Chronicle of Innsmouth
I recommend this game because I enjoyed playing it very much, primarily. The graphics is what people these days call, “old-school pixel-art,” but this was probably about the best possible at time of the game’s creation. It is a point-and-click game with an inventory and a grid in the bottom left-hand corner with the action words, like, “look”, “pick-up,” “talk,” etc., which I have seen in other LucasArts games, such as the ancient, original Indiana Jones games, The Secret of Monkey Island (again, the original), Maniac Mansion (if memory serves me correctly), and the much more recent “Thimbleweed Park.”
– Real player with 101.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian Horror Games.
If I could give a neutral, I suppose I would, but I can’t recommend this. It’s not horrible, but it sure isn’t good.
I don’t ding from graphics or such, as this is I think a single/few person game, but it sure doesn’t look good pixel art-wise. Voice acting isn’t bad for the most part, tolerable but not good, except for a few characters which are hideous, but that happened even in most famous adventure titles of the past occasionally.
There are a few good moments in there too.
Gameplaywise, the puzzles are few, and bad. There is pixel-hunting, which is not the lesson you should take from old adventure games. Or putting in a maze with an insta-kill room.
– Real player with 15.7 hrs in game
The Last Door - Collector’s Edition
Who would have thought that the next great horror game would be a pixelated homage to Lovecraft and Poe? I had been following The Last Door’s development since its Kickstarter roots, and as soon as it popped up on Steam the game was in my cart and my wallet $10 lighter.
The game starts off ominous enough; a suicide, a letter, and a friend vowing to uncover the truth of it all. Set in the 1880’s, our protagonist Devitt embarks on a journey through forgotten memories that threaten to lead him to the depths of insanity itself. That’s not exactly what I was expecting from this game, but I am certainly not complaining.
– Real player with 20.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian Great Soundtrack Games.
‘The Last Door’ is a classic point and click adventure game. So much so that you can play the entire thing with only the use of the mouse. The graphics are beautifully designed pixel graphics that never feel like you are losing atmosphere. The story is intriguing and interesting with a feeling of The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe and has been called “A Love letter to H.P. Lovecraft” by Penny Arcade.
The music composed by Carlos Viola is phenomenal. In fact I would say that it is now in my top 3 most loved video game soundtracks after playing this game and worth the purchase price by itself. You can download the soundtrack from the website (https://thelastdoor.com/index.php/soundtrack) , although they have plans to include it in an update at some point in the Collector’s Edition on Steam. Here’s a bit of a taste from the Chapter 1 OST, which should give you some feeling as to the atmosphere of the game:
– Real player with 15.0 hrs in game
Depersonalization
Introduction
Run! Dice! Cthulhu!
Bad End！ Multi branch! Different worlds!
Content
“It is not you pursuing knowledge, but knowledge is pursuing you”
Death cycle
Irreparable regret
Unrivalled enemies
……
How will you accomplish your mission meanwhile save those who are important to you?
Exploration
The exploration part is based of COC game running skills
Investigation
Investigation skills can find props in the scene
Learn about other characters
As well as the discovery of the scene of hidden doors, hidden channels, and not obvious clues
Listening
Listening skills can hear whispers in partitioned rooms
Strong listening skills can detect danger as soon as possible
Conversation
Conversation skills include persuasion, threat, deception and so on
It can be used to talk to other characters to get more information
Psychology
Psychology skills can discover what other characters are currently thinking
And their hidden secrets
PS:It doesn’t work for the character whos psychological defense is strong
PS: In order to have fun, we directly made psychology into a mind reading type of black magic
Stealth
Stealth skills can find targets around you which can be used to hide yourself
Avoid enemies' search
Battle
The battle part is a card game.The cards consist of the character’s own basic cards and their equipment cards. The numerical effects related to the battle are
accomplished by the dice goddess.
？？？？
Those indescribable beings are waking up
Crazy, listen to its voice!
Sing and pray for its coming!
Crazy, listen to his voice!
Sing and pray for his coming!
Read More: Best Lovecraftian Strategy RPG Games.
The Last Door: Season 2 - Collector’s Edition
In brief: If you like H.P. Lovecraft, buy this game.
In far longer summation. It is rare that I decide to write a review of a game, but in the case of The Last Door Season 2, I am pleased to make an exception to this policy. I do not speak idly when I say that this is one of the best games I have played in the last few years. Certainly the graphical style is not to everyone’s taste, but I found that it fit the game in a way I cannot quite describe. Yet I fear I am rambling, so allow me to lay out, in a concise a manner as possible, why I liked this game. It is of course, not completely without flaws, such as the occasional moment where the game behaved strangely when I was picking up objects (such as the umbrella in Episode 3), but these are the pettiest of quibbles.
– Real player with 12.0 hrs in game
Pixel Art: 5/5
Immersion: 5/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Value: 4/5
Difficulty: 1/5
–————
Overall 4.25 (Difficulty always excluded)
Please follow my Pixel Art Curation for other great games…
Another amazing pixelated adventure! There are so many different settings and scenes to explore, with such variety.
These rival the old Sierra game and bring their own unique charm that makes for a whole new kind of experience. They have paid attention to so many details…even as simple as the animation going up a lighthouse, makes it feel like 3D, having the character wrap around a set of spiral stairs, even just for a split second you can see it.
– Real player with 8.9 hrs in game
They Bleed Pixels
They Bleed Pixels - Satisfaction that comes at a price
If you check on Steam it actually comes at pretty low price. But obviously I was not talking about money. I was talking about time (which equals money) but let talk more about why I came to such a conclusion.
So if you have read my previous review you probably guessed that I like this game because it is a 2D platformer. And yes I like platformers and I was collecting them in the past when I had time to play any games. Naturally I came across this game and loved it at first sight. And why not? I watched the trailer and I saw fast paced action, lots of different moves and attacks. I loved this simplistic but beautiful art style. It also said it was inspired H.P Lovecraft which told me absolutely nothing at first but after searching online I know all I needed. Another thing that got me really excited was the number of achievements to unlock. And my friends know that I’m a achievement-junkie. But I should have read what those achievements are about. From the tags I new it wasn’t going to be easy and I was quite ready for that. So I grabbed my controller, fired up the game and focused on my TV screen…
– Real player with 43.7 hrs in game
They Bleed Pixels is a challenging wall jump platformer, with a satisfying unique premise, quality combat and engaging mechanics.
You control a presumably troubled student at the Lafcadio Academy for troubled girls. She stumbles across a magical book that makes you have wild dreams involving a few strangely horrific creatures, several bloody spikes, and an ever present number of saws. The book also has glowing bits and pages that not only are missing, but found inside said dreams. Take heed of any such events that occur in reality, as these are not normal behaviors for books or their pages.
– Real player with 34.0 hrs in game
Curious Expedition
The Curious Expedition is yet another Kickstarter-spawned entry into the ever-growing field of Rogue-Likes, but with a refreshing new twist. This time around, the player takes on the role of a small party of 19th-Century explorers engaged in a gentleman’s wager - to travel the world on six concurrent expeditions, competing to see who can gain the most fame. It’s a fairly quick and lethal game, but that’s exactly what it’s meant to be - a good way to kill a few hours at a time, running expedition after expedition off to their doom.
– Real player with 150.3 hrs in game
The Short Pitch
TCE is one of the best games in its class, a Roguelike-inspired strategy/adventure game that will leave you wanting more. Easy enough to beat several times in one day if you’re dedicated, yet hard enough to make every victory feel like you clawed your way to it from the depths of hades.
If you’re looking at this game and you’re even half sure you want it, get it. If looking at it fills with you a warm and gooey sense of longing for the hours spent huddled around CRT monitors taking turns playing The Oregon Trail, buy it. Even if you’re a more modern gamer, but you’re a fan of FTL, Caves of Qud, the Binding of Isaac, or similar, buy it.
– Real player with 82.6 hrs in game
The Manse on Soracca
Super cool game! I am literally going to spoil a mechanic here so stop reading if you wanna go in cold, which you should. The solution to some of the puzzles in the game are found outside of the game, and they’re done very well. There’s a few things you gotta do that just starts you out completely confused, but it feels pretty darn keen to get a solution to click and you start browsin a internet for clues.
Short (if you’re smart) and sweet, and lots of low % cheevos to get to grow your epeen
– Real player with 14.8 hrs in game
A very unique game, looks and feels retro but with a more nuanced plot and game progression. Paying close attention to the environment is critical but the game is forgiving enough that the player isn’t discouraged if they miss a detail or get killed. If you’re a fan of retro-stylized games or Lovecraftian storytelling, the game is definitely worth checking out. There’s a clear attention to detail if you’re the type of player who likes to interact with everything.
My only concern with the game stemmed from my poor sense of direction- I got lost quite often. However, a recent update addressed this problem and made the game much easier for me to play through.
– Real player with 14.0 hrs in game
Lovecraft’s Untold Stories
Honestly the fact that people constantly have to try and figure out what item’s hidden properties are well past the 1 year mark of the developers saying they would provide a guide to tell us just that is sad. The fact they are releasing a sequel and still can’t manage to do what they said they would is just pathetic. The fact that when asked again to do what they already said they would, while even explaining WHY you don’t want to go to user made guides due to the lack of information in them, and still having the developers point you to exactly what you said you didn’t want to use as it is NOT useful, is just astounding. At this point I can’t really recommend it.
– Real player with 35.8 hrs in game
This is a reluctant thumbs up, because Untold Stories is good–-it just tries extremely hard to block its own shot.
To start, every element in Untold’s design conflicts. It’s a twin-stick shooter, but you’ll spend more time puzzling and backtracking than in combat. Walk speed is slow, and movement options are limited, and everything feels heavy, but enemies are fast. You need to use your weapons' rate of fire to achieve good spacing, and you need to expect to get hit. Traps are practically a blanket over the map, and you’ll constantly be spending resources to top up your paltry health and cancel out status effects. You won’t necessarily know what anything does until you experiment with it, because this game tells you very little, and this is a recurring theme: being punished super hard for not knowing better.
– Real player with 34.7 hrs in game
Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4
7/10: The fourth and final part of Penny Arcade’s quadrilogy involving elder gods and silly puns. Zeboyd Games has a classic turn-based approach to RPG’s that I always enjoy, though it’s a bit closer to Pokemon with the whole trainers and monsters dynamic.
Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness series began back in 2008, and took about 5 years to reach it’s conclusion. The first two parts, developed and published by Hothead, were both released that year and were close to the style of the webcomic and had timing mechanics mixed into their turn based combat. Then things went mysteriously quiet, leaving the series potentially unfinished until 2011 when Zeboyd announced they’d be developing episode 3 (and later 4), at which point the series combat mechanics switched to Zeboyd’s style, with turn bars and interrupts and 16-bit graphics.
– Real player with 29.6 hrs in game
Rain-Slick 4 is an improvement on Rain-Slick 3 in almost every way. Once again, I played through the game on Insane difficulty. Due to the new monster ally mechanic, party member roles are not as rigid, and many battles require a different approach than using the same team composition over and over. While the overall challenge is slightly less than 3, it felt more rewarding to clear a hard encounter through modifying my strategy rather than just retrying and hoping my tank takes more hits; not to mention, there are still plenty of formidable opponents in the optional content.
– Real player with 22.3 hrs in game
RAIN IN THE ABYSS
A terrible ancestral prophecy has unleashed total drought in the sacred lands of Huapalli, leaving its inhabitants without water and on the verge of extinction.
Nuez is the only descendant of a marginalized tribe that does not need water to survive, she is the only one who can bring life back to her lands before it is too late.
Enter the beautiful and terrifying world of the abyss that protects a sacred ancestral object. Destroy every life form that is a threat, at long range with your crossbow or tearing your enemies with your bare hands. Search for minerals, food, and items to craft artifacts that give you an edge over your ruthless enemies and battle colossal bosses willing to annihilate you.
Explore a vast and beautiful world: Discover an incredible world full of dangerous enemies and poisonous plants that inhabit the abyss.
Combinable Combat: Destroy your enemies with the power of your crossbow, a sacred weapon created by your tribe. Create devastating new ammo for your weapon and unlock special moves for Nuez tail that will give you the agility and power to achieve your goal.
Executions: Release your anger by tearing your enemies apart in a bloody way with carefully animated executions.
Customize your game mode: Discover and equip yourself with amulets, which will completely change the way you play, acquiring skills that allow you to overcome areas without being seen or destroying everything in your path. Try different combinations to find one that fits your style of play.
Unforgettable battles against colossal bosses: Face impressive colossal bosses animated in pixel art.
Discover unimaginable areas of the abyss: A world of constant rain full of beauty, magic, horror and sadness. You will find really charming, disconcerting and mysterious characters that could help you, or maybe not. An epic unique and unforgettable adventure that will touch each of your emotions.