Heart of the Woods
Heya! Zombie Cecelia here!
This is gonna be my first proper-ish game review on Steam so expect a not so much a review than me waffling review
So I bought this game on release (15.02.2019) and played a bit of it before work and stuff happened so was too busy then kinda forgot about it for over a year and only just got back into it about a week ago… Oops!
I guess because I can’t physically go outside due to sickness and the lock-down, meaning my favourite bookstore is closed, gave me the incentive to pick up Visual Novels (VNs) again (I usually prefer reading from a physical book rather than online buut let’s not delve into the reasons for it lol plus VNs have their own magical quality so it wouldn’t be fair to compare the two… but I digress because this is meant to be a review)
– Real player with 34.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Interactive Fiction LGBTQ Games.
(This article was written as a blog post )
Heart of the Woods looks like a nice interesting love story about 2 girls, one human, one ghost. It’s homo, so it’s just what I needed to escape from the real world. Although it appears to involve love across the living and the dead, which is a concept that’s been done to literal death. But hey, the game is well-received, it’s on sale, the artstyle is new to me, and most importantly, it doesn’t appear to be too long. So I guessed it’s going to be a nice fit for the spare time I currently have.
– Real player with 21.9 hrs in game
Swordbreaker The Game
! So there I was… A nameless adventurer traveling through this mysterious castle when I come upon a classroom. Intertesting I think to myself, and hey there is a note from a previous student. it reads " The black tiles are rigged with land mines." I think to myself damn what a close call I’m glad I read that note. Hey there is another note the first was so helpful I better read this too! (my last thought before I lay dead. A mysterious adventurer in a mysterious castle!
Okay for the review… Let me start off by saying usually what I spend on
– Real player with 15.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Interactive Fiction Adventure Games.
Do you enjoy reading? Are you a fan of choose your own adventure books? Are you a fan of fantasy settings? If you answered yes to all three then chances are you will find what DuCats Game Studio have presented here appealing. Bonus points if you like earning quick and easy Steam achievements. Swordbreaker the Game. The game definitely reminds me of the old fantasy adventure choose your own adventure books that I loved so dearly as a child but whose adult texts were often aimed at people several years older than I was (I began reading these books at about the age of ten). Regardless, it was an experience that I was more than willing to take on. It certainly proved to be a different type of visual novel than the largely Asian variety that has come to be popular on Steam. Not that there’s anything wrong with them just that there is a notable difference.
– Real player with 9.5 hrs in game
The Hunter’s Journals - Tattered Sails
The interactive mechanics are not like other interactive fiction I’ve played. It is much more like a table top game. Combat is actually handled in rounds with randomly generated dice rolls. You can speed this up to just show the final result but it’s still a table top way of handling things and I didn’t like it.
In table top games you can build your character to weight the dice rolls through backgrounds, stats, gear, race, etc. This game’s character creation was so minimal that I felt that the outcome of combat was very random. This was a huge interruption to the story because poor results weren’t injuries or delays. Poor results (at least early on for me) meant death.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Interactive Fiction Text-Based Games.
Chicken Holmes - Chanislavski Whispers
i have played an incredible number of games in my life and this is the one with the single worst case of localization i have ever come across. surely it has been translated from spanish by an online translator like google translate, but even then i’d expect something better than this. other than that, you just click around, try to make sure you click on everything clickable, or you’ll get stuck, solve a couple stupid puzzles and try to find some semblance of sense in the story. even the cutesy characters don’t evoke anything positive, when you can make little sense of what the hell is going on. something with english that bad shouldn’t be offered in english to the public. avoid this mess at all costs, including the prequel.
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game
This chicken is very good, it reveals any secret. This sequel is so cool.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Framing Dawes
A cursed teenager is thrown into a forgotten recursive wonderland where the last twenty-four hours are a mystery, her Mother’s been kidnapped and she’ll be framed for the murder of a missing boy if she can’t find him. Oh, and her pet rabbit has risen from his grave…
Framing Dawes is an atmospheric adventure game following teenager Bay Dawes on her journey to find and bring a missing boy to the asylum where her mother is being held captive before the end of the day. If she doesn’t, she will be framed for his murder and never see her mother again. Accompanied by her dead pet rabbit, Dink, they explore the hidden world beneath her town of Foresight in a flying bathtub to recover missing memories and rescue her mother.
But can she break the curse before it’s too late?
Gameplay
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Story-Driven, Point and Click Adventure.
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Players will interact with Dawes' world, collecting and combining inventory, solving puzzles and casting spells.
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There are occasional instances where the player can switch to Dink the rabbit and Dawes' mother.
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The game is composed of three parts combined into the full game.
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The control options are Mouse and Keyboard.
Highlights
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Over 90 beautifully hand-drawn environments to explore
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Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, mythological stories, Jan Švankmajer, Tim Burton, Labyrinth, Dark Crystal and old dreams
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The provocative narrative will surprise and immerse you
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Navigate to different locations in a magical flying bathtub
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Bizarre characters, talking dolls, missing socks, space exploration and more!
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Experience occasional possessions and paranormal activity
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Original soundtrack
Revenant March
The stories are gripping, and I found the decisions I needed to make compelling, I had to think about them. I felt acutely that the many strong characters had thoughts and emotions I would have to discover as the story progressed, including the narrator.
I’ve played five hours thus far, in two sittings that both went longer than I’d planned.
– Real player with 5.9 hrs in game
What a pleasant surprise this turned out to be! This visual novel contains an engaging story-line with thrilling plot twists, a cast of interesting, non-cliche characters, and a lovely, intelligent heroine.
Setting:
Revenant March is a dark fantasy set in the Middle Ages. It tackles two mysteries: the horrors that occur in Gremach, and Olenine’s backstory.
Characters:
I absolutely loved following Olenine’s perspective, and how logical minded, yet still empathetic she could act towards the other characters. She ticks all of the boxes in my female protagonist requirements, and I wish we had more main characters similar to her. The side characters are memorable, and their dynamic with Olenine was impressive. Most noteworthy were her interactions with other, equality well written, female characters; such as Tanith and Seilana. But I have to say, her possible friendship with Ennet was also very precious.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
A Curse From Beyond
Really fun for a text-based game which is not my normal game. I felt freaked out in my gut about certain moment. Really impressive work from a solo-developer. Worth it.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
Full play through w/ all achievements and time stamps here (once it uploads):
Overall it’s a pretty interesting story about some cave folk doing cave folk things WHEN BOOM A FLYING HUNK OF SPACE S*** changes their mundane lives FOREVER. I dug the story and it does a pretty good job of grabbing your interest it’s a bit short and the plot seems pretty familiar, but it’s not frustrating to play through as a text based game(which is nice) and there’s multiple endings. You can see the effort the creator put into the game and it’s definitely a good solid first game.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
Raiders of the Icepeak Mountains
The orc tribes of Icepeak Mountains are threatening human settlements. Do you have the courage and determination to defeat their clans? Try to survive deadly dungeons and level up as an adventurer.
Raiders of the Icepeak Mountains is a 120,000 word interactive gamebook by Adrao, where a combination of your choices and the roll of dice will determine your destiny. The game is text-based, with artwork allowing you the chance to actually see the exotic locations and dungeons you will visit on your journey.
You will start as a novice adventurer, either a fighter, cleric, wizard or rogue, and level up through a series of quests, either those related to the main story of the game, or other side adventures. The dungeons you will visit have some element of randomness to them, ensuring that even if you play multiple times you will still discover some new secret rooms and monsters. You will have to carefully choose between the abilities and spells at your disposal, and manage well the treasure you loot to buy a variety of objects that can help you in your quests.
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A gamebook similar to those written in the 1980s and 1990s.
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A dice-based RPG with Roguelike elements. No two games will be the same.
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Detailed branching narrative system.
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Play as male, female, or non-binary. However, do note that there is no romance to be found here.
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Four character classes to choose from: fighter, wizard, cleric or rogue.
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Over 30 different spells to choose from. Will you use a vampiric ray to absorb the energy of your enemies and heal yourself, or the invisibility spell to pass by them without being noticed?
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Multiple types of melee attacks and abilities to use. Cripple your enemies with powerful blows, or adopt a defence stance.
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Dozens of magic objects to use, from magic weapons to potions or scrolls.
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Hordes of enemies to fight, each with their own characteristics and weak points. Will you manage to defeat orc warlords, overcome powerful elementals, and slay mighty dragons?
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Several illustrations to enhance your experience.
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Try several different difficulty settings. Play as a mighty invincible hero, or struggle to defeat the game on the harder modes. What is the maximum score you can reach?
Apollyon: River of Life
This is great game, a hidden gem, It draws you in with what seems on the surface to be a card / table strategy game, but soon reveals a rich fantasy story behind the events in the game. The game board has 16 mystical themes, but the “Theme” of the game is an intriguing mix of Cthulhu-like horror and seance-like summoning. It has elements of a choose-your-adventure but goes beyond that with the strategic selection of tokens influencing the outcomes. The game table itself is beautiful and card art captivating to say the least. After playing it for near 100 hours I have learned many techniques to stay alive, yet am constantly surprised by new invocations (stories). Exactly like a great novel, I can’t wait to find out what happens next.
– Real player with 107.7 hrs in game
If you enjoy struggling, suffering and the occult, then this game is for you. It is hard, you will die, you will struggle and you will lay awake in bed thinking on how to proceed.
But man, is it worth it.
– Real player with 32.4 hrs in game
The Vampire Regent
You know when you’re looking for that perfect Choice of Games story that really sucks you in with the story, the romance, suspense, and action but you just can’t seem to find it while sifting through the low tier stories?
Well this is one of the masterpieces! You are the regent of the vampires in a city and you feel it! Your choices matter immensely and the romance is top tier! There is also a ton of replayability. I HIGHLY recommend this to any Choice fan! I hope to see more stories in this universe!
– Real player with 41.3 hrs in game
I wasn’t expecting much from this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. I actually liked this book more than the official CoG WoD games: Night Road and Out for Blood. Granted, this is a stand alone IP and not constrained by the official licence and everything that comes with it, but not every author can utilize the creative freedom to its full potential. Morton Newberry & Lucas Zaper did a good job in this aspect.
Vampire Regent will feel familiar to fans of WoD as it’s very WoD-like world at it’s core, yet it’s not constrained by WoD lore, so the authors were able to take a few “creative freedoms” here and there. On one hand it made the novel accessible to new fans who are unfamiliar with WoD lore, on the other - some moments and confrontations were made more “spectacular” than it was possible in constraints of WoD system.
– Real player with 19.1 hrs in game