Loveland
Detective, we have received reports of kidnapping and cult activity centered around a small trailer park on the outskirts of Loveland, Ohio. The members of this cult are lead by Pastor Abram, a recently denounced minister for the Heartland Church of Christ. Pastor Abram has experienced a sudden change in his demeanor, exhibited by his increasingly radical sermons in which he proclaims that frogs will save God’s children from extinction.
We believe that this may be the actions of an anomalous creature.
Take on the role of an Agency Detective, as you explore a rural trailer park in Loveland, Ohio, and uncover the secrets of a frog-worshipping cult.
Every decision has a consequence. It’s up to you how this story will end.
Loveland is inspired by cult classics such as Deus Ex & the X-Files. By blending immersive simulations with the psychological thrills of beings beyond our understanding, Loveland delivers an engrossing experience that will have you playing through the story multiple times.
Psychological Horror
Dive deep into the depravity of a religious mind, corrupted, as you uncover the horrific fate of the many members of the Loveland Cove Cult.
Non-Linear Gameplay
You are open to investigate the Loveland Cove Trailer Park in whatever way you see fit. Whether you do the bare minimum, or leave no stone unturned, the choice is up to you.
Multiple Endings
Do not expect your actions to go without consequence. There are multiple outcomes to how this story can go.
Immersive Aesthetic
Engulf yourself in the sights and sounds of a warm summer night in rural Ohio as you traverse through the eerily quite trailer park known as Loveland Cove.
Read More: Best Immersive Sim Horror Games.
Keyword: A Spider’s Thread
Best detective/difficult puzzle solving game of 2021, hands down.
Average playtime for Normal Ending is 3-7 hours depending on how fast you will catch up with the main mechanics of solving puzzles in this game.
Game features a big plot reveal near the end which gamers generally call getting “mind-blown” similarly like in Zero Escape, Danganronpa, AI: Somnium Files, Phoenix Wright games. During playthrough, expect to get some chills down your spine as it won’t be a happy story that’s for sure.
Needless to say, I am also impressed by high quality textures around the main gameplay area (that’s basically going to be your entire playground) and when you zoom in around literally in most corners of your vision in the city. You can peep anywhere and visuals aren’t compromised.
– Real player with 11.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Immersive Sim Story Rich Games.
Good story with mystery, suspense, exploration and light hacking; it has some fresh features but don’t expect anything groundbreaking. You are in your house for the majority of the game (about 3 hours, don’t mind my play time it was because of a bug) and most of that time is spent on your computer, so reconsider if you don’t enjoy games that take place in a single setting. My review is more neutral than a positive, mainly due to the bugs that affected the gameplay it oftentimes felt like I was playing an unpolished game in early access. I’d recommend this game on the terms of waiting for the bugs to get fixed and a good sale.
– Real player with 7.6 hrs in game
SIMULACRA 2
Ease into your chair and prepare yourself for this continuation of the SIMULACRA universe. In this iteration, you will have new advanced tools and a mosaic of widely branching narratives spread across 2 characters that are continually altered by your choices. You will have the choice of playing as a junior detective or a reporter who is recruited by a special department at police headquarters. With only one piece of evidence, you must find the truth of how a young woman & interweb influencer ends up dead on a case that is already closed. Lives and livelihoods are on the line, there is no room for mistakes.
– Real player with 11.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Immersive Sim Horror Games.
Let me be clear, I really liked the first game. I think it did most things right and while I wasn’t a fan of the jumpscares and it definitely looked like an indie game production wise.
This game is a perfect example of how sometimes, less is more.
Let me start with my biggest pet peeve of this game, and that’s the extreme slowness of it all. The entire plot is not that long, I actually think it might be around the same length as the first game, but it is padded out by how extremely slow it all is. Be it conversations or the extreme amount of stuff you need to click through and scan gets annoying on the second playthrough, if not first.
– Real player with 10.5 hrs in game
Crime Scene Technician
When the world awakens to life, it discovers the terrible deeds of the night. As a criminal department technician, you will find yourself a regular visitor to scenes of crime, gathering evidence for analysis and skillfully combining the facts - necessary steps for apprehending a suspect.
While the task at hand might seem overwhelming, do not fret - you’re not alone, accompanied by plenty of companions in the form of various tools.
Thanks to the ultraviolet lamp, you will see what’s hidden in the light of day. Test the collected samples in a well-equipped laboratory and recover damaged files or identify fingerprints with the help of advanced software.
Keep in mind, however, that the specialized equipment will be worthless without the most important tool - you! Be perceptive and inquisitive, spotting clues overlooked by others, finding patterns and similarities. Then, once gathered, connect the dots with a line that will lead you towards the truth.
Finish the job by putting the right person behind bars, but that’s not the end! Each day streets are filled with a sordid cast of characters, just waiting for an opportunity to strike. Clear the city of criminals and become a legend in your trade thanks to Crime Scene Technician!
SIMULACRA
When you are a mature person and your childhood and carefree days are already over, you have kinda stressful job, you don’t feel like playing hard games, or games where you have to concentrate a lot. Sometimes, you just want to come over to your place. make yourself a cup of tea and just relax on comfortable chair and just enjoy some kinda easy game. Preferably, with a mouse only controls.
But to be honest, you need to be ready that games will be strange, or better call them weird or maybe even creepy in some kinda way, cause variety of the titles, that can be played with mouse only is pretty limited and you should expect only chinese visual novels, or some nonsense clickers, or easy tower defense games, or some puzzle logic games.
– Real player with 15.9 hrs in game
After playing Sara is Missing and hearing about Simulacra through that purveyor of all things horror-related, Night Mind, I decided to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised. The story is much more developed compared to SiM, and I enjoyed exploring Anna’s phone. The concept of the game was much more interesting than SiM, though I feel like it could still be better developed and hope the devs continue with this idea. While the text speak used by the main “players” of the game was perfectly realistic, I felt that the primary antagonist of the game
! Simulacra would not have the spelling errors I encountered in that character’s texting. For instance, the character used “lead” instead of “led” and “it’s” when “its” was intended. I know, I know, others might not have noticed or been affected by this, but I felt that the character would not have made those errors.
– Real player with 12.1 hrs in game
The Good Life
Just to play through and do the main quest… eh it’s alright. Quirky but it’s fine, just play it then go do another game and forget it ever existed.
To get invested in and mess around? Hell no lol.
From release this was a janky mess of game-breakers and softlocks. The biggest of which was at least patched out (storage).
The content of the game is entirely just “go get this” with everything a convoluted web of ingredients upon ingredients of which everything is a rare drop except meat. Little to no emphasis nor encouragement when it comes being a photographer. Even with thousands of followers, keeping up with the trends on Flamingo barely gives you a few hundred a week so it’s not worth the effort when you could be running around hitting rocks or getting your daily time trial allowance.
– Real player with 170.3 hrs in game
Kickstarter backer here, so my review shows as a CD Key review, and will not count towards the overall review score.
That out of the way…
recommending with some serious caveats.
It’s a SWERY game, but not a ‘typical" SWERY game.
Weird, messy, a bit sloppy, a more Eastern POV and stereotype of life in the UK and the West.
Kb/m controls are quite clunky. Controller is better, if the game and Steam recognize your controller (PS4/PS5 recommended- the game seems to reuse towork properly with my XBox One controller).
– Real player with 141.0 hrs in game
The 18th Floor
I really enjoyed the game so far. The puzzles are challenging and I really like the style. But I’m a little disappointed with the lack of transparency from the creators. The last news we have been given is that more puzzles will be released in Q4 of last year. We are now on the brink of Q2 this year and still nothing. I just today found out that PSVR was updated but not steam (which bummed me out). So I would love to know what the deal is and if we can expect the DLC for Steam players soon too. Please AOGA Tech give us an update! I see that there are new achievements so I hope that means it won’t be too long. AOGA, I humbly ask that you keep the people who invested in your game updated in regards to progress. When I bought the game I thought I would be seeing more than 2 floors by the end of the year. Please let us know what to expect AOGA! I’m sure I’m not the only one who would appreciate it!
– Real player with 13.2 hrs in game
personally, I really liked the game but to be honest, I thought that the puzzles were a little overboard. There are things going on in the puzzle that I swear only people who created it would be able to figure out. I was starting to wonder if some of the people trying to help out were people who actually made the puzzle themselves and realized that it would take many days for the common player to figure out. The one thing that I really messed up is the fact that some of the puzzles are hard enough to figure out that it will take some people more then just a few minutes and yet, if you dont finish it, you cant save it and have to start all over. There does need to be a save feature so we dont have to keep playing the same scene over and over again. A save feature may also help out with the common problem of dropping something and having the item disappear into the floor so that you cant use it and then have to start the game over just to get it back. I do recommend the game though. I thought the graphics were great and I was fully into the game. I do look forward to the next installment
– Real player with 11.4 hrs in game
The Occupation
This game can be a really great experience and I highly recommend it, with just one big caveat.
You basically get the snoop around as a detective in some very well-crafted environments with lots of details, where it’s actually quite a challenge to figure out what’s going on and find what you are looking for, adding to the fact that you have limited time really works well to give you the sense of realism that is lacking in so many stealth games - and this is where the game excels. It’s also quite an interesting storyline with some interesting characters and interactions.
– Real player with 19.2 hrs in game
I wish I could give this game a positive review, but… I can’t. Other reviews go into a fair amount of depth about the technical issues, so I won’t discuss them here – I, personally, only ran into a single bug (other actors walking through gates that wipe floppy disks causing a floppy disk in my inventory to wipe, which the developers have plans to fix), but that’s not my issue with this game.
The reason for my negative review is that this game tries very hard to tell a story, but the gameplay mechanics undermine the story at every turn. You play the role of an investigative reporter who, for unknown reasons, has decided (been assigned?) to investigate a bombing (kinda?) at a local, high profile, technology firm. For some reason, you start with no knowledge at all of what this firm does – initial impressions are that they are a PR firm advocating for the passage of “The Union Act”, but later revelations reveal that this is incorrect (I think?). One would think that this sort of background information would be easily accessible (perhaps in the handy briefcase), but…
– Real player with 16.2 hrs in game
The Ghost Train | 幽霊列車
Visually, this game is appealing. I feel like that’s the only pro I can mention. If you’re wanting a plot in this game then you will get a plot, just expect it to be a plot hole. Basically, all you do is go to the restroom in the train station, go to the smoking area, then ride the train until you reach the very end of the game. The puzzles were okay, but the last puzzle with the items you pick up was very confusing to figure out. If anyone is stuck on that… when you pick up the items (the cane, shoes, bug cage, windmill toy, and beer can) you set them on the train seat opposite of the reflection in the window in which character they belong to. It took me forever to figure it out. The endings weren’t as immersive as with the endings in The Convenience Store & Missing Children. Overall, decent game, but it gets a bit tedious for the time you spend playing it. I highly recommend playing Missing Children and The Convenience Store instead. Those are phenomenal, plot based, and wonderful atmospheric games!
– Real player with 5.8 hrs in game
This was my first game experience from Chilla’s Art and I got to say I wish it’d happened sooner, appearantly I’m an avid J-Horror fan and I didn’t even know it before crossing this game. I ended up reading Japanese urban legends at 4 AM in the morning- besides Kisaragi I guess
! the chase part is a reference to Teke Teke. Can’t wait to play the other ones.
My cons for the game is the walking/running speed and the fact that
! getting killed or not killed by the girl not affecting the ending type you get. And I can get the reason for low speed, building up tension etc. etc. but instead of that it just straight up frustrated me, drove me to boredom at first portion of the game. It felt repetetive and laggy, but after progressing enough and getting both endings the repetetive parts felt justified.
– Real player with 3.4 hrs in game
Nothing To Remember
First off, don’t look at the hours on record, I may have left the game open between streams. Overall a decent visual novelish game. The main story events were good, the relationships were mediocre and made me wish I could ban Dick’s number so I could skip that part of the story. There is a critical choice later in the game that isn’t worded correctly and should be fixed, they either meant to add “don’t” at the beginning of the sentence or were was meant to be “weren’t” which I assumed and made that my choice.
– Real player with 96.8 hrs in game
Plot is very well written and character development is exquisite. More of a visual novel with major choices. It took me about 20 hours for an ending.
– Real player with 40.1 hrs in game