Dropsy
An astonishingly beautiful game.
I love this game, from the demented character designs, to the awesome jazz soundtrack, and the unique open world adventure game concept. The four playable characters (dropsy, his dog, the bird, and the mouse), are all really cool, and interesting companions, each with their own character specific abilities.
So many of the gameplay mechanics are unique, and surprisingly enough they’re implemented in a way that close to perfect. Some specific examples of said mechanics are the interesting non verbal clues the characters give you, as well as the different character, and team specific puzzles available.
– Real player with 29.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Point & Click 2D Games.
If you’re a fan of point and click adventure games Dropsy is a must have! I would highly recommend this colorful hugventure to anyone who is a fan of the genre.
At a frist glance this game may look quite strange with an even stranger protagonist, but over time Dropsy the clown will grow on you, and you’ll find that despite his looks he’s just a lovable person that wants nothing more but to help. The more I played, the more I found a place in my heart for the misunderstood clown. It’s the kind of game that really teaches that looks can be deceiving, and really follows an overall theme of acceptence of others no matter what walk of life they come from, as Dropsy wanders about trying to hug as many people as possible.
– Real player with 16.0 hrs in game
HIVESWAP: ACT 1
So, you have (most likley) seen allot of reviews where people mention how big of a Homestuck fan they are.
Well, when I played Hiveswap I had no clue what Homestuck was. But you don’t need to know what it is to enjoy this game as it is only loosely connected and has no impact on the plot. But I enjoyed this game so much that I went out of my way to read it (It’s apparently a webcomic) and I love it. Now that that’s out of the way, we can start this review. (Well, I start this review)
Gameplay
– Real player with 17.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Point & Click Indie Games.
A bit of background- I’m a huge Homestuck fan. Hearing about this game immediately got me super-pumped, and while it did take 5 years, I was happy to wait for this game. I wasn’t able to back it, but I was as eager as everyone else to see this game release, and finally it was!
Now, upon first purchasing the game, I experienced some bugs. Cutscene skipping, specifically, which is a common bug with the game. It’s NOT your computer, guys!
++A fair reminder, What Pumpkin is a new developer studio, and even huge AAA-Title games, devs and studios have huge, HUGE game-breaking bugs in their games at launch. (Mass Effect, anyone?)
– Real player with 10.3 hrs in game
The Dig®
I grew up with point and click adventures, which gives you an idea where I am coming from. I have played The Dig in 2016 for the first time, so nobody should assume that I am blinded by nostalgia. Okay, here is what I think: The Dig is one of the best adventures that I have ever played. I loved it to pieces! My favourite titles are: Day of the Tentacle, Loom and Grim Fandango. I think The Dig is up there.
I do NOT like Sam and Max and Monkey Island, because they have too much moon logic for my taste.
– Real player with 15.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Point & Click Singleplayer Games.
A fun, beautiful, different and must-have point and click adventure game for every retro gamer. This is the kind of game that I think would do really well as a remake. Not everyone has heard of it. It’s setting is very alien, and it has Spielberg’s name attached to it. How could this NOT be a successful remake?! On to the review! …..
ATMOSPHERE:
One thing that Dig focuses on, which a lot of P&C adventures didn’t at the time, is atmosphere. You feel like your’e in a very confusing and mystifying alien world. There are some tablets, writings, art and such that you find that are not explained completely, adding mystery to the world. Also, that sense of being alone is very felt, despite the fact that you have a couple of teammates that you occassionally run into. The music fits nicely and there’s even a sense of danger with each new area. Admittedly, towards the end of the game there is quite a bit of back tracking and story which pulls you out of this.
– Real player with 14.4 hrs in game
Lost Horizon 2
The original Lost Horizon was a very good game. It was about a guy looking for a missing friend in Tibet. The Third Reich have been gathering artifacts there and the guy gets mixed up in it all. It had a good story, interesting characters, good puzzles, some action sequences and a great sense of adventure. It was made by the people behind Secret Files: Tunguska but it’s a much better game than that one. The game isn’t a masterpiece but has a good, solid story and holds your attention like a good book. A sequel was something I’m sure many were delighted to have.
– Real player with 15.2 hrs in game
After playing the first Lost Horizon game I expected more from the sequel. But I’m afraid Lost Horizon 2 didn’t improve on the lacks original had, actually it was a significant downgrade in every aspect. Game is much shorter, storytelling is awkward and gameplay puzzles are mostly generic.
Never the less if you are huge fan of original Lost Horizon I recommend Lost Horizon 2. It has some issues but main story is not extremely bad and game is rather short.
There are few new gameplay mechanics incorporated. Apparently controller support was implemented so in few cases player need to use controller (or a mouse) to physically move objects on the scene. This feels very out of place and I don’t know why it was implemented. There is also one-screen simple minigames and quicktime event sequence (just once if I remember correctly!) as additional game mechanics added to the gameplay.
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game
Nancy Drew®: Danger on Deception Island
Wow, this game is great! :) You get to do lots of great stuff in this game, like go kayaking, go on exciting scavenger hunts for multiple people, learn about whales, ships, nautical terms and rope techniques, discover secret passageways in caves, and more! This game has an Irish/Scottish theme about it, so the majority of the soundtrack in this game is Celtic, so catchy! If you love Nancy Drew games and Celtic music, then this game is for you! You also get to places by a bike as your transport. Make sure to wear your helmet whenever you go for a bike ride, though, or you’ll have a nasty fall! :D This game is pretty tricky, like all the Nancy Drew games, but if you get stuck, you can get around that by looking at the walkthrough (either from articles or youtube videos). This game is very exciting and fun, especially the ending, when you come face to face with the culprit (don’t worry, I’m not revealing anything of his/her indentity ;) ) Definitely recommended! :)
– Real player with 23.6 hrs in game
This is a questionable Nancy Drew game, but I recommend it because all Nancy Drew games earn a thumbs up in my heart.
More seriously, though, this is one of the older games so the visuals are lackluster. That’s not a huge hurtle, but the plot in this one is less memorable than the other games. The puzzles are pretty easy, and that can be a pro or a con in my opinion. I love the ending of this game, and it’s one of the more action packed Nancy Drew conclusions (the endings to Nancy Drew have a tendency to be slightly lackluster).
– Real player with 11.8 hrs in game
Nancy Drew®: Labyrinth of Lies
it’s okay! i probably would’ve given it a thumbs down if i’d played it before midnight in salem, but it’s definitely better than midnight in salem.
my main complaint is the pacing and the amount of spoon-feeding. there are a lot of nd games where you are sort of led gently through the story, but this one feels less like you’re driving it and more like it’s being told to you with puzzles. most of the major breakthroughs don’t feel like things that you did yourself, but that might just be me. that being said, the sets are pretty, if a little immersion-breaking. the characters vary in quality imo.
– Real player with 44.3 hrs in game
This morning I was fired from my job after 25 years of working there. My boss had retired and let this POS college grad with $200,000 in student debt and an ego the size of Texas take over, firing everyone over the age of 35 in order to “progress the company into the next century.” FCK YOU, CHAD! FCK YOU AND YOUR PORSCHE YOUR DAD BOUGHT YOU! Have fun looking for the huge sh*t I took in your wiper fluid container!!!
TlDr Nancy Drew 8/10 Would recommend
– Real player with 17.1 hrs in game
Nancy Drew®: Sea of Darkness
This game hands-down has the best graphics I’ve ever seen in a Nancy Drew game- from the gorgeous northern lights in the sky to the stunning ice caves to the characters themselves, the graphics were absolutely beautiful in my opinion. I found all of the characters to be likeable/ could sympathize with them to some extent as well. If anything, I wish there was even more dialogue so I could have spent more time getting to know some of the characters. This game was chock-full of puzzles and I found them to be quite challenging on Master sleuth level. Something that surprised/ disappointed me was how few “fatal errors” there were to make in this game- I’ve heard there were only three total. I weirdly enjoy the deaths in these games and was a little disappointed to have so few. All in all, an awesome game which I would strongly recommend. It took me 15 hours to complete.
– Real player with 15.2 hrs in game
Not bad as far as Nancy Drew games go…
I’ve been loyally playing these since ‘Secrets can Kill’ first came out back in the 90s so I can assure you this is better than the atrocity which was ‘The Creature of Kapu Cave’ or the utter nonsense which was ‘Ransom of the Seven Ships’. This game was a much better ‘ship’ game that’s for certain and the ‘ship facts’ were fun to listen to.
It definitely ranks below the kings of the saga, but it is still enjoyable. The puzzles are not bad, though some of them use common themes and it feels a tad repetitive. The mini games are fun though and I enjoyed making enough money to purchase everything in the gift shop (because I can). Plus the Iceland scenery is nice. In general the plot was… a bit more mediocre than some of the other games - I suspected the guilty party immediately and the climax felt a bit stunted.
– Real player with 14.7 hrs in game
Nancy Drew®: Secret of the Scarlet Hand
Not one of my favourites. i' say the characters are better than they are in the average Nancy Drew game and the story itself unfolds really well with some great twists in it, but in the end the setting and the atmosphere were a bit of a let-down. The puzzles were too easy and I never once got that feeling of accomplishment when you crack a difficult challenge. There’s also a lot of studying to do in this one. The puzzles require you to track back and forth through the museum reading the displays and taking plenty of notes which might put some people off. Personally I don’t mind the studying, but you’re pretty much required to have some interest in Mayan culture if you’re going to enjoy this one.
– Real player with 9.2 hrs in game
I’ve heard a wide variety of different opinions concerning Secret of the Scarlet Hand as I’ve made my way through the Nancy Drew series. Some people seem to really enjoy it. Others seem to hate it. Me…I end up leaning more towards the latter. This is not a terrible game by any standards, but I definitely think it’s one of the weakest entries in the entire franchise. I would still recommend it to anyone who enjoys ND games, but it’s definitely one that you don’t need to rush into playing.
There will be Spoilers, you’ve been warned:
– Real player with 9.0 hrs in game
Nancy Drew®: The Haunted Carousel
Nothing really haunting - but a lot of riddles to solve.
In this episode of Nancy drew you have to find out why an old carousel is going bump in the night. Since there was a piece of it stolen it start’s to run on it’s own will - or so it seems.
Again the game uses the standard routines of interviewing people, talking with friends and try to solve riddles in the amusement park. All to soon it comes clear that all of the people you can interview might have a motive.
Technically this game is a point and click adventure, the game is aimed for younger female audiences, but again it’s playable for all who like adventure and puzzle games. This series is famous for the sometimes creepy stories that are involved. Oh… have I told you that you can have serious accidents during the adventure? No… well… Now you know! Have fun bashing in your head. Don’t worry since there is a cute replay option, something we urgently need in real life.
– Real player with 14.3 hrs in game
Replaying this was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise, because this was the game that caused my Nancy Drew burnout ~10 years ago. It seemed boring to me, probably because there wasn’t as much of a history focus outside of the history of carousels and is set in a lame, drab amusement park. This time around, I thought it was a pretty strong entry to the series.
I remember having some trouble with the puzzles before, which I breezed through this time. As you need full access to the park to carry out an investigation, you receive a handbook that covers various topics relevant to puzzles throughout the game, including use of a lathe, Ohm’s law, soldering, and more. I think the handbook seemed overwhelming the first time, but it’s really not. There was a small programming-related puzzle, too. I learned a bit of programming since the my first play, so I wasn’t confused by that puzzle except that it didn’t actually make much sense (you had to write a game update into the code, which was done by making the update name the parameter of the gameover function). It was a nice thought, but that could have been a better puzzle that taught more than it did.
– Real player with 10.2 hrs in game
Silence
This Point & Click Adventure game set in the world of Silence is a sequel to Daedalic’s 2009 game The Whispered World. Though there are some references to its predecessor, this game is entirely playable without ever having heard of the previous one. Those who loved The Whispered World will find references to it throughout the game, including some returning characters. Despite taking place in the same world, Silence has a very different feel and aesthetic.
One of the things that I really enjoyed from The Whispered World was the graphics. The game was made using more traditional 2D animation in a style reminiscent of a 1990s cartoon. It was very well animated and though some content was a bit depressing, the animation style lightened the mood. For Silence, they decided to use 3D animation. I don’t have anything against 3D animation, however, the aesthetic is quite different. The sprites in general have decent rigging and walkpaths, but I found the textures to be an odd mix of smooth yet still angular. The design, overall, wasn’t bad, but was more what I expect in a console game as opposed to a PC game. As a fan of the first game, I would have preferred if more of it’s aesthetics were carried over into this sequel.
– Real player with 88.8 hrs in game
TGEXP Reviews: Silence
★★★☆☆
Well, I’ve already played The Whispered World, so why wouldn’t I give Silence a go?
Soundtrack
The soundtrack plays upon the area you’re in. It manipulates your emotions. It’s not the in-your-face kind, though the instrumentals can become rushed when danger’s afoot.
But the graceful sounds of the piano, the sad underlying tones of melodic strings, it all enhances the game you’re playing. It builds you up, and never once did it let me down.
– Real player with 16.0 hrs in game