Spellbound Spire
Can’t beat free. Must try if you have the space for it.
There needs to be an MMO that uses this sort of non-euclidean design. That would be something else. Should experiment more with different patterns on the floor, spirals, wavier paths, you know? so you could have different environments that have different feels, and you would know which one you were in just by how the “terrain” changes (terrain meaning, how you’re traversing around you play-space) there’s a whole world of potential for new and interesting level design and it really would be a WILD multiplayer experience… not THIS game specifically, just the concept. you see someone on the other side of a fence, strike up a convo, but they’re miles away in the game world. Again, this game is single player, I’m not talking about Spellbound Spire, I’m just raving about how cool it’s core concept is.
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Free to Play Experience Games.
Disclaimer: Got a free key pre-release. I am not affiliated with the developer in any way. I will also keep the review spoiler-free.
for tl;dr - scroll down
Spellbound Spire reminds me a bit of Anti-Chamber. The game uses clever Teleportation and Projection to trick you into thinking you are in an impossible (non-euclidean) space. There is no combat. Just puzzles and alot of thinking outside the box while being trapped inside an ever-changing box.
You only have playspace locomotion. The whole game plays within a 3 by 3 metre space. No Teleportation (besides the obvious coded ones), no smooth locomotion. Just your feet to carry you through the game. I like that! To prevent players from running against walls all the time, the game lets you configure the size of your playspace. That doesn’t change anything in the game environment itself. Instead, if you change your playspace to 2 by 2 metre, you will be transported 3m ingame for every 2m you move physically. I hope that explaination makes sense. I played in 2,5 by 2,5 metre mode and it wasn’t nauseating. I can imagine that, especially with new VR players in small playspaces, this could cause issues because of the dissonance of physical and virtual movement.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
ULTRAWORLD EXODUS
Good game for looking around and enjoying the view, except about 80% of the time you randomize the particle effects shading, lighting and colours it eithers ends up extremely garish or extremely hard to see, due to it all being one colour. But for the times that it works out, it looks great. The two story parts are good, if not for the ‘philosophy’ included inside, simply for the environments. Part one was my favourite, but part two I enjoyed the ending, even if it was a bit obvious. I recommend it, if only for those few times when it ends up looking amazing. Oh, and the soundtrack. Its music style isn’t really to my tastes, so I can’t really judge it, but some of the more laid-back tracks I enjoyed. The rest of the songs felt extremely fake, and, even though it’s set in a digital world, didn’t really seem as if it fit in. I feel like the music to ‘Electric Highways’ would have fit in a lot better.
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Free to Play Indie Games.
I left this game feeling a sense of awe. I walked across numerous worlds with beautiful vistas. Then I realized that this game was pointless.
It truly is a walking simulator. Not only that, it’s a exposition simulator. The player is barraged with many common philosophical questions in the first chapter. What is truth? What is one’s identity? What is the meaning of life?
The constant reading the player has to endure is almost a barrier to exploring the world (which is admittedly pretty empty and unmoving).
– Real player with 2.8 hrs in game
Introvert: A Teenager Simulator
I’m gonna say this now: The game IS fun. It IS entertaining. I’m giving it a negative review though because it fails to deliver on everything it was trying to do. The voice acting wasn’t good, but it was honest. The game is simple and made well enough. The problem is though, it doesn’t discuss gun violence, suicide, or bullying. It mentions shooting up the school, and sticks a dead body in your living room, which is never explained. The game gives you an illusion of choice, making you think you can get different outcomes. It doesn’t matter what you do, the ending is always the same.
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Free to Play Adventure Games.
A character orders this for a pizza, I’ll just quote it straight from the game:
“Can I have a pizza with Greek cheese, smoked salmon, black caviar, red onions, tomato sauce, spicy mayo, chili flakes, and banana slices, garlic, kebab pieces, tuna, sausage and scrambled eggs and make it extra toasted”
This game is as bad as that pizza: all the wrong toppings and burned.
–-
If you don’t understand what’s wrong with that pizza order, this might actually be a good game for you.
For everyone else:
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Mitoza
There is no reason for me to not recommend this game. None. Zero. Whatsoever. There’s no glitches. It runs fine. It’s got a very short run time but it’s free. It’s got meme references of various varieties and the game play is easy. It’s not even trying to be pretentious “art”. This is a clickable puzzle game much like those old Newground games where if we clicked around enough, we might get a jump scare or a cute surprise. This game provides us with neither but you do get a checklist of outcomes.
– Real player with 2.0 hrs in game
A toy as the dev calls it. It has weird and interesting animations. You start with a seed and you choose to pot it or feed it to a bird, the choices continue until you reach an end and repeat. The game lasts around 20-40mins with a mere 35mb to install. I managed to achieve majority of the animations through trial and error and the final with a guide.
The good point of the game is when you have already saw an animation you can skip it by clicking on it and when you find all the animations there nothing much else to see/do anymore. Fun time waster. Its worth being free.
– Real player with 1.0 hrs in game
Space Needle VR
Runs poorly somewhat, but it is still a very cool experience, similar to Buzludzha VR, or thereabouts. Nice job. You can explore the ground and go to the top and I think there might be some kind of ride. Try not to confuse this with a few other smaller apps with the same name. It’s available on Viveport, but there are other cellphone stuffs that’s differant and has another name.
! This is the premium Expedia one. https://youtu.be/1dQ48m4oVdE
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
⠄⠄⠄⠄⣠⣴⣿⣿⣿⣷⣦⡠⣴⣶⣶⣶⣦⡀⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄it’s good
⠄⠄⠄⣴⣿⣿⣫⣭⣭⣭⣭⣥⢹⣟⣛⣛⣛⣃⣀⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄Play it
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⣼⣿⣾⣿⣿⣿⣥⣝⠂⠐⠈⢸⠿⢆⠱⠯⠄⠈⠸⣛⡒⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄Merry
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⣭⡭⢟⣲⣶⡿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠋⠄⠄⣴⠶⠶⠶⠶⠶⢶⡀Christmas
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢟⣛⠿⢿⣷⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡄⠄⢰⠇⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⣧
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡹⣭⣛⠳⠶⠬⠭⢭⣝⣛⣛⣛⣫⣭⡥⠄⠸⡄⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢇⡟
⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⣭⣛⣛⡛⠳⠶⠶⠶⣶⣶⣶⠶⠄⠄⠄⠙⠮⣽⣛⣫⡵⠊⠁
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– Real player with 1.5 hrs in game
Ann
My man RongRong, I was already a fan of your animations since the Payday 2 one, long ago.
When I heard you made a game, let alone a 2D horror, holy crap I came running.
I loved what you did here. Even if i didn’t know you beforehand, i’d have appreciated the effort you put on everything. The animated cutscenes, the art, everything.
The undertale-like music at the end too haha.
The only things I didn’t exactly like was, first, the escape moments. I think they were too harsh at some point, took me two days to finish the game because i was tired after so many constant restarts.
– Real player with 16.0 hrs in game
I see, where the inspiration comes from, and this game is a good attempt towards that direction.
So, this is a horror RPG on paper, but it’s very light for that. (Also a short one, compared to others.) It has some chase scenes and a few jumpscares, but it doesn’t have the (dark) atmosphere to call it horror. (The music is sometimes interesting for a horror game.)
It’s an escape story, so don’t expect a deep story or lore now! But it’s probably an early attempt, so it’s okay. That is also the reason, why the goal of the story doesn’t feel strong or deep.
– Real player with 4.4 hrs in game
Cubico
Cubico is a free game where you play as a ball with weird physics in a simplistic geometric world to overcome all sorts of typical platforming obstacles
My first impression after starting this was: “This feels like some kind of university project.” It then took me a few minutes to give my 15 year old gamepad a working configuration and figure out the basics. The game tried to guide me with specially colored and shaped objects most of the time. At some point though, this seemed to have failed and I was hoplessly lost and a bit bored. I then checked Leeson’s achievement guide and found out I wasn’t lost at all, I just felt lost. I also found out that this was indeed developed as a Bachelor Project.
– Real player with 2.8 hrs in game
Gameplay: https://youtu.be/l_Tv2GL1kYE
Completed this one sitting. A solid, hyper stylized platformer that was a blast to play. You’re basically moving through an open world environment, terraforming different nodes to get you from a to b or deducting to get into places. The goal is to achieve a series of parts, scattered around the game world. I went into this assuming it would be a marble madness like – and when it wasn’t, I was slightly disappointed but after getting around to what the game really was, I was elated. Great job devs!
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
Explore Fushimi Inari
Non-VR Review: A Really Great Walking Simulator with a Well-Designed Environment
This review is for the non-VR version. The developer’s write-up for the game gave me the impression that he’s a casual hobbyist. There was nothing amateurish, however, about the final result. I noticed a lot of subtle details that added a sense of realism. Small variations here and there made it feel like an actual place. Rows upon rows of Shinto gates in a forest are inherently repetitive, but the developer managed to include enough points of interest to keep it from being boring. It was an enjoyable experience. It’s a dense forest, with a lot of vegetation to render. I’m worried that my Radeon RX 580 might struggle to display it in VR (it was averaging around 45 fps on my monitor). If someone tries it in VR with a similarly modest video card, I’d love to hear about your experience.
– Real player with 6.6 hrs in game
The setting of this, on an almost surrealist landscape, seems like a parody of chinese or japanese culture. All those red gateways acting like tunnels over the paths. Every one seems like a clone. Is this real, or is this the level designer being lazy? Then you start to leave the path, to wander the woodlands and look at the scenery. The sun starts to be eclipsed by the trees, and the wind grows. Soon, you’re wandering the island and it’s getting dark and rainy, you’re hoping you can get to the exit before it gets locked for the night, you follow the lighted paths and watch the last few rays of sunlight setting through the trees… And you’ve forgotten this is a simulation. The thoughts of the unreality, the fakeness are gone. You start to see this for what it is, almost a self-made pastiche of its own culture, rendered real in the digital realm. This is what it looks like, this is what it’s like to wander the hillsides and watch the water churning over the rocks. This is Fushimi Inari, and it is… stunning.
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
Golden Moon
EDIT: So, I’ve played through the game again, and I definitely think it’s worthwhile to go back and amend my review. Since I first gave my review, the game has received several great updates that have drastically changed the way I play the game and my thoughts about it.
Final rating: 9/10
This game is just something else. When I originally installed it, I was expecting it to be your run-of-the-mill average game. I was sorely mistaken; this game is surely a diamond in the rough! To boot, the developer of this game is incredibly dedicated to updating and refining the game’s mechanics and making sure it’s treated with as much love as possible.
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
A fun, free third person adventure game full of egyptian history & lore. The game itself is pretty tough since there’s no checkpoints, but with enough persistence you’ll make it through and finish the game in a few hours. If you’re a fan of egyptian history or just adventure games in general, give it a try.
There’s also achievements to unlock if that’s your kinda thing.
– Real player with 6.1 hrs in game
Paws and Soul: First Step
I would recommend this to a gamer that just wants to relax and enjoy a scenic game play with some interesting story line to it. I enjoyed the graphics, just had a hard time in controlling the movement when it came to jumping around and figuring out if I was close enough to catch the butterflies, but all in all it was enjoyable. The fact that its a demo for now, I knew it would be short, I don’t know as of yet how short the full version truly is or if there ever will be any updates to add into the game later in time like dlc. I do believe it is worth a try and definitely something to play while relaxing on your pc. They keyboard was easy to use after getting used to the mouse, as I’m sure it would be similar with a console controller. Just try and play around with it.
– Real player with 2.4 hrs in game
While I liked the idea and gameplay, I cannot recommend this game.
First, no savegames. At all. Every time you launch a game, there is only one option: “New game”, and start from the very beginning. Granted, it’s not a very long one, but if you’d like to play for like half an hour, and continue later, it’s impossible.
Second, quite clunky handling. If you press the Sprint key before starting to move, it doesn’t work. Jumps often happen with a slight delay, which causes you to slip off the edge you were trying to jump from. Simple turning around takes significant space and time. Add to this non-existent depth perception, which is crucial to some gameplay elements.
– Real player with 1.7 hrs in game