Google Spotlight Stories: Age of Sail
This is the most moving of the google spotlight stories. For sure. It was a bit of a tear jerker to be honest, but I think I’m just a sucker for those who get stuck at sea. It’s 11 minutes long. You go under the boat, and then above. The old man seems a bit hard. I forget what happens at the end. Maybe they drown!
! Actually they get taken up in the sky by aliens, there I spoiled it. https://youtu.be/upyimbdtgio
– Real player with 3.7 hrs in game
This is a Virtual Visual Story which in itself is a great way of including the player… the viewer into… along in the story.
The VR part lets you get a totally diffrent feeling than from what you would get from the Theatrical version. The diffrent sounds from around you at all time, the strong sensation of sun from one side and storm the onther. So many details you can notice so easily, so much more information.
However this is not to say that there are some flaws, for example, I am 195 cm and the VR renders me as a tall mudda fukka. This does make me look at everything from a birds viewpoint, and thus missing allot of information, like facical expressions or other more minute but important details.
– Real player with 1.5 hrs in game
Google Spotlight Stories: Pearl
Pearl is essentially a VR music video. It’s also much more than the sum of its parts. I had to view the video two times to be able to piece together the story being told. There is just so much information coming at you from everywhere. But this is why we have VR, for experiences like this. No other medium can impact you the way VR can. I didn’t cry, but gosh, I was impacted deeply. I missed so many things in my first viewing.
! I missed the fireflies, I miss the cops flashing blue and reds, I missed the girl falling, I missed the dad driving with no hands with baby in the back … etc.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
A very simple but unique blend of using VR as a cinematic device. It takes you to be up close and personal with these characters, feeling even more involved than what a flatscreen can do. It’s not completely perfect, i’ve seen others go a bit more creative in their storytelling. But for free and for 10ish mins, it’s worth to experience it a few times so you can come out of it with a different feeling.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
Island Saver
Let me preface this with the fact that I am a (nearly) 26 year old adult, and yes, I am aware that this game’s demographic is more for younger kids.
That being said, I love this game! It’s cute and charming, sickeningly so at times (who gave the animals the right to be so cute!?!). The art style is vibrant, stylized, and incredibly eye-catching. I know other reviews have said it, but yes, this is sort of like the weird love-child of Viva Piñata and Slime Rancher; a combo I didn’t know I needed.
– Real player with 17.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Free to Play Cute Games.
Island Saver has the name of a bank plastered all over it, and they sure let you know it right off. From the start you’re bombed with the concept of keeping your money in a bank. If you keep your money in a bank, you get little interest pop-ups now and again. Banks are so handy, you guys!
At times, the game strong-arms you into taking out a loan so you can experience the magic of having a bank give you money and then hound you to pay it back for the rest of the level. Currency exchange becomes a minor mechanic, where you must wait for some other country’s currency to drastically drop in value against your own before cashing in so money can fountain at you.
– Real player with 13.2 hrs in game
What Never Was
Always make time for an adventure
Acke Hallgren has accomplished the kind of explore your surroundings adventure that can be completed at the player’s own style of gaming whether it be speedrun in under 30 minutes or enjoyed at a slow pace so as to take in the atmosphere of What Never Was.
The plot is of a Granddaughter who is tasked with clearing out her late Grandfather’s attic which is rendered beautifully using Unreal Engine. The BGM is set to a relaxing looping piano interspersed with gently crashing cymbals but also features a unique touch where a gramophone can be played that adds a more lively jazz swing type music from the Grandfather’s era.
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
“It is so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone” John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent
What Never Was is a short, first-person, story-driven, exploration and puzzle game, with point-and-click and walking simulator style mechanics. It is the first project by developer Acke Hallgren who lists games such as Myst and The Longest Journey along with Norse mythology, Indiana Jones and H.P. Lovecraft as sources of inspiration.
The game was created using Unreal Engine and is available now, free on Steam. It has 6 achievements (one of which is eluding me!) and can be played within an hour or so. It does have regular autosaves so doesn’t need to be played in one sitting but I would recommend doing so to get the best experience, especially considering the short play time.
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
The Lar
The Lar is, despite its simple appearance, a lovely game, filled with a lot of personality and charm. While the English translation is very lacking, the personality and humor still shines through, even if it took me a second gameplay to really understand the plot. The parts that made the poor translation the most problematic were those, where it was unclear whether to take a word literally or figuratively. For example
! The abyss is not simply a literal hole in the ground, but is in fact a metaphysical space that holds much power. It’s issues like these that made it hard to keep up with the plot.
– Real player with 21.9 hrs in game
What is ‘The Lar’?
An rpg story about experiment Lar, whom aims to escape from their current place along with several others he gets to known. Like some others Lar was changed in a furry as a result of experiments, though he has no memories of this. As the story progresses you’ll learn to know more about the hows and whys of these experiments.
Pros
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Good story along with good (cute) personas
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Decent ambiance
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Nice design
Cons
- Lots of text, like seriously
– Real player with 15.8 hrs in game
VR Flush
I have played VR Flush multiple times, and had fun each time. It’s a fun (and free) game that you can play in virtual reality. I just got an Oculus Quest 2, and can’t wait to try playing this on it! It is very short, but it’s worth the time you’ll spend on it. I needed the restroom during my most recent play-through, but I didn’t go to the restroom. The need to use the toilet while playing a video game that takes place on a toilet is something that money cannot buy, it only comes free on SteamTM, and can be played on VR mode.
– Real player with 1.6 hrs in game
VR Flush trains you for the every day situation of getting teleported into space by aliens while sitting on the toilet. We all know how common this is and I imagine everyone of us had it happen to them in the past.
Proving to be an intelligent life form has always been difficult for me - I’m often not entirely convinced if I’m an intelligent life form myself, so how am I able to provde this towards aliens who would terminate me if I didn’t manage to otherwise. Finally I can train for this situation at the safety of my own home - preferably while sitting on the toilet myself, sadly my sensors don’t reach that far.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THIS KNIGHT
Join this Knight on his journey to unleash chaos, yeah that’s right, you are not helping people, but making them hate You.
Help people destroy their cabbages, kill their chicken or both, get drunk and kill imaginary devils. While you did this heroic actions villagers will try to kill you by a creature who can throw stones at you and run towards while you standing at gates waiting for him to destroy, so You can run away like a coward, and then get depressed for running away.
Funny story, easy beatable, easy achievements,
– Real player with 3.8 hrs in game
OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THIS GAME!
OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THIS KNIGHT is a satirical little game about someone who strives to become a heroic defender of the people and solving their problems…very “Link”-like, you know? Except…this little birdy gets the wrong idea and takes things a little too far. Be it smashing crops, killing chickens, or even destroying just-finished additions to one’s property, this “knight” tries to be as knightly as possible…in his rampage quest.
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Wurroom
It’s not that this is bad, per se. It’s just that it’s a point and click game with no point (hah, hah).
It plays like a bad game but a good art project.
It’s super buggy, and I’ve had to relaunch the game even with the patch that was uploaded a few days ago.
The patch that, by the way, broke 5 of the achievements. They can still be achieved through depots, though, so there’s that.
At the time of this review, it’s free. But it’s not really good… as a game. Again, plays like a good art project. I’d recommend against it.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
very short game If i had actually paid for this i would have been a bit disappointed . As some of the negative reviewers have pointed out its more visual art than game . There is no save feature but then again the thing is so short its not really necessary you click on certain areas of the screen to trigger the next animation if your stuck you can click on the right mouse button and the areas of the screen you need to click on will light up may purchase some of the authors other work but i think i am going to wait till i have some magic mushroom edibles or some cannabis before i play them. don’t expect anything long and complicated . I hope if i do purchase the other games they are a bit longer .
– Real player with 0.9 hrs in game
Unsung Warriors - Prologue
Such a good game.The sense of attack is very good. I like its painting style.And let me tell you how to achieve some achievements.
1.Boks ouwe
You should use just your fists to attack boss.You can’t use any weapon and any attack magic and dash!But you still can use health magic.So this is such easy you know.
2.Filthy Rich
You can go in and out of the crypt gate repeatedly to refresh weeds and cask for gaining gold.500 is too easy except that you have any will.
3.Air drop
There is a scene which have a switch to drop the iron box down.Yeah,operation the switch to crush the skeleton that if you haven’t kill it before.
– Real player with 5.4 hrs in game
I discovered this gem of a game during the Steam Winter Sale 2019. I didnt know what to expect from it, but after it loaded and the gameplay began, I was truly impressed by the graphics and smooth engine. But that is not all, at first it looked like very simple straightforward 2D game, but as I was able to beat it first time, I started the second run, and discovered so many new secrets and different strategies. Animations looks awesome, characters and level design is so cute, music and sound effects really enjoyable. It also has steam achievements which I especially like, and completed 100% of them. But than I found out that this will probably be everything we will ever get of this game, bcs their kickstarted failed and development of this amazing game ended. It is such a sad story, and also it could be found in game, if you explore every corner of it. I think the studio behind this game as well developers are very talented and I see great potentional if they decide to work on something new or at least finish this game. I hope the song for unsung warriors is yet to be heard!
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Hargrave
++ I have edited this review to be more updated. Additional thoughts at the bottom. ++
A mix between “Metroid” and “Mega Man”, this game manages to offer a nice experience for free. Another game that I’d put in my list of podcast/lecture games, so you have something to occupy your hands while listening to these types of media. And you can play it on a really weak and old machine, like the one I’m currently using.
The character controls fairly well, there is some precision jump required (especially in the harder version of the stages unlocked after you collect all powercells, but I didn’t play those) and you can even map keys to do some common actions like jumping down from a platform or jumping just one square up.
– Real player with 25.1 hrs in game
As an avid fan of both the classic Megaman games, and the Metroid series, I knew I had to at least give this a shot just by looking at it, and man oh man did it deliver. It captured the difficulty of Megaman, albeit in a new way. Rather than unfairly placed enemies taunting you into a bottomless pit, nearly every hazard you touch will likely kill you. While this sounds rather punishing, it feels great to weave in and out of death’s grip once you master the controls. Not to mention the various health upgrade to help protect you from many of them, and the lack of lives and/or continues really helps speed things up.
– Real player with 10.6 hrs in game