Hitchhiker - A Mystery Game
Philosophical road trip, where the word “trip” might be a part of the word “trippy”. Surreal and thought-provoking, with phenomenal storytelling, it’s definitely worth a playthrough for those who like to ponder on things.
You start as a hitchhiker in someone’s car. There’s little information given on who you are, where are you and, most importantly, why are you there – in that moment. As the ride unfolds, there comes the realization that you’re searching for something – yourself? Missing partner? An event in the past? Lost memories? At first, it’s unclear and seems surreal, as odd conversations with drivers seem to be hinting at something deeper while you try to stay rooted in reality and figure out what exactly happened. As the rides with different, strange companions continue, you’ll eventually find yourself threading on the thin line between dreamlike and real still, however, searching for the answers to this mystery, which in itself is no longer solid…Will you ever find answers? Perhaps strange people, new places, odd clues and lots of philosophical musings will help to point you in the right direction. Or not. In the end, you’ll still get to enjoy one bad-ass road trip showing beautiful scenery of the great United States’ cross-county drive.
– Real player with 6.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Story Rich Atmospheric Games.
I don’t know what to make of this games storytellers.. the game itself is a laid back low key Indie AA, decent production values. Not the best Indie AA I have ever played but a fair attempt.
I’m really on the fence between a yes and no recommendation.. okay so MASSIVE STORY SPOILER WARNING:
! ### So the story itself is very chilled out, I enjoyed it for the most part.. until you get to the end and you have been doing all this for your dying girlfriend whom you know was cheating on you?? .. WHY THE FLIP DO I CARE IF SHES ALIVE OR DEAD? She cheated.. cheating is a horrific thing and instantly disqualifies her as a valid person.. meaning everything she ever said to me about me, was a lie. So with that in mind.. and note that guy didn’t go and kill them both, which may have been a fun aspect if it was included in the game.. but not only does he not kill them both, but he simps out and goes to her bedside..?! WHO THE FLIP CARES.. DIE ALREADY!.. life isn’t like what these Devs imagine.. ohw you once told someone you loved them and then they cheated on you, let’s all be friends?? Obviously they felt nothing for you or they wouldn’t have cheated! and at that point.. WHO CARES? You died in that second you cheated.. there is no sorry.. the idea of this is horrific.. No.. a hundred times no.. this game while having good points.. just stole the price of it off me.. can’t believe you would write such a weak pathetic character.. compassion?.. where was her compassion while she is taking ** ** *** **** on holiday.. no excuse, this is the modern age, everyone’s got a phone on them, it takes 5 minutes to make a phone call and done.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
El Tango de la Muerte
El Tango de la Muerte:
It takes two to tango, isn’t what they say! What if someone wants to tango but has two left feet? The image in my mind is that a person would have his upper body leaning toward the right in order to compensate for his/her unfortunate tendency to deviate to their left side. Joking aside, what would you do if your childhood sweetheart was a great Tango dancer, and you discovered that you actually had not two, but three left feet? You’d probably ask someone to help you out, right? That is exactly what Luciano did. He asked his best friend Julio to teach him how to find the secret of his right foot. Otherwise, it would truly become El Tango de la Muerte!
*– [Real player with 3.3 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198003030375)*
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Read More:
Best Story Rich Music Games.
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A fresh and highly unique spin on the rhythm genre. You're basically trying to follow the pattern as it appears on the floor with various flourishes that you can hit for added effect. While this sounds simple, picking up on the rhythm can be tough and you'll feel exactly as awkward as someone dancing poorly would in real life, but when you finally get the beat down and hit that string of notes just right, it feels _amazing_
The theme and story are also very fun. I can honestly say I've never played a game about Argentenian ballroom dancing before. The storyline is like a soap opera gangster story and it's surprisingly well-written with some memorable characters and fun over-the-top melodrama.
*– [Real player with 2.6 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197997934524)*
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## Where Birds Go to Sleep
Where Birds Go to Sleep is a narrative adventure game set in a fictional Near East-inspired land, brought to life in a painterly artstyle, with voice-acted dialogue and original score.
Slip into the subconscious of Cormo, a churlish smuggler-turned-explorer, only ever influencing his actions, never directly assuming control. You will mould him through every sentence you put in his mind… but you might not like what he becomes.
Confront him about controversial topics like sexuality, prejudice and morality, and change his mind… or have him change yours.
There is no “Mission Failed”; saying “No” opens new avenues. There is no golden path.
Lie to others, and you’ll be more likely to hide the truth from yourself. Fail to justify your actions and you might find your character not heeding your commands.
Every single small choice you make builds up, and shifts the direction of the story. While there are crucial moments and big decisions to be made, it is the small things that – true to life – ultimately decide who we are.
Reflect on your actions along with the protagonist; exchange your thoughts on what happened; regret or rejoice, grieve or laugh together… or independently of each other.
The difference between saying “you tried your best” and “you’re horrible” is empathy.
The smallest of your choices are remembered by the experimental Insight System, which analyses your character and offers you personalised, interesting viewpoints and alternative outlooks on the things you’ve said and done, recontextualizing your experience both in and out of the game.
_An island has appeared in the distant sea…_
Sneak your way into a dangerous expedition to explore that island, reserved only for the worst prisoners. Get to know a handful of very special, deeply developed and fully realised characters. Become their friend, get to know their secrets, manipulate or abuse them to your, or Cormo’s will.
One of the first characters you will meet is Dunlin – a noble-born, young man who is steadfast in his moral and religious principles. But what must a purebred like him be guilty of to end up here with you?
Sprawling, naturally flowing dialogue: react in intense back-and-forth conversations. Every dialogue is ready for the choices you make, and can potentially branch off into a completely different conversation with game-changing significance.
Explore the mysterious island, unravel its secrets and lies. Shrouded in noxious, mind-altering mist, you must prepare for every journey inland, anticipating the challenges ahead. The provisions are scarce… but the others need them less than you.
#### **Is Where Birds Go to Sleep a text adventure?**
Where Birds Go to Sleep is not a text adventure. It is an adventure game featuring graphics akin to those seen in the trailer with fully voice acted dialogue, sound effects, ambience and music.
#### **Will there be localisation to [language]?**
Where Birds Go to Sleep is likely to release with only English, but we are keeping an eye on wishlists and interest from different regions, and will strive to localise the game accordingly post-release.
#### **Will there be Linux support?**
Unless we run into major platform-specific issues, we would like to release a Linux version in parallel to the Windows version on Steam.
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Read More:
Best Story Rich Interactive Fiction Games.
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## Letters - a written adventure
#### Handwritten nostalgia
Journey back to the 90s and move through beautifully hand-drawn letters, as you follow the life of Sarah. Learn more about her friends, nerdy obsessions or why she has the most annoying sister ever.
Then go digital as Sarah grows older. Revel in the nostalgic pixel world of the early 2000s internet while navigating all the drama, anxiety and joys of teenagehood.
#### Shape your future
Watch Sarah grow up and make decisions that will change how her life will turn out as an adult (no pressure). Take revenge on your sister, play video games all day or fall in love. It’s all up to you.
Don’t like the outcome? Just go ahead and rewrite her story. (See? we told you, no pressure.)
#### Power of words
In a world made from paper and computers, words matter. So use them to change drawings that block your way, help friendly characters and interact with Sarah's friends.
Finding the right words is hard sometimes. Especially for shy people like Sarah. So help her by breaking them apart and creating new ones for her to use instead.
#### Playfully wholesome
Letters is a cozy, often funny, sometimes sad game about friendship, growing up and finding your way in life. Explore Sarah’s colorful world and use the power of words to change her life!
Or… just stack cats or something.
#### FEATURES
* innovative **word-based riddle mechanic**, you've never seen before
* **relatable coming of age story**, inspired by real-life
* **branching storyline** where you can discover new possibilities with every playthrough
* beautifully **hand-drawn visuals & pixel art** evolving with Sarah’s age
* **comfy, playful & casual** game that focuses on narration and having fun with words
* good for **practicing English skills** in a fun way
#### QUICK FACTS
language: English
playtime: approx. 3 hours (1 playthrough)
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## MASAGORO
good
*– [Real player with 4.5 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199064276489)*
This game is great! I recommend you try it…if you dare!!
*– [Real player with 4.0 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199132254694)*
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## Starstruck: Hands of Time
#### Play guitar in an interactive rock opera
Play guitar in musical story segments, with a catchy soundtrack featuring live instruments and singing by Elsie Lovelock (Hazbin Hotel). If you still have your Guitar Hero or Rock Band guitar controller, dust it off, because this game supports it!
#### Destroy the world as a giant human hand
Demolish houses, solve puzzles, and open new paths for other characters as a giant hand. Unleash your destructive potential using hammers, screwdrivers, and more.
#### A strange game set in a miniature world
Save the future by exploring the strange diorama world of 20XX. Meet weirdly cute characters and unravel the mystery of how their little lives are connected to the end of mankind.
#### No rhythm? No problem
If you want to experience the music and story without the stresses of rhythm gameplay, you can enable "Autoplay" in the options menu. When Autoplay is enabled, the rhythm gameplay sections will play themselves.
#### Features
* **Explore three intertwined adventures** set in a charming diorama world, switching characters to solve puzzles and change the future.
* **Play guitar and dodge attacks** to an original soundtrack in catchy musical story segments.
* **Destroy the world as a giant human hand** in hectic action-puzzle gameplay. (By the way, you can also customize the hand’s size and skin color.)
* **Extensive controller support** allows you to play with your keyboard, Xbox controller, PS4 controller, Switch Pro Controller, or even guitar controller! You can also remap controls as you wish for the rhythm gameplay.
* **Adjust the difficulty level** between "Normal" and "Master" mode for the rhythm gameplay to suit your style, or just sit back and watch with "Autoplay" mode.
* **Original soundtrack** by acclaimed composer Andrew Allanson features live instruments and vocals spanning many genres.
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## MetaWare High School (Demo)
I found this game through a video of Alpha Beta Gamer and decided to watch it out of pure boredom. I stopped at about 15 minutes in because I was enjoying the dialogue and jokes so much I decided to experience the game myself without any spoilers.
All the characters have great designs and are very likable,
! even some of Nari's lines made me smile and relieved me of some of the tension built up from the unknown.
The game has 10 different endings, and the true ending for getting the other endings. They're not too hard to get and if you get stuck there's a great guide which tells what you need to select.
! The dancing ending is the best one though.
*– [Real player with 10.8 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198144281131)*
_'We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world'' - Gautama Buddha_
What a deep quote huh? Definitely not the kind of words you'd expect to use for an opening to a review for a 'demo' but then again **MetaWare High School (Demo)** is not your typical demo. It begins innocently as a multi-character VN each with their own unique personalities to provide the _Reader_ with some depth and variety during the first of many playthroughs. It then gradually morphs into a mesh of dark humour, philosophical ramblings & sardonic irony truly hooking the _Reader_ into this multiple choice branching of five High School females who curiously try to interact with the _Reader_ after discovering his/her presence.
*– [Real player with 7.1 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198413350620)*
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## Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition
Dragon Age: Origins is a God-Tier RPG. However I like to elaborate on my reviews, and so let me elaborate. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but please note that I might let a couple things slip.
Now as a prelude, I'll cover the gameplay, graphics and mechanics. Personally in RPGs this matters so little to me. I still play Fallout 2 and enjoy the hell out of KOTOR and Mass Effect. But…lets be real here. They suck. The graphics are...okay-ish? The gameplay has the pacing of tetris and the mechanics are just...old. None of it is fast paced nor are there any really cool abilities looks-wise. None of this is important to me, in fact, its clunkiness brings out a personal enjoyment. But yeah...its definitely really aged. It would also be remiss of me not to mention the fact that the game is ancient, and therefore crashes on newer PCs. About once an hour for me personally. Now I was able to fix it by way of a guide a while back, but going into it expect performance to be less than stellar. Now onto the meat.
*– [Real player with 182.8 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198208256023)*
❤ Audience ❤
☑ Beginner
☑ Casual
☑ Hardcore
☼ Graphics ☼
☐ Bad
☑ Alright
☐ Good
☐ Beautiful
☐ Fantastic
♬ Music ♬
☐ Bad
☐ Alright
☐ Good
☐ Beautiful
☑ Fantastic
☠ Difficulty ☠
☐ Easy
☑ Average
☐ Challenging
☐ Hard
☐ Brutal
§ Bugs §
☐ Bugs make the game almost unplayable
☐ Lots of bugs
☑ Few bugs
☐ Insignificant or contains humorous glitches
☐ None encountered during normal gameplay
☯ Story ☯
☐ There is none
☐ Bad
☐ Alright
☐ Good
☑ Fantastic
⚔ Gameplay ⚔
☐ Frustrating
☐ Repetitive
☐ Boring
*– [Real player with 170.9 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198143064850)*
---
## The Wolf Among Us
I've played through this game about 5 times. Each time was fun and engaging. Definitely recommend!
*– [Real player with 24.0 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198099900995)*
A therapeutical game about Big B and his inner restraints holding him from killing everyone in this annoying town.
Snow white? More like hope she dead tonight!
Faith kinda kewl tho, "he's not as bad as he seems 3"
10/10
*– [Real player with 23.4 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198042049061)*
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## Winter Voices
### Once upon a time, there was an unlucky girl.
~Rule of Rose
**Steam** library is full of hidden gems. And today, ladies and gentlemen, I'll tell you about one of them. **Winter Voices**. An episodic **RPG** from a small team of talented **French** people. By looking on screenshots, you, probably, already got some impressions about what this game may be, but let me tell you something – forget it. **Winter Voices** is not what it seems (**Twin Peaks** pun intended).
First of all, battles in this game… are not really battles. Even though they'll look a lot like our usual **TBS** battles and there'll be a lot of various skills to learn, the “battles” here feel more like puzzles. Sounds weird and, well, it is. Even though I've finished thousands of games in my life, I don't think I remember anything like that. Your character will have proper **TBS**-like stats, **HP** and skills, but you'll rarely get a chance to directly attack your enemies and the goals will rarely ask you to kill something. Most of the time you'll need to avoid the enemies, or push them to achieve certain goals. Which can be tricky. To say the least. The “battles” may be pretty hard and confusing, but I ended up liking them a lot. Because of how challenging they were, because of how different they were and, of course, because of the story.
*– [Real player with 133.3 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197981638563)*
Winter Voices is an indie text heavy RPG a bit akin to Planescape: Torment, but also very different. Its strongest point is its fairly linear psychological and existential story centred on some of the darker aspects of us humans, but ultimately it's an experience of struggle, development, hope and growth; made with psychological insight. Next its "combat" encounters and its weakest the free roam hub-sections like the starting village. The game has a lovely artistic vision and ambience created by its hand-in-hand art direction, soundscape and writing. Which all have a wonderful poetic feel and are tied into the "combat system" beautifully. Plus if you are fond of metaphorical writing in works like "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" by Nietzsche, then you're bound to find the dream sequences interesting, as they employ metaphors to great effect. That said the English translation can be a bit iffy, so play it in its native French if you can.
*– [Real player with 56.4 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970784893)*
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