Lazarus Trials: Trial 101

Lazarus Trials: Trial 101

Narrative

You wake up and immediately feel something is wrong. You don’t know where you are or how you got here. The more you try to piece things together, the more you can’t remember. You can’t seem to move your head, but you glance down and see a body that isn’t your own. Suddenly a voice begins to speak. It has run countless experiments, and its latest subject is you. You don’t remember signing up for anything like this! But before you say a word, you realize, maybe the voice has answers to the millions of questions running through your mind. So you decide to play along, but will you survive the ordeal that lies ahead?

Motivation

Compared to books, many modern games are like War and Peace or Finnegans wake; incredibly rich masterpieces but hardly the best starting place for someone learning to read. “Lazarus Trials” is a series of games designed to teach game literacy, the art/skill of being able to consume the media form of video games. It’s the perfect starting point for someone looking to get into gaming as a hobby, but has been incredibly overwhelmed by everything out on the market.

Gameplay

Trial 101 aims to teach:

  • Navigation through a 3D space using mouse/keyboard or gamepad controller.

    • Coordination between moving and looking around.

    • Advanced movement (i.e jumping) by requiring more than one key/button press at a time.

  • The basics of puzzle solving in games

    • Identifying the target/objective of the puzzle

    • Distinguish between game objects and environment. What can be interacted with and what can’t?

    • Game logic and “out of the box thinking”

  • Testing limits of controls

    • Using the basic controls/mechanics explained to experiment and find different movement capabilities.
  • Comprehension of narrative and instruction through dialog

    • Understanding game hints and instructions through dialog

    • Understanding underlying narrative through dialog

Will you be able to survive the Lazarus Trials?

Really?

Prove it.

TIPS

  • Use the settings menu to customize aspects of the game itself, use the detect optimal settings button to quickly get a configuration that would work for you. You will need to manually adjust the resolution to your screen size. 1920 x 1080 at fullscreen typically works for most people.

  • Practice, Practice, Practice. Just like with reading the more you do of it the better you get at it. Perseverance is key!

  • Always try new things! Never be afraid to try something out to see if it works. You may discover some interesting abilities/quirks.


Read More: Best First-Person Puzzle Platformer Games.


Lazarus Trials: Trial 101 on Steam

DreamScript

DreamScript

Solve puzzles by reprogramming your environment!

DreamScript provides completely new and immersive way to learn programming concepts.

You will be able to take control of the game logic and change the rules of the game.

Increase your speed and scale, modify object properties, create bugs, spawn stuff - use your creativity!

DreamScript is an easy and fun way to start your journey to become a programmer.

Game is designed for puzzle game fans and anyone interested about programming.


Read More: Best First-Person Experimental Games.


DreamScript on Steam

Family Mysteries 3: Criminal Mindset

Family Mysteries 3: Criminal Mindset

Each chapter in this Artifex Mundi series features a different protagonist. The unifying theme is (tragic and at times disturbing) family secrets and a mystery to unravel. FM3: Criminal Mindset is one of the better new AM games, although it is still light on challenge. The plot is bizarre and a little spooky, and includes biomedical psychology (of the scifi-light horror genre) and conspiracies within conspiracies. That said, if you suspend your disbelief, there are some interesting HO scenes, better than (recent) average puzzles, and the protagonist is intelligent and very likeable.

Real player with 15.8 hrs in game


Read More: Best First-Person 2D Games.


A little light on hidden object scenes, although there are plenty of mini-game puzzles. Hidden object scenes and mini-game puzzles are not randomised, the solutions are the same for each playthrough.

There are a couple of tricky puzzles, what makes the game overly difficult however is the “Unmistakable” achievement which is supposed to pop after completing a hidden object scene without any mistakes. Sadly however it is bugged and actually pops when you complete a scene in less than 60 seconds without any mistakes, and due to morphing objects and items hidden behind or within other items, it makes for a very difficult achievement to earn as a result.

Real player with 8.1 hrs in game

Family Mysteries 3: Criminal Mindset on Steam

Diluvian Ultra

Diluvian Ultra

In Diluvian Ultra you play as Atilla, an undead king that is awakened in deep space, aboard his tomb, ship by an invasion of unknown enemies. He must fight to prevent them from stealing his most sacred object: The Book of Life. Without the book, Attila’s order can’t revive the long-dead human species.

The spaceship is a living combination of flesh and stone, teeming with creatures created to serve a purpose aboard the ship. Even the doors are alive.

Diluvian Ultra is built around a damage system where you have to combine weapons to be effective. Armor negates most damage, but some weapons are designed to damage only the armor itself, setting the victim up for a lethal blow. The player has to be careful, as enemies will combine their attacks in the same way. Armor damage cannot kill you, but take too much and a single well-placed lethal attack will kill you in one hit.

Combat in Diluvian Ultra is all about mobility. Dodge enemy fire, while you chain together ranged attacks with close combat blows and devastating ground slams to interrupt and stun your enemies.

The weapons range from living insect guns, to plasma spewing shotguns. Each has a unique special reload function, like healing armor damage or turning the magazine into a grenade.

Diluvian Ultra on Steam

FEVER: FIGHT THE FEVER

FEVER: FIGHT THE FEVER

I really enjoyed this game. It is fun and becomes fast paced as you play. I would recommend playing.

Real player with 4.0 hrs in game

Sucks. Crashed, and refused to close. Also, this game is vastly worse than it presents itself. You gotta click the viruses that spin and fly at you like missiles. And the anti bodies don’t do nearly enough, even upgrades. Over all, horrible game.

Real player with 2.8 hrs in game

FEVER: FIGHT THE FEVER on Steam

Teleball

Teleball

Teleball is the world’s first first-person Virtual Reality platformer! Throw Teleballs to navigate over 30 environments dodging over 60 traps, obstacles, and more!

Features:

  • Designed from the ground up for accessibility and VR friendliness!

  • 30+ levels each adding new mechanics across 6 different zones!

  • Use 8 different Teleballs to navigate environments and avoid over 60 obstacles and traps!

  • Try to beat the developer’s time trials and par scores to earn secret levels and mechanics!

  • Customize your experience to suit your needs with sliders for strength and ease-of-use features tailor-made for VR!

  • Accessibility features like colorblind mode, left-handed mode, and fear-of-heights mode!

Teleball on Steam

Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash!

Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash!

It’s quite a literal nostalgia trip, but a criminally short one. I cleared the story in 42 minutes.

======================================================

Updated review after I nearly 100%ed the game:

It feels quite nice to dance alongside Ulala and hear her talk to me, and also to

! high-five Jaguar and Pudding near the end. The dance moves are also abundant in variety, going way beyond just directions and “chu"s. A few example unique commands include “barrier”, “nyan”, about 10 different “pose"s, and of course “Toyota” and “Honda”. Even the same command - such as “left” - can require a different action depending on whether you are dancing or dodging enemy fire. This means you have to use both visual and acoustic memory to get everything right. The dance battles are paced pretty well, with frequent but short breaks to ensure the player never gets too tired.

Real player with 4.7 hrs in game

this game alone makes the hundreds of dollars it takes to get VR worth it. High-5ing Ulala after all the adventures we had been on is one of the happiest happiest moments in my life playing games. the music is every bit as great as the originals but still feels fresh. the english voice acting isn’t the greatest but i wouldn’t want it any other way, and even if i did there’s an option to switch to japanese. this game is going down as one of my favorite games of all time.

edit: after coming down from the high i can recognize this doesn’t really have much for people who aren’t fans of the space channel 5 already, and i wish it was a lot longer. not perfect but for what it is it’s incredible

Real player with 2.9 hrs in game

Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash! on Steam

Amidst The Darkness

Amidst The Darkness

Amidst The Darkness is a truly terrifying first-person survival horror game developed and published by Loneminded.

Dragged, bloodied and bruised into old dilapidated worker halls, Amidst The Darkness follows the story of a sadistic entity - known informally as The Being. Trawl your way through old abandoned halls and sewers in a bid to find an escape.

No matter where you go, or the route that you take, The Being will unpredictably follow your every move. Creeping closer step-by-step, inch-by-inch until it is within reaching distance. The crows scarpering from their nest nearby, or that unmistakable slow-moving silhouette in the distance - it beckons upon thee.

Features

  • Immersive First-Person Horror: Navigate through chilling, immersive environments

  • Truly Unsettling Story: Experience and uncover the story of old workers and The Being.

  • Unpredictable Enemies: Each playthrough will play differently with help from the unpredictability of AI.

  • Full Gamepad Support: Prefer sitting back and enjoying the experience? Now you can - Amidst The Darkness has full controller support.

Amidst The Darkness on Steam

Dental Madness: Cavity Mania

Dental Madness: Cavity Mania

Fun little simulator game. Great soundtrack! Love the toothy chompy dude! Have fun clearing all those cavities!

Real player with 3.0 hrs in game

A fun game that you can pick up and work on to either better yourself as a dentist or better your hand eye coordination with your mouse and keyboard! The controls are different but you get used to them pretty quickly and then you find yourself trying to beat your own scores! I haven’t gotten good enough to fully beat the game yet but today I got further than I had in the past! A good buy and a lot of fun! Will definitely continue playing and try to keep surpassing the leader board! The more you play, the more enjoyable it is!

Real player with 1.0 hrs in game

Dental Madness: Cavity Mania on Steam

Haunted House - The Murder

Haunted House - The Murder

Deadcloud Productions proudly presents:

Haunted House - The Murder is a brand new game that consists of 1 Detective (Player) trying to free multiple ghosts ina a house.

The Player has to find notebooks and other informations to find out what happened to the family. But theres something he didnt expect to find and is schocked about. You immediadtly cancel the case, like the police did years ago…

The player wont make it out… Your death is your destiny. Your body was never found and will never be found…. You are another spirit out there…

Haunted House - The Murder on Steam