros.
My mind changed from positive to negative a few times mainly due to an infuriating psychedelic maze and an awkward platform level. They were almost enough for me to quit the game completely.
– Real player with 11.0 hrs in game
Bottle: Pilgrim Redux
Updated for Redux: 6.5/10 (Original was 4.5/10)
TLDR: The visuals are beautiful, the story is interesting. The pacing is still funky, and the audio needs one more good polish. Still only worth it if you’re willing to wave off a lot of wonkiness, or, like me, you’re hoping for that one last update to pull it all together into the great game it could be.
The good and improved: The scenery and level design has improved on the beauty that was already there. The collectables are relevant and add to the story. The new voice actor is able to carry the ending better than the original (I miss the “posh Australian” accent, but I understand the creators' decision to use an American accent) I actually enjoyed the snow chapter this time. That’s the same level that almost caused me to rage-quit the original, so good improvement there.
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
Bottle: Pilgrim is the latest creation from solo developer Tonguc Bodur. Anyone familiar with his previous work knows that they wear the “walking simulator” tag proudly. They are generally brief, averaging a few hours to complete, usually narrated, and with a background soundtrack. I think most gamers are clearly divided on walking sims, either you enjoy them or you don’t. I find them to be a welcome diversion from the mainstream releases, an occasional oasis of contemplation, reflection and tranquility amidst all the shooting and blowing things up.
– Real player with 4.4 hrs in game
BRINK Traveler
Beautiful & breathtaking views look great in this VR experience. Looking forward to more locations to be added. One problem I faced during launch of the program (using my Oculus Quest-2) is the audio remaining on the PC speakers and not on the headset. Every time I have to manually change the audio device to the headphone of headset. Other thing I did not like is to separately downloading each scenery which takes a lot of time as they are pretty large and waiting during this time spoils the experience somehow. If during installation all the destinations are downloaded at the same time with the option to delete the ones I do not like later would be great. Otherwise a great experience.
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
This is a great little piece of virtual tourism and provides a little inobtrusive education along the way. The night view appears to be just a filter over the day view with a different skybox but that’s a minor niggle when the rest of the experience works so well.
An undocumented feature I discovered accidentally is the ability to reframe an ingame screenshot; Take a picture (with Valve Index just point one palm away and one towards you in the “photo framing” gesture), and if you don’t have the shot aligned perfectly you can grab the image card and move it around the scene to correct it before saving - very handy.
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Green Fairy VR
thank you so much for this wonder
it is one of my favorite experience incredible the vr the characters design , the music , the animations , the voices , the story i love all wouah
i would love you plan more stories with the fairies on steam and on quest store it would be wonderfull
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Impressions Video with Commentary // Oculus Rift S // RTX 2070 Super:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts88Z1Gjvww
My Initial Impressions:
Superb FREE animation and storytelling.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
Imagine Lifetimes
I personally really enjoyed this game. I first played it from before it’s Steam release (thanks to GrayStillPlays) so I somewhat knew what to do. The Steam release added a few features that I was glad to see like achievements and scene skips.
I love games like this one. Simple, but deep. Deep, but also doesn’t take itself too seriously. It makes you think about things but never shoves it in your face. I quite enjoyed all the references too. Some of the endings were a bit out there, but that’s part of the fun.
– Real player with 17.6 hrs in game
There are certain cruelties this game that presents you with that prevent me from classifying it as fun.
Within the game there are advertisements for the developers other games, and I had to reset the game (the intro sequence is waaay too long.) to escape them. The options for this game are super limited. I get there’s only so much you can do with a game like this. It just feels dull and monotonous. Playing through multiple times is not rewarding at all, and this game does NOT respect your time or intellect.
– Real player with 5.7 hrs in game
Wanderlust: Transsiberian
Your journey across the vast lands of Russia begins in the Tverskoy District of Moscow. It’s a glorious Sunday morning on the 11th of September and you’re feeling energetic as your Trans-Siberian adventure is about to get underway. This is Henry’s story, who along with his brother-in-law Vernon will travel on the Trans-Siberian railway from Moscow to Vladivostok.
– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game
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Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.
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With the borders closed due the current pandemic, you can at least travel in your mind while playing this game.
Take a trip with your brother-in-law onboard the Russian Trans-Siberian Railway, the longest railway line in the world. You are starting from Moskow and (maybe) reach Vladivostok a few days later. The game plays like a visual novel, with a map of Russia showing your progress and photographs illustrating the journey. Keep your stress level low and your fatigue under control while managing your travel budget. Meet people while travelling, and get along with your brother-in-law. There are many decisions to make, which can lead to quite different journeys by train (or other means).
– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game