Finders, Keepers
Finders, Keepers
A hike above ancient woodland on summer solstice; the longest day of the year. Two friends explore an enigmatic forest, talking of life and love. Mysterious landmarks dwell in the primal wood, echoes of beauty and pain that scar the land, and await those who seek the truth.
Finders, Keepers tells a tale through unconventional means; tips left by users of the fyndr/keepr dating app hint at a tragic tale, strange profiles lead to hidden clues, landmarks hold a mysterious history. A dreamlike atmosphere permeates through joyful interactions; blowing dandelions, skimming stones, rustling wind chimes, while the narrative evokes a range of emotions, from humorous dating profiles, to unsettling discoveries.
An Atmospheric Mystery
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A magical realist narrative told through unconventional means.
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Experimental gameplay using a dating app interface.
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Playful interactions use simple swiping mechanics in creative ways.
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Fluid, evolving musical score moves seamlessly with the story.
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Mouse and controller support with innovative thumb interface.
Read More: Best Mystery Atmospheric Games.
Space Hole 2020
Thank god I am not epileptic
– Real player with 6.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Surreal Games.
I’m trying to determine the best way to describe Space Hole 2020. Not necessarily a game, exactly. At least not in the way the equally amazing Space Hole 2016 and Space Hole 2018 were (in one opinion.) More the culmination of the reversal of everything the YEAR 2020 has turned out to be. It’s as if all the misery, pain and loss of Year 2020 was thrown into the air, but instead of falling, everything that made Year 2020 so awful converted into the various objects of their opposing beauty and wonder, music, color and art for gamers to explore and enjoy as Space Hole 2020. What you’ll quickly discover is that Space Hole 2020 is almost equally game and art installation (though not in a pretentious, scary or off-putting way,) And the music is a world of its own, and you likely find yourself as much experiencing the music as listening to it. Simply beyond description (which, I suppose, is a reasonably good description for the game in general, if “indescribable” can technically be used as a description.)
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
Escape Knox Manor
Great little fun game! A little confusing for a minute or two, but you easily get the hang of it. Can’t wait to see more games in the future!
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Atmospheric Games.
Good for a steam game. I liked the sound design.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
The Space Between
I am not fond of games that have me blundering around in the dark. This causes nausea because you are visually disoriented. Also, the ending was just… nothing? OK you are done now, here are 2 chairs? Sorry but this was just not great. :(
– Real player with 12.8 hrs in game
I have a soft spot for psychological games with a retro aesthetic, the weirder they are, the more I enjoy them. You can complete the game in 40 minutes which is admittedly short considering the slow text, but in the end, I care more about my overall impression of the narrative. Without spoiling anything, you can tell from the trailer that the game focuses on intimacy issues, paranoia, and anxiety - which it does pretty well. While I enjoyed the story and the psychedelic visuals, the actual dialogue could use some polish; with the game like this I think you could avoid saying too much, and it will still have the same effect. I wish the text would not lock you into the conversation the entire time, you could just let the player walk around and read, not to mention that the camera tends to lock in the wrong place anyway. It’s not a horror game aside from one little jump scare, it’s more about the atmosphere and creating that isolation through an unsettling environment. I am not always a fan of dark shading and tiny rooms, but within the context of the narrative that tries to convey that feeling of being alone, I think the claustrophobic locations work very well.
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Blade Walker
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– Real player with 6.8 hrs in game
I can’t really recommend this, even as a free demo-scale experience. The cyberpunk environment is great, but you’ll have to find necessary puzzle items in extremely shadowy and cluttered environments. The most interactive and eye-catching things in the area with the last puzzle have nothing to do with said puzzle so you will waste time with a red herring non-puzzle. There is no menu, no save, and the intro is unskippable.
On the other hand, there is talent visible. The ingredients for something satisfying are here. It’s just not there yet. With a bit more playtesting and a few more rooms and puzzles, I can see this becoming something worth a few bucks.
– Real player with 2.4 hrs in game
Forgetter
Disclaimer: I helped out with testing the game and got the game as a free copy.
The game is mostly a “walking simulator”, so the gameplay is kept relatively simple and the focus lies more on the experience of entering the very different minds of two artists and exploring their memories and traumas. Some of these memories I kind of expected (e.g. pressure from parents) but there are also other memories, some of them even pleasant that I didn’t see coming. Personally, it felt like I got to know two people by discovering some of their key memories, which was interesting to me, because I don’t know much about the artist life. I would have liked to see the game explore the different ways the “brain recycling” technology plays out for people, like in an episode of “Black Mirror”.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Novice developers from Hong Kong were very kind to submit the game to my curator page https://store.steampowered.com/curator/26168615-Video-Games-Art-International/ and ask for my opinion.
I would thank developers with a positive review, but this is more kinda mixed review.
The game is in first person view and allows for free exploration of 3D environments. Incipit of story is very intriguing and original. You’re a young girl on probation for a new weird job at MindJob corporation. You’re a “forgetter”. Your mission is to clear the minds of famous deceased artists! Yes, at MindJob they recycle the minds of geniuses and artists and implant them in children brains! Families pay for their children to be next generation geniuses and artists! But artists and geniuses minds are affected by traumatic memories and deviant behavior, so you have to erase and clean them before the new implant! Do you want your son to be the next Van Gogh but with both the ears, without deviant behavior? Mindjob has the solution for you! :-)
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
Highlight
Tinpot Yeqzz
– Real player with 0.9 hrs in game
I really liked this game, it makes even a dumb idiot like me think outside of the box and it promotes thought,
it tackles the issues of the modern day media and for me personally it hit a soft spot on the subject of depression linked to social media. i’d suggest this game to anyone who wants some food for thought and a cute well put together small game that doesn’t take up much of your time but will stay with you for a long while
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
SELF
SELF – An Ambitious and Surreal Text Adventure
SELF is a Kafkaesque text-based adventure that unfolds on an interactive CRT screen. The game claims to draw inspiration from titles such as Undertale and Just Shapes & Beats, striving to combine text-based narrative and choices with a variety of gameplay mechanics.
It is a decent interactive fiction that will provide around two hours of gameplay. The game has an interesting albeit confusing storyline that successfully captures the player’s attention. However, it oversells itself with exaggerated claims of puzzles and bullet hell sections, which although fun, are not overly challenging and often feel like a side note that would be better marketed as a unique take on decision making in games. I would recommend the game as a narrative experience, particularly to fans of text-based adventures, but would ward off anyone looking for more action-packed or high octane gameplay.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
Very creative and dreamlike with enough nudges to help you find all of the narrative branches without taking away the mystery. Very unique narrative and I would love to see more like this.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
Hadr
Hadr
An unusual light-weight puzzler with interesting mechanics and a chilled vibe.
First Impressions🤔
This isn’t a particularly difficult puzzler but it’s original and it is fun to play.
– Real player with 8.3 hrs in game
It is always nice to see something visually or conceptually different.
This game, coming up from a small Czech studio fulfills that desire. Noone would ever think about what it’s like to be a piece of magicans cloth, flying all over the world and hiding things. This masterpiece allows you to do that. For 4 euros! And what is the point of that all? A story about one magician and his rabbit. A story fitted in visually mindblowing environments with mindf*cking tasks you need to accomplish. And talking about mind-something impressions, the music and graphic design just confirms the quality of the game.
– Real player with 6.2 hrs in game
pleXus VR
Had a chance to play this in beta. Great game very enjoyable experience amazing graphics.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
There isn’t much here. A couple of puzzles with an extremely bland narration. It’s like a Speak and Spell talking you thru the whole thing. Definitely not worth the price. I don’t recommend this title at all.
– Real player with 0.9 hrs in game