UNREAL LIFE
It’s uncommon to play a game which can really feel like a direct translation of its creator’s vision. Games which allow me to feel another human’s soul have the same quality as a hand painted work of art, or painstakingly hand crafted piece of furniture. So much of video games are decided by large groups which work tirelessly to scrub the final piece clean of any distinctively human marks all for the sake of marketability and a “professional” appearance. Unreal Life is a game which I feel can only exist for the purpose of an artist putting themselves on display for the world to see and attempt to understand. Overflowing with charm and a clear love for the games which inspired it, Unreal Life plays like a Yume Nikki inflected version of Ghost Trick with just enough aesthetic and narrative influence from various other games, anime, movies, etc. (the developer even has a helpful list of things which have inspired them on their website) where just by playing the game I can really get a sense of the kind of person that hako (the game’s developer) is.
– Real player with 25.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics Atmospheric Games.
My playtime: 14.5h (based on Steam, 100% achievement)
Grindy Achievement(s): Yes (1+ achievement).
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (33 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Intro
You wake up in a place you don’t recognize. Greeted by a traffic light, you tried to remember what was happening. It turns out that you have a unique ability: reading an object’s memory. As unreal as it sounds, UNREAL LIFE tries to help you make sense of everything through a series of adventures and events.
– Real player with 14.5 hrs in game
Eastward
This game is a brilliant! I The world is so attractive that you want to spend hours in it and explore every corner of it. It was with great pleasure that I communicated with each NPC. Dialogues gave me so much emotions. I can’t remember the last time I smiled so much while playing. What about music, it’s sheer delight. She immersed me in the days of my childhood. And I really felt like a little carefree boy.
This is the best game in the last year. Recomend for everybody!
– Real player with 39.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics Singleplayer Games.
Gameplay-
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Nothing special
☐ Okay
☐ Bad
Graphics-
☐ Masterpiece
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Will do
☐ Bad
☐ Awful
Audio
☐ Amazing
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
Audience
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Everyone
Story-
☐ Lovely
☑ Good
☐ Average
☐ Not great
☐ None
Difficult-
☐ Just press a bunch of buttons
☑ Easy
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Not so easy
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
Grind-
☐ Nothing
☐ Only if you care about leaderboards/ranks
– Real player with 30.1 hrs in game
Owlboy
Nine years is a large chunk of anybody’s lifetime, for those of us lucky to see a century, it’s almost a tenth of the precious, finite time we get to spend on this planet. I’ve been following the progress of this game since the first few morsels were public and admit to having forgotten about the game several times until inevitably finding more little delicious crumbs to follow until arriving at the 1st of November and a metaphorical cake, responsible for the delicious line of crumbs that preceded it waited to be eaten.
– Real player with 26.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics Great Soundtrack Games.
Revered, exalted, wise. These are just a few of the words I would use to describe Owlboy.
The developer D-Pad Studio took about a decade to make this game from conception to finish, and thankfully their efforts have made a masterpiece. I honestly would put Owlboy among the high echelons of indie games and other amazing games that have come before it. I am talking Shovel Knight, Binding of Isaac, Limbo, Fez; games that have shaped modern PC gaming as we know it. They have combined spectacular story telling, fantastic characters, dazzling design/artstyle, and from beginning to end enjoyable gameplay. This game was an absolute treat to play and is easily one of my choices for best game of the year, 2016.
– Real player with 24.6 hrs in game
Crossing Souls
Crossing Souls was such a weird experience. When I’ve seen the screenshots, I’ve fallen in love with the game. When I started playing, I loved the music, it’s really outstanding. But the more I played, the less I enjoyed.
Tehcnically the game is somewhat lacking. Weird control scheme with mouse and keyboard, no ability to rebind, and basically no visual settings. The game is played in a pseudo-3D environment with sprites, that makes depth perception hard at points. For platforming you need to check your shadow, and at points it’s just silly to jump over lasers. And it’s just simply horrible at the penultimate boss.
– Real player with 15.6 hrs in game
I am not 100% sure why I feel the need to write a review for this game, but I do, do here it is.
The setting, theme, music, cutscenes, collectibles- all good. They very successfully capture the mid-80s aesthetic in a fun, tongue-in-cheek manner. I particularly like how the cutscences play like an old, slightly worn out VHS recording, complete with wear lines and slight audio skipping. The art style isn’t really to my liking, but it certainly fits the time period and all in all the feel of the game is great, and the major reason (besides stubborness) that I finished it.
– Real player with 12.3 hrs in game
Just Ignore Them
I decided to play this game because I am a retro junkie and I desperately needed my next fix. It was only $3.99, and it enticed me with its gore and horror elements. Despite having a small, yet particular qualm with the game’s narrative, Just Ignore Them is a fun, story-driven game that manages to summon an eerie atmosphere as you play Mark, a man tormented by monsters following him since he was a child.
At its heart, this game is an all too familiar tale for those of us who have dealt with childhood trauma. You cannot really put your finger on why, but ever since your father’s disappearance you have been plagued by these ‘monsters.’ Your mother tells you they aren’t real – but then what are those things you see, those whispers you hear behind closed doors, and who the hell bought you that god forsaken creepy teddy bear!?
– Real player with 6.1 hrs in game
I found this game by accident and thought it looked interesting and wanted to give it a try. I love horror games; I love point and click games; I love puzzsles. What could go wrong with this purchase?
A Lot
Unfortunately, there was more done wrong than right in this game. I think the devs were trying a bit too hard to be clever with some of their puzzles than they were trying to build a fun, playable, and intelligent game. I just want to start off by saying PLEASE get someone to proofread your game. There were so many typos and punctuation errors and wording that simply made no sense that it KILLED your storyline right when it could have been important, but I’m not really sure if it was important or not beause it was unintelligable. I played through this game TWICE and I still have no idea on if any of this stuff actually made sense. I’m pretty sure it didn’t, but hey, I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
– Real player with 4.6 hrs in game
Uncanny Valley
This is a fairly interesting one, as a horror game I think it has some genuine chills. Good concept with a bit of a shaky execution, but still more than worth your time for the price.
The initial recommendation for multiple playthroughs has some merit, in some ways it’s worth replaying to see how you can impact the story through your actions, which can sometimes be very silly, unprompted actions, like bashing your coworker’s head in on the first day or stealing his car keys and skipping town ASAP. It reminds me of an old PS2 game called Raw Danger, where you had mostly normal decisions, but occasionally got a really out of nowhere prompt, like stomp on a fellow survivor’s fingers to make him fall to his death for no good reason other than it’s silly to see your character be cartoonishly evil.
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game
I picked Uncanny Valley because it seemed like an overlooked but interesting little horror game with puzzles. The mixed ratings were a bit of a red flag for me but I decided to give it a chance and try myself. Lo and behold the actual game was completely different than I thought and in a really frustrating way.
Our pixelated protagonist is Tom, a newly hired security guard who starts doings night shifts at a remote and enigmatic facility. But Tom also expriences terrible nightmares which are somehow related to his past. The game has two distinct parts where in the first half you’ll manage your job and try to survive your dreams of shadowy monsters chasing after you; and the second half which is the ultimate test of survival that will lead to an appropriate ending. Uncanny Valley is the type of game you’ll need to play many times to see everything. Different actions lead to different consequences and will affect the outcome. Only this way you will get to clear the fog surrounding the mysterious story.
– Real player with 7.0 hrs in game
A Lose Hero in the Castle of the Succubi
I wish I were the hero.
– Real player with 2.4 hrs in game
Ultimate Game of All Time
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Adventures of Isabelle Fine: Murder on Rails
AOIF:MOR is a fun story driven mystery/puzzle game where you take the role of an interdimensional detective. Good casual play driven by exploration and discovery.
Puzzles are solved by performing actions in a specific order and collecting clues.
Dr. Sherlock Who on a scavenger hunt.
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
Great game 10/10 isabelle is a great companion and really makes the story richer
– Real player with 6.7 hrs in game
Alt254
My story with this game has been one of love and hate. The reason I bought the game (and created the Steam account) was the feeling it aroused in me when I remembered the good times I had as a child playing “Adventure” with my friends. However, the first impression with Alt254 was not as satisfactory as I expected, perhaps because I was looking for something similar to the experience lived with one of my favorite video games.
For some reason I kept playing and, despite a few moments of frustration and having found some minor bugs, I managed to complete the game … twice. Now I have seen a new update, but I don’t think I will play a 3rd time again to see the changes. What I am clear about is that it is a game that deserves a chance (sometimes it makes you want to quit) and that it may become one of those hidden gems that every player should enjoy! Congrats to the team!
– Real player with 205.2 hrs in game
In short, I really like the game, but I can’t recommend it due to the bugs.
I like the minimalist design. It’s interesting how much can be conveyed with just a small number of multicolored square blocks. Music is also nice and retro. Good ambiance. Controls have been improved and are smoother than when it was first released.
I don’t like that the enemies respawn every time I use a save point to heal. As a design choice, I would have the enemies respawn in areas further away from the save point (that is, everywhere else), but not just around the corner. Maybe if they respawned everywhere beyond 200 blocks in any direction of the save point, for example. But, I suppose I can deal with it.
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
ARAIGNEES
This game describes itself as an atmospheric first-person horror adventure, and let me tell you, you’re in for a hell of a ride!
Buckle up, and let your mind wander in this liminal universe where dreams are real and reality is nothing but a distant mirage.
Or is it, really?
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
I have played the first dream so far and it is fun. Very surreal. Had a bit of trouble with the mechanics at first but it got easier as time went on. The pixel graphics are nicely done. It wasn’t as spooky as I hoped but there are still other dreams to explore so perhaps it will get scarier. Take a look at my dream 1 playthrough here: https://youtu.be/XsLn5o5aDdk
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game