Beyond a Total Loss
Just finished the the game and really enjoyed it, there are many details and a lot of effort was put into it. It was a great old school adventure with some interesting twists and funny dialogues. If you are not sure, there is a demo.
– Real player with 37.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich Dark Humor Games.
Beyond a Total Loss is good.
It’s about what you’d expect it to be based on the visuals, and is more or less what I love about indie games.
A quirky story about a man who ends up going through a series of unfortunate events.
– Real player with 35.4 hrs in game
Hello Charlotte EP3: Childhood’s End
//this review has spoilers. be cautious
This is by far one of the best games I ever played. This goes for the whole series - The first game was amazing on its own. I always enjoy games that make a special connection between player and character. The second was beautiful in its own right. But this? This is by far the best out of the three.
This game was everything I had hoped for. An amazing story. An amazing story is important, and in my opinion something that goes towards an amazing story is the impact on the player. Make the player feel something. This game did exactly that. I felt sorry. I felt happy. I fell in love with each character, even if they had little time on screen. It especially hit me when characters died. I know that you can’t control what characters die, usually, and that usually helps me get over deaths in media, but I still felt bad for the characters when I saw them come to their untimely demise. Vincent, for example. Right after Vincent died, I nearly cried. His familiar face from the earlier installment helped with that. I had quite liked Vincent, or C for familiarity sake. I could see a lot of myself in him, especially now, since I often make characters and write stories. When I saw Vincent die, well, yeah. Other than that, I felt extremely bad for Charles. Watching your friend, your idol die right in front of you when they wanted to die WITH you. The things with Scarlett made me feel terrible for him as well, and when the scene with his mother happened, well, lets say I did not handle that very well. That’s what makes a good story, to me. An impact on the player. I started caring for the characters very much. At the end of the game, after the scene with the TV, I felt appreciated. I felt like I had actually done good for the characters, all by choosing to smash that TV. I cared for these characters, and this game made me feel a lot coming out of it. I felt vaguely happy. Happy that I had done something. But, other than that, I was happy for the characters. They really had gained true freedom.
– Real player with 19.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich Gore Games.
I completed this awhile ago and couldn’t really accurately write down my feelings. I was an absolute fool and marathoned all the Hello Charlotte games back to back. Considering I have severe depression, PTSD, and other mental illnesses you don’t need to know, that combination at times had a negative effect on me. So I guess I’ll mention right now if you’re riding on the coat tails of Episode 2, take a step back. Take a day or two at least to calm down, because I was feeling nearly suicidal at certain points, though that’s my own mentality to blame. This is definitely not the type of game to play when you’re feeling depressed. It’s understandable that in a state of depression you might want to play depressing games, but I think we as a species want our fiction to, at least usually, give us the message that things will be better, so for a game to say things won’t be better can really hurt. That’s why i’m saying take this when you’re not super depressed. Try to calm yourself before playing it, or play with a friend or something to lessen the blows you might take.
– Real player with 17.1 hrs in game
The Hunter’s Journals - Blissful Ignorance
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything - Albert Einstein
Grindwheel Games' text-based CYOA trilogy of The Hunter’s Journals rolls onward with The Hunter hired to solve the mystery behind the afflictions occurring at a Monastery; a challenge that not only will test the Hunter’s prowess but also will require scaling a dangerous Mountain in harsh weather conditions and a threat of Harpy’s along the way.
As with the earlier Journals, the game design cleverly mimics a book in its appearance and layout while also portraying glorious Lovecraftian artwork among its ‘pages’. There is also the options of VA, music/sound effects and a Gallery complete with lore, unlocked artwork and a history of this ‘Universe’. The writing style is once more beautifully descriptive and keeps the attention span of the Player by adding choice elements and challenges throughout the story progress.
– Real player with 11.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich Gore Games.
Senscape recommends The Hunter’s Journal: Blissful Ignorance
-
Story
-
Characters
-
Graphics
-
Game length, many hours of replay value
-
It is a smart game, requires a mature vocabulary.
“You are the hero”.
Or not.
It all depends on the choices you make.
You receive an urgent dispatch for help lacking information about what you face; you are unable to properly prepare because of this lack of information so you are going in blind and must earn things as you progress.
This is about choice and you may or may not succeed in building your strength and weaponry up by the time you meet your strongest foes beyond the village of Pilgrim’s Progress.
– Real player with 6.8 hrs in game
The Hunter’s Journals - Vile Philosophy
The voice-over for the Lady of Blades is oddly enticing.
Jokes aside, this choose-your-own-adventure styled visual novel was an engaging playthrough.
– Real player with 146.1 hrs in game
_“The crying sounded even louder out of doors. It was as if all the pain
in the world had found a voice” - H G Wells_
Grindwheel Games and the whole design/dev team have devised a thrilling second release to the Hunter’s Journals CYOA series. By keeping to the same design layout of imitating a book (that’s complete with the red ribbon for authenticity!) it helps breed familiarity knowing you can jump straight into the Adventure without having to adjust.
The artwork grabs your attention with it’s bright, lively colours and originality while the music & effects set a smooth ambience letting you focus on the tale’s journey.
– Real player with 7.8 hrs in game
Half-Life: A Place in the West
There’s a logic in Hollywood that video games can make good movies, despite the fact that few if any films actually bear this notion out (and believe me, I’m being kind by saying “few”). Similarly, it’s questionable to what degree a video game is liable to translate into the medium of comics.
Theoretically, probably a little BETTER than movies…but I’m still not quite convinced. A good “story” in a video game is a completely different thing to a good story in either film or literature, and a video game’s notion of “character” is more often than not a good-looking and functional avatar designed to move the “plot” forward, and give the player an adequate excuse to kill things or solve puzzles. I’m sorry, but Leon from the Resident Evil franchise ISN’T a “character”, boys and girls. He’s a floppy fringe with a gun, and a libido sufficient to make him willing to rescue cute young girls on the back of his speeding jet-ski. You want character, try Taxi Driver (it’s an “old” movie from the 70s, look it up).
– Real player with 6.6 hrs in game
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 11 seconds
Half-Life: A Place in the West teases the Half-Life fans by delivering a very compelling story based on the Half-Life universe, presented as a fan-made digital comic featuring a total of 13 chapters which are planned to be released over several years. By the time of writing this review, 5 of them are available on the Steam store (the first one being free).
Even if the comic uses the Half-Life setting, its story follows a completely new path, unrelated to the characters featured in the series so that it’s not centered on Gordon Freeman’s adventures. I haven’t played any of the Half-Life titles, yet I greatly enjoyed reading the comic which didn’t require any prior knowledge about the franchise. The few intro pages describe this setting very well and the info provided is enough to get you started: at Black Mesa Research Facility, scientists discover a new alien life form and while attempting to analyze it, they accidentally cause a dimensional rift to open; as a consequence, Earth becomes exposed to an alien invasion. Seven hours later, the extra-terrestrial race known as the “Combine” conquers the planet entirely and kills most of humanity. Gigantic towers, called “Citadels” are sent out by the Combine to the major cities of the Earth, in order to enforce their will on the remaining living people.
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier
Weak… weak… weak… I don’t support the game to anyone. Especially the die hard fans like me. There are much better “interactive film” type of games out there.
Let me explain it why.
Technical Issues
-Graphics and glitches kill your enjoyment in this game. Inconsistent FPS, constant drops… Really hard to get in the game.
-Sounds of the game are frustrating. It made me feel like only 4 high school graduates worked for the sounds of this game, after schools in the weekdays from monday to wednesday, for a class project. Let me give a clear example: Apes are in a cave. Apes raise their voices in a cave. What do you expect? An echo right? Not in this game. Echo sounds are not found at all. Another example, apes are in the field. No background noise. None whatsoever. It felt more like a dubbed french film than an original. And I hate dubbed french films.
– Real player with 25.3 hrs in game
Wow this was a major disappointment. I’m a huge fan of the Planet of the Apes reboot films, especially War for the Planet of the Apes which is a masterpiece of filmmaking, so I was pretty excited to check this game out. Unfortunately, it’s a very basic interactive movie which offers nothing to make it stand out within the interactive drama genre.
All I can really say positive about it is that it looks solid and there’s some great animation work with the apes throughout. It’s only replayable because there are certain achievements locked behind choosing consistent options of a particular path throughout a playthrough. There’s a couple of memorable moments, but they are very scripted and do not change at all in response to the players choices. More negatives to follow:
– Real player with 14.0 hrs in game
Related
A short and touching point and click game, involving difficult topics including mental health and child abuse. The pacing is spot on. Puzzles are fun and occasionally challenging without ever being too hard. The story kept me intrigued throughout. The art style is gorgeous, and I also really enjoyed the music tracks. This game shines through beauty, effective simplicity, and great storytelling through a combination of exploration, action scenes, and cut scenes, with an occasional jump scare thrown in. If you enjoyed Fran Bow, you’ll likely enjoy this too.
– Real player with 4.9 hrs in game
The first chapter is about 40-50 minutes long with no prior knowledge, including a few optional achievements, so at this point, it’s a little hard for me to evaluate the game based on this relatively short introduction. The game gave me some Fran Bow vibes, although the similarities are mostly on the surface level; in this point&click adventure, you play as a young girl that goes through some psychological trauma when exploring surreal environments, while the story seems to be pushing into a different direction. That being said, the narrative managed to hook my interest, I want to see where it goes from here and what happens to the main character which I find very compelling. For some reason, I just really like disturbing adventure games, and this one does not waste any time to let you know that this game is not made for kids.
– Real player with 3.5 hrs in game
The Hunter’s Journals - Pale Harbour
Without choices we’re merely going through life on a never-ending elevator
It’s been so long since I experienced a Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA), going back to my childhood days I found them fascinating because they were so simple in their design yet when you delve into the story there are a maze of choices to be made often with a grisly ending for any naive decisions. The choices were so quick to come by it meant the real challenge was staying involved in the story while striving for any new opening that would branch you further into the plot but, with so many trapdoor wrong turnings, it is easier said than done.
– Real player with 6.8 hrs in game
Disclaimer: This is not a technical critique. I’m a streamer and I will review based on whether I enjoyed games and how well my community responded to them. I hope there’s value in that to some.
This game isn’t going to blow you away visually if you’re used to ‘flashy’ games with ‘action’. However, as someone who very much enjoyed the ‘Choose Your Own Adventures’ books in my youth, it was easy for me to see beyond the not-full screen. It’s a book and as such would have looked odd if it filled the screen. It was easy to pick up what to do, and there were different difficulty levels to choose from. As someone who enjoys the ‘journey’ and to experience the stories rather than stress too much about having enough health to last the game, I elected for the easiest setting.
– Real player with 5.9 hrs in game
Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption
Pros..
1. Has a pretty solid story
2. great characters
3. has an amazing soundtrack
4. Doesn’t need to be modded in order to work like its counter part VTM Bloodlines
Cons.
1. Graphics are dated
2. Only allows 6 blood disciplines on your cast bar and you can’t key-bind your disciplines
3. The multiplayer doesn’t work and can’t even link up with friends through steam or even a LAN game.
4. Doesn’t have a steam workshop to fix bugs, add improved Graphics, or restore cut content.
5. Highly exploitable with being able to cast the discipline (awaken) on enemies to infinitely farm experience/gold which in turn makes the game insanely easy to play-through.
– Real player with 263.1 hrs in game
Short verdict: it will scratch your World of Darkness itch just as good as VtM: Bloodlines.
I played this game after completing Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines , which got me addicted to the World of Darkness mythos in the first place. And neither was I disappointed this time. In fact, I was surprised that this almost 20 years old game can perform so good and I can enjoy it so much.
Although the story is not as intricate as in some other RPGs and, in the single player mode, you can’t choose your clan, the story is quite interesting anyway. It’s a wonderful opportunity to participate in quests both in medieval Prague and Vienna, as well as in modern London and New York of the 1990’s. Redemption captures the World of Darkness spirit just as well as Bloodlines.
– Real player with 38.8 hrs in game
CHAOS;CHILD
Spoiler Free; A beginner-friendly review new to visual novels.
My rating: 9/10
Discovered this store page because of the anime.
I remember watching 3 episodes of the anime Chaos;Head around 2013 and I decided very quickly not to continue watching it.
Initially, I thought the reason why I discontinued watching C;H was due to my severe depression that peaked around that time.
Fast forward to early 2021 and I was reminiscing about STEINS;GATE (the anime) and how awesome it was.
The S;G VN is something I’ve known since the early 2000s, but never gave the chance to read; I only watched the anime.
– Real player with 109.8 hrs in game
I’ll start my review of by saying that I’m a very big fan of the Science Adventure series and that this game Is also my favorite game anyway, so this review is probably going to be biased. With that In mind here Is my review. Chaos;Child is the 4th entry in the Science adventure series and Is a thematic sequel to Chaos;Head. While I would heavily recommend playing Chaos;Head first it Is by no means necessary to fully enjoy Chaos;Child. Chaos;Child Is set six years after Chaos;Head In the restored city of Shibuya which had suffered from a devastating earthquake that destroyed the city. The cast of characters are mostly survivors of the earthquake who all are now living in the newly restored Shibuya.
– Real player with 95.6 hrs in game