Lost Brothers
Lost Brothers
Hesitantly recommended for the cave graphics only.
Mostly spoiler free review based on playing the entire game.
This is a walking Sim. You navigate by the usual WASD keys. There is a manual save option (thank you!), and a checkpoint auto-save. You can die (yes, we did hop off the mushrooms more than once), but you will restart where you were. The controller worked fine with it. Adjustments for audio/video are available. You have a map and a compass.
We think anyone who has played Firewatch will compare Lost Brothers to it; that sets a pretty high standard.
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best First-Person Emotional Games.
(Early Access Review, as an early access release, you may experience bugs, content, interface and optimization changes. If you are not excited to play the title in its current state & help to support the title to full release by reporting bugs and requesting additional content, you may want to wait for further development)
Two brothers, John & Sam, are headed out on a camping trip to the countryside for a weekend of fun. After parking, they carry their gear through the trails to their chosen camping area. After some idle chit chat, they finally get camp set up. They sit around the campfire enjoying their meal and conversation, after which they retire for the evening. Suddenly John awakens, noticing his younger brother is not sleeping beside him and goes out to see what he is doing. He calls out for him, “Sam, Sam, where are you” getting no reply. Unable to find him, the police are brought in to investigate, never finding a trace of his brother, Sam.
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game
The Peterson Case
You look at the case files strewn across your desk, the green lamp illuminating the coffee stains that disfigure the wood. The radio plays the news quietly in the background. The Peterson Family… missing for over a week; no trace, little evidence. Passed from one detective to another, finally coming to rest in peace on your desk.
Going over the paperwork, something gnaws at you; people don’t just disappear into thin air. Something is always left behind. We always leave something behind.
The radio picks up, yet another tale of little green men and flying saucers. You tell yourself it’s a load of baloney, but truthfully it creeps you out as much as everyone else. Closing the case files, you pick up your hat and prepare yourself. This afternoon you’re going to The Peterson’s home to conduct a final search. Your intention to find them… dead or alive.
Once Upon A Time In Roswell is a first-person psychological horror game. Delve deep into the strange world of Roswell, New Mexico as you embark on an investigation to find a family who have been missing for more than a week. Uncover horrific flashbacks of war, and beings not of this earth. Realize the terrible truth that has consumed the Peterson Family, whilst you walk through their ever-changing home and memories, battling your own identity and purpose.
• Explore a deep story
From the streets of Paris to the mines of Roswell, traverse through rich and atmospheric environments.
• Investigate
Find evidence and play through different memories of what could have happened to the family.
• Survive
Sneak past and survive various enemies that may want more than your life.
Read More: Best First-Person Detective Games.
Cradle-18
I wake disoriented. Where am I? Looking out a window, I see the light reflected off the planet below. Clearly, I’m in orbit, but over a planet I don’t recognize. How did I get here? Why can’t I remember anything? Where is everyone?
Cradle-18 is a 3D walking simulator aboard an orbital space station. Explore from one compartment to the next to unravel the mystery of this deserted craft. What was the mission? And what has become of the crew? Am I truly alone?
No enemies. Seems there is nobody to fight with.
Search for clues and collect information to piece together the answers. But space is a harsh environment, and the systems on this craft are showing signs of stress. Survival is not guaranteed.
Notes of horror. It feels uncomfortable on the uninhabited station in space.
Space ambient music. Enjoy space views to the beautiful space music. While you can.
Read More: Best First-Person Space Games.
Marginalia
Super interesting. Didn’t quite get the story but I think it’s supposed to be vague in that regard. Really enjoyed the music, atmosphere and environment. I didn’t expect it to be inspiring but seeing the distant pink lights and hearing about an old family story really made me want to start brainstorming a new music project. I don’t know if any of these characters or events are real or based on real events, but I think researching it would remove its mystique, so I won’t. I played it again straight after finishing it (mainly because the ending dialogue cut out mid-way through) to see if there was anything I missed but I couldn’t find anything. A short fun little experience!
– Real player with 1.6 hrs in game
There’s a moment early on when you’re following the traditional walking simulator flow of moving from exposition drop to exposition drop that you’ll see something… weird.
And there’s a moment where you’ll get lost in the woods and stumble upon something unpleasant but unremarked upon.
And there’s a moment where you’ll realize something is extremely- well… the less said about it the better.
I really enjoyed this interactive story. The writing and voice acting is excellent and the level design is incredible. You won’t understand why I say that at first but… you will eventually.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
NIGHTSLINK
This can either be a simplistic, moody walking simulator or a maddening descent into esoteric analysis.
You’re thrust into a hallway. You could almost feel P.T. vibes if not for the low-poly environment. There are no real jumpscares though, just a foreboding desolation. You deliver tapes by knocking on specific doors. What are on these tapes? Why are people afraid to leave their apartments? Why is the world a Silent Hill-like version of Eraserhead’s industrial wasteland? You, probably, will not find an answer to this. There is a lore, but it’s sparse. Everything is built around that feeling of hopelessness and the confusing hints at something bigger going on. The small dialogues paint a picture of a world full of derealization, cosmic horror, and some corporate espionage. It seems easily taken in, but then you ask why you passed up the man usually found smoking in the hallway when you drove on an empty street. You make tapes for the residents and wonder what seemingly mind-altering messages or sounds are on them. Why are things so deafeningly quiet, besides the buzzing behind you?
– Real player with 6.1 hrs in game
You’re basically a deliveryman in a post-apocalyptic and eerily quiet world in NIGHTSLINK. Not much context needed because of this game’s brevity and about 30 minutes of gameplay if you play through it twice. As someone who regularly has surreal dreams, and those bordering on nightmares are only so because of this impossible feeling of intense anxiety and dread. NIGHTSLINK is a little like that; a lot of uncertainty and a sprinkling of dread, and lovecraftian horror.
I think NIGHTSLINK’s strength is prevalent in its sound design, because some parts of it genuinely live up to the phrase “piercing silence”. Quite literally. And because I’m a sucker for retro/PSx styles in modern indie games, I have to praise that too. Just the right amount of unsettling and darkness, and the sound design helps sell the disconcerting atmosphere. I won’t try to pretend there’s any story, or at least that there’s any need to try and decipher the hypothetical story to make this game “better”, I think it’s good as-is and the lack of context just makes it all the more harrowing. Don’t get me wrong though, it does a terrific job hinting at its worldbuilding, which I absolutely love.
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Ruth’s Journey
Play as Ruth as she ventures into the forest in search of the famed Golden Finch.
Sitting in her office all day long, stamping papers, Ruth’s boss finally grants her a break and an opportunity to use her talents to save the company from financial ruin.
Explore the world and experience the beauty and wonders of the Canadian wilderness with Ruth as she embarks on this journey.
Ruth’s Journey is a free demo that introduces you to the characters and the world of The Long Way Home.
KEY FEATURES
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Experience the peace and tranquility of the forest
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Beautiful low-poly aesthetic
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Immersive First Person Controls
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Capture breathtaking pictures with your camera
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Glimpse into the history of ‘The Long Way Home’
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15 - 30 min of Narrative driven Gameplay
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Detailed Cinematics
The Light Remake
I enjoyed this game. You start in an abandoned Russian facility that is in a state of crumbling disrepair. You explore the various floors and learn about what happened through a series of notes found along the way. Played from a first person perspective, part of the game is above ground and part is an especially dark maze-like underground bunker. You have the option of a flashlight and/or a lighter to guide you and your choice will have an effect on the ending you experience. The sound track enhances the feeling of being alone and, in the bunker, the sounds increased my sense of stress and panic as I kept circling in the dark.
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
Nice walking sim, with a much deeper story and message than expected.
Short, but at the price, it feels worth it tome. On sale? Yeah, grab it if you like walking sims with very good visuals, moody and appropriate music and game audio, and a few relatively easy puzzles.
Take screenshots, or notes, you have no way to review notes you already read to see the clues they may offer. Puzzle solutions are not so in-your-face that they are totally obvious, many ore in notes or on walls.
Ran well enough on my MSI GS75 Stealth laptop (i7 9750/2070 RTX MaxQ/ 16 GB DDR4), though it did make the fans run up a wee bit. I expect the game will run slightly better on my desktop. No major issues, just a few visual artifacts here and there (some clipping and visible seams if I tried to find them), and the claw game was a bit of a PITa trying to pick up the item that drops from it (pushed the item away from the game machine, and had to pause the game and continue from the main menu to get the game to let me pick it up). So a few minor issues, no major bugs or glitches in my first playthrough.
– Real player with 5.4 hrs in game
Thirty Flights of Loving
The Metascore for this game is very misleading. It isn’t even an appropriate score if you try to call this “game” artwork–it’s poorly made no matter how you look at it.
You can literally beat this in 20 minutes and there is no replayability. There are two “games” inside here, in reality both are more like mini-games. Gameplay is entirely linear, there are no secrets to find, no character development, plus unoriginal and boring gameplay elements. There is no redeeming factor to this game; it’s not even priced fairly.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
This is quite possibly the worst excuse for a game I have ever encountered. The game consists of about 10 different rooms, each taking about a minute to get through and suddenly out of nowhere you’re hit with a The End sign and a bunch of walkthrough credits with comments about the great decisions they made and how they decided on them. These great decisions are along the lines of weird random jump cuts that change the entire scenario for no reason. There’s also a room with displays of a bunch the game models and animated GIF video timelapses of screenshots of their creation. How impressive is that?
– Real player with 1.7 hrs in game
Bright Lights of Svetlov
Виртуальные забавы отправляют нас в самые разные миры и очередной вояж на Марс едва ли вызовет какие-то особенные эмоции. А вот Огни Светлова - внезапно - отправили в мир детства, где все знакомое и родное. И это круто, это вызывает какие-то совершенно новые эмоции, непривычные для игр.
Очень приятно видеть экранизацию советской действительности в самом ее приземленном и обычном виде. Без клишированных камрадов, ушанок и вот этого всего. В общем, сеттинг удался.
И нарратив, кстати, тоже. За свои полтора часа игра успевает рассказать историю, причем делает это неплохо. Приемы подачи сюжета стандартны - но они работают. В какой-то момент ловишь себя на той мысли, что погрузился в это все и на самом деле интересно что будет дальше.
– Real player with 2.0 hrs in game
this game is so well made! i love the vibe. i felt cozy half the game. and i love the sounds of the birds and the wind used outside. it sounds like outside my house. each country got its own local birds. you rarely hear european nature in games. it made the ambience even more wholesome. anyways…
what started happy and cheery ended in tragdedy and i was shocked. especially when i found out that this whole incident is based on a real event i have never known about before this game.
i hope vladimir cholokyan will make more games.
– Real player with 2.0 hrs in game
Dear Esther
As always, TL;DR at the bottom. This game deserves more though.
In recent years it has become more common to hear gamers, and even some non-gamers giving credit to games as pieces of art. Truly all games are art in some form as they provide a visual and narrative experience no matter what type of game they are. Some games are simply greater classified as art than others, but even inside of that it seems something such as ‘Dear Esther’ should be given credit on the art scale much higher than any old “video games are art” scale.
– Real player with 9.4 hrs in game
A game taking place on a deserted, dismal Hebridean island, housing a peculiar, unobtrusive wandering, promptly sounds like the concept of an experiment. Given the complete absence of interaction between the player and the game, as the nameless player’s protagonist without visual identification strolls through the mist, while the release of random sound recordings of letters read out loud to a woman named Esther, it is indeed in fact an experiment. The identity of the woman is unclear, as is the relationship between the two of you; however, as you progress through the windblown beaches, the moors, the deep caves as well as the lighthouse - towards the peak of the island - detached diary notes depict the outlines of a tragic accident, and a ghostly tale appears.
– Real player with 4.4 hrs in game