Paradise Killer
An absolute MUST play for any fan of exploration, deduction, investigating and vaporwave games.
Paradise Island 24 is a joy to explore, especially when accompanied with the game’s amazing soundtrack.
Its characters are complex and straight out of a Metal Gear Solid meets SUDA51 marriage.
Finding the truth about what certain characters did/didn’t do made me feel bad, if I’m being honest.
– Real player with 36.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Investigation Open World Games.
Paradise Killer was such a refreshing experience amid bloated AAA grindathons and I think everyone should try it.
The basis of the game is a murder mystery and finding the culprits is what you will spend most of your time on Paradise Island 24 doing. I won’t talk too much about the background of the story or the world-building because finding these things for myself was very enjoyable, but I will say that the world you inhabit is wonderfully crafted and a joy to find out about.
Paradise Killer has an 80’s Vaporwave aesthetic, which some people may not like, however I believe that even if you don’t it will start growing on you after playing this game. The music is really good, and the way you enable new tracks in the game is great, finding them as you explore the world. Overall the audio design is good, but not brilliant. As I said the music is great, but some sounds quickly got annoying especially the player characters voice lines, as the doesn’t have many so they start to repeat quickly, but the frequency of voice lines can be changed in the settings if it annoys you as well.
– Real player with 17.7 hrs in game
Nowhere New
TLDR: If you like indies, play this game. Its story and atmosphere are well worth a few hours of your time.
This is not a full size game. It was created by a small group of students on no budget, and it shows. However, for that size and scope, it is impressively complete. I greatly enjoyed the couple hours I spent playing.
Narrative:
The writing is very strong. The mystery is intriguing, the characters are likable and complex, and the story is well constructed. There are several emotionally impactful story beats; at various points I felt shock, anger, suspense, horror, compassion, etc. I enjoyed the prevailing theme of identity, trust, and how our experiences shape who we are. Also, LGBT rep is a plus!
– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Investigation Mystery Games.
Even though the game has unappealing visuals, I thought that the writing was very strong and I liked most of the characters. However, I ultimately was disappointed with the experience because the ending felt very anticlimactic, a big exposition dump to what otherwise was a mysterious story that could have gone in many ways. We play as a character that crashlands on a mysterious world where inhabitants lose their memories as they share them with other people. The game presents memory share as a mechanic but it’s somewhat cosmetic, for the most part, the story is pretty linear and you can only trade a few memories for a couple of hints, although I cannot confirm that as I decided to keep them. I wouldn’t say that it has any puzzles, you just have to talk to the characters in the right order, it’s not too convoluted. If anyone cares you can complete the game in about 90 minutes.
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
The Storm
i have played horror games in the past… this game is really good i played over one hour so far! love to see part two of the game…. now story telling is bloody great! for someone trying out this game its easy follow the green lights! also some places are dark but trust me you will go tho them easy! for £3 this game is what you need to play. please try it out! you wont be disappointed!
– Real player with 0.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Investigation First-Person Games.
Eternal Threads
Eternal Threads is a single-player, first-person story-driven puzzle game of time manipulation, choice and consequence.
As an operative tasked with fixing corruption in the timestream, you have been sent to the North of England in May 2015, where six people died in a house fire. Prohibited from simply stopping the fire, you must instead manipulate the choices made by the housemates in the week leading up to it so that they all survive the event.
From the outset, you have free and complete reign to explore the seven day timeline before the fire. You can watch and alter the significant events from the entire week as many times as you like and in whatever order you wish. Some decisions will have only minor effects on the timeline, moving objects around the house or revealing deeper stories and secrets. Major changes however, rewrite the timeline by changing existing events, adding new events and even replacing other events entirely.
You must traverse up and down this timeline, changing decisions at different moments throughout the week so that their effects interact and combine together to save all six housemates.
However, it is not just the housemates who have choices. Each of them can be saved from the fire in multiple ways, with each outcome having a profound effect on their lives in the future. Will you just search for the quickest and easiest solution, or can you find the best possible outcome for everyone?
Ultimately, everything is about choices and consequences.
Features
Choose how you want to follow the game’s story
Want to follow each of the six characters’ stories ‘Pulp Fiction’ style? That’s fine. Want to watch the whole thing like ‘Memento’, with the final event first and then moving back in time to see what caused it afterwards? That’s okay too. Or maybe you’re old school and just want to watch things in good-old chronological order? You can do that as well.
Watch and change things as many times as you like
Can’t remember exactly what happened in an event? Changed a decision and you’re not sure you like the consequences? That’s fine. Just pop back along the timeline and watch and change whatever you like, whenever you like, as many times as you like.
Change the past to affect the future
Setting up temporary base in the house mere hours after the fire, provides a unique perspective on events. As you look back through the timeline, past events play out in front of you in ghostly form, with the smoke and fire damaged house a constant reminder of what is to come. In addition, as you manipulate the past, the environment can be reset around you to match the changes taking place. Some new objects will appear, others will move around the house and the contents of rooms can change substantially as you change the past.
GRUNND
GRUNND is a 100% handcrafted, fully voiced adventure game about travelling to a seemingly ordinary place right next to you that slowly introduces itself as surreal and twisted world and has it’s own invisible gods, agendas, and order. You - tired after a dull day at your 9to5 job - fall asleep at the train on the way home. Next thing you do is jump out of that train into unknown station, and now need to plan your way back home. Surely enough, it’s not so easy?
People you meet are slightly weird, and in the air there’s an ethereal, omnipotent power floating just beyond your senses…
A bit of a different take on the point-and-click genre, with platformer-style built locations, fast travel, and multiple choice events introduced early on. This is not a puzzle heavy adventure and all puzzles are made without any nonsense or moon-logic. There is a rich story background for you to unravel; that is not only about you and the world - the people around you have their own thing and they are not here to help you.
The world is inspired by the works of Franz Kafka and David Lynch, and the setting has those taste droplets of Southern Gothic. This is not only the Protagonist’s journey - it’s yours as well.
Please enjoy the Demo, and let us know about your experience!
Rivals
I’ve played a couple of Owl_Skip’s games and this one also shows his talents as a writer and musician much like his previous title ‘Family.’ The interweaving timeline is unraveled as you progress while you can anticipate what’s to come from the chapter titles and descriptions.
It took a while for me to get the hang of things because I didn’t notice the dates at first. Once I did, I felt proud when I finally figured out how to get past the parts I was stuck on. It was fun putting the events in order by scanning the notes and replaying the audio tapes and music.
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game
Rivals is a detective-like game, where your objective is to sort through recording tapes, songs and texts to piece together the story of two musicians and their relationship through the years. It’s a short but really sweet game, and the story holds up well. One thing that I need to point out: The songs are AMAZING, really really good. I would listen to them while reading the texts and found myself wanting more.
Clearly there was a lot of passion from the developers while creating this gem of a game. I bought it at full price and have no regrets. If you enjoy detective/puzzle games, don’t think twice, this is an awesome game.
– Real player with 2.4 hrs in game
Silicon Dreams | cyberpunk interrogation
Silicon Dreams: Cyberpunk Interrogation
Thoughtful, provoking, atmospheric and wonderfully written. The premise may be nothing new but I felt a genuine anxiety being judge, jury and executioner.
Silicon Dreams is a cyberpunk, futuristic courtroom for androids.
You are D-0527, an interrogation model specially designed with an extended emotional range, better equipped to detect deviancy in other androids, and humans.
– Real player with 10.9 hrs in game
In the year 2065, we are an interrogator android, owned by a robotics company Kronos to question various androids and determine if they’re operating correctly or if they’ve become deviant. At the end of each interrogation, we get to fill out a report with crucial information that can affect our reputation with the company, and then we decide what to do with the android - whether to release them, to erase their memory, or to decommission them completely.
– Real player with 7.9 hrs in game
The Mystery of Caketropolis
The Mystery of Caketropolis is a neat game with a bit of an old-skool RPG feel. Playing as Rimentus, you follow the young dragon’s adventures as he gets to the bottom of a city-wide conspiracy. However, things aren’t as simple as they seem, and our hero will have his worldview challenged as he digs deeper into the titular mystery.
I like the writing for the game. The characters all have a very distinct personality and enough unique quirks to make them all memorable. The plot progression is also very well done, I never feel like the story gets rushed or lags behind with pacing.
! The twist on the alternate ending deserves its own special mention. Overall, an excellent storytelling experience.
– Real player with 18.8 hrs in game
A really nice game, especially if you like dragons. While the story isn’t groundbreaking, it’s still fun to figure out the mystery and try to figure out what actually happened along with the characters. It features both bad and good endings, both leading to interesting conclusions. There are also other smaller side-quests you can do while working towards the main quest.
There are a couple of things I feel needed a bit more work, such as different sprites having different levels of quality (some things are rather blurry while others are rather pixelated), the way to get the good ending feeling slightly tacked on, in some cases where you can and can’t go isn’t exactly obvious, and menus can feel slightly clunky at times. Most of these problems though are rather minor, though.
– Real player with 16.2 hrs in game
Voyeur
I enjoy quirky, original games… and I especially love FMV. Voyeur scratches the itch for both. Recommended.
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
i like the concept but how can u change the resoulution to be less choppy??
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
Sumatra: Fate of Yandi
I adore “Legend of Hand”, and so I dove in to Sumatra: Fate of Yandi. Its a quiet, contemplative type of adventure game with some messages here and there, and I overall I very much enjoyed my time. I’ve been around in Indonesia, the cities in Java mainly and not the jungle, but there is enough in common in terms of people in culture that felt right to me. Its also a unique setting, as I’ve not run across another adventure game set in a SE Asia island. By the way, Borneo would be an awesome spot for a game…Its got rainforest, beaches, a huge mountain, all kinds of cool animals, and 3 different countries own various parts of it.
– Real player with 12.4 hrs in game
Initial playthrough: 4 hours
Pros
- Learn real things about survival, nature, and human culture in rural Indonesia. I got a strong sense Cloak and Dagger did their research.* There’s a satisfying sense of progression, as the game contains very little backtracking.* Cloak and Dagger instill a mild off-beat quirkiness in their games, which makes them feel fresh.
Neutral
- Some will find it too linear, but I personally enjoy the sense of focus and progression this creates.
– Real player with 8.9 hrs in game