Skaramazuzu
Somewhere between life and death, there is a world made up of hopeful dreams and broken shadows. Souls may sometimes find themselves lured into this strange world to be tested. Examined to find out where they are worthy of moving on to.
Zuzu - A lost Soul
Skaramazuzu is an atmospheric 2D slow-paced, story-driven adventure, taking place in a moody, solemn and mysterious landscape. The protagonist Zuzu, a joyful and innocent soul without any memory, has been summoned by a mysterious entity called Master to discover the meaning of its existence. Through this bizarre journey, Zuzu will meet some strange and capricious personalities who offer to help.
Game Features
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A classic story-driven 2D Adventure, crafted with the appropriate modern and fresh approach.
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Explore over 20 distinct interconnected locations of a strange and dark world.
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Highly-tuned casual 2D controls. Control Skaramazuzu and interact with the characters and the world with minimal effort.
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Full support for keyboards and controllers! Play and enjoy the game with your favorite configuration.
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Discover the story of Skaramazuzu and Master, a unique duo of a lost soul and a mysterious entity.
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Collect and give items with an easy-to-use inventory system.
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A vast collection of creepy and cute characters, all brought to life with traditional 2D frame-by-frame animation.
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Meet and interact with over 20 unique surreal characters and unlock their individual stories.
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Graphic Assets and animation frames with resolution up to 2,5K
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Unique sound effects for every interactive element.
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A peculiar sound system of voice emotes and expressions for every character.
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A dark, atmospheric original score accompanies the players on their journey.
The void
The world of Skaramazuzu, has a unique aesthetic of a black and white shadow puppet world, set among the ruins of ancient gothic-like structures, while all the while engulfed in a moody and subdued pale ghost light. Every part of this strange landscape offers something new for you to discover. You will encounter almost every location to the unique backgrounds and soundscapes that will enchant you with their sombre and dreamlike aesthetic from the interesting yet mysterious characters. Skaramazuzu is a slow-paced, story-driven adventure game with a cute, creepy, moody and strange feeling.
A collection of surreal and strange personalities
Many strange and whimsical characters are waiting to be discovered by Zuzu on this adventure. Every character will be willing to listen and help Zuzu and ask for something in return. Some of these strange personalities might turn out to be key figures in Zuzu’s little peculiar adventure. By accepting to help these newfound friends, Zuzu will not only learn a little about each one of them but will eventually learn the truth about this strange world.
Read More: Best Hand-drawn Atmospheric Games.
Creaks
I didn’t know what to expect from this game. While the developer always has outstanding graphics and audio, some of the reviewers were unkind as to the storyline/gameplay. I purchased it anyway as I have always liked Amanita games. I was not disappointed.
The game’s graphics, while dark and subdued, were beautifully rendered and lent the right tone to the story. The music was lovely and not overpowering and sound effects did not distract from gameplay. As to gameplay, I would describe it as Amanita version of the first “Rooms” game but with a better story, graphics, and gameplay. Yes, the basic play is to escape from chambers (rooms) as you move through this fantasy world. This type of gameplay has intermittent breaks when you get a periodically come across some artwork pieces that have their own puzzles to solve. As your character makes his way through this world, you gradually realize the plot and the nature of the characters you find. The puzzles are challenging and never boring. It’s not a violent game but gentle with a satisfactory ending. I’m very tired of games that leave me in limbo waiting for a subsequent games to purchase in order to determine the fate of my character only to find out my doom is my inevitable future with no chance of salvation. I’m sorry; I need a little hope right now. If developers have the power to create a world and story for others to enjoy, why not create one that inspires and doesn’t depress. Amanita games leave me inspired. I hope to see more from them. A sequel to this game would be welcome.
– Real player with 30.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Hand-drawn Puzzle Games.
Beautiful game by the Amanita Team. I’ve been following their games for years and i’ve finally got to properly play one of them and it couldn’t be better!!!
This game features a very charming, very dark and very grotesque art style that it only gets better as you go along.
It has a sort of “Kafka” vibe to it: The story of the game starts with our main character staying on his room, looking bored with life, until one sudden unexpected movement makes a crack on the wall, leaving some strange marks, upon inspection we found the entrance to an subterranean passage which leads into the origin of these tremors…. and a whole cast of strange beings which live in the earth below…. passage upon passage upon passage, its laberintical, babilon like, almost. The journey starts very slow and even monotone much… but soon you will find your way through different places, sometimes rooms, sometimes a cave…. the atmosphere starts to change, the colors follow suite and there will be plenty of variety (graphically speaking).
– Real player with 13.7 hrs in game
Ignatius
Very good game, love the ambience and the great art.
Recommended.
The installed .exe has been renamed and Steam didn’t find it in my drive D :
Just copied and renamed the folder “Ignatius - Reunited_Data” to “Ignatius_Data”, and the exe “Ignatius - Reunited.exe” to “Ignatius.exe”, and Steam worked ok (otherwise no played time is registered).
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Hand-drawn Atmospheric Games.
This game is an adorable noir style game with great coloured highlights. The music is creepy, there are puns that are amazing, and the story is sweet.. The game is generally quite easy, BUT, if you move incorrectly can be very unforgiving - but it was worth it and I had a lot of laughs with it.. The design is just beautiful - there are a few spelling errors and jittery bits but in my opinion I put it down to it feeling like an old school movie that used to flicker and for all I know, that’s how its meant to be portrayed.. The enemies aren’t overly hard, it would be easily playable by a younger audience.. It reminds me of other games that I have played such as Machinarium and looks similar to what Limbo looks like - but it was still beautiful regardless..
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game
The Bridge
The Bridge is a 2D puzzle game with beautiful Escher-like architecture and level design, hand-drawn black-and-white art and its own laws of physics. It is divided into 48 levels with the first half requiring minimal use of logic and feeling like somewhat of a pushover; fortunately, this is mostly remedied in the second half—a mirrored version of the first with additional obstacles thrown in and where a greater number of puzzles actually make you think.
The puzzles start off easily enough, with simple gravity manipulation and key collection, then introduce additional elements consistently: deadly balls which roll as you rotate the environment and can adhere to their own laws of gravity; points which invert gravity and shift you between black and white dimensions where you may only interact with objects matching your current color; vortexes which suck anything near them into place and hold them there until deactivated; mirror images of yourself which require entering multiple doors or picking up multiple keys simultaneously to progress; and gravity curtains, where you may remain stationary while rotating the world to work objects into their desired positions relative to your own.
– Real player with 10.7 hrs in game
Let me start by saying that The Bridge is not a bad game. For an indie game the developers should be proud of what they’ve accomplished. If there were a somewhere-between-thumbs-up-and-thumbs-down button this is the game I would most want to use it for.
I leaned on the side of not recommending it though, for several reasons. This game is inevitably compared to Braid because it has an artsy style, time manipulation, and puzzles. But it’s nowhere near the level of those other puzzle games I love, including Braid or Limbo or even Master Reboot. The reason is mostly depth and story. There simply isn’t that much here. And what does exist is far too obscure and limited to be moving.
– Real player with 10.6 hrs in game
The Runaway Feijoão
The game is very interesting, difficulty level intermediate.
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Honestly I don’t really know what to say to this game.
It didn’t take me that long to finish the game but a few levels made me struggle.
It was a short game but I still had my fun. So with the low price, I don’t regret owning this game.
– Real player with 2.4 hrs in game
Bioid
Bioid is an exploration adventure and puzzle game from two dreamers.
Owl-like’s Space Library features oddities from across civilizations and the crossroads of worlds. Just open the book, and unknown creatures burst forth or drag you into the book. Worlds collide in the Library! Offering you the opportunity to become a mediator between various funny and paradoxical creatures.
The White Bioid Reef stands out among dimensions. It’s a conglomerate of shape-shifters with powers of telekinesis and gravity control. Open tunnels in the bioplasm and travel through white labyrinths to meet higher-intelligence creatures. Fight the parasitic thorns and world devourers.
Have fun exploring while listening to great ambient music.
Pink Gum
Pink Gum is a very short journey through a life as told by chewing gum bubbles. I pondered how to sum this game up in a sentence, and I guess that’s the best I could do. Not great, really.
I think its one of those things that no matter what I might say, you could go, hmm, sounds interesting, but when you actually see it, it will make perfect sense. Which begs the question “Why am I even writing about it then?”
Because I think Pink Gum is well worth checking out. For the small amount of time and money you spend, you get a visually appealing, thought provoking experience. I’m also pretty sure that my opinion isn’t enough to persuade you, so here are some quotes about the game from famous people.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Pink Gum is a short but powerful experience that tells us about birth, life and death from a unique point of view.
I really recommend this game to everyone.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
Teenage Blob: Paperperson - The First Single
This is the best version of “Paper boy” that i have ever played, please make this a full game, not just a mini game! The music is great but the other 5 games don’t match the quality of this one, and i feel like i’m not alone in saying so, the concept is great but i would have really loved if all the games were NES remakes like this one.
– Real player with 4.9 hrs in game
Well… it’s a “split release” featuring 6 songs & 6 minigames (with the demo version featuring just one song and one minigame, which is a Paperboy clone).
This immediately hit a nerve - you see I have an almost pathological obsession with playing various versions of Paperboy, ever since the Amstrad CPC home-micro version was (sadly) lacking any sort of in-game sound. (yeah, it’s an emotional scar from my teenage years, what can I say).
This particular mini game is pretty nice - but there’s just one problem: There are times when the perspective changes from the classic isometric view, to a side-view (resembling Kikstart, somewhat). However, this switch (which follows the song’s rhythm) can occur in completely inappropriate times (for example, at the moment you line up your newspaper shot) and when your view suddenly switches back, you can miss your shot or crash into an obstacle, etc.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Teenage Blob
Hello there Ladies and Gentlemen. My name is Mitch Larson, and I’m here to tell you about An awesome game called Teenage Blob.
This Game is brilliant. Let’s talk about it. The controls are fairly simple. you just use keyboard arrow keys and space bar etc. The controls are smooth. And the gameplay is really fun. There’s a lot of different minigames and there’s a lot of achievements for this game too.
Music gets a 10 out of 10 because the music in this game is absolutely stellar. Seriously, completely awesome music. Written and played by the SuperWeaks.
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game
Finally, a game I can play as a blob.
Honestly, I never got to go to a concert. I know, lame, but I can’t help that my family couldn’t afford concert tickets back then anyway. The one concert I was actually able to attend actually got canceled at the last minute (totally not still salty). And now when we’re better off now, I live in a town where nothing happens and if I do want to attend something I’ll have to travel a long distance to just get there (my dreams of going to anime/gaming conventions are crushed). Well, if I was never able to go to a concert, I might as well go to one in a game.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
EarthNight
EarthNight is an absolutely fantastic runner game, where you skydive (spacedive?) though each successive atmosphere, while landing on, running across, and slaying massive dragons. You can tell how much love and passion was poured into this game from every angle.
Every run, you collect pieces of the dragons, which unlock new temporary power-ups when collected for the first time. These power-ups then show up on runs, and you have to collect them to get their temporary effects. You can also use your currency, water, to buy the power-ups early, if you’re finding a dragon too difficult or not fun and just want the power-up. You also collect eggs each run. Every dragon has 3 eggs, each one makes you do more damage against that dragon on that run. Eggs and dragon pieces are also used for upgrading your items and water tank.
– Real player with 13.3 hrs in game
Auto-Stunner
Yes. Get it. Or play it on Apple Arcade. This is such an interesting one.
This weirdness. A seven years in the making autorunner from a studio whose founder said of the genre ‘People got bored because it’s boring.’ THAT’S where you need to start when you’re aiming to upend a genre. Also, a title pitched to bring mobile gaming its own Spelunky. You could say it was unpunctual to that aim given the releases we now see on the small screen or, perhaps, just in time for Apple Arcade’s mainstreamification. In any case, what a mission statement; what a millstone of expectation and prospects round a studio’s first game’s neck. How’d it do?
– Real player with 12.8 hrs in game