The Guilt and the Shadow
So, this is yet another gloomy indie game about psychological disorders.
There’s little to say about this one. In its own genre it’s probably OK. The visuals are stylish and the sound design is quite awesome.
But the story doesn’t really catch your attention. The monologues and occasional dialogues are quite unnatural. And the gameplay part just plainly sucks. You walk slowly, you need to backtrack the levels all the time, it’s surprisingly hard to find a proper spot to start climbing a ladder. So, all in all, as a game this thing kind of fails.
– Real player with 8.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich Dark Fantasy Games.
An emotional experience about the torments of a man plagued by the “guilt” of his mother’s suicide (“shadow”).
Set in a black and white pencil drawn world, the player guides the mentally ill protagonist through a succession of dreams/nightmares.
To advance in the game, we have to solve simple puzzles to unblock passageways or unlock memories.
The pace is slow, giving the time to the player to immerse itself in the dark atmosphere of the game. And the game can be finished in one setting, which I would recommend in order to not lose the connection to the story.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
春と修羅｜Haru to Shura
I felt that I should review this game because I can find very little online about it, and thought it deserved a little more recognition. I will fully admit that I heard about and was interested in this game because of Studio Pixel’s involvement. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had the same graphical charm and polish we saw in Cave Story and Kero Blaster, but has an identity of its own. Gameplay takes a backseat here to story, and it works very well with the medium. It felt similar to a visual novel with the heavy amounts of dialogue, but it knows when to give the player a break and move around. The game is about three hours long and I enjoyed it the whole way through. I do not wish to get into spoiler territory but I suggest playing this game blind as it gives one a lot to ponder.
– Real player with 7.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich Pixel Graphics Games.
As a fan of Studio Pixel’s other works, this was a game that I was excited for in the months leading up to its sequel. Getting to play it, a lot of things stayed true to the quality of Studio Pixel’s other games. The pixel art and OST are both phenomenal, and the game is able to convey complex thoughts with minimalistic output. That said, this game also has some flaws that definitely were noticeable and that can impact your enjoyment of the game.
Note that as of the time of writing this review I have only gotten one ending, which appears to have been the true / good ending to the game.
– Real player with 4.8 hrs in game
Gate to Site 8
Great little experience, really enjoyed it. I would love to see this explored a little more. I recomend giving it a play, just make sure to check the cars hood / bonnet when you start, almost missed it :)
Thank you
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich Psychological Games.
so i figured a game for $3.99 can’t be very good. well, was i wrong! one of the best games i’ve played at any price, not based on anything but story and ending. those two things were perfect!
controls are very very simple, graphics ok. it took me 2.7 hours to finish, but i’m old, so….
there are a very few shock scares in the game, which actually gave me chills, once went all the way through me. if you pay attention to the subtle clues in the game, i’m sure you could finish it faster than i did.
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
nightmAR Protocol
Challenging, spooky, intense, & tons of fun is what comes to mind whilst playing through nightmAR Protocol. Job well done by all the creators - artwork, game play & music were all a knockout. DOPE.
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game
My review of nightmAR Protocol
❤ Audience ❤
☐ Beginners
☐ Casual player
☑ Normal player
☐ Expert
🏆 Achievements 🏆
☑ Just a few (7)
☐ A dozen
☐ Many many
☼ Graphics ☼
☐ Bad
☐ All right
☐ Good
☐ Nice
☑ Fantastic
☑ Handmade
♬ Music ♬
☐ Bad
☐ All right
☐ Good
☐ Nice
☑ Fantastic
☠ Difficulty ☠
☐ Simple
☐ Average
☑ Easy to learn / difficult to master
☐ Difficult
☐ Injustice
§ Bugs §
☐ Bugs destroy the game
☐ Lots of bugs
☐ Some bugs
☐ You can use it for Speedrun
☑ Nothing has occurred
☯ History ☯
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Sally Face - Episode One
epic storygame ⊙﹏⊙
– Real player with 53.8 hrs in game
This game is by far one of my favorite games! I’ve grown attached to just about all the characters and the story line will have absolutely have you on the edge of your seat the entire time! 10/10 recommend trying out this horror- story based game :)
– Real player with 21.5 hrs in game
Aimi
My full play through with edit: (all endings thanks to the creator) and secret room+secret video here:
A pretty well made story about mental health it’s well written there’s not a ton of grammar/spelling mistakes which usually plague most RPG Maker games I’ve played so that’s a huge plus. The game does a great job of executing the narrative that some things you can’t come back from in a dark serious tone. Definitely enjoyed playing through it and all the best to the creator in his future games!
– Real player with 7.6 hrs in game
If anyone wants to watch my playthrough of the game, here is the links to it! I’ve got it split into 3 :D
https://youtu.be/4qX1yfhOGAA (Part 1)
https://youtu.be/djD9_w8s4JM (Part 2, ending 2/4)
https://youtu.be/ja4MnQnZpM4 (Part 3, all remaining endings and the secret!)
I absolutely adored this game, even after re-playing it numerous times (Cause I didn’t make enough save files originally lol) And I wanted all of the endings. It was such a masterpiece, especially for a free game. To be honest, I would have paid to play this game.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
The Last Chimera
First things first, heed the content warning.
Not sure why the captives had to be chained up, the plot implies everyone is a willing participant.
Beatable in four hours. Interesting monster designs. A fair bit of thought has been put into this game.
Combat suffers from being JRPG random encounters + level grind. Would have been fun if you had to think a bit more about which splits you bring with you and what they’re geared with for each fight (in fairness, you probably do on Hard but it’s a bit hard to tell what’s going on).
– Real player with 4.6 hrs in game
Geisterland
What a weird game experience! I got lost a little bit at the beginning but once you get the hang of the controls it’s rather intuitive. I loved the rich scenario and all the discoveries you make through the lost journals. The puzzles were really cool as some were quite tough, had multiple solving options and often impacted strongly on the rest of the story!
Hope there will be a second one, as I didn’t get all the answer I wanted from this one!
– Real player with 10.4 hrs in game
Human Apocalypse
WARNING: This game contains heavy material that might make players/audience uncomfortable.
An unknown deadly virus has suddenly spread. It turns people into brain eating zombies, the whole world goes into chaos, etc. You know the rest.
However, in this game, a cure has been found. All the infected people have been treated and are now normal, functioning, harmless humans again. Except for one thing, the cured people’s skin color is still green. Play as a Green man.
Human Apocalypse is a game set in a post-POST-apocalyptic world focusing on story, characters, decisions, and exploration. The dark, bizarre world of this game has a deep thought-provoking story, full of interesting characters to meet, a city to freely roam and explore, tough decisions to make, an original soundtrack, beautiful visuals, lots of secrets to uncover.
Soundtrack included when buying the game!
If On A Winter’s Night, Four Travelers
This was a wonderful point and click experience. The pixel art is really beautifully done, great story telling, fun puzzles. I will definitely be purchasing the supporter pack. Great job and thanks 3
☾ DIFFICULTY ☾
🔲 Easy
✅ You have to use your brain
🔲 Normal
🔲 Hard
🔲 Dark Souls
☾ GRAPHICS ☾
🔲 Bad
🔲 Okay
🔲 Good
✅ Beautiful
🔲 Masterpiece
☾ MUSIC ☾
🔲 Bad
🔲 Not special
🔲 Good
✅ Excellent
🔲 Best
☾ STORY ☾
🔲 No Story
🔲 Bad
🔲 Average
🔲 Good
✅ Very Rich
☾ PRICE ☾
🔲 Perfect price
✅ Cheap (It’s free!)
– Real player with 6.9 hrs in game
“If on a winter’s night a traveler, outside the town of Malbork, leaning from the steep slope without fear of wind or vertigo, looks down in the gathering shadow in a network of lines that enlace, in a network of lines that intersect, on the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon around an empty grave - What story down there awaits its end? - he asks, anxious to hear the story.”
“If on a Winter’s night, a traveler” is a novel by Italo Calvino and possibly one of the greatest italian literary works published in the last two centuries. Each chapter consists of the beginning of a new novel, in a search for the pleasure of reading.
– Real player with 5.1 hrs in game