DESOLUS
DESOLUS
Desolus is an atmospheric puzzle game where you explore a city of Gothic architecture torn between multiple universes. Solve surreal puzzles by twisting architecture with black holes, and travel between dimensions to navigate impossible space. Witness a cataclysm which threatens to merge past with future, and experience the final moments of a lost city.
Desolus has been awarded at numerous game festivals, including an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a nomination for ‘Innovation in Art and Narrative’ at the Boston Festival of Indie Games, and nominations for ‘Excellence in Art’ and ‘Excellence in Music’ at MAGFest.
FEATURES
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Explore a hauntingly beautiful fractal-like city of immense interconnected Gothic architecture.
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Solve surreal puzzles by manipulating black holes to send architecture between universes.
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Seamlessly travel through portals which connect multiple universes and impossible spaces.
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Listen to an atmospheric original piano soundtrack created by Kyle Landry.
Read More: Best Puzzle Exploration Games.
Good Knight
Gameplay-
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Nothing special
☐ Okay
☐ Bad
Graphics-
☑ Masterpiece (runs on potato systems)
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Will do
☐ Bad
☐ Awful
Audio
☑ Amazing (Great music playing as one gets clapped)
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
Audience
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Everyone
Story-
☐ Lovely
☑ Good (need to play more to understand the story)
☐ Average
☐ Not great
☐ None
Difficult-
☐ Just press a bunch of buttons
☐ Easy
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
– Real player with 77.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Puzzle Early Access Games.
A fresh take on the bullet hell/puzzle genre
At first glance, Good Knight looks messy/confusing/intimidating. But don’t let that stop you from enjoying the game for what it is: at its core a very challenging bullet hell that will make you come back for more.
The game’s premise is very, very, simple: it’s a one-button puzzle/bullet hell game. Your character is always on the move on the stage. You press a button, your character changes direction. That’s the basics! The key to progressing in the game is recognizing patterns and rhythms, knowing when to use the optional slowdowns, and dodging at the right time. The tutorial itself reinforces the fact that the mechanics are basic enough that it immediately throws you into the main game almost immediately. Side note: there may be a need to improve the tutorial instructions because I’ve seen a few players take a bit to figure out how to progress from it.
– Real player with 51.9 hrs in game
The Lost Souls
I don’t know where this bloody influx of FPS Creator titles has come from and, frankly, it doesn’t matter so long as we can assemble a team to burn it to the ground but, in the meantime, I sure hope you like your stages like an eight year old girl likes her bowling lanes: separated by GIANT CRASH BARRIERS.
Without fail, every area transition (of which there are only a merciful four) sent me hurtling back to the desktop with the gratingly familiar “FPSC has stopped working” taunt that is becoming far more familiar in my gaming pursuits than is acceptable. Occasionally you get a “root system error” when you try to save as well which I guess is the closest thing this abomination is going to get to variety.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Puzzle Horror Games.
2/10
… I have NO idea how, but this game managed to be worse than its predecessor. Which is quite surprising, given how the predecessor is by far not a good game.
The Lost Souls is the sequel to White Mirror. Supposedly, this time you’re playing with a different character, since the one from the first game seemingly managed to escape. Once again, the one good thing about the game is that it looks good. Everything else is just as bad: barely any challenge, barely any story, barely any sense, barely… Anything.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
The Season of the Warlock
Lord Alistair Ainsworth is at the University of Edgestow giving a lecture on the enigmatic figure of Waldemar the Warlock, who is said to have reigned with an iron fist and through the use of dark magics in the distant region of Groldavia. But his investigations are little more than absurd in the eyes of the scholars, for there is no proof of the existence of the warlock at all. Lord Alistair, frustrated, decides he should look for it in Groldavia.
There, he will find an imposing portrait of the warlock, which appears to be the depositary of Waldemar´s errant soul ‒ a soul that is still yearning to carry out its grisly vengeance and presents Lord Alistair with an offer he will not be able to resist…
Or will he?
Are you looking for a place to hide dark secrets? Are you a fugitive who wants to remain comfortably anonymous? Are you tired of your mundane worries and need a sinister place where superstition is held with intensity? Groldavia is your promised land!
Far from any hint of civilization and lost among the deepest mountains of Eastern Europe, the Barony of Groldavia offers its visitors the most authentic obscurantism, based on a rancid tradition of illiteracy, fear and sheer ignorance.
Discover Groldavia! Savour the true flavour of the fateful Europe!
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Two storylines to choose from: same overarching plot, one choice that changes everything you play.
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Grand adventure design: experience a complex series of intertwined organic puzzles at the heart of the game.
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Captures ‒ with a twist of humour ‒ the charm of the horror films from the 60s and 70s based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft; and the charisma of actors such as Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Barbara Steele.
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Two playable characters, two world visions: step in the shoes of both Lord Alistair Ainsworth and his butler, Nigel.
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Both point & click and direct control options: you are at the helm.
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Atmosphere reigns supreme: rich artistic imagery, lively and colourful 2D backgrounds, and wholly blended 3D characters.
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Original soundtrack with live instruments, full voiceovers in English.
Goetia
One of the most complex, innovative puzzle adventures of the last decade. In a genre which has largely given way to hackneyed point and click, hidden object and inventory combination puzzles, Goetia takes a step sideways and harks back to an era that did not play dumb to its audience. While frustrating at times due to some issues in puzzle design, Goetia should be on every puzzle adventure enthusiast’s wishlist.
The graphics and gameplay are simple but atmospheric and engaging. The audio is rudimentary, but is underpinned by a haunting soundtrack that adds depth to the mystery of Blackwood Manor. Particularly innovative is the use of object possession by the protagonist (Abigail, a spirit). The player must switch between playing as incorporeal Abigail, to functioning in the world as a physical object - each option changing the possibilities and physics of the game.
– Real player with 38.7 hrs in game
Valiant effort bogged down by catastrophic bottleneck puzzles
Any adventure I start I ask myself: how long will it take before a guide is required? Most important question in this genre that refuses to die. Few achieved the feat of being beatable while maintaining challenge and enjoyment, through carefully designed puzzle systems (and hints if you must, for nubs).
13 hours is the answer here - out of which 8 were enjoyable, 5 were retracing my steps, and the rest is regret. Yeah I thought I wasn’t going to be one of those that will get stuck like in other reviews. That’s on me. In my 30 years of adventuring I learned one thing: 120 of guesswork combinations is 120 too much. God I F’ing have every hour spent carefully reading your well worded but with extremely poor font choice written journals, believing it will lead somewhere…
– Real player with 20.1 hrs in game
Haunting At Cliffhouse
I don’t recommend
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game
Delightful Old School Point and click Adventure!! They don’t make them like this anymore!!
– Real player with 6.8 hrs in game
Tower Of God: One Wish
It’s a good game. It’s a family game, but you can make it a game for adults if you decide not to use either of the two buttons to the right.
– Real player with 37.1 hrs in game
Relaxing and challenging.
– Real player with 25.6 hrs in game
Cassius
Cassius is a first-person story-driven puzzle game exploring the mysteries of Blackhaven Hall, a sprawling historically accurate colonial estate evacuated at the height of the American Revolution. Journey back to the 1781 and decode the dark secrets lurking behind America’s founding.
A Secret Mission and A Hidden Mystery
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Explore a massive historically accurate 18th century estate including an opulent mansion, manicured garden, and the sprawling surrounding farms.
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Solve puzzles involving period correct scientific instruments, furnishing, art, sculpture, tools, toys, and rare books.
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Uncover the most closely held secrets of Blackhaven Hall, and confront the lives touched by a tragic history.
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Take part in a forbidden conspiracy that will decide your fate.
About Cassius
Cassius is a continuation of the story from Historiated’s first title, Blackhaven It was developed in cooperation with a diverse set of scholars and experts.
Possession 1881
A fairly good game.
Puzzles were generally easy, although a walk-through was required in one instance.
Game-play was unnecessarily let down by having to repeatedly adjust the screen contrast/brightness levels.
Game ending was poor - Too sudden.
– Real player with 17.5 hrs in game
Worthy addition to the ‘Escape the House’ genre. Game is lovingly crafted by a small development team with pleasing art and sound effects. Environments focus on a Victorian style house, with a past. The game is divided into separate rooms, each with stand alone puzzles to solve in order to exit to the next. There is no backtracking.
There is a high level back-story that is told through notes found throughout the house. You stumble upon several corpses but, for the most part, there are few horror elements.
– Real player with 7.5 hrs in game
The Mirum
It’s a good game and one of the hardest I’ve ever played. I definitely recommend this game. I assure you this game is bug free (at least at the time this review was written). So if you are stuck here and there, Just look better or try another method.
– Real player with 7.0 hrs in game
I do not remember how I encountered this game but I liked it a lot. In Mirum, you play as a human (I guess) trapped in the eponymous miniature world along with other people. It is not clear how or why you ended up there but one thing is clear: you cannot die. In fact, every time you are killed, you respawn in the main city of MIrum. I found it clever that the game takes a common videogame concept and turns it into an existential question. Mirum’s citizens are divided into two camps, the pro-immortality Priests, who want to stay in Mirum and worship its creator, and the anti-immortality Seekers, who want to escape and live a mortal life. There is more background on the world scattered around the game’s levels, which is neither presented perfectly nor I understood it fully, but I greatly appreciated the creator’s effort to provide it, as well as his obvious zeal for the story.
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game