Bathory - The Bloody Countess
The “Don’t Escape Trilogy” is a collection of three short first-person point-and-click adventures with static screens (no camera movement, no scrolling). The games share a creepy atmosphere and a few gameplay mechanics, but are otherwise unrelated. In the first game, you play a werewolf trying to lock himself away before a full-moon night, so that he won’t kill anyone when he turns. In the second game, you’re trying to barricade a house and protect yourself from a zombie horde. In the third game, you’re the only surviving crew member on a spaceship and need to stop “something” from getting out.
– Real player with 5.4 hrs in game
Even though the entire trilogy is available for free on Armor Games, I chose to purchase this game series on Steam because that’s how amazing ScriptWelder really is. The Deep Sleep and Don’t Escape series were some of the first PC games I ever played, and I have ScriptWelder to thank for making my early experiences so magical. I have followed each and every game you have published on AG, hunted down every achievement, set of choices, and walkthrough I could find… simply, because every single second I spent in any of your games was one of either awe, wonder, fear, or curiosity.
– Real player with 5.1 hrs in game
Breach: The Archangel Job
The “Don’t Escape Trilogy” is a collection of three short first-person point-and-click adventures with static screens (no camera movement, no scrolling). The games share a creepy atmosphere and a few gameplay mechanics, but are otherwise unrelated. In the first game, you play a werewolf trying to lock himself away before a full-moon night, so that he won’t kill anyone when he turns. In the second game, you’re trying to barricade a house and protect yourself from a zombie horde. In the third game, you’re the only surviving crew member on a spaceship and need to stop “something” from getting out.
– Real player with 5.4 hrs in game
Even though the entire trilogy is available for free on Armor Games, I chose to purchase this game series on Steam because that’s how amazing ScriptWelder really is. The Deep Sleep and Don’t Escape series were some of the first PC games I ever played, and I have ScriptWelder to thank for making my early experiences so magical. I have followed each and every game you have published on AG, hunted down every achievement, set of choices, and walkthrough I could find… simply, because every single second I spent in any of your games was one of either awe, wonder, fear, or curiosity.
– Real player with 5.1 hrs in game
Don’t Escape Trilogy
The “Don’t Escape Trilogy” is a collection of three short first-person point-and-click adventures with static screens (no camera movement, no scrolling). The games share a creepy atmosphere and a few gameplay mechanics, but are otherwise unrelated. In the first game, you play a werewolf trying to lock himself away before a full-moon night, so that he won’t kill anyone when he turns. In the second game, you’re trying to barricade a house and protect yourself from a zombie horde. In the third game, you’re the only surviving crew member on a spaceship and need to stop “something” from getting out.
– Real player with 5.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Indie Horror Games.
Even though the entire trilogy is available for free on Armor Games, I chose to purchase this game series on Steam because that’s how amazing ScriptWelder really is. The Deep Sleep and Don’t Escape series were some of the first PC games I ever played, and I have ScriptWelder to thank for making my early experiences so magical. I have followed each and every game you have published on AG, hunted down every achievement, set of choices, and walkthrough I could find… simply, because every single second I spent in any of your games was one of either awe, wonder, fear, or curiosity.
– Real player with 5.1 hrs in game
Deep Sleep Trilogy
The “Deep Sleep Trilogy” is a collection of three short first-person point-and-click adventures with static screens (no camera movement, no scrolling). The games build upon each other and form a continuous creepy story about the nature of dreams and dangerous creatures that live inside them. The last game provides a conclusion to the story.
The games' core mechanic are inventory-based puzzles, with some environmental puzzles and timed sequences thrown in. Most of the time you move between the screens, look for items to pick up, and use those. In the timed sequences you’ll die if you don’t complete certain actions fast enough - technically these are chase scenes, but these tiny little indie games do those better than most of the other horror adventures I played lately. They are creepy and engaging and contribute to the atmosphere, but it’s usually clear where you need to go and what you need to do, they are very short, the timing isn’t too tight, you shouldn’t need to replay them more than twice (if at all), and if you do fail, you can immediately try again. (There are only a handful of such scenes in the entire trilogy, but it’s worth mentioning because so many bigger productions keep getting chase scenes wrong.) Also noteworthy: While there are some intense moments, the games do not use jumpscares.
– Real player with 6.3 hrs in game
An absolutely fantastic collection of three games that I couldn’t possibly recommend more. Everything, from the puzzles to the narrative and the environment, is masterfully crafted. This is, in fact, the only game for which I regretted not paying more. It’s well worth double its admission price, in my opinion.
The quality of the games increases progressively, almost reaching perfection in Deepest Sleep, which goes so far as having survival horror elements (really rare in a point-and-click) and multiple endings.
– Real player with 2.8 hrs in game
Vibrant Venture
Ever since I’ve played this game back in Roblox, it always stuck to me as such a fun game and I’m glad to see what it eventually has come. Vibrant Venture is quite the challenging platformer, but I feel like that is what makes it so fun. It prioritizes on quality over quantity, and you can tell these developers has taken their time on making this a fun experience and it always feel so fresh and exciting to play.
The gameplay is always so fresh and exciting with the levels. The movement always feels so fluid and flexible and quick, which I appreciate a lot about platformers. Each of the characters' designs are so fun and quirky and they all bring life to the game, alongside all the environments that we travel through.
– Real player with 439.4 hrs in game
This game is amazing. From the amazing visuals, to fun game mechanics, to the quirky music, everything about this game is great. If you love a good platformer I would highly recommend this game. When I first tried the game back in the Beta release this game hit home. It was fun, enjoyable yet still incredibly hard. As someone who had never played or really enjoyed platformer games, this game changed it all. The first two levels are great introductions to the characters as to not overwhelm you with the new style of four characters in one. I liked this game so much that during the kickstarter I had to back it. It was to good of a game to not be finished.
– Real player with 20.4 hrs in game
Corinne Cross’s Dead & Breakfast
Review originally posted here.
8/10
Corinne Cross’s Dead & Breakfast is a delightful little sidescrolling game. Initially developed for Indie Game Maker 2015, a month-long contest for which it won first prize, it was updated and revamped for official release with everything polished to a shine. So, overall, it’s short but sweet.
Corinne Cross is, like me, a twenty-something year old who doesn’t quite know what to do with herself after college. A friend of hers from high school had just died, and his mother is in the hospital. Corinne Cross steps in to look after her house - which used to be a Bed & Breakfast - for a week as the mother recovers. The Bed & Breakfast butts up next to a cemetery, and the old lady who runs it seems to know something you don’t… that the B&B is still in business, except the guests never go home!
– Real player with 14.3 hrs in game
This game is a great little gem! The art is cute, the gameplay is minimal but charming and the music is lovely but what really stands out is the writing. As someone who has lost a few people in my life (some closer than others), I found the way this story dealt with death and mourning to be really realistic. From the “sad” messages on instaface, an in-game social media website to the really heavy stuff like a mother mourning her child, each facet was handled with wisdom, heart, and humor that I found really enjoyable. On top of the deft handling of such heavy themes, the characters were all interesting and I was happy to get a chance to talk to them every chance I could. I have to admit I cried a lot at certain points of this game but that just speaks to how well-written it was and how much the creator had made me care.
– Real player with 12.9 hrs in game
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Chicory is a masterclass work of art, and an absolute must-play for any creative type: experienced or not!
I adore this sweet little bundle of love! It has had me hooked on its enriching story, stunned by its simple yet captivating visuals, and mesmerized by Lena Raine’s soft and moody melodies. The boss battles are difficult by unconventional means (
! emotionally ), the sounds of Picnic Providence are as fun as they are wet, and the painting mechanic feels so… so unbelievably smooth! The dialogue is all shades of cute and gut wrenching, and it has had me in tears more times than I am willing to admit.
– Real player with 43.5 hrs in game
I ABSOLUTELY recommend this game! It’s such a lovely experience, through both story and gameplay, and even months after finishing it I still think back to it often. You can tell right off the bat that a lot of love went into making this game, and it is definitely worth a playthrough.
– Real player with 31.2 hrs in game
Ancient Dungeon
At the time of this review the game is still early access and a work in progress so I will not unfairly note any cons/bugs. The developer is very active on his Discord server which shows promise that this game will be a success and that it will follow through. With that said, while there are minor bugs and glitches, none were horrid or game breaking. If I had one word to sum this game up it’s “polished”.
I bought this game a week ago and have already sunk 40+ hours into it. This game runs flawlessly on my moderate gaming PC and Valve Index. It holds 144 FPS 100% of the time, literally no drop in frame rates according to fpsVR even after 8 hours of play. The polish of this game is astounding and the replay value is endless, especially with support for mods and the workshop. Many have mentioned Binding of Isaac and that’s what this is, except in first-person and catered for the unique environment of VR. It’s extremely challenging and with every new attempt I learn more, improve my skills, and make it a little further. Don’t be discouraged by death, you’ll die a lot and that’s how you improve to keep pushing forward the next run.
– Real player with 42.1 hrs in game
It took me a few runs before the addiction hit, but it has hit me hard. I’m writing this after beating the game on normal for the first time, and I’m pleased to find there still seems to be a lot left to do. I think at this point it’s safe to say I love this game.
The weapon handling is silky smooth and responsive. The combat mechanics don’t really go beyond swinging your blade or shooting your arrow, but each type of enemy has unique fighting patterns you’ll need to learn. (Confession: I kind of didn’t like the combat at first, because there wasn’t much blocking or parrying, and defense usually amounts to getting out of the way of an attack, but I’ve grown to enjoy it.)
– Real player with 38.2 hrs in game
Lifeslide
Warning: This is an extensive wall of text. Tl;dr: Is good game. Highly recommend. Might be a bit expensive for those not planning on coming back after completing story.
A disclaimer: I did receive a beta key for the game; however, I went ahead and bought the game at full price after release in order to ensure a fair review (hence why I marked my review as such).
Lifeslide is a pleasant game that made the journey over from iOS to Steam in the hopes of capturing the simple joy of flying a paper airplane, while experiencing the ups and downs of life and nature, so did it soar the skies, or did this flight turn into a lawn dart? I mean, you saw my recommendation…
– Real player with 46.0 hrs in game
Exhilarating!
And while I’m tempted to leave it at that (It’s as good a one word summary as any other review I’ve seen) I’ll expand a little because I think it’s worth it.
One key thing I want to agree with from other reviews is that although this is very pretty, very ‘floaty’ and very casual-looking, it does offer a fair challenge in places. At least it did for me. Sometimes almost to the point where it was frustrating rather than relaxing. Getting to a new level in barely any condition carry on, and repeatedly restarting in that same low-energy state is quite annoying. And then you just have to face facts that it’s a broken run and start from the beginning of the chapter again, hoping to arrive at the same point in a better condition next time.
– Real player with 11.3 hrs in game
Don’t Escape: 4 Days to Survive
Don’t Escape 4 is… well… pretty damn good. I recommend looking up and playing all the other Don’t Escapes (Or buying them, that’s awesome too) because there very worth it and help get in the style of this one, although don’t get me wrong Don’t Escape 4 is by far the best one. The Premise is that David (You) is a survivor in a wasteland after a somewhat ambiguous apocalyptic event involving the moon. David gets a dream-like vision about a threat coming to him and has to find shelter and protect it from the threat, hence why you “Don’t Escape” and the story keeps growing from there. It’s a surprisingly great story, it gets a little convoluted at the end, but never completely loses its head, and has interesting turns and other things, especially if you try and look at everything and read every note. The character’s are also not bad, It’s a point and click game so there not deep either, but you can say different things to each of them a lot of the time and they can be interesting. The gameplay is what it looks like, point and click puzzles, and I really like that stuff. My only complaint there is that it gets a little too point and clicky sometimes, but I might just be really stupid. Some actions involve combining items, or performing a task that takes a certain amount of in game time, so you have to manage time while also managing inventory, and I found it keeping me consistently thinking about every move. There are also a couple of situations were you have to use an item on something and think really fast but I only had that twice and I kind of wanted more, even though that’s not what it’s about. Aside from that, The graphics look awesome, very classic and great scenery and visuals, and even the music is good, although I think it’s probably royalty-free or stock it works well and I haven’t heard it before. It has a ton of replayabilty, since you can’t get the true ending on your first run and even after that there are a bunch of different combinations of events you may have missed to go back and survive through. Don’t Escape 4 is a great point and click game keeping up the twist on “Escape” type games the other 3 helped create for sure buy it. Absolutely a 9/10!
– Real player with 34.8 hrs in game
Since I discovered scriptwelder’s games a few years ago I am a huge fan of this developer. The combination of point and click puzzling mixed with a contingent of action-points makes his style and his games very unique.
You simply cannot perform an unlimited amout of actions during one day (travel to different places, put up defences etc) . Having grouped up with other wasteland inhabitants will allow you to accomplish more actions in a certain time due to them helping you out. The actions you have to perform, the puzzles you need to solve are extremely logical. You will not waste your time with the well-known (and just as well frustrating) “combine-everything-with-everything” till you “accidentally” find a correct solution. If you need to reach something that is above your head, slightly out of reach, any long item in your inventory can be used to perform that action successfully, e.g. a crowbar just as well as a broomstick.
– Real player with 31.8 hrs in game