Ashwalkers
Updated for Steam Nominations 2021
As mostly first person shooters player, i sometimes enjoy switching to less intense indie games. Ashwalkers would be one of those.
For me this game became liked a moment i saw it on store. Mostly because of character design and story setting, which is surprisingly similar to one i’ve wrote a couple of years ago. So far this is the closest thing to what could be called “dream game”.
As the gameplay is not challenging, it requires player to calculate their movements since “survival” part is taking an action. Game itself is user friendly, player just need to get used to visual narrative and simple controls.
– Real player with 5.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Resource Management Adventure Games.
For those looking for a game akin to the choose your own adventure books of old, Ashwalkers is phenomenal. Decisions require careful thought be put into them, and the game rewards reading into the choices and texts. Some of the choices endgame that determine the endings felt a bit arbitrary, but after having at least gone down the three main endings (that each have at least 12 permutations) twice I can say I had a fun time for the price of the game.
That game while short does its best to make the time spent feel much longer than it is between the unique art style of both the world and its inhabitants, and the survival mechanics of the game which help add a needed sense of weight to the smaller choices. I had fun carefully deliberating on if I wanted to risk losing one resources for another I was in desperate need of. On repeat runs however this meter watching quickly begin to feel monotonous.
– Real player with 5.4 hrs in game
Nocked! True Tales of Robin Hood
The game Nocked! has you taking on the role of Robin Hood set in a world where myth and magic still has a foothold. You start out as a runaway who takes to Sherwood forest to claim their future.
The game itself contains elements of interactive fiction (think choose your own adventure) as well as resource management. In fact, this was the stand out portion for me.
The first thing you will notice is that you can choose the gender of your Robin, and even some limited background choices which will have some game affects. Additionally, the character of Maid Marian even has some variation which can affect play.
– Real player with 324.1 hrs in game
A really nice CYOA game. It actually reminded me of Mass Effect 2, in that you have a base and companions, and your choices have long-term impact (otherwise it’s entirely dissimilar to ME2; see any screenshot).
There are healthy doses of whimsy in the setting and humour in the writing, and it mixes classic Robin Hood story beats in with more fantastical stuff. It’s comfy and tense, and perfectly paced. The music is also wonderful.
My only gripes are minor (despite this being the biggest paragraph): some of the art is quite bad (the character silhouettes work well, but some of the other stuff looks like programmer art) and the overall graphic design could use work. This is all just window dressing though and doesn’t really matter*. A bigger annoyance is that the checkpoints are a bit far apart for more my liking–I appreciate it discouraging save scumming, but there were a couple of times when I misunderstood an option so badly that I felt unfairly shafted by choosing it, in which case I rolled back and lost lots of progress. The last thing that left a bad taste was the ending: it felt like I had no way of knowing the implications of some of the choices.
– Real player with 32.6 hrs in game
Woebegone Woods
This is the absolute cutest game I have ever played.
If you want a cute, pure Visual Novel then this is the game for you!
It easily put a smile on my face and cheered me up with each cute little interaction between characters.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Resource Management Hand-drawn Games.
Super cute and great if you love story lines. The tutorials are very helpful, and I can’t wait to keep playing more!
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game