The Beginner’s Guide
This piece is a beautiful work of art. This is the first actual game to make me cry. The amount of depth and emotion that was put into this game was exceptional, and I didn’t expect it at all. Even when the game doesn’t make sense to you at some times, it still affects you. As the characters change, you change with them. You and the narrator’s view on everything surrounding this game changes entirely throughout the story. This game is worth the money, and much more and I feel like this is a game everyone should experience. 11/10
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich Narration Games.
One of the few games that actually made me cry and question what is “trying to find yourself”. Game itself gives and includes a lot of psychological messages, not just to the creator of the game Davey but to the player aswell. It is really a deep game to understand and realise whats going on. Depression and finding yourself is a part of everyones life and it only gets better if you are able to know your worth. I dont even know if Coda is Davey, or if Coda is a real person. But i can assure than so many people can relate what “Coda”’s feeling and experiencing. Definitely recommending this masterpiece of a game. “Edit : made my mum play it, she cried…..”
– Real player with 3.7 hrs in game
A Painter’s Tale: Curon, 1950
Incredibly deep expression of a very sad event in the history of the world. Excellent game and time well spent!
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich Soundtrack Games.
A gentle and relaxing game that allows the player to immerse themselves within history. I never thought I would feel such nostalgia from a quaint little town, or receive goosebumps upon my finishing of the game. Though the movement was a bit awkward at times, the shading and colours of Curon were stunning, and the soundtrack was beautiful. The story is novel-like, the visuals are picturesque, and you will walk out of this piece of art with a fleeting, but haunting experience of a tale from the past.
– Real player with 2.8 hrs in game
Debris
So, tell us, Mr. Abysss, how is the game? Is it Intriguing? Is it mysterious? Engaging?
- Oh, so many questions! Yes, I can say that the story has intrigued me from the beginning, it’s pretty mysterious. If it wasn’t for the poor level design and some other major problems that affect the game…
Such as? Oh but tell us first more about the poor level design.
- Indeed, well, to begin with, there are large end empty boring halls, boring icy tunnels and generic current that takes you exactly where you need to go like some kind of an elevator. There is also some aquatic life here and there, but it’s not many species and it gets repetitive fast.
– Real player with 11.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich Interactive Fiction Games.
First off the game seemed interesting fromt he start. strange alien like rocks, unknown creatures and a plot that seemed to convey a corrupt corporation or perhaps some eosrt of rougue A.I or alien life form. Of course at the end of it all, none of what I thought was the case was the actuall case. Not only that bt I was able to beat this thing in only a day. NO JOKE….A DAY!!!! Yeah for a small dev team the game looked nice and the modeling and detail on the aquatic creatrues was something to behold but the story I felt mislead me thinking the game was heading into a more interesting, horror driven narritive. Sure being underwater is scary and yes oversized man eating worms make my skin crawl but what I got form the entire thing was a interesting adventure game that just so happens to have a message about psychological disfunction and what you could do to deal with it. As far as I’m concerned the game does have multiple endings the one i got was with Sonya still trapped, CHris dead, and Ryan going absolutly bat shit insane after being rescued. Not sure if there is an ending where I could save sonya or perhaps do something different but it seems the options are to either do what chris asks and thats it. Not sure if pickign to shut down the A.I. manager would have cahnged much.
– Real player with 5.9 hrs in game
Forgetter
Disclaimer: I helped out with testing the game and got the game as a free copy.
The game is mostly a “walking simulator”, so the gameplay is kept relatively simple and the focus lies more on the experience of entering the very different minds of two artists and exploring their memories and traumas. Some of these memories I kind of expected (e.g. pressure from parents) but there are also other memories, some of them even pleasant that I didn’t see coming. Personally, it felt like I got to know two people by discovering some of their key memories, which was interesting to me, because I don’t know much about the artist life. I would have liked to see the game explore the different ways the “brain recycling” technology plays out for people, like in an episode of “Black Mirror”.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Novice developers from Hong Kong were very kind to submit the game to my curator page https://store.steampowered.com/curator/26168615-Video-Games-Art-International/ and ask for my opinion.
I would thank developers with a positive review, but this is more kinda mixed review.
The game is in first person view and allows for free exploration of 3D environments. Incipit of story is very intriguing and original. You’re a young girl on probation for a new weird job at MindJob corporation. You’re a “forgetter”. Your mission is to clear the minds of famous deceased artists! Yes, at MindJob they recycle the minds of geniuses and artists and implant them in children brains! Families pay for their children to be next generation geniuses and artists! But artists and geniuses minds are affected by traumatic memories and deviant behavior, so you have to erase and clean them before the new implant! Do you want your son to be the next Van Gogh but with both the ears, without deviant behavior? Mindjob has the solution for you! :-)
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
Promesa
Promesa is a work of art and art can be divisive. I would even go as far as to say that this is not a videogame in a classic sense. It’s more of an experience and a very slow one at that. During this experience I had the feeling of visiting scenes of memories and dreams from someone else. These scenes often felt very much lifelike thanks to the stunning environments but at the same time there was always something “off”. A strange feeling and sensation, just like in a real dream. Some environments even felt familiar to me. Above all else, this feels like a very personal experience that can be compared to a painting. The artstyle in Promesa is truly stunning and I enjoyed the scenery and accoustic environment very much.
– Real player with 7.5 hrs in game
I completed a play-through of Promesa and I have no idea what just happened. I spent about 40 minutes walking forward at a generally slow pace through a series of doors and scenes. Some are created with great detail, while others are very impressionistic. There was an occasional bit of stream-of-consciousness narrative about growing old and looking back. And, in the background, an interesting sound track of instrumentals and ambient noise.
As an artistic piece, it is interesting and certainly combines various styles and textures (in terms of sights and sounds). But, as art goes, some ‘get it’ and others do not. I fall into the latter category, as I did not come away with any meaningful emotional reaction or any sense of cohesive threads within the game.
– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game
To My Best Friend
Just as the description says, this is a short narrative about two friends and their memories together. It is a full-on walking simulator with no stress. Beautiful music! I think the graphics are beautiful, although there are a few floating trees, and basically low-budget looking areas.
All in all, it’s a good, bittersweet short story with colorful and creative areas to walk through. I recommend it.
– Real player with 1.5 hrs in game
cute
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Honestly, I think people are too hard on this game.
Is it as scary as Amnesia: Dark Descent? Not necessarily, but then Dark Descent was such an unexpectedly delirious and exhilerating experience. It was a surprise. The difference with its sequel is that people have been expecting A Machine For Pigs for a while; based on those expectations, some were disappointed.
I was not. A Machine For Pigs doesn’t need to be as scary as Dark Descent. Of course there are plenty of moments in that game which made my blood run cold, such as the infamous chase through the flooded Archives with a monster snapping at your heels, the damned Prison area which gave me plenty of mini heartattacks, and just the growl of those disgusting monsters. Yet I remember only a few moments from that game, which to me are not as important as the overall experience. What was the most scary for me was actually the story, and learning about Daniel. At the beginning, he’s a man that drank the Amnesia potion to make himself forget the horrors the Baron had inflicted. But of course, as we descend deeper into Brennenberg, we realize the truth. Near the end, I wasn’t even sure Daniel deserved to be saved (which is why the three different endings pleased me so much).
– Real player with 11.6 hrs in game
AMNESIA: A MACHINE FOR PIGS
Like that title? You better do, because that’s the best part of the entire game! Amnesia: The Dark Descent was created by Frictional Games, who was known for making a survival horror series called Penumbra. Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs however, was created by The Chinese Room, And the only game they had created before this was Dear Esther, a walking simulator. The reason why I’m telling you this, is because A Machine For Pigs is exactly that. A walking simulator. Now, I’m not saying walking simulators are bad. Some of them are actually really good! Is Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs one of the good ones? Let’s find out!
– Real player with 7.8 hrs in game
DEATH STRANDING
Um dos meus jogos favoritos!
Death Stranding é um jogo realmente especial, não há nada parecido com ele. Obviamente não é perfeito, mas as qualidades são tão grandes, que quase fazem esquecer os problemas.
O gameplay não vai agradar todo mundo, especialmente quem só gosta de jogos de alta ação, mas eu amei. Achei muito divertido e satisfatório ficar andando pelo mundo com um monte de tralha nas costas, enquanto tentava superar os obstáculos do terreno.
Se engana quem pensa que esse jogo é só andar. Há uma grande abundância de sistemas e mecânicas que deixam a experiência mais interessante. Você tem que gerenciar bem sua carga, manter o balanço do personagem, saber quais equipamentos levar, quais rotas tomar, se deve levar um veículo,, e o que fazer diante de certas adversidades.
– Real player with 228.2 hrs in game
I just can’t do a simple summary of the good and bad things in this game, so it’s going to be a messy, lengthy account of my impressions.
I had never played a Kojima game before, nor did I follow Death Stranding release, and I didn’t know what to really expect. All I had, from just enough previews to not spoil myself, was the impression of a contemplative game with quite an intriguing sci-fi background to it, which was enough for me.
Honestly, I was confused for the first hour and a half, not knowing what the point of the game was, struggling to grasp its concepts and the “why” of everything, wasn’t sure if I would ask for a refund, but my curiosity kept me going. A good book usually involves the reader constantly wondering “and then what happened?”. In retrospect, that’s a feeling I quickly got, and I was hooked to the story (and the gameplay) until the end.
– Real player with 202.7 hrs in game
Interregnum Chronicles: Signal
First advice: Read the game description closely :)
This plays like a “walking” simulator inside a satellite called “Harmony” that accommodates one person, so you’re floating in microgravity with ways to grab onto things and push yourself around. The core of the game is to tweak signal processing using human interfacing terminals, and that mysterious signal of unknown origin and requires decoding to find out what it is/says/does. At first the system doesn’t have the capacity to process the entire signal so an Operator (you) needs to approve lots of AI upgrades. See where this is going?
– Real player with 26.9 hrs in game
So I have played this game a fair bit and tried to “get into it” but honestly, it’s pretty awful. I’m writing this review with steam saying that I have had 11 hours playtime, but really it’s more like 5 or 6 because I would leave the game on to “idle” in order to farm the necessary resources to progress the story.
And that is pretty much the game in a nutshell. Leaving it running to obtain an ever increasing targeted number of resources that are basically just numbers on one of several terminal screen’s. There are Networking, Data Processing and Memory “resources” that you need to increase in order to upgrade the stations AI and each resource is tied to the others with glass ceilings that you need to break by obtaining more of one of the other resources. There are ways to expedite the process such as using up to 4 batteries on a terminal but honestly, that just gets annoying. The batteries will explode if you overcharge them (or at least damage the stations electrics) and when you do use them they don’t last long at all. I haven’t timed them but I would be shocked if they actually last more than a minute or two at most. When you do have to recharge them as well, you can only carry one at a time and so you have to take each one from where you need it back to the garden where the charging ports are. Obviously you can’t plug one in and leave it charging whilst you fetch another as it will likely overcharge and short out the electrics so you end up floating along carrying one for a 2nd, dropping it to pick up another, dropping it to pick up a 3rd and so on until you get them where you need to go. Obviously you are in space with no gravity and so they drift…. a lot. Yeah, lets just say that gets old. Fast.
– Real player with 11.6 hrs in game
Tacoma
When Game Informer magazine came out in August 2015 - two years ago - it had a compelling cover for a game which had yet to be released. I read the entire article, and realized I had to play this game. There was just enough detail balanced with mystery, especially as it relates to the story and the game mechanics, that it drew me in. I wanted this game.
This isn’t a first-person shooter (although, thankfully, it is first-person). You won’t be shooting bullets, or slicing and dicing with a sword. If you’ve played the game Gone Home, and liked it, you’ll like this game even more. If you’re not a fan of Gone Home, especially because of the “shortness” of the original game, Tacoma has a lot more story, depth, and a slightly more complicated game mechanic.
– Real player with 10.8 hrs in game
This way to the TACOMA DOME!!!!
Introduction
Tacoma is a narrative focused game, a “walking simulator” developed by Fullbright, the creators of the lauded Gone Home . The game involves exploring a space station, uncovering information about its former inhabitants (as well as the future of year 2088) through recorded scenes and a detailed environment.
Everything that Gone Home got right, the deeply meaningful topics of the narrative, the empathy for the every-day average person, the sonder-ful and wonderful environmental storytelling - this game does it better. The studio’s sophomore game definitely shows off everything they’ve learned from Gone Home - and their mastery of narrative places this game at the peak of the “Walking Simulator” genre. The only problem with this game is that it didn’t last longer (about 2 hours, for me)
– Real player with 10.3 hrs in game