Chronicle of Innsmouth: Mountains of Madness
Wow, this is a masterpiece. No adventure gamer should miss this for any reason.
The strength of this game is in its atmosphere: here, Mountains of Madness equals masterpieces such as Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. And indeed you are going to have Indiana Jones vibes through all the game. Psychodev studio clearly has talent in creating immersive atmospheres. They achieve this in different ways: the stunning graphics is full of exotic and evocative locations; the amazing and evocative music is never repetitive and never intrusive, but manages to talk to your subconscious and increase the experience; the presence of a party of companions, who follow you through all your adventure; the many differeent flashbacks, which increase the variety of the settings; many small details such as the flickering lights or the animated clouds; the many comic-style cutscenes which highlight the key moments in the story; the english voiceover which is very expressive and competent.
– Real player with 29.3 hrs in game
“Mountains of Madness” is an atmospheric, compact and overall polished point and click adventure, who gives its own due homage to the source material and its gameplay-wise inspirations (Lucas Arts adventure games, especially “Fate of Atlantis”), while keeping its own strong autonomy and dignity.
PLOT AND CHARACTERS
The setting is surprisingly immersive and mind-blowing, the plot is good with its own sparks, even if rarely shines: some narrative solutions felt forced and other underused, left wanting for more. But I experienced worse, FAR worse in my gaming career.
– Real player with 12.3 hrs in game
The Hunter’s Journals - Red Ripper
The Hunter’s Journals - Red Ripper
A unique fantasy visual novel
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Story
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Characters
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Graphics
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Game length, many hours of replay value
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It is a smart game, requires a mature vocabulary.
“You are a hunter of beasts and monsters”. So begins our next quest in the “Hunter’s Journals” series.
But, this one changes it up quite bit as you now have “Heirloom” weapons or armor you can take along.
You can only select one, you can however change your selection and see it will affect your outcome.
– Real player with 10.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian Horror Games.
Even on the easiest setting, it is extremely challenging and each point of health and items matters so much, find your way through this weird and crazy, but intense and memorable adventure :)
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– Real player with 3.7 hrs in game
The Song of Saya
I got this game both because people are trying to compare it to Doki Doki Literature Club and because I’ve heard of its explosive popularity when it was (re-)released.
Right off the bat, to clear the air, there is absolutely NO COMPARISON between the two games. They are on their own separate tiers, respectfully.
I was excited to play it since it immediately started out with the horror. Though, when it gives us the option to choose to censor the gore and such, I expected to see it ALL, but that is not the case.
! For example, in the case of Fuminori driving his head down into the axe, and Koji dreaming of him in that state, we are not allowed to see it because it is actually censored , weirdly enough. Saya gets violated, and we see it while she’s in her “human” guise and, while I’m glad I didn’t have to see that, I was surprised to see it so censored. Not only that, some of the voice acting was taken out for that part, in what I assume to be another form of censoring so that it wasn’t as disturbing? But, what about the voice acting that’s done when Yoh is being violated when she clearly refuses–both when she has her mind and when she loses it? Lastly, what I was most disappointed with was that the game refused to give us any CGs of the full body of these disgusting “aliens.” Was it to add to the narrative that they were just that terrifying and disgusting? If that was the case, then why even bother with those first CGs of the “aliens” that Fuminori sees in the beginning? With the close up shots of the eye and another with something bulging(?) to the tentacles we see with the more nude shots, I believe they were more than capable of giving us a CG of these monsters. Maybe it is because it was initially released in, I believe, 2003 that it was afraid of giving us more? Whatever it is, the gore isn’t too bad unless you truly hate seeing guts in any form. To me, the guts were just so computerized(?) that I believe most would be able to stomach it.
– Real player with 13.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian Sexual Content Games.
“To you, who loved me, I give this planet”
The Song of Saya (Saya no Uta) is a Lovecraftian horror love story where love is disturbing no matter which way you look at it and the monster changes with your perspective. It’s depraved and wicked while taking you on a journey into the deepest parts of madness. Like every good Lovecraftian story it promises to defile and poison you by “the insanity called truth”. It also examines different truths by juxtaposing different perspectives through a prism of a hellish mirror.
– Real player with 13.8 hrs in game
Howard Phillips Lovecar
Howard Phillips Lovecar is one of those games where you can feel yourself getting better at it every time you play it, and there’s a lot of nuance in its controls and the way the different mechanics interact with one another. It reminds me of playing flash shmups on the internet when I was younger. The controls should appeal to fans of shmups looking for something new. You can only fire your shotgun out of the left side of the car and the tommygun from the right. Combined with the way driving works, you have lots of options for dealing with threats. You can circle around targets, do figure 8s in front of them, or just sit still in a blind spot and hold down the fire button. The different eldritch horrors are all instantly recognizable, and all of them have slightly different arrangements of tentacles and spikes, so there are subtleties to approaching one covered in tentacles as opposed to one with spikes that spawns homing drones. The atmosphere, (cultist yells, washed out color palette) especially when you’ve taken some damage and the darkness closes in, add atmosphere to a suprisingly tactical shooty arcade game.
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
You are driving through the wastelands in your pickup truck and you are trying to stop those nasty cultists are trying to summon old gods. Gods with tentacles.
At first glance game reminds me of the good old GTA, but with a lot more arcade feel. Each play is very short and intensive. Also developer promises to update the game with new features during the early access so big thumbs up from me!
– Real player with 4.8 hrs in game
The Hunter’s Journals - Pale Harbour
Without choices we’re merely going through life on a never-ending elevator
It’s been so long since I experienced a Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA), going back to my childhood days I found them fascinating because they were so simple in their design yet when you delve into the story there are a maze of choices to be made often with a grisly ending for any naive decisions. The choices were so quick to come by it meant the real challenge was staying involved in the story while striving for any new opening that would branch you further into the plot but, with so many trapdoor wrong turnings, it is easier said than done.
– Real player with 6.8 hrs in game
Disclaimer: This is not a technical critique. I’m a streamer and I will review based on whether I enjoyed games and how well my community responded to them. I hope there’s value in that to some.
This game isn’t going to blow you away visually if you’re used to ‘flashy’ games with ‘action’. However, as someone who very much enjoyed the ‘Choose Your Own Adventures’ books in my youth, it was easy for me to see beyond the not-full screen. It’s a book and as such would have looked odd if it filled the screen. It was easy to pick up what to do, and there were different difficulty levels to choose from. As someone who enjoys the ‘journey’ and to experience the stories rather than stress too much about having enough health to last the game, I elected for the easiest setting.
– Real player with 5.9 hrs in game
The Miskatonic
Make multiple save files! Mine corrupted somehow, no idea how, and it was right before the end and I had to reclick through about 45 mins of reading. Annoying.
Game was longer than expected, which was good. A good deal on sale. Had been looking at this game for a while, but I heard it was short….and 5 bucks for short wasn’t really buyable imo. So I waited for sale, and it finally did and I’m glad I bought it.
Game is very incomplete though. Art is great, story is great and rich and lorie. Only has 3-4 music tracks. Is linear phonetic visual novel with a weird pseudo exploration kinda mode? but actually not explorable its deciding whether to talk to people along the way or not and the talks have no bearing on the story, its just lore. I mean you’ll be doing the talks tho cause its fun so that’s fine. The world is very interesting.
– Real player with 17.2 hrs in game
So, I’ve completed the game in 4-5 hours, and given the fact that it’s a linear story, with only window for replayability being the fact that you might missed some of the dialogues (yes, that can happen).
The game is as described: Point and click based visual novel, set in a post-apocalyptic(?) lovecraftian world, which is fine, the fans wil like it, especially the goofy take, and the matching art-style, and the story is also acceptable, though it wasn’t enough.
My problems with this “game” are the following:
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
Marrow
Incredibly good game that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. 100%‘ing it was a treat.
First of all though let me just say that this game is difficult. No my friends, you don’t seem to understand so let me repeat that just so we’re clear. This game is really fucking difficult. I imagine the vast majority of people will struggle immensely with it so if you’re a casual player in general then I honestly just don’t see you making any progress what so ever.
That difficulty though is a breath of fresh air to me and it does wonders for sticking with the games theme. That theme is that you’re not some super hero that finds a few upgrades and then steamrolls through the rest of the game. You’ll never get to the point of being overpowered, you’ll always feel that you can die and that’s how it should be for this type of setting. The dev himself said it best, monsters are not there for you to grind on or to farm for item drops, they’re there to kill you and nothing more.
– Real player with 63.2 hrs in game
Quite a hidden gem. The fantastic and creepy artstyle drew me in, and the challenging gameplay kept me hooked until the end. The difficulty is no joke, the game really is brutally difficult and many of it’s secrets are well hidden behind cryptic puzzles. At times it can even feel almost unfair against the player, but usually that is because player has missed some key item or strategy. Player is required to keep careful eye on his surroundings, as very minor detail can be a clue to solving a problem and progressing further. I also really liked the soundtrack. It really fits well the game’s atmosphere.
– Real player with 38.6 hrs in game
Ouroboros: Prelude
In short? Three words: Scary. As. Hell…
In long? A nice indie horror game that for an “Early Access” game looks pretty complete. The dungeon randomization really does make it that no attempt at this game is the same. You don’t know where you are or when the next scare or monster is going to come at you so there really is no way to “acclimate” to the environment.The darkness makes you so that you actually have to be careful about where you are going (fell into a foggy pit… twice) but also makes it easier to sneak around (monster sight confirmed). It is nice to see a dungeon horror game actually treat darkness like DARKNESS and to put thought into light dynamics and stuff. If you are looking for a challenge then this game is for you.
– Real player with 51.1 hrs in game
I awoke in a dim dungeon cell behind a locked door. A stack of crates on the wall hid a hole as large as a man, so I threw them aside and escaped! I found myself in a dark, stone corridor. I braved the shadows and heard a liquid dripping below. I descended some stairs, opened a door, and found water quickly filling a cistern… and the room. I was already waist-deep as I made my way back to the door, which had shut behind me! I pushed it back open and ascended the stairs, then I heard an unholy growl. The fear made my vision blur, but I saw the source of my terror: a ghoul crawling toward me on the floor. I froze in horror as it reached out for me… and vanished. Terror took me. I began to see glyphs and other strange symbols floating in the air as the halls twisted behind them, mocking me! WHERE AM I?
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
Skautfold: Into the Fray
Tercera entrega de la (a futuro) pentalogía Skautfold, saga indie de un solo hombre y por desgracia desconocida para muchos.
ItF nos devuelve a la misma isla donde se desarrolla el primer juego, Shrouded in Sanity, solo que en este caso controlamos al tercer caballero, Hito. Como especialista en armas, el juego se torna un «shooter» isométrico con una dificultad que no deja respirar mucho, quizás sobre todo al principio, cuando aún disponemos de pocos recursos. La variedad de armas cubre los clásicos de todo juego con disparos más unas cuantas más exóticas propias del universo de corte Lovecraftiano.
– Real player with 18.9 hrs in game
Skautfold has been a series of slightly rough gems, and Into the Fray is no exception.
I really do feel the need to emphasis how much I love the world and story Steve Gal has been developing. It has expanded game by game from one mansion besieged by the eldritch Fog to a world under threat of being overwhelmed, without losing its focus on an interesting core cast of characters. That is a difficult feat, and one worthy of commending.
As is developing games in such a variety of genres and having them all turn out at least good. First a fairly straightforward 2D action game, then an action-platformer with Metroidvania elements, and now this - a top-down shooter with the bullet-spamming, circle-strafing energy of a 90s first-person shooter.
– Real player with 15.3 hrs in game
The Hunter’s Journals - Blissful Ignorance
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything - Albert Einstein
Grindwheel Games’ text-based CYOA trilogy of The Hunter’s Journals rolls onward with The Hunter hired to solve the mystery behind the afflictions occurring at a Monastery; a challenge that not only will test the Hunter’s prowess but also will require scaling a dangerous Mountain in harsh weather conditions and a threat of Harpy’s along the way.
As with the earlier Journals, the game design cleverly mimics a book in its appearance and layout while also portraying glorious Lovecraftian artwork among its ‘pages’. There is also the options of VA, music/sound effects and a Gallery complete with lore, unlocked artwork and a history of this ‘Universe’. The writing style is once more beautifully descriptive and keeps the attention span of the Player by adding choice elements and challenges throughout the story progress.
– Real player with 11.2 hrs in game
Senscape recommends The Hunter’s Journal: Blissful Ignorance
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Story
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Characters
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Graphics
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Game length, many hours of replay value
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It is a smart game, requires a mature vocabulary.
“You are the hero”.
Or not.
It all depends on the choices you make.
You receive an urgent dispatch for help lacking information about what you face; you are unable to properly prepare because of this lack of information so you are going in blind and must earn things as you progress.
This is about choice and you may or may not succeed in building your strength and weaponry up by the time you meet your strongest foes beyond the village of Pilgrim’s Progress.
– Real player with 6.8 hrs in game