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
Read More: Best Sci-fi Experimental Games.
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
Otherside
Interesting, short and surrealistic Science Fiction game. Kind of in the same vane as Fugue In Void. I actually think it’s a little too short. But what do you expect for a $1.00 and programmed by one person? Would be nice to see this in a large scale game.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sci-fi Adventure Games.
Not sure what the hell I just played but it was awesome and totally worth the $1. This game would go good with mushrooms.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Ascending Madness
You’re tripping and loving it …
… until the skulls showed up.
Ascending Madness is a twin shooter that’ll challenge your arcade skills. As you play, you’ll find a variety of psychodelic enemies while fighting them off with cool weapons and equipping with rune power ups.
But it is much more than that. Immediately, you’ll be thrown into Merrick’s story that’ll leave you asking “What is happening? What happened? Where am I (Merrick)?” As you explore, you’ll meet other characters (if you can call them that) who will fill in the details and then confuse you more … or perhaps it is just the madness talking?
– Real player with 27.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sci-fi Arena Shooter Games.
Great game
– Real player with 7.3 hrs in game
Klang 2
Playing this game for 59 hours, I definitely can say I adore this game. Being the first person to review this game (probably), along with getting the first two PFC’s on 60hz on two of the hardest songs in the game on fast mode (in beta release), the gameplay is insanely addicting and the music is a real banger.
The gameplay is incredibly simple with only swipes, taps, and holds, but has a fairly deep and challenging execution, especially on keyboard and mouse. Fast mode accentuates this even more, with tight timings and fast-approaching notes.
– Real player with 68.6 hrs in game
[Won a beta key in a wishlist milestone giveaway, did some pre-launch testing.]
I have been waiting for this game to come out for five years, and did it meet my expectations?
holy fuck yes it did
Klang 1 held a very special place in my heart for mostly sentimental reasons, along with it feeling like a one of a kind experience. I have no idea how to properly express how that game makes me feel, but it was incredible. However, it lacks polish; a playthrough without encountering any bugs whatsoever is probably impossible.
– Real player with 48.5 hrs in game
Polynomial 2 - Universe of the Music
Well that sure is a game that’s gonna scratch an itch long forgotten about by the industry at large.
Well has the industry ever considered this type of game with a great deal of respect to begin with ? That’s a question for another day.
Polynomail 2 might be only at the start of its existence and its adventure, but straight from the start we can see ourselves linking it to a long legacy of games made to get you “into the zone” .
If just like me you’ve cherished games such as Jeff Minter’s Tempest 2000 , Space Girafe, Gridrunner Revolution, or hell Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Rez or Child of Eden or outside of the shooting game genre his feverfull Lumines series , The two Playstation 1 game oddities that were Internal Section and Vib Ribbon (a game that is still better experienced on its original hardware by the way) . Then if I tell you that Polynomial 2 is apparently setting itself for the very same kind of experience then you know what I am talking about.
– Real player with 176.1 hrs in game
Released six years after the original game I was pretty excited to see how Polynomial 2 had changed from the original.
The first game, The Polynomial, I initially found quite confusing and unintuitive, but after a little while of trying to get used to it I found that there was some fun to be had. There was a lot of personalization when it came to what arenas you could play in (and therefore what aesthetic you had), what animator type you used (which could change the tone a fair bit) and what sound visualizer settings you had. It wasn’t something I was particularly drawn in by, and didn’t put much time into but it was a unique game, which was nice to look at and something fairly chill to play.
– Real player with 13.5 hrs in game
P·O·L·L·E·N
Of note: I played this on a regular screen, no VR. So I can only review that.
Pros:
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Great retro-futuristic style graphics
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Interesting sci-fi story
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Cool secrets and collectables
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A detailed world that feels real
Cons
- A few bugs, crashes, and optimisation issues, but mostly well polished.
My Score: 8/10
If you like the kind of game where you can just take your time to explore, read lore, find secrets, then you’ve come to the right place.
– Real player with 9.7 hrs in game
Game: P·O·L·L·E·N
Genre: Atmospheric First-person Exploration Game
Developer: Mindfield Games
Publisher: Mindfield Games
_This game wasn’t played using a VR headset.
Copy supplied by developer_
P·O·L·L·E·N is an atmospheric first-person exploration game developed and published by Mindfield Games. The closest comparison that you can make with this game is Gone Home.
STORY
You play as the sole member of a rescue team who is sent to the moon of Saturn Titan to help the scientists in Station M who have been having some problems. However, when you get there, there is no one to be found. What happened here? Where is everybody? You will (mostly) find an answer to these questions.
– Real player with 9.1 hrs in game
The Artful Escape
A cyberpunk mix of Bill & Ted, The Hitchhikers Guide & Ziggy Stardust. The immortal tale of the lost prince, played out with guitars and the best stylized graphics this side of Alpha Centauri.
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game
For quite a while now, I’d missed that feeling of being fully convinced by a game. There was always something that left a bit of an unpleasant aftertaste, or there was nothing really wrong but I just didn’t quite feel it. Some of the games I loved at first, but got kind of tired of them towards the end. Might well be because I haven’t exactly had a good year.
But THIS game - there were a few things that bothered me a bit, I mean, even starting with the fact that I hate platformers. But all those things felt insignificant, because 95% of the time this game genuinely made me feel good and enjoy myself, and it left me glowing.
– Real player with 6.2 hrs in game
Time Flipper
Time Flipper is an adventure / exploration game set in a hidden dimension, similar to Earth. Using your time-flip device, you can switch between two world states, past and future. Your objective is to locate missing people that have been abducted by alien entities. Find them and convince them, through dialog, to come with you. Get to know their story, how they got kidnapped, and how some of them aren’t even aware of their situation. The people you rescue will follow you through the level, get them to safety so they can go back home. In the process you, and your followers will get attacked by the entities, be careful!.
Rely on your time-flip device to navigate through the level, find hidden passages, items, missing people. Discover once for all the reality behind these abductions, and what it means for mankind. All this is accompanied by a superb dynamic soundtrack that changes depending on the world’s state.
Key Features
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Rich world to discover, 5 islands to explore, navigate the world map using your spaceship, and enter the levels by docking on the islands.
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Through dialog, know the story of every person you rescue, they may even help you as you progress!
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Find hidden relics throughout the world and add them to your book!
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Engage in combat without using any weapons, protect yourself with the environment and find weapons for your companions to defend you.
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Clear the path for your companions to follow you using your time-flip device.
With the press of one button, flip between timelines, back and forth, at anytime.
Locate the prisoners in the hidden dimension, but there’s a problem, they don’t know they’re prisoners, you need to talk them out of their state, so they follow you!
The kidnappers won’t let you go easily, their motives are not clear but their hostile actions are!, however, due to the inter-dimensional law you cannot attack them back!
Switch between timelines to find your path, hidden objects, prisoners and many weird stuff. You know, typical Time Flipper stuff.
Squingle
Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this game because I was a play-tester and offered feedback during its development.
Squingle is a VR game about creating the fabric of existence by navigating rotating orbs within the twists and turns of celestial intestines. Confused yet? If so, you get it.
At it’s core, Squingle follows a basic concept: You must use skill, patience and timing to navigate a pair of rotating orbs towards a goal through increasingly complex stages without touching the edges, while also attempting to collect optional bonus items along the way. More mechanics are introduced throughout the game, which I’ll not spoil here, as they make for some great “Ah ha!” moments.
– Real player with 5.2 hrs in game
Experienced on the Oculus Quest 2
You can view my review & gameplay here: https://youtu.be/1KINGuB1wCY
This is a trippy, psychedelic puzzle game involving revolving orbs that you have to guide through a liquid crystal maze. It starts out simple at first, but these mazes will present some interesting spatial mental ability challenges. At times I thought it was impossible to guide the spinning orb through some tight spaces, but with some perseverance I was able to complete the challenge.
– Real player with 4.9 hrs in game
Altered Destiny
(Foreword: You may ignore my playtime; I played the crap out of this upon original release. Now I’m just having a bit of fun running around the world.)
Altered Destiny is an adventure game where the player controls the character with the arrow keys and types commands with the keyboard.
There are two specific issues I want to address with this review, which could affect your decision to purchase Altered Destiny:
1. This is the inferior MS-DOS version, and not the Amiga version, which has significantly better graphics. I realise there used to be some commercial rights issues with running Amiga games via emulators. However, Amiga Forever provides a solution for selling Amiga games on PC running through emulators. Publishers like this one should look into it.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game