Mind Shadows
An idea that really needed more work before being put up for sale
Pros:
Decent Scenery
Good use of the environment to provide a tutorial
Interesting concept
Cons:
Game jumps around randomly for no apparent reason from scene to scene
Voice acting needs work
No way of accessing options inside of the game to change, well, anything
Game honestly should have been a free demo or at least early access
Nothing even remotely scary or tension building in the game
No sense of threat or danger in the game
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich First-Person Games.
Tutorial system is integrated very nicely compared with standards in the industry and the first person perspective is lovingly crafted to feel more vulnerable versus float-y. Lighting and visuals are deceptively tailored to always bring paranoia to the player and relies on minimal sound design for effective mood setting. Great for exploration minded gamers.
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Gazelle in a Winter Coat
Gazelle in a Winter Coat is a gazelle-type game with winter coat elements.
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embark on a narrative-driven adventure
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explore mysterious top-down pixel towns
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meet new friends, choose your words
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collect art, music, and poetry
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seek mythical beasts
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discover whisper magic
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befriend cyats and dargs
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talk about your feelings
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race scooters
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float around
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dream things
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be a gazelle
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wear a coat
Read More: Best Story Rich Choices Matter Games.
Psychonauts 2
I’ll start this off saying I have basically no nostalgia for this series. I got into it literally days before this game released and my god was I missing out. The first game was wonderful and incredibly charming, but this one? Absolutely phenomenal. I don’t play games a lot, as I have trouble focusing on them and get bored easily, but in this game I was completely engrossed the entire way through. The story, the characters, hell, even the environments and overall feel of this game are all top tier. Definitely one of my all time favorites now, and I’m currently slowly working my way to 100%. Double Fine has absolutely outdone themselves with this title.
– Real player with 56.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich 3D Platformer Games.
This game is the sequel I waited over a decade for. The first game was one of my favorite platformers when I found it, and when I had heard there was a sequel coming, I was READY. Now, when I had heard this game was coming, all I wanted was a follow-up to the cliffhanger from 1 (and Rhombus, after that came out). It could’ve played the same, and I would’ve been fine. HOWEVER, not only did the story surpass my expectations of what they could build off of from the world the first game created, the gameplay received so many major improvements. Each power was improved, and could be leveled up after unlocking. New features left and right, each of them incredibly useful and creative. Mental cobwebs were replaced with collectibles that were much more fun. And the devs are always listening to feedback, and that meant so much to see. Given the game’s themes and the target demographic, it deserves that accessibility and attention to details and playerbase. This game blew me away, and while it will never replace the original, it certainly lived up to it.
– Real player with 37.9 hrs in game
The Living Remain
Built from the ground up by a two person team, The Living Remain is a virtual reality first person adventure shooter where players immerse themselves in a new world where the undead have taken over. You must survive the horde of undead using an arsenal of weapons in a story driven campaign loaded with a variety of interactive environments. Explore, scavenge, and collect filament to craft ammo and upgrade a variety of weapons.
You are playing as Grant Montgomery, a former military soldier who has been separated from his family. Now he is searching for them in a post apocalyptic world where pockets of remaining humans are surviving within protected compounds, while the undead roam freely. He comes across a group of survivors, one of them is Alex, and she quickly becomes his ally. Over a radio she helps Grant navigate through this dark post apocalypse world.
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Full campaign with story driven gameplay - Embark on a journey that has purpose as you progress through a compelling story
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Combat - Take hold of a variety of weapons such as pistols, and two handed weapons (assault rifles, shot guns, etc.) or wield a knife for up close and personal combat
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Realistic Pistol and Assault Rifle Aiming/Firing- Look down your sights while you take down hordes of the undead
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Crafting- Scavenge for filament to craft ammo and upgrade weapons
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Physics Based Environments- Break through glass with your hands or push objects away, and hands will not go through them
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Interactive and Immersive Gameplay - Combat, scaling/climbing, and engaging puzzles
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Full locomotion- Traverse through various environments using full locomotion with smooth touchpad/stick walking to freely roam, scavenge, and explore
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Optimized to run fluidly on GTX 970 or equivalent
Boodunnit
Boodunnit, what to say that hasn’t already been said?
Graphics/Art 10/10
Gameplay 5/10
Controls 3/10
This is a really cute game but it is kinda hard to love. Boodunnit has a nice premise and nice mechanics but it feels like it’s incomplete. Sure, it’s a free game and I shouldn’t be harking on it too hard but I have to. I would gladly pay a few dollars to support the devs and help make Boodunnit better.
Camera and Levitation issues have been talked to death so I won’t talk too much about it. However, I feel that most of the issues talked about by people could be alleviated by simply putting the control of levitation on the arrow keys instead of the mouse. That way, you wouldn’t be spinning your mouse around trying to see and control an abject at the same time. Furthermore, it would allow for more control over levitating object which would be nice. Wonder why the Play Testers didn’t say anything. With a group that big, certainly a few of them, if not all of them, would’ve found the controls as frustrating as 90% of the player base does.
– Real player with 2.2 hrs in game
The overall art style and aesthetic of the game is gorgeous, the story line is intriguing and kept me interested so that alone would make me recommend.
However, the controls are sometimes frustrating especially when you play as either the rat or pigeon. Moving items is difficult as you have no way of knowing where they are being placed or how you can move them smoothly, you are still able to move stuff and complete the game just with a little difficulty. The camera was also awkward to move at times and did have the tendencies of giving me motion sickness with how janky the movements were.
– Real player with 2.0 hrs in game
CAT Interstellar: Episode II
CAT Interstellar: Episode II
Return to Mars as a UNC Marine for the second installment of the cult classic CAT Interstellar.
Episode II picks up 24 hours after the first episode and primarily follows the United Nations Common (UNC) Marine Sergeant Gary Freeman. In this episode you’ll navigate a treacherous Martian passage, drive a 4WD rover through Turing Canyon, and blast your way through a Martian laboratory as a Marine Sergeant on a mission to deactivate Android 42.
This experience is intended to be ~1 hour long and follows a very similar structure to the first game. It is a linear story with both first and third person gameplay.
Emily is Away
SPOILERS
If you’re expecting more than one ending, this isn’t the game for you.
To be honest, I wish we had a more complex review system, like stars or something. Although my experience was negative, I don’t completely dislike it.
The biggest upside for me was seeing how people’s status pages change over time, as their lives go on.
What frustrated me is that, in the end, your choices don’t matter. And it’s not just that you don’t get to be with Emily. For instance, you have the possibility of making her date Travis instead of Brad. When I entered this ‘route’ I thought something would change, but it turns out that even though Brad and Travis have different stories, they are exactly the same. The dialogues about them don’t change, except for the name.
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
I want to preface by saying I really enjoyed the game interface, graphics and sound effects. They were quite nostalgic. However, having to press keys to type the sentences became a hassle after the first playthrough.
My sole reason for not recommending this game is Emily, or rather the dead end that Emily consistently pushes you into. In the beginning she is probably a good representation of a moody, angsty teen that we all once were on MSN with deep lyrics in our messages. Ultimately though, it doesn’t matter whether you’re indifferent or a supportive friend - she will claim to have once had feelings for you but not any longer. If you hook up then she accuses you of ‘planning’ it and says she was ‘vulnerable’. Please forgive me for trying to plan a nice weekend for you to help you get over your break up! As for the vulernable comment, I don’t get the feeling that the protagnoist (i.e. the player) did anything bad (e.g. purposely plied Emily with alochol or pressured her to get physical). Therefore, despite saying she might fancy you, she decides after hooking up that it’s your fault you hooked up and she doesn’t really like you after all. If you don’t hook up with her, she says she wishes you made a move because she did like you, but doesn’t now. Throughout the game, Emily seems to make everything someone else’s fault and I really disliked her after the first playthrough, but came to hate her after the second and third. Honestly, I wouldn’t have continued talking to her after the first year.
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game
Field Hospital: Dr. Taylor’s Story
Better than I thought!
I’m not a big fan of such kinds of games BUT this one hooked me for a few hours.
Nice stories.
Interesting to read while you’re playing.
Good atmosphere (too much sfx of machine guns in the background, imho, but it’s not a big deal - just make the music louder! :)).
Well done, guys!
Wonderful start!
Keep going and good luck with the next project!
Really would like to play your next game.
– Real player with 5.2 hrs in game
Great game play, narrative driven, choices are difficult to make considering everyone needs to be helped but I enjoyed playing the game very much and definetly would recommend it. The game play is short but overall I would give the game 4 stars!! Great job guys!! Look forward to playing it again!!
– Real player with 4.6 hrs in game
Gravity (working title)
Gravity (working title) is a story-focused, sci-fi, 3D, puzzle, platformer with non-traditional gravity and perspective. This game is in the prototype phase of development and this page will be updated frequently as development progresses.
“Set in a future where society’s ills are entirely solved by a benevolent synthesized intelligence named Panacea (stop if you’ve heard this one before, Panacea is a good one, I promise.. really). Humans exist almost entirely in full immersion virtual reality and the Earth is thriving! Everything is fine, you can relax. This is the story of Archæ a citizen called to give their Service to the System Alliance of Humanity. With rare ability comes an unusual responsibility. “
Growing Up
Interesting spin on the “visual novel” genre that is lovingly crafted, but has its issues and is not quite as expansive as the store page makes it out to be. Still, considering the price, it is worth it, and given the casual nature and the topic, also suitable for people just interested in trying out this kind of games, or for those who would be turned off by weeb stuff.
Rating: 7/10
As is obvious, the game revolves around growing up and going through all of the early stages of life, and it does a remarkably good job at it too, at times at least. The characters, although in some regards laden with cliches, are fairly well written and I am not ashamed to admit, objectively looking at how I behaved and what I thought as a teenager especially, and what I remember of my friends, this is pretty spot on, lol. Unfortunately, the earlier stages of the game are quite rushed, and they are more of a short tutorial than anything, which is a bit of a wasted oportunity - the game really starts when you reach teen years.
– Real player with 38.2 hrs in game
UPDATED REVIEW @ 22 Hrs:
Growing Up is a life simulation that fairly-accurately simulates the experience of growing up in a relatively affluent family in a reasonably well-to-do area of the United States in the mid-to-late 1990s.
I’m a fan of this game for a lot of reasons. The writing is pretty good, and the resource management gameplay is challenging enough to be fun while never feeling unfair or too difficult. The music ranges from unobtrusive to fantastic, and the interface is intuitive; simple without being too stupid (more on this below). If you’re a fan of resource management games, or if you like visual novels and don’t mind some casual gameplay mixed in, this is one to pick up even at full price.
– Real player with 31.1 hrs in game