Em-A-Li
I hate when there is no options for key bindings. Don’t like playing with arrow keys on pc. Both Em-A-Li games can be navigated by mouse, that’s good but you have to press enter key to enter doors or use items, which ruins it.There is a non stop static noise in bg from start which is annoying for me. The story is not that good and the voice narration lags behind the words narration so I end up reading faster and skip which ruins the fun.No options for narration format so no choice. Game is small and doesn’t eat up time. If i play it continuously it will finish within 35 mins i guess. Still not worth the time for me. Ended up watching youtube while playing lol.
– Real player with 2.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Investigation Thriller Games.
Another of those games where the overall rating is probably neutral, but there’s no such option on Steam, so I’ll err on the positive side because I did enjoy my short time with it (my playtime is quite a bit longer than what you need, I started in a different computer and then I tried to be very thorough).
The game is almost a visual novel/walking simulator in terms of how limited interaction is. There’s a few hotspots along the way which you can interact for more flavour text which can be mixed, but the main narrative has a grand total of one meaningful “choice” in it, which really only skips you some small amount of content if you take the more “obvious” (at least if you are generally genre savvy) option. I saved at this supposed fork in the road and when I came back to see what happened and was relatively unimpressed with what was there.
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Bot Colony
Bot Colony is an ambitious title, maybe even too ambitious for what it’s worth. So far, playing it is more of a struggle than entertainment…
I am aware that Bot Colony is an Early Access Game, but still, this build is not playable by far. I’m afraid i wouldn’t even be wrong if i would say that there is literally almost nothing in Bot Colony that works as it should… Let’s start with the game’s motto: “The Game You Speak With”. This is the main reason why anybody would pay attention to it, but unfortunately in the end the player will find out that this is actually “The Game Which Doesn’t Understand You”. That’s it. I’ve said it. Natural language understanding is just not ready to be implemented in a game. It wil get you right about one time out of ten. Other then that you’ll get replies like “I don’t know what you mean”.
– Real player with 55.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Investigation Simulation Games.
Review after June 18 major upgrade
Introduction
Bot Colony is an ambitious title, aiming to provide a non-scripted story by allowing you to freely converse with robots. If you enjoyed literary works like ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’, Isaac Asimov’s Robot series, movies like ‘Space Oddysey 2001’(not one of my favorites though) or Anime like ‘Ghost in the Shell’ and ‘Psycho-Pass’, you’ll find a similar setting here.
An important remark is that most of the gameplay is text (or speech) conversations, which at times can be both agitating and humorous, and that might not appeal to everyone.
– Real player with 27.4 hrs in game
Insaniam
Story
You play as investigative journalist “Mr. Johnson” after receiving several tips of a government cover up at a recently abandoned psychiatric hospital. All reports suggest illegal experiments taking place on the patients of the facility- and supposedly a government cover up. Detective Johnson decided to go through with this one off-books and after just a few days of preparation he sets out to explore the abandoned facility in the middle of the night, to recover patient records.
2AM: You arrive at the scene, it is a gloomy and silent night. Rain is pouring, wind flows through the air as an unsetteling feeling kicks in. Something isn’t right here, but there is only one way to figure out what it is…
Gameplay
Insaniam is a first person survival horror game, your objective is to retrieve at least five patient records for the abandoned facility.
You’ll be forced to scavenge for batteries to keep your camcorder charged, utilize the night vision mode to explore the dark, use sanity pills or stay in the light to keep sane, avoid hallucinations, while something is lurking in the darkness and so much more.
Gameplay is based around a speed run mechanic where you’ll play for shortest time to escape or longest time survived. Randomized game mechanics keep this experience fresh and increases re-playablity.
The game is not story focused but there is underlying lore that is optional to explore through text, visuals or audio.
Read More: Best Investigation Horror Games.
Ghost Hunters Corp
This Game is a Gem. It sets itself apart from phasmo in many ways. It’a way more interactive than phasmo.
I love that we can buy/bring as many items as we want. We are not limited in this game.
You can pick up items around the map and throw them about and make the ghosts mad. Or even take some of the cursed map assets back to base for more money. The Ghost can follow you back to the Van, and even break the door off. House doors also get yeeted.
– Real player with 99.5 hrs in game
EN
I’m used to give a chance to early access games, even if it means I could encounter bugs, crashes and lags (I’ve been playing ARK survival since the start in june 2015 !) But Ghost Hunters Corp is not an alpha game, it’s very well made and simply needs a few more contents to be released.
Don’t trust those raging players that yell it’s a copy of Phasmo. I also play Phasmo and it’s absolutly not the same game. Of course, the idea is the same, but the gameplay is slightly different: in GHC, you need to find which entity you seek before exorcism it. And AI’s behavior and reaction are different. The fear it gives you is also not the same. I like jumping on one and the other as if I did different missions, as being another kind of hunter 😊 It’s a real pleasure, except when I go to bed after that!
– Real player with 19.8 hrs in game
ViruZ
Очень хорошая и интересная игра, которую можно пройти достаточно быстро, тем самым она никогда не надоест. Игра безусловно заслуживает похвалы.
– Real player with 5.7 hrs in game
Top game in which you have to play as a monster. In the levels on your way there are various characters that you have to go through. The game is decent, I did not regret that I bought it. I advise everyone
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
Acolyte: Prologue
My play through of the prologue here (once it uploads) if you get stuck and need help: https://youtu.be/9GET1gsMWZ0
I had so much fun with the prologue I’m super stoked to see what comes next also the link for the transcendent edition brought up a 404 error on itch.io. Check this game out for sure also it’s very easy to get stuck on a tangent if you make a mistake figuring out part of the puzzle. I had to close and reopen the game to get back to what I needed, luckily it saves your progress. I love games that make you think outside the box and use outside resources. I had two things that might have been glitches? I rated a haiku and the task didn’t complete I got information for a evidence database but I couldn’t find the evidence database I had two messages I couldn’t find in my message log and all messages were shown as read but regardless I still made it to the end of the prologue so nbd
– Real player with 8.7 hrs in game
so.. this sucks. don’t get me wrong, i LOVE this game, i just found it yesterday and I loved it. I beat the prologue, then went and bought the transcendent version to continue the story. (weirdly enough the transcendent edition has more actual bugs and not fictional bugs than the steam version, including spelling errors, but c’est la vie)
i’ve reached the part now where i had to fill my contacts list, and figure out the passwords to unlock the cosmetics. there are 0 hints for either. for the latter, the hints that ARE given, are extremely vague and i am unable to find any references for them that correlate to the actual game, and it’s extremely frustrating. what does “dog” mean in this context? the cosmetic was related to hair so i put poodle, nope. i also put cat, thinking back to the personality test, also nope. what does QR @ 0:40s mean? and the postal code? where would i even begin to find that? i understand this game is new, so there’s not a lot of info out there, but i’m stuck. (yes, i’ve looked through the discussions and reviews here for any hints, i’ve looked at the itch.io forums for this game, i’ve looked at twitter, ive looked at youtube, i’ve looked at reddit. i’ve even looked at your patreon to see if there was anything there.) i’m unable to progress because i have no idea what to ask, what the passwords might be for the cosmetics, or how to progress the storyline.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
Acolyte
Acolyte: Prologue is the first act in a dynamic narrative detective/puzzle game that gives you your own Acolyte; a digital assistant you can talk to freely without pre-defined dialogue options. Just like a real conversation.
Become an employee of Nanomax, a well-funded tech start-up looking to change the face of consumer AI with its upcoming Acolyte application. As a remote-worker for the company, you’ll interact with its employees and absorb its culture. But unexplained firings, missing employees and a strange, highly-classified bug in the Acolyte code-base point to something being very wrong.
As you work with your new Acolyte, who seems to be intrinsically caught up in the company’s problems, you’ll find yourself at the very heart of the conspiracy.
//FEATURES
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//NATURAL LANGUAGE INPUT - interact freely with your Acolyte, using your own words to advance a non-linear narrative.
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//BECOME A PART OF THE STORY - the worlds of the game and your own will blur, with ARG elements that contribute to a sprawling real-world narrative.
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//INNOVATIVE PUZZLES - use your Acolyte to help solve puzzles that require out-of-the-box-thinking, as you dig deep into its programming.
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//CUSTOMISE YOUR ACOLYTE - personalise how your Acolyte looks and interacts, as you tailor your assistant to your preferences.
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//UNRAVEL THE CONSPIRACY - uncover a dark truth as you dig into the past of your employer.
//ABOUT SPIRIT AI
Acolyte is powered by the Spirit AI Character Engine, allowing for natural language interaction with the game. Spirit AI uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to both understand conversations and create digital personalities.
Alien AI
Keep in mind this is an “early access” game being developed by the good folks at GridSkyGames. This is pretty much a “cat and mouse” game between you and A.I. drones. Having to navigate areas in search for items all the while your food, water and health bar tick down. With limited resources to replenish those bars. At first glance I had issues with some of the mechanics, mostly getting stuck on just about everything. Since the patch game play has felt better, not sure if game mechanics were improved or if I just choose to avoid getting close to anything. The graphic are good complete with atmosphere effects. The voice actress is good but the script still needs a rewrite to pull the player into the story more. This is a game were quick thinking strategy comes into play. You won’t have time for waiting or walking and barely any time for a look around. Be quick enough and you’ll make it to the A.I. base where you’ll lend a hand to the evil A.I. demise.
– Real player with 10.3 hrs in game
I am unable to find berries so I keep dying. I was able to drink from stream, but without berries I keep dying. After dying I have to go back to beginning. VERY annoying!!!
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game
Misery Mansion
To the developer: Too short. I was expecting to find the bodies of the parents.. or that it was a fake ending. The sigil pointing towards the exit door seems to indicate it was a trap and fake out AS DOES THE FACT THE MONSTER STILL ROAMS AROUND IN THE HALLWAYS AFTER THE RITUAL IS DONE THAT BANISHES HIM. Both of those led me to thinking there was going to be a trick ending. But no. Just a bland.. “the end”.
It’s worth playing and fun. But dude. I beat it in 3.5 hours. That’s not enough entertainment for a 6.99 game. A good rule of thumb is a dollar an hour.
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
I really liked this game. it is a pretty impressive level design, graphics looks good, sound design is really good. And for a first game it is really impressive, and i really do hope to see more horror in the future from this developer. Gameplay is pretty simple, you explore the mansion, find some notes, and avoiding a monster while doing so.
Now with that said, I did have a few performance issues here and there when saving and loading in the level, but nothing game breaking and that even might have been fixed since i played. The character do walk a bit slow, and that makes you want to run all the time, but that will make you miss the most of the atmosphere. A few more scares here and there would have been welcome too :)
– Real player with 3.4 hrs in game
OZARK
OZARK explores the story of ÆDEM, a private military contractor who are tasked to infiltrate a secret underground base in the Arkansas Mountains. Discover what nefarious activities are happening deep within the mountains.
Your job is to infiltrate an underground base purportedly run by the highly scrutinized international corporation TACRON, a biotechnical company specializing in human preservation. TACRON is the worlds most secretive and publicly declared “nefarious” company in existence. For years inquisitions from global Government and Intelligence Agency’s have attempted to penetrate their darkest company secrets to no avail.
In the early 70’s rumor’s spread about the company having black departments focused on fringe research into paranormal anomalies. Although there is no concrete evidence of this, some conspiracy theorists are adamant that they have heard first hand accounts of what actually goes on in these secretive departments.
What will you find?… If you survive.
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Explore and survive the depths of the underground bunker, fight to survive and uncover what sinister secrets lie beneath.
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Engage in intense gun-play.
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Choose to sneak your way through, or trigger alarms and raise hell!
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Search and collect a multitude of items to aid you on your mission.
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Arm yourself with a variety of weapons including Pistol, Assault Rifle, Shotgun, Grenades and Axe.
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Drink, Eat and Medicate to stay alive.
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Immersive 3D side scrolling action adventure.
Classic single screen co-op action in team duo. Work together and survive or die trying.
Share items and help each other discover the secrets that lie beneath the mountains.