Time Bandit – Part 1: Appendages of the Machine
A Game That Takes Time
A dark life sim that unfolds slowly in real time, with an unusual combination of elements from idle, stealth, and puzzle genres.
Make your choices carefully, because everything you start will take time to finish–just like in real life. Place down one of these automated forklifts to push a box for you, for example, and it’ll take an actual half an hour to finish moving it:
You’ll just have to go and do other stuff and come back later.
You work as an independent contractor for a mining company, but soon you discover they’re trying to take control of time in order to make you work for them forever. Manage your money, fuel, and energy while slowly solving puzzles to collect the time crystals and then pull off high-stakes stealthy heists to steal back from your employer.
Featuring tons of real-time game mechanics:
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Move boxes, grow trees, build bridges, and compact trash–and wait for them to finish.
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Different guard rotations and different consequences for getting caught depending on the time of day when you play.
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A story that unfolds slowly through conversations that work like real-life phone calls. Characters will only call you periodically to advance the story over the course of days and weeks of playtime.
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Your energy meter goes down while you play, and it takes up to 8 real-time hours of good sleep to fill it up all the way.
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Meet characters at the actual meeting times that you set with them.
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Real-time dynamic music.
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And much more.
A Story of Political Intrigue
The first part of an epic, explicitly anticapitalist melodrama, told through lowpoly cutscenes and radio conversations inspired by early cinematic games. The company’s CEO and shareholders have come up with a scheme to live forever, but it will mean sacrificing the lives of their workers. Fight for a world where everyone has a right to their time.
Use the realistic radio to call characters anytime for dialogue about whatever situation you’re in. You’ll find hints on what to do next, details that expand the story, fourth wall–breaking humor, and more.
A challenge with real consequences: Don’t get caught by guards or let yourself fall asleep, or you might end up stuck waiting it out in jail or the hospital.
Fixed camera angles in gameplay, just like in the old days. With a real-time day-and-night cycle and real-time weather tied to your location, to make the game integrate more with your life.
Tons of playtime in part one alone. And you can use your save file to continue where you left off when the next part comes out. Truly commit to the long haul of the real-time experience.
Join Time Bandit’s Discord to receive development updates and offer your feedback on work in progress! https://discord.gg/vhue5NtN39
Read More: Best Real-Time Narrative Games.
Mechs & Mercs: Black Talons
I have NOT played this game very much, but here is a quick review of my first session.
First impression is it’s just so so so clunky and slow.
So far it reminds me of playing through those first few missions of any RTS like starcraft or red alert stuff. You’re trying to grab helipad dropship checkpoint things to heal/resupply and little oil pumper things to earn command points to call down more of your stuff. You get your little group of infantry and go blow up things, have some floating female coordinator telling you random updates. But with only two unit types, infantry squads of 4-6 people and individual mechs. Each can have different loadouts or types.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
While I’m a fan of both RTS and Mech centric games this title flat out fails to deliver on either front.
- The primary complaint you will see anywhere, and that I will confirm myself, is that this game is painfully slow. Even the most mundane of missions will take you much longer than it needs to as your units move at a snails pace through the board. Firefights between anything but the lightest of units are boring to watch as they just sit in one space and chip at each other’s health until one drops.
– Real player with 8.4 hrs in game
The Last Express Gold Edition
I think this may well be the greatest game ever made. Yes, the controls are clunky as all get out. Yes, for people used to today’s games the ultra-high-tech-for-1997-digital-rotoscoping technique looks extremely antiquated. Yes, you’re dropped into the game with no idea what to do, and you’re going to fail. A lot. But at the same time “The Last Express” includes:
- Probably the best-developed characters in any adventure game I’ve yet played (the weakest is arguably Robert Cath, who the player controls, but even he has an intriguing and irritatingly-largely-unrevealed-due-to-lack-of-a-sequel backstory). By the end of the game you know what they want and what makes most of them tick, and since certain bad things are more or less guaranteed to happen to a number of them the result is the equivalent of an emotional shovel to the face.
– Real player with 16.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real-Time Story Rich Games.
Ahead of its time but stuck in the past
First read about this game way back when it came out, in a magazine I still have, where the reviewer was left in complete awe because of unique design for an adventure game. Ever since it occupied a small cluster of neurons in the back of my head, waiting for me to play it and its moment to shine. I should say I never played the original so my review will only address this 2013 port, with some inferior exceptions others have noticed.
It plays like Myst, from 1st person perspective with static scenes as you move around, but is set in realistic environment of an vintage luxury passenger train called Orient Express. The whole game takes place in the same 4-5 vagon carts with beautifully rendered backgrounds. You move by clicking edges of screen with mouse cursor that contextually changes functions to forward, backward and left or right turn, with interaction prompts for opening doors and object/NPC interaction.
– Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
King, Witch and Dragon
In the game where avatar become weaker and weaker, the player has to become stronger to reach the end.
This is Antivania - the game where main character gradually losing his abilities along the way.
Description
King, Witch and Dragon is a 2.5D action adventure game where you take control over the young Prince on his journey through the Kingdom to defeat the Dragon.
The old Witch granted him weird, creepy yet useful abilities to reach his goal.
Special abilities
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Bat wings that allows Prince to flap and perform double jump and hover in the air.
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Spider legs that allows Prince to crawl on the walls and ceiling.
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Tentacle that Prince can use as a grappling hook to pull himself to the walls or pull enemies to his Talon Blade.
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Viper Strike allows Prince temporary take form of a snake and dash through the air or narrow holes.
Antivania
Explore the vast Kingdom with several regions. At the far corner of each region epic Boss Battle awaits. You have freedom to choose in which order to explore each area, but choose wisely…
After each Boss Battle Prince has to sacrifice one of his abilities to proceed. You choose what will be left behind. The rest of the game you will have to learn and adapt to the new limitations and find your way to the next Boss. You will keep going until you lose everything…
Will you be able to become stronger and smarter to reach the end? Antivania has an answer.
Hijacker Jack : ARCADE FMV
An interesting take on the FMV genre, instead of point n' click type FMV games. (it is still)
It is a pretty decent enough game, but could be better.
Edit : They’ve lowered the price, so in this state, I recommend it.
(This is not a VR game, whoever did tagged that is a dummy.)
My analysis (serious one) :
Controls are confusing, I prefer this control scheme on mobile, but not here.
Pretty impressive for such a low budget project. (atleast better than Stay Dead lol)
But a small nitpick when it comes to the fighting system, the combat system is fine if its actually video game graphics but no, this is a film. The thing is, to progress in the fight scene (I’m talking about the guy in Jasmine’s house), you have to do a specific action, which makes the fight frustrating (especially if you have no hints enabled) because it’s repeating the same thing if you fail to do that specific action.
– Real player with 14.7 hrs in game
I can absolutely recommend this game, a couple of hours of fun for 5 EUR. I played with the Android version earlier, but it’s a much better experience on PC. (improved video quality and controls)
The gameplay is smooth and the action scenes are amazing :)
– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game
Roller Drama
A SITCOM?!?
In Roller Drama you (Joan) live together with five athletes as their coach and hopefully friend:
Anne, Portia, Pippi, Cordelia, and Juliet. They just formed a Roller Derby top team!
Portia is the property “guardian”, the others (you too) just squatted in the dilapidated building. You have to try to be the balancing factor as these top athletes develop close personal relationships and the group navigates rivalries, love stories, and sexual tension.
REAL-TIME FULL-CONTACT SPORT!
All this while playing Roller Derby-like full-contact matches, where in real time you have to give the right hints, decide strategies, and give orders. You’ll have arcade-like controls and power cards!
SURVEILLANCE
Daily life in the game’s world is not easy; political and environmental problems interfere with complex personal lives. The game’s universe is a slightly altered perspective of today’s world, with the same problems but… more explicit. It’s a dystopia that talks about our present (thank you Terry Gilliam).
KEY FEATURES
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Interactive narrative with meaningful game-changing choices
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Explorable universe
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Replayable narrative and matches: every championship is unique, several different endings
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Real-time match play, fully generative
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Deck-building mechanics determined by player choices and game results
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Beautiful, hand drawn art
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Full controller support
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Localized in nine languages
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Cloud saves
WHO ARE OPEN LAB GAMES?
We are four people making narrative sports games since 2017, based in Florence, Italy.
Aeon of Sands - The Trail
Aeon of Sands is an unconventional dungeon crawler with a unique aesthetic, witty writing and gameplay that will challenge even the most seasoned player.
The action takes place across a large number of dungeons reachable via a world map which is vaguely reminiscent of some older games in the genre (SSI Gold Box games / Realms of Arkania). However not all locations are accessible in a single playthrough with many areas being accessible only if you make certain choices, have certain objects or party members. The “dungeons” are not strictly underground complexes either but include cities, outdoor areas, installations, etc…
– Real player with 33.4 hrs in game
In short the game is nice, but it has many annoying shortcomings.
I liked:
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the world and its spotty lore, it is well done.
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the retro graphic is exactly i was hoped for.
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quest story is not so great. I expected something more heroic, but it fits well into the world setting.
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dungeons are large and full of illusion walls and secret buttons. It is fun to find them, but also it is mandatory, so it could be frustrating on long run.
I didn’t like in UI:
- text descriptions was artistic but strange, like it was written by a non-english writer.
– Real player with 29.0 hrs in game
The World Next Door
I’m really torn going into this review. I gave it a thumbs down, but I didn’t hate it. It’s a solid 3/5. I’ve played through twice now, and I’m trying to talk myself into a third run. My overall opinion is, unfortunately, the game isn’t worth the $15 I paid for it. It IS worth playing, however, so if you can get it on sale and you’re thinking about giving it a try, don’t hesitate. Here’s a breakdown of what I loved and hated:
Pros:
- Battles are fought with a take on the Match 3 style games, so it’s an easy system for most people to pick up. That kind of accessibility is always appreciated. Some other players have struggled with it on the PC, but I plugged in an Xbox controller and had no issues. (If you find it’s still too difficult and you’re more interested in the story than gameplay, you have the option to turn on assist mode in settings. You’ll still have to go through the puzzles, but you’ll no longer take damage. If you’re getting frustrated, I’d suggest switching it on to finish the game.)
– Real player with 10.5 hrs in game
Oh the places you’ll go…
Full disclosure: My best friend works at Rose City Games. That being said: I was able to test this game pre-release and loved it enough to get a copy on Switch. Here we go.
You’ll like this game if you are looking for a solid visual novel with characters who actually come off as real teens (see very below for more on them). You’ll like it if you want beautiful artwork (Lord Gris is kinda-sorta fantastic) and you’ll like it if you dig a good, chill soundtrack. I also need to point out that the battle system has all the potential to be something crazy good; properly adrenalizing a match-em-up puzzle format is no easy task.
– Real player with 7.7 hrs in game
Counter Terrorist Agency
This is my revised and final review now that I’ve had a fair bit more time with it.
CTA is a game I’ve wanted for a long time, which is why it comes as such a disappointment that so little thought was put into its design. I love the idea of tracking terrorist groups, deciding how and when to strike, collecting intelligence, and ultimately trying to prevent attacks. Unfortunately, it’s let down by shallow and often unclear mechanics. The devs were active in the beginning, responding to criticism and quickly putting out an update that greatly increased the quantity of scenarios in the game, and more have been added since. However, they seem to have been silent for just over a month now, and the Steam forums have been completely dead for over a week. They claim to be working on a pair of updates that would add a sort of “free mode”, as well as a much-requested re-work of the case file system. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced these will be enough to solve the fundamental problems this game suffers from.
– Real player with 18.8 hrs in game
Overview
Counter Terrorist Agency is what the old game Covert Action would have been if the player were in a higher-up position, not every troublemaker had a name of a Spanish or Arabic origin, and relations and resources of nations were an issue. Things usually start out with suspicious behavior making the news, threats made to reporters, or just an intercepted phone call in which two people may say something suspicious, and from there, the player orders agents to go to work by having a suspect’s phone tapped and their social media accounts hacked, then waiting for more conversations in which the suspect’s role within an organization can be verified depending on the contents of the conversation. (The player may be able to guess at the role of the person they’re speaking to if that person infers they have any authority over the person the player tapped/hacked.) Once enough suspects have been identified, it’s time to stop the terrorists from acting by either arresting or killing (preferably) confirmed members. Arrested terrorists can possibly be interrogated revealing more people involved in their plot. (Interrogation can possibly even reveal a leader’s identity.)
– Real player with 9.1 hrs in game
Accident
֍ My score ֍
→ 7/10
❤ Audience ❤
☐ Beginner
☑ Casual Gamer
☑ Normal Gamer
☐ Expert
☼ Graphics ☼
☐ Bad
☐ Alright
☐ Good
☑ Beautiful
☐ Fantastic
♬ Music ♬
☐ Bad
☐ Alright
☐ Good
☑ Beautiful
☐ Fantastic
☠ Difficulty ☠
☑ Easy
☐ Average
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Hard
☐ Unfair
§ Bugs §
☐ Bugs destroy the game
☐ Lots of bugs
☐ Few Bugs
☐ You can use them for speedrun
☑ Nothing encountered
☯ Story ☯
☐ There is none
☐ Bad
☐ Alright
☑ Good
☐ Fantastic
⚔ Gameplay ⚔
☐ Frustrating
☐ Sleepy
☑ Boring
– Real player with 10.0 hrs in game
Great idea with mediocre realization.
I usually do not buy games in early access, however, I decided to make an exclusion for this one because I really liked the concept and wanted to support the developers. The beta was nice, had a decent gameplay and diverse enough scenarios, so I was very exited for the release and very disappointed after checking it.
95% of the game was already in beta. They added only one new scenario in the full version and barely changed the previous ones. The whole game can be completed under two hours like it’s specifically made this way, so people definitely couldn’t refund it. Despite the description the game is very linear, scripted and the only real way to fail most of the missions is reaching time limit. You barely can make any mistakes like helping the wrong person or performing false actions. Moreover, you cannot even change the order of mandatory actions, like placing warning triangles while looking for a way to contact ambulance. Furthermore, the game tend to be very strange and unfair: most of the timd you need to look for the position in the car navigator, however, one particular time you have to do it with your mobile phone, which is in your inventory and you get not a single hint about it, plus, the game itself tells you that you should use road marks instead of GPS in real life. Was it so hard to make the game a bit more authentic and realistic, provided that it already has levels where you use road marks?! In another scenario you have to move a large log like you are some superman and not just a random driver, was it so hard to make a crawling camera or just remove that log completely? Or why our “protagonist” can carry a whole med aid kit in his inventory but cannot carry 2 warning triangles at the same time?
– Real player with 5.1 hrs in game