Silent Earth
The situation, characters and call for action are all set up well for the beginning of a great story. There are lots of nice themes being built that could take this game in so many different directions. An ambitious adventure for the characters and ambitious plot for the writers. Although, I only came to one of the endings. I hope they all sound as interesting as the one I ended with.
I hope the developers aren’t finished yet. This free game doesn’t feel like a full game but rather a test or set-up for a future, more detailed game. I think the plot and characters are interesting enough to go all the way. Please continue the story! A Mass Effect-like world would be fun if you have the budget! :D A point n click would work too. And, again, if it remains text-based (cuz text-based is cool, too), need to bring the readers further into the world and make the user experience nicer. The black screen does have a feeling of reading in a void. And I turned off the music half way through. I thought that the progression of the game, as it is, already does the same things as a point n click game such as being able to hover over words/objects to get more detail. Just needs more development and encouragement to keep going.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sci-fi Multiple Endings Games.
Silent Earth is a delightful and short text-based trip. The setting and overall tone felt novel to me, even in the generally overcrowded sci-fi space genre. The narrative is well-written in conveying each character’s motivations and connections with little reading necessary, while still allowing the characters to feel compelling in each interaction. In my first run, going at a slow pace to explore everywhere I could, it took me about 45 minutes to reach its conclusion. This game successfully left me thinking about it well after I had beaten it. Highly recommend.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Playing God
Didnt work htc vr vive. Waited a long time to see if it would launch over 10 minutes nothing ever happened. I restarted it waited 5 minutes a few times and gave up assumed it didn’t work on first release day.
TECHNICAL PROBLEMS:
1. The start up screen is on PC ONLY NOT THE HTC VIVE so can’t see it at all looks broke to HTC VIVE user like myself – WE DON"T HAVE PC SCREEN every game I launched it FROM INSIDE VR so I had been claiming the GAME was broken for first REVIEW since I waiting for a screen in VR that never would come because you have a PC DISPLAY only question to start in VR… This made me pissed off more than anything with game.
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sci-fi FMV Games.
Playing God is a free VR experience, It worked on my HTC Vive system, looked ok, sounded ok, played ok, was understandable. Tried two runs with different decisions, and saw some different endings. One of those No Win Scenario tests. At the end, it gives you a breakdown of your decisions and the percentage of people choosing them.
Try this, if you like thoughtful experiences.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
Woodsalt
I’m a fan of adventure games, and this didn’t disappoint me. Intriguing storyline and fun graphics. The mid section of the game allows you to explore and interact with the world on a daily timeline with new things to discover each day. I found this engrossing, getting to know the characters, the environments, and the challenges the society was facing. However, if your goal is primarily to complete a game quickly you would probably find this frustrating. The pace and excitement picked up in the latter stages as you closed in on whatever ending you gameplay had led you to. I spent 9 hours absorbed in the game from start to finish, and am now looking forward to starting afresh to see how different decisions will change the ending.
– Real player with 9.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sci-fi Multiple Endings Games.
Target Audience: Those really open-minded with imagination and looking to help a small developer
Summary:
I’m not going to beat around the bush: Woodsalt has major structural problems from a story perspective, leading to a very uneven experience that unfortunately does not live up to its high price of admission. The sci-fi story does have a few characters that do an alright job of making you relate with them in the side stories, but an inconsistency in what time is spent with what characters and how they impact the main story ends up really making it suffer. Certain events don’t make sense in the big picture of the story, and it doesn’t help that the nature of the game’s one side versus another and playing both sides as being possibly right has a glaring weak spot that destroys that idea toward the mid-end of the game. Again though, it’s the inconsistencies of the events of the main plot that feel like they have big chunks missing that really makes the game’s story suffer here. You just don’t believe what’s happening in front of you, even with the sci-fi nature of the game. The characters, especially those like Gi, just make you wonder if conflicts were inserted for the sake of conflicts being needed.
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game
Lightyears from Home
Set in a solar system far from Earth, “Lightyears from Home” is a sci-fi game that puts the player in the shoes of an engineer following clues to an unknown galaxy in search of someone who had long gone missing. The story begins with the player exploring Glacier IV, a geothermal ice planet that was formerly explored by a major mining company before being abandoned due to unexplained casualties.
While a story-based metroidvania game at heart, “Lightyears from Home” will incorporate mechanics from various game genres, including survival, crafting, and RPG, to create a uniquely player-driven experience. The player faces not only the planet’s wildlife but also the environment itself, providing a constant challenge to the exploration of the game world.
Choices That Matter: And The Sun Went Out
Incredible, a definite must play if you enjoy CYOA books and games. While not literally every choice you make is going to change the course of the narrative, they hel immerse the player into the main character’s role, this paired with the intresting story and characters, and the intriguing mysteries make for an amazing experience if you like this kind of game
– Real player with 16.1 hrs in game
I’m just starting arc 5 i think and wow has it been a cool ride so far. i googled it and apparently on any given play through you only read 150,000 of a total 600,000 words which leads me to believe that these choices that seem like they really change whats going on, really do. Which also inspires anxiety but hey that’s all in the fun of making serious choices. so far solid 8/10 8.5 because canada eh
– Real player with 6.6 hrs in game
Guardians of Infinity: To Save Kennedy
January 2087. Mankind has no time to lose. The time continuum is inexplicably unravelling by the hour, threatening to destroy the planet Earth.
Only one man can save time: temporal physicist Adam Cooper, inventor of a miraculous time travel machine - the Time Sphere. Cooper traces the cause of the time crisis to the events of November 22, 1963 and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a tragedy that should not have occurred in the normal course of history.
Determined to prevent President Kennedy’s death, Cooper assembles the Guardians of Infinity, a unique and diverse group of five individual agents who will journey back in time to November 15, 1963. You assume the identity of Adam Cooper. Your mission: to thwart the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and successfully return to the future with all of your agents.
You guide your agents and send them to critical cities such as Washington, D.C., Hyannis Port and Dallas where they must convince the President’s family, friends, and associates that his life is in jeopardy. Send your agents to see Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon Johnson, or confront assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. This sets the stage for your climactic face-to-face meeting with President Kennedy where you must convince him of the impending danger awaiting him.
Can you save President Kennedy? Can you successfully return to the future? Can you discover the identity of the evil mastermind behind the assassination and the plot to destroy time?
Paragon Software’s Guardians of Infinity: To Save Kennedy is a complex strategy text game challenging the imaginative mind. This revolutionary game features:
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Unique character interaction with sophisticated human communication and emotional response so life-like you will think you are carrying on an actual conversation with your agents.
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Over 125 historical figures from the Kennedy era to utilize in your plan to save the President.
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A background novel explaining the time crisis in detail and setting the stage for your historical mission.
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A highly classified picture disk containing top secret illustrations of the events leading to your mission.
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A climactic meeting between you and President Kennedy.
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State of the art, highly advanced artificial intelligence techniques.
Lifeline
I’m very pleasantly surprised with this fantastic little piece of interactive fiction. Sure, the sci-fi premise had me interested from the start, but Lifeline turned out to be a LOT more entertaining than I expected. The writing and plot is top notch with an incredibly likeable protagonist in Taylor. I didn’t think the story would have kept me so engaged considering it’s set on a desolate moon in the furthest reaches of the galaxy, but the rapport you build with the stranded science student keeps you concerned for his well being as much as you’re interested in discovering just what the deal is with the creepy moon he’s crash-landed on. Heck, towards the end when things go nuts I was absolutely hooked, even having dreams about it after I’d finished!
– Real player with 115.8 hrs in game
TL;DR Lifeline is a well written choose your own adventure style game that is played in real time.
I am changing my review from a negative to a positive after learning more about this game and giving it another try. Having tried it again I found that I enjoyed Lifeline for what it is and hope to see more of these games on Steam, It looks like there are 5 other games in this series.
My main problem with the game originally was that it would keep pausing in the story and just give you a message that “Taylor is busy”, and some of these pauses would take hours before the story would continue. I have since been told that this game was originally designed as a mobile game, and was meant to be played in “real time” as Taylor was messaging you. I bought this game from the Google store and it turned out to be a game concept that works great on your phone. I then retried it on Steam and found it to be enjoyable to play through once I knew what to expect.
– Real player with 67.1 hrs in game
Lightway Lines
In 2061, the desire for seamless interstellar travel continues to grow.
LIGHTWAY LINES - a modern, specialist airline - is trialing new technology to make space tourism safe and affordable for everyone. But in this moody, atmospheric sci-fi ARPG adventure, Captain Rain could end up paying the price for attempting to make history.
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Explore the Lightway cruiser and unearth what really happened.
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Fast-paced, ARPG-style combat.
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Custom artwork with detailed, interesting environments.
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A hard-hitting & unnerving soundtrack.
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Plenty of collectibles that expand on the story.
LIGHTWAY LINES is set to launch in November 2022.
Californium
I’d say that I’m a little mixed on this one.
Obviously, I have a love of psychedelics. I love the Bay Area (live there), love the PDK inspiration, love the artstyle, love some of the sound(s) and love creativity & originality.
The reason I’m mixed is due to a little bugginess and honestly the game requiring a little too much patience on my part (I’m a pretty patient dude too). It almost feels at times like it is bordering along “ambient” gaming to solve the “puzzles”. And by “puzzles” I mean the game relies heavily on one core mechanic: find the right spot for clicky, click, repeat. This becomes a bit tedious; even for a $10 game and not immersive. Which sucks because obviously this game has the right ingredients for being very immersive (or even only immersive without clicky click, aka Alien Isolation mod removing the Alien - aka spontaneous combustion exploration instead of clicky clicky) but the tedium of finding that one core mechanic puzzle to progress dampens the immersion & experience for me. This is where it becomes almost “ambient”, the looping atmospheric effects and saying WTF is that little symbol to click, causing much retracing over an already limited (and by limited I mean small) map.
– Real player with 5.6 hrs in game
Devs are French and yes, there are noticable English spelling and grammar errors throughout but not unplayable bad. And the English voice acting is on a much higher level than the localization/translation bits and bobs so if you are worried about things being lost in translation that’s not an issue, for me at least. And if you have even a passing familiarity with PKD then you ought to be able to catch the little nods to his books because, well, they aren’t so little nor subtle. It is interesting to see a French perspective on a somewhat contemporary popular American mind and world(s) though. For that alone I feel the game is worth it to me. But this game is MOST DEFINITELY not for everyone, and I would be very selective with whom I reccomend it to. Most PKD fans should find something valuable in the game. I make the assumption that most PKD readers will be less critical of writing and more interested in unique and original ideas in general, and this game is certainly that.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
HRO: Adventures of a Humanoid Resources Officer
HRO: Adventures of a Humanoid Resources Officer is a puzzle-driven visual novel set in a retro-futuristic sci-fi universe. You play the underappreciated Humanoid Resources Officer aboard the Endeavor — a military spaceship with more than its fair share of crew rivalries, office politics, and erratic decision-makers. When the Endeavor stumbles into universe-shaking trouble, can you harness the power of the bureaucracy to rein in your crew’s worst impulses and survive to the next episode?
As disaster looms, you – the HRO – interact with key characters to investigate the crisis, identify possible responses and implement your preferred paper-pusher solution. Will your conversation with the criminally-insane physicist who has seized control of the ship inspire you to fake your own resignation so you can infiltrate his cult? Or, when surrounded by bloodthirsty Kirmulak warships, will you choose to transmit the stolen enemy command codes to disable their vessels and allow the Endeavor to escape? Save the day! Be the hero! The levers of administrative power – and the consequences of using them – are yours…
Game features include:
• Branching storylines shaped by player choices
• UI puzzles offer multiple paths through the story
• Unlockable mini-episodes and characters
• Vividly imagined retro sci-fi universe
• Original, adaptive musical soundtrack
• Thousands of choices make HRO eminently replayable