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
Read More: Best Walking Simulator Indie Games.
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
The Fidelio Incident
Worth a buy, If you enjoy short story take place in icy island. However, if you’re not sure, please continue to read and find your answer.
PART 1
Please calculate your “YES” score to identify the value to buy:
If your answer is unsure, kindly consider it as “NO”
_[olist]
- Can you understand the frustration of freezing weather?* Can you understand the responsibility for taking care of your wife?* Can you understand the feeling if your family member is a prisoner?_
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Walking Simulator Indie Games.
“Oh God! Not ANOTHER walking simulator!” I hear you cry.
“Sit down…shut the fuck up…and LISTEN,” I reply.
Alright, so I’ve been playing a few of these lately, and all you “this isn’t even a game” people are probably getting mighty sick of all these products even existing. Well, y’know, sometimes life is hard. Sometimes, you don’t get everything you want in this world. And sometimes, just sometimes, things come along which can defy even the expectations of those who swore black-and-blue that they’d never, ever embrace them.
– Real player with 3.4 hrs in game
The Moon Sliver
HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Before my wife and I started a family, we used to travel to horror movie festivals looking for the most intense, demented, over-the-top films we could find. We’ve seen things you can’t unsee, things that’ll hurt your soul and sicken you. I am extremely jaded when it comes to horror entertainment, so when I tell you this game made me feel physically afraid, that is high praise.
David Szymanski is a storytelling genius. I’ve rarely seen any game, movie, or book use such a small amount of material to such powerful effect. This was the first of his games that I played and I immediately bought the other three and finished them in 2 days. It took a few days before I could write this review because my brain needed time to recover.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Walking Simulator Indie Games.
I’ve seen The Moon Sliver compared to Dear Esther, and while it’s not quite in that company, for reasons we’ll get to later, it’s not a bad explanation of what the game is. An interactive narrative, a stroll-em-up, a walking simulator, whatever, the point is that it’s atmospheric and tells a more than competent story.
The Moon Sliver takes a novel approach to its story telling. You enter the world not knowing anything about what’s going on, but it soon becomes apparent that you’re on a small, doomed island and the population have disappeared. As you explore the handful of abandoned buildings you’ll discover paraphernalia that you can click on, filling part of the screen with text. As you move around the room the text will fade being replaced with new text you’ve discovered. The story is deliberately vague, but by walking around the room in the right way you can at least piece together the order it’s supposed to be read in.
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
The Old City: Leviathan
Under the guise of a religious parable The Old City: Leviathan tells a powerful allegorical story about questioning the fundaments of reality, the rejection of certainty in pursuit of knowledge and the role of the individual in the intellectual developement of the species. They are pretty big themes, yes, but TOC:L works on the assumption that videogame players should be allowed to tackle such big themes without having to quit their hobby.
The game got criticized for the supposedly pretentious and overly obscure, rather cryptic, writing and, certainly, Leviathan would have benefited, as a game, from a toning down of its technical vocabulary (“Truth must be compatible with itself.") and a slightly simplified flow of ideas: the part about the boy in the library is interesting, but rather superfluous in the game’s narrative, even though it accounts for the feeling of self-taught philosophy, which is, of course, what the game is all about, but it does make it feel cumbersome at times, it lacks the brilliance of a game with a clearer grasp on the philosophical themes it deploys, like The Talos Principle, for instance (then again, philosophy of the mind is much more marketable as part of a videogame setting than ontology or gnosiology).
– Real player with 16.8 hrs in game
Similar to Dear Esther, but with more exploration and things to think about. The naration is done by an insane individual whom you cannot wholly trust. The narrative is about deep philosophical themes as the actions of Jonah and the rest of the world are discussed between Jonah and Leviathan. You cannot trust Jonah’s sight or mind, but you are carried by his words and reasoning. You are left piecing together the end of mankind through the notes plastered on the walls, the various markings of other people, and the scattered journals/notes of Solomon. You read about the life, philosophy and pessimism of Solomon through these lengthy notes you collect, and while slow at first, they piece together the broken world you now inhabit. Solomon’s movements are occasionally noticeable via clues in the environment, as well as the other Minotaurs that were once used to create peaceful discussion between the three factions (Guild, Unknowing and Order).
– Real player with 15.8 hrs in game
The Suicide of Rachel Foster
- Atmosphere, visuals and audio
- Super dumb story. The game goes full retard on the last twenty minutes.
– Real player with 5.8 hrs in game
There are so many good reviews on the plot and the story line and I don’t get why. Personally, the story is a huge disappointment for me. It was obvious from the start what actually happened. The ending is ridiculous - why would it end like this? As far as I’ve seen there is not much variety in the endings.
Sometimes it wasn’t clear what the hell I’m supposed to do or where to go. The place is huge, but you only need to visit couple of places.. The bug with the first crawlspace…ugh…Silly phone talks when you need to talk about various items in the room you hang up and re-dial again. There was so much potential with the ghosts in the hotel. I expected so much more from this.
– Real player with 5.8 hrs in game
Bonkey Trek Quimdung Edition
So is it QUIMDUNG or QUICKDING? I can’t keep track.
It’s really nice to see super obscure games re-released on steam, especially with the death of flash.
– Real player with 13.5 hrs in game
bonkey perishes at your fist . . .
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Cellular Harvest
This is a terrific short form game. I made sure to get all the photos and play both versions. A good hour and a half of exploration and walking.
– Real player with 1.5 hrs in game
Cellular Harvest is a short but sweet experience. It’s hard to describe much about it that you can’t see in the store page description without spoilers. It’s a dark, creepy take on the small Pokemon Snap genre!
Things to Know:
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It’s pretty short, 30 minutes. Nothing wrong with a short game, but $7 feels a little steep for something this length with no replay value. (Maybe $3-$5)
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The only difference between Green and Purple is one is day and one is night respectively. It’s just a lighting and color swap, nothing else changes.
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Deep Abyss
Deep Abyss is composed of independent chapters, connected as one structure.
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It has a unique Control that seems unfamiliar yet simple to get used to.
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Explore the deep sea and space yourself as a diver. Swim through strange yet beautiful backgrounds and music. It will give you a new gaming experience that you have not felt in other games.
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The story progresses in the form of poetry rather than a linear composition. It is a game resembling a small painting where you can achieve poetic and artistic sensibility.
Escape from the Village
walk around, pick up a couple items, 20 mins games over, nothing really other than that.
to sum it up in one word, trash
no scares, no fighting, no creatures, can’t jump, invisible walls, tiny game, totally linear.
graphics 2/10
sound 2/10
fun 0/10
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
Food Delivery Service
Food Delivery Service has promise, but does not yet feel like a proper game.
The story is interesting but that is about all it has. The play is fair to middling for a game of this price and the story means you’ll endure that quality of play for longer than you want to.
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If you have enjoyed other Kimidori games you will likely enjoy this game, but be aware that it is less polished
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If you have not played a Kimidori game, hold off on this one and play Forklift Load or Lost Egg as they are enjoyable and far more complete game experiences.
– Real player with 4.9 hrs in game
Gameplay is more fun than the story.
6/10
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game