City of Edges
“You are special. You are unique. But what does it mean?"
City of Edges is a walking simulator that tells the story of a misfit: you, made of “roundness”, in a city full of sharp and broken edges. In this 30-60 minute game, you will wander across this unfriendly place in search of answers and, eventually, others that are also unique in their own way.
Take your time and explore this world. Live the metaphor, feel the sound, and be unique.
Read More: Best Nonlinear Atmospheric Games.
The Norwood Suite
The game was rather short, though it isn’t a bad thing. You come into the game as hotel visitor and as a gamer, you do not overstay that welcome. (The time shown was me leaving the game on while I did other things, but it’s about a couple hours of gameplay)
The characters and assets don’t look like much has been done, but the level design is interesting in a way you feel like you just started an acid trip. That sense of paranoia of people watching you; and at times there are certain figures with heads that don’t stop following you with their heads or eyes.
– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Nonlinear Atmospheric Games.
Overview
The Norwood Suite is a hard game to describe. It’s weird, strange, interesting, odd, confusing, quirky.
It’s also damned fun. A rather short experience at just over 2.5 hours (longer if it takes you more time to figure out some of the puzzles), but in that 150 minute timespan, you’re treated to an interesting story with a really weird but intriguing cast of characters, great level design, and fantastic music.
You play as a guest arriving at The Norwood, a weird hotel that’s known for being the home of a musician, Peter Norwood, way back. The man was as eccentric as the people you encounter and need to help out. A group of musicians working on new material, an employee who loves Blue Moose, front desk clerks who are coy about things in the hotel, and many more.
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Planaris 2+
I am only partially through the Campaign mode and have not started the “normal” modes as of yet. This is a fun and challenging twist on the Tetris game. The colors and graphics are beautiful.
My favorite part is there are no falling pieces and you can take your time (though there are timed boards). You can choose from two pieces which piece will be played next and you can “store” a piece to be used when you want it. There are varying shapes and sizes to the boards and some have quite different shapes of pieces than the original game.
– Real player with 30.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Nonlinear Singleplayer Games.
Fun puzzle game.
– Real player with 14.3 hrs in game
ECHOPLEX
Like Portal without portals
Gameplay
This is one of those games with a hide meaning that unlocks itself at the end of the gameplay so at the start you are given a short cinematic that sets the universe and part of what is happening and why, but after finishing one level you will be given another flashback identified by the game as a piece of a cube that will be filled with each found piece at the end of every level but this pieces can be also identified as memories that pulled together makes a longer and stable one, waiting you to reveal all the secrets from the main character past.
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
Hello! I was able to get an early key for ECHOPLEX and made a First Look video on my channel. ECHOPLEX is primarily a puzzle game but has a story line, is thought provoking and even gets me with some mild jump scares occasionally. I liked the game so much it’s now a Let’s Play series and I intend to play through the entire game. I currently have the first 12 levels completed on my first three videos. I’m really enjoying ECHOPLEX and highly recommend it to anyone who likes puzzle type games. Thank you Output Games for a unique puzzler in ECHOPLEX, I’m digging it.
– Real player with 6.9 hrs in game
Exoplanet: First Contact
UPDATE below the original review, 23+ hours in the game
I currently have close to 9.4 hours in the game, and I’m at the current ‘end.’ As such, I’ll provide my thoughts thus far:
1st question most ask, is it worth buying? In its current state, at 10 hours of gameplay, that’s a tough sell, but having a chance to perhaps have some input on how the final product turns out may be the tipping point for some.
I’ve had fun. I’ve thought about this game between sessions, which is usually a good indicator that it’s interesting enough, even in its current Alpha state, to keep me guessing. I really hope this winds up as a completed project (have seen a few Alphas sputter and die, let this not be one!)
– Real player with 23.4 hrs in game
What if Firefly and Mad Max had a Western themed love child…?
Add in a healthy dollop of Fallout and you’d be looking at Exoplanet: First Contact a real find for those of you lucky enough to stumble across it’s store page.
At the moment - Update 7, mid Jan 2018 - sadly almost nobody has heard of this early access gem. This game is a serious sleeper. It’s a clever, novel concept, the gameplay and the story suck you in from the beginning. I’ve seen criticism of the graphics in other reviews but I guess that was prior to the last update because the desert looks great to me.
– Real player with 12.7 hrs in game
The Color of the Roses
An interesting horror game. I enjoyed following the plot to its end. There is a bit of translation issues but for the most part the story is still discernable though at a couple points I had no clue what it meant. Also it’s pretty hard to get all the endings. Nearly nine hours of play and I only got the “bad” ending. Oh well. Still pretty fun and interesting.
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game
This looks like a nice game except for two problems
No hints. Some hints would be nice every now and then.
Can only be saved at certain points and if you do nor reach that point you lose all you’ve done
I wasted over one hour trying to reach the endpoint to what I was doint. I clicked everywhere but there were no tasks to be done. Eventually I had to leave, and I lost all the last hour.
Developers: Either put hints or make it possible to save at any point.
As it is, my time is valuable and I cannot waste it looking for an endpoint.
– Real player with 5.6 hrs in game
Sentience: The Android’s Tale
I found this game to be quite interesting, though it is fairly simple mechanically speaking. The story kept me very much engaged. In a few spots my choices seemed to make a difference. With all of my other choices, it’s hard to say. The game might have some replayability, at least the last underground section, since there are so many possible endings. Recommended if you like cool stories.
By the way, the game did freeze on me a couple of times, so make sure you save often.
UPDATE July 2021: Do the following to get this game to work on Linux.
– Real player with 17.9 hrs in game
Developer Pilgrim Adventures scores positively again with this title. They have a knack for creating games that are laid back, yet very enthralling story-wise. I thoroughly enjoyed playing this.
I wished they would make more games like this one. It mixes elements of a sci-fi flavoured visual novel, with an RPG-like feel to it (mostly because of the graphics and the user interface).
The story is well done, and logical enough. There’s a healthy mix of mystery regarding technology, higher intelligent life forms, ancient civilizations, creation & just life in itself.
– Real player with 12.4 hrs in game
Antichamber
I will be honest. When I first played Antichamber I didn’t like it. The visuals put me off, not because I wanted better visuals but because I had this dumb notion that if the graphics were not good then how could I trust that the puzzles were watertight? Once I finally overcame this utter stupidity, I was ready to play Antichamber. Not all puzzle games need to be visually awesome like Talos, Witness and Portal. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe I was high…..but I couldn’t have been high because when I started getting into Antichamber I felt like I was REALLY high….like call me an ambulance, my brain is turning into jelly, high.
– Real player with 22.7 hrs in game
The game opens with players spawning in a small, black room with a cartoon-style picture of a fetus on the wall. The first thing the player sees are these words: “Every journey is a series of choices. The first is to begin the journey.” Players then turn to find a second wall labeled “All You Need to Know” that displays the options and the control scheme for the game, as well as a third wall labeled “Choose Your Destination” that acts as Antichamber’s sort of level select feature. The map on this wall is initially only one room big, forcing players to select the very first room with only a vague idea of what this first “level” might hold for them.
– Real player with 13.8 hrs in game
Wheels of Aurelia
Some people complain that there’s no innovation in the AAA games anymore, just TPP loot crafting shooters with stealth elements. Well, on the other side we have Wheels of Aurelia that is trying super hard to look like nothing else, combining a racing game with visual novel. Too bad it fails at pretty much everything it tried to do.
We’re a rebelious women that doesn’t need no man, a feminist (or the one that only looks like one) that picks up another chick at the disco. Both then decide to have a long ride to France along the Via Aurelia road, having all kinds of topic to talk to - abortion, kidnappings, abortion, family issues, music, feminist movements, traditional values, abortion etc. If I’m being not clear enough, the game has a statement to make, and the year of the game isn’t random. It encapsulates two main events from 1978 that have taken place in Italy - Moro kidnapping and legalisation of abortion. Both of these topics will be pretty much on our tongues no matter where we’ll ride or what hitchhiker we take next. No matter what you’ll get ‘strong independent womyn’ vibe from the protagonist, Lella, that is as rebelious as annoying. Every once in a while you’ll have an option to pick up a topic for conversation or your passenger will ask you a question about another topic. These can then be answered in one of two ways, and it can be summarised by ‘yes’, or ‘sarcastic yes’. Many topics present no real input on the conversation, your answers will always be in the spirit of the defined character, later even called a communist. Opinions of your character will always be skewed in one way - someone said something controversial and you want to disgree? Nope, you can either agree or say something mildly controversial too. Question about abortion is a prominent example - you can say it’s either just a medical operation or it might be a traumatic experience. Other time you can say that men are no longer needed. The whole story feels like it’s been written by a raging feminist who tried to put as many leftist ideas as possible. Later in the game (as 10 minutes later) you can ditch your friend for different kind of passenger, a priest or a has-been race driver, and these conversations aren’t that bad, but first couple of runs you’ll probably keep Olga till the end and you’ll get sick of woke comments.
– Real player with 10.9 hrs in game
This is not a game. It’s a visual novel, with somewhat mature topics. (TL;DR: read the last paragraph in my review.)
If you are curious about the driving sections… They are extremely basic, they’re just a mildly interactive background scenario for dialog choices.
In this visual novel, you have the following kinds of control:
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Pick which car you want to start with.
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Pick one of three dialog options when asked. (Or don’t pick one, and go with the default answer.)
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Choose between stopping to give a ride to hitchhikers.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
Kine
I really liked Kine. It’s a fun puzzle game about moving one or more of three musical instrument characters around what looks like a simple block oriented course. Each puzzle only takes a few moves but it’s not as simple as it sounds because it involves rotating the character and extending their ‘limbs’ to help movement. Movement from one position to another is very slick and its just as easy to revert a move so the game encourages a try and see if it works approach. The music is fun and there is a story which ties it all together.
– Real player with 35.4 hrs in game
Quality puzzle game in terms of production value
The most impressive thing for me about this game is the visuals. The comic book art-style is lovely. The music stands out, too, which isn’t surprising in a game where you play as anthropomorphic musical instruments aspiring to be musicians. I did find it a bit too lively and upbeat at times, though, which can be a bit distracting when you’re doing puzzles that require patience and focus to solve, but this is pretty much a nitpick, easily remedied by turning the volume down a bit. On top of that, this is a relatively narrative-driven puzzle game, where the story is told via dialogue by the characters in the form of speech bubbles. There are three characters altogether, and they each have their own personalities! There’s no voice acting in the game, but that is probably too much to expect from an indie puzzle game where a lot of effort has already been put into the visuals and music.
– Real player with 13.2 hrs in game