The Lot
Take an atmospheric journey in a fresh, critically acclaimed format of a hand-drawn point-and-click comic-book. When a freeloading owner of a blue Mustang drives through without paying for the ticket, Harry Hunter, freelance parking attendant, ventures inside the lot to Make. Him. Pay. ™.
Just like our other interactive comics, upon finishing the game you can print out your entire adventure path in the form of an actual 30-50 page comic book. In response to (very positive! :) ) player feedback on previous games, this adventure includes multiple paths, endings and side-quests spanning thousands of lines of dialog tightly packed in a 2 hour narrative.
Gameplay
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every interaction in the game world (such as talking, picking up items, using objects etc.) creates a new comic panel, furthering the story
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hundreds of unique hand-drawn (and hand-scanned!) content rich panels for all the various combinations
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improved replay value with multiple endings, sidequests, achievements and many different ways to solve the game mysteries
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when the player ends the game, he is given the option to print out his gameplay in a comic book format
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a new game+ option with a developer commentary track when you finish the game
Read More: Best Mystery Surreal Games.
Jiangshi x Daoshi
I absolutely love this game! It uses a refreshing mix of static avatars & backgrounds, with frequent animation and motion comic action panels reminiscent of Dead Leaves. This gives the game an extremely dynamic feel, which makes up for the lack of choices. Like many Visual Novels, heavy emphasis is on the word Novel, as such, interaction in this game is mostly limited to hunting for words that the in-game hover-dictionary may explain for you.
Jiangshi X Daoshi boasts a rich story packed with fantastic Chinese mythology/historical information, with a wholesome dynamic between the main characters.
– Real player with 9.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Dark Humor Games.
Please be mindful that this is the censored version uploaded to steam.
I wish to bring awareness to this. Apparently this VN was banned upon submission because of certain scenes and they’ve fought tooth and nail the bring it back for us to enjoy. Bans usually mean end of the line for most games from what I have heard. I’ve went back in to check most of these scenes and they aren’t even close to becoming questionable. For more on that story for those interested: Fruitbat Blog Post
– Real player with 7.7 hrs in game
Robert Robie and the Idols of Jade
Hilarious adventure game in cartoon style.
Robert Robie receives a mysterious assignment while hiding from the police in a cheap motel in Mexico.
Robie must outwit the police, while trying to find some arcane idols from the Aztec civilization, that will provide him with amnesty.
• 2D HD graphics in TV cartoon style.
• A story driven adventure full of hilarious dialogues and puzzles.
• Outlandish characters to talk and interact.
• Available in English, Russian, Italian, German, French and Spanish.
Read More: Best Mystery Funny Games.
The Evolving World: Catalyst Wake
Only 3000 humans remain after three apocalyptic events, referred to as the “Catalysts”, severely decreased the population. Catalyst One resulted in the air being toxic to breathe, so everyone wears masks. After the collapse of the government, various organizations have formed, and fight each other for territory and resources.
Oliver Naut is a scrappy kid who has grown up alone in the Deadzones — the most toxic areas on the planet — with nothing but the robotic swords in his arms for protection. But now he’s teamed up with Namo, a skilled ex-assassin, to prevent an army of robotic soldiers from falling into the hands of the organizations, who will only use them for more violence and death. Will Oliver be able to bring humanity together to fight for peace instead?
Catalyst Wake is a linear visual novel. Instead of the typical “sprites against backgrounds” format, the dialogue is accompanied by illustrations, which gives it a cinematic quality. It’s much like a motion comic.
It’s a continuation of a series of animations and comics that were released between 2011 and 2016 that will finally conclude the story.
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Full English voice acting
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Over a thousand illustrations
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Original soundtrack
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Bios
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Behind-the-scenes
Methods: The Detective Competition
This game is so charming and wonderful, it’s quickly become one of my favourite games ever! If you like mystery stories and fun characters, I highly recommend you pick it up. And if anything seems interesting, don’t be afraid to try out the demo!
On to the (spoiler free) review! (I’ve never written a review before, so apologies if it reads oddly at all.)
The gist of the story is that, 100 of America’s greatest detectives and 100 of its worst criminals are pit in a battle royale against each other to win a million dollars. (And parole, if they’re a criminal.) You play through the stories of several participants as they advance through the competition, meeting new faces at every turn. The game is split into 100 chapters, and it took me personally about 7.5 hours to play through them all on my first playthrough.
– Real player with 51.6 hrs in game
This is probably one of my top ten games I have ever played, in part because I love solving locked room mysteries so much. I do realize it will not be everyone’s cup of tea, however. Here are (in my opinion) the main downsides of this game: 1. character art is a little lackluster, but you can see that for yourself on the steam page. You do get used to it though, and the character designs do have a lot of personality. 2. The pacing is a little weird. Sometimes you will go through long-ish periods of cutscenes back to back or mysteries back to back. 3. Finally, the ending does leave some loose ends, which could maybe have been intended to pave the way for a sequel (or maybe the game designers just couldn’t decide how to wrap them up, I don’t know). With those downsides out of the way, here are the things I love: 1. mysteries upon mysteries upon mysteries. Both little murder scenes you have to solve and some big over-arching mysteries within the game. 2. The characters are really fun. Both detectives and criminals all have a special method they use to do what they do, and it is very fun to see all of the varieties of detectives and murderers they came up with. You also get to play as different detectives and use their methods of solving mysteries, which is cool. You also get to briefly step into playing as a criminal as well. Again, I’ve never met a game with so many mysteries to solve, so this game was lots of fun for me. To me this game is very worth the $20 it normally costs (so I’d say to definitely get it if it sounds interesting, especially if it goes on sale).
– Real player with 13.0 hrs in game
Minute of Islands
To be informed as humanly possible, I completed this game. In fact, I got 100% completion just to ensure I was as informed on this review as humanly possible. I would like to break it up into two parts, as my opinions on them clash wildly.
The visuals and audio in this game are simply stunning, and my main draw to the game when I first saw the E3 trailer for it. The world seemed very unique and reminded me of a children’s book, and I quite enjoy this aesthetic. And once I started playing, I found that the music and sound design was simply stunning. It’s clear that a ton of work went into making this facet work (See the headphone recommendation every time the game is booted), but sadly some more time should have been spent on other parts of the game.
– Real player with 15.0 hrs in game
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Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.
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Is this game a masterpiece? Yes, as long as you look for an easy, slow going platformer where the main challenge is to find your way (and some secrets). Yes, if you enjoy narrative games in an interesting, dystopian setting. Otherwise, no. No challenging action sequences, no convoluted puzzles. You don’t even have a real inventory. Minute plays a bit like… Loom.
– Real player with 12.0 hrs in game
The Metamorphosis
I dont usually play games ,but I quite liked this concept of book adaptation, drewings & sound desing is really well done. :)
– Real player with 22.4 hrs in game
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weird main menu behavior
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steam screenshots don’t work
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inconsistent text display:
___narrative text displayed on whole screen most of the time but also on lower thirds
___main character gregor appears in lower thirds dialog box even though he has no dialogue
- art and animation are ok during chapter 1
- art in chapters 2 & 3 was lackluster and didn’t match the text
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read the novel for free on project gutenberg
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listen to the audiobook for free on librivox
– Real player with 4.4 hrs in game
Jennifer Wilde: Unlikely Revolutionaries
At the start of the Jazz Age in Paris in 1921, young French artist Jennifer Chevalier becomes embroiled in death, espionage and revolution which takes her across France, England and Ireland with the ghost of Oscar Wilde. A Point & Click 2D adventure with a unique comic book inventory design.
Jennifer believes the recent death of her father was no ‘accident’. Finding a chained locket in her father’s hotel, she attempts to use her childhood gift for talking to ghosts to call his spirit back. Unwittingly, the ghost recalled is Oscar Wilde, famous Irish playwright, whose secret affair with Jennifer’s father has bound his ghost to the locket. Jennifer and Oscar find themselves following a trail of murder and revolution, through Paris, to London and Ireland, and into conflict with secret government organisations, a British occult spy network, and the Irish Revolutionary Army.
In a thrilling, witty and melancholic adventure. Jennifer and Oscar uncover dark secrets, deal with the loss of shared love and develop a deep friendship along the way.
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As Jennifer discovers clues, she sketches in her book; which the player can study
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Use this knowledge to confront characters, prompt their memories and link clues together
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Take control of Jennifer and Oscar as you interrogate the living and dead to solve puzzles.
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Environmental puzzles will vex your brain, with crafty but logical solutions to be solved.
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Use Jennifer’s artistic skills to trick the Gendarmerie and talk to spirits, while Oscar can use his ghostly powers to sneak invisibly past the SIS, in character-specific solutions.
Seers Isle
To sum this wall of text up: this is not a “every choice matters” game, it’s a “none of your choices truly matter, here have some cheap drama instead.”
This had looked so promising and then it all fell apart because we’re drowning in fake choices and that mass effect-y “whatever color you choose, your ending still explodes in a steaming pile of manure” thing.
First off, there are 7 characters in total, but one of them does not matter at all, one is there to help justify one of the ending variations of your sad unfulfilling outcome, and one is the reason you can’t have nice things and always get your life ruined, and you can’t do anything to stop it. Out of the remaining four who can be your “soulmate”, 2 are friendship-only (Connor, Freya), so don’t get your hopes up. The game does not care whom you, the player, like or want to succeed (or romance – what meager amount of interaction is supposed to pass for romance here before boom, let’s have sex since we’re running out of screentime). It cares about the number of answers chosen in four rather non-transparent categories (I’ve played through all 4 paths and I still sometimes don’t get why a choice gives you points in something). Each two-stat combo correlates with one of the main 4 characters – and the path you get is determined by the 2 highest numbers, not your choices. Even if you want to connect with a chosen someone, unless you pander to their assigned answers set, you WILL be booted to another path no matter how many times you try to indicate you want this other companion during special events. You think you can determine who among the rest of the group accompanies you to the endgame point? Wrong again, it is always a one male, one female exact combo depending on your “chosen one”: Arlyn-Duncan or Freya-Connor. And then the lower numbers person literally vanishes into thin air before they can make any impact on anything, because screw your attempts to save the group or use extra companions to change the ending.
– Real player with 27.9 hrs in game
Pros:
1.) Variety of characters. Most of the characters in the game came from different backgrounds and have different motives on why they are here.
2.) Multiple endings. I like how an ending of the game was based on all the decisions you have made and how it showed you the payoffs and the consequences of those decisions.
3.) Choices. Compared to “Along the Edge”, “Seers Isle” had more choices to choose from and how the characters interact with one another.
4.) Artwork. The visual designs consisting the environment, the characters, and the choices placements felt fitting and not out of place.
– Real player with 22.4 hrs in game
Broken Minds
Truly a hidden gem :)
The store page makes it look a bit bland and cheap, but it’s actually a quality VN.
It’s not just a “Click Next”-VN, but you have to focus on what’s happening.
The story is pretty good and I would recommend to play it on “Master Detective”-Mode to get all the interesting mini-games wich are well done :)
The VN also has multiple endings, depending on your choices and after unlocking them you can get the true ending(s?).
Unfortunately I have to say that I felt that the VN could have been better with less endings, since you are forced to do them to unlock the final ones. Even with the skip function it takes a bit of time for a playthrough since you still have to navigate through the rooms, etc. So it felt kind of tedious after a while and it didn’t feel like the endings offered something surprisingly new for me.
– Real player with 12.5 hrs in game
Note: not for all! It’s not an easy reading nextnextskipskip VN, you should have a sense of logic, pay attention to details and words.
I’m not sure about a genre, but it’s mostly Visual Novel. But you should pay attention for all (that’s what for 3 big arrows on the screen — for a little bit exploring and for deeper immersion); otherwise you’ll get stuck with logic minigames, delete the game in frustration and will never know how great the game is. So, the phrase “the gameplay consists of logic and reading comprehension puzzles” is completely true, and you can’t go on to the next part by pressing “skip”.
– Real player with 10.1 hrs in game