Afterglitch
You are an astronaut whose multidimensional journey to find an extraterrestrial civilization is more important than the destination!
An audiovisual experience in the form of a video game inspired by utopian science fiction illustrations of the second half of the 20th century and hyperspace in modern art.
“And on the eighth day, time and space collapsed…”
“I’m searching for the beginning in time.”
“I’m searching for a boundary in space.”
“I’m searching for the creator.”
Read More: Best Philosophical Futuristic Games.
ATRIA-1
Charge Game Studio presents a dark Sci-Fi first-person action thriller. Challenge yourself as a space colonist on a Russian ship lost so deep in the Universe that even the strongest com ties are torn. Experience the ruthlessness of cosmos, painful past, and extraordinary phenomena unfolding aboard the ship that all mix up into horror.
You are a former prisoner and the first victim of malfunctions on the ATRIA-1 spaceship. What’s it like to wake up after a year of criostasis and single-handedly fix up the ship with hundreds of unconscious people aboard? Eliminate a series of failures not only on board, but also in your own head: memory blackouts, recollection mirages, and strange visions. And don’t forget, all ship resources are running low: movement capability, air, energy, freedom, and common sense as well.
Read More: Best Philosophical Story Rich Games.
The Talos Principle
HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!
“The Talos Principle” is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding gaming experiences I’ve EVER had and I’ve been playing video games since the Atari 2600 days. There is a reason why “The Talos Principle” is a hit among critics and the player reviews are “Overwhelmingly Positve.” For me this is a new classic. A game that catches lightning in a bottle. One of those games that scratches an itch I didn’t even know I had.
NOTE: If you think you might get this game, I’d recommend against watching video and looking at player screenshots. They are both highly likely to contain spoilers and inadvertent puzzle hints, both minor and major. I only played the demo going into the full game and I feel the experience was better for it.
– Real player with 103.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Philosophical Puzzle Games.
My favorite game by far in 2014 (and in the last couple years, probably), was The Talos Principle. It was as if this game was specifically made for me.
The most important things for me in single player games are:
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the quality and inventiveness of the mechanics—and whether or not I can manipulate them in a meaningful way
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immersion (which usually means first-person perspective, excellent sound design, etc..),
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the writing/story
Regarding mechanics, combat-focused games are the majority in the industry—especially on PC and especially in first-person games—so those that aren’t centered on combat often must work more creatively to be interesting—games like Myst (1993) and Portal (2007). This is also true of games which have combat, but also offer non-combative methods to play through the game (stealth/sneaking, for example)—ie., Deus Ex (2000), Splinter Cell (2002), and Dishonored (2012). These are my favorite types of games—especially the latter, perhaps because the avoidance of combat adds a further complication to the mechanics of gameplay. So, I was really excited about the First Person Puzzle design of Talos when I played the demo at PAX Prime 2014. It was love at first sight in the demo booth. I had trouble getting through the last couple demo levels on my first try, but it was still extremely satisfying and fun. As I sat struggling with the connectors and fans and boxes, of the fellows from Croteam warned me the Enforcers were coming to run everyone out of the Indie Megabooth, but told me to come back the next day to finish the demo—they’d get me back where I’d left off. So I went back the next morning, finished the demo, and gushed to Croteam about how interesting I found the game and how excited I was to play it on release. I tried to explain that it reminded me of playing Deus Ex and System Shock 2. It’s hard to articulate exactly how Talos relates to these types of games, but they all give me the same kind of satisfaction upon completing an area, even if the mechanics and design are quite different—the end feeling as a player is similar, so there’s some kind of overlap in how the gameplay works on the player. And the first-person immersion helps with that. (I should note here that you can play the game in third-person and easily switch between first- and third-person. I simply prefer first.)
– Real player with 66.5 hrs in game
Cognition Method: Initiation
Cognition Method: Initiation is a game similar in nature to other cube-based puzzle games, so if you enjoy them, you will feel right at home here.
The premise of the game is that you are an astronaut investigating a cube-shaped object in space that is being overrun by an infestation of some kind, all the while searching for and being guided by your father, whom was lost in a prior expedition but managed to make contact again as you entered the object. He instructs you to solve puzzles and venture deeper into the facility. Make of that what you will.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
Cognition Methot: Initiation is a demo of a story-driven puzzle game that will come out some time in 2022.
As of right now, you will get no more than 1 hour of gameplay with puzzles that will introduce the core mechanic of altering gravity. This isn’t a negative element since it raises that complex and interesting challenges can be made in its final launch.
The strongest part of the demo is the art direction, not for having hyper-realistic graphics, but for using the light in an inteligent way, having simplistic environments that combine elements of art déco with the style of Escher in contrast with organic shapes.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Playing God
Didnt work htc vr vive. Waited a long time to see if it would launch over 10 minutes nothing ever happened. I restarted it waited 5 minutes a few times and gave up assumed it didn’t work on first release day.
TECHNICAL PROBLEMS:
1. The start up screen is on PC ONLY NOT THE HTC VIVE so can’t see it at all looks broke to HTC VIVE user like myself – WE DON"T HAVE PC SCREEN every game I launched it FROM INSIDE VR so I had been claiming the GAME was broken for first REVIEW since I waiting for a screen in VR that never would come because you have a PC DISPLAY only question to start in VR… This made me pissed off more than anything with game.
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Playing God is a free VR experience, It worked on my HTC Vive system, looked ok, sounded ok, played ok, was understandable. Tried two runs with different decisions, and saw some different endings. One of those No Win Scenario tests. At the end, it gives you a breakdown of your decisions and the percentage of people choosing them.
Try this, if you like thoughtful experiences.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
Please Wake Up
This game is AMAZING! It’ll have most at the edge of their seat, heart racing and very concentrated. A must grab for any psychological horror. There is text in between levels to move the story along, but it does have a blur effect that can be a bit straining on the eyes, BUT, it can be turned off!!! NO WORRIES ON THAT!
Let’s break it down
The game follows a young boy in a coma trying to wake up while reconstructing different scenarios. I won’t spoil much, but different events and weave the narrative along nicely as things get more intense. A very well crafted narrative! I like it a lot, it’s simple and has a bit of spice in there to have an awesome story. I will say though (KINDA Spoiler I guess) the ending is JUST a little empty and I would’ve liked to see more.
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
This game will scare the **** out of you, but at least you will remember some really profound questions and interesting facts about memory reliability that constitutes reality vs. illusion distinction.
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game
Lost Voice
At first glance, the story is simple, if not cliched. A player finds themselves in a strange and unfamiliar world - they don’t know where they are or how they got there. And it appears they don’t remember anything up to this point. Almost immediately the player is contacted by a group of characters with similar symptoms and together they start an investigation to unravel these mysteries. Where are they? Why can’t they remember anything? These and many other questions will be answered in the most unexpected ways.
At its core, Lost Voice is a first-person shooter, with strong exploration and some puzzle elements. Town Square is a safe space where the player can go to seek shelter and communicate with NPCs. Teleport Room that can be found there is used to reach other worlds (dungeons). Each world has its own gameplay twist.
There is no “Game Over” screen in Lost Voice. Instead of dying, the player teleports to the Well when HP is depleted. Upon climbing the Well to the top, the player transports to the Secret Room, nearest to the player’s “death” location. These rooms are closed from the inside, so the player will need to figure out how to unlock them.
＜/reality＞
The story is interesting because of mixing spirit world mythology with technology. Quite an interesting match that really holds. The game itself is more of a book. Generally you read. There are some choices and they are meaningful ones but they are really rare in comparison to the development of the story. I think the use of communication technologies as a way to create narration through spekaing in chat in this visual novel was a good idea. It gave at start necessary ignition for the story to unravel. After that there were many unnecessary repetitions of the same phrases and questions. It made just the novel more lenghty.
– Real player with 26.4 hrs in game
TL;DR: This is branching VN. For the uninitiated, choose your own adventure picture book basically. Overall, the VN is nice, but I have a nagging feeling that something’s missing. Perhaps it’s just an indication that I liked the experience and want more.
Pros:
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Art is gorgeous
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Music is nice
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Story is interesting, although there are a few weird things here and there
Neutrals:
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Branching is decent, although there isn’t as much of it as you would assume during the first playrhough.
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Characters are, for the most part, believable. Human characters, I mean. Although some suspension of disbelief may be required, because character motivation might seem… well, shaky at times. Which is forgivable in light of relatively decent branching.
– Real player with 12.6 hrs in game
De-Void
I almost only have negative things to say about this game.
First off, voice acting.
I disliked all the voice acting except for 2 characters, the character you play and the AI that gives you ‘missions’, they are the 2 main characters.
There is nothing more to say about that, bad voice acting is bad voice acting. It doesn’t feel engaging, it’s too obvious someone is just reading a script in a studio, not good at displaying emotion etc…
Story was just bad, didn’t seem very well thoughout.
I will admit though that the first 10 minutes made me feel hyped, the story seemed cool then, but it very quickly dropped off.
– Real player with 5.9 hrs in game
OKAY, here’s a review. I only write these when games are amazing or suck total ass. This one is the latter, unfortunately.
Some bullet points if you want to ignore my nonsense.
PROS:
Promising story!
Interesting story development through clues around the levels
Solid music
Decent character development
CONS:
So much excessive, unnecessary walking between stuff.
Unclear idea of directive, where things are, and sometimes even what to do
Much of the story left with loose ends, undeveloped, or ignored
– Real player with 5.5 hrs in game
Ctrl Alt Ego
You are ego, a disembodied consciousness.
You’ve been downloaded to an evacuated retro-tech space dock where a mind-altering virus has infected the consciousness ctrl stream.
Take ctrl of robots and devices to get around; some are friendly, others not so much.
Explore, grow your ego, find and exploit bugs, install and hack disk programs to upgrade your bug, evade or defeat hostiles.
Adopt a strategic, stealthy approach, or don’t.
Solve puzzles to reach locations of interest, or don’t.
Dig deeper into who you are and why you exist, or don’t.
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15 substantial handcrafted immersive environments
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Sneak, cause mayhem, be a ctrl freak or an egomaniac
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Darkly farcical tale about the future of consciousness
Distinct Features
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There is no ‘player death’ in Ctrl Alt Ego. Your invincible, disembodied ego always lives on. If your current host is toast, pick another and carry on:
(Note: there is a traditional save/load facility too, in case you refuse to accept who you are).
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Once you’ve ctrl’d a robot, it is yours to keep. Amass an army and bring it with you:
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Use robots to get around the old fashioned way, or ‘hop’ from one side of an area to another in a near-instant:
