The Peterson Case
You look at the case files strewn across your desk, the green lamp illuminating the coffee stains that disfigure the wood. The radio plays the news quietly in the background. The Peterson Family… missing for over a week; no trace, little evidence. Passed from one detective to another, finally coming to rest in peace on your desk.
Going over the paperwork, something gnaws at you; people don’t just disappear into thin air. Something is always left behind. We always leave something behind.
The radio picks up, yet another tale of little green men and flying saucers. You tell yourself it’s a load of baloney, but truthfully it creeps you out as much as everyone else. Closing the case files, you pick up your hat and prepare yourself. This afternoon you’re going to The Peterson’s home to conduct a final search. Your intention to find them… dead or alive.
Once Upon A Time In Roswell is a first-person psychological horror game. Delve deep into the strange world of Roswell, New Mexico as you embark on an investigation to find a family who have been missing for more than a week. Uncover horrific flashbacks of war, and beings not of this earth. Realize the terrible truth that has consumed the Peterson Family, whilst you walk through their ever-changing home and memories, battling your own identity and purpose.
• Explore a deep story
From the streets of Paris to the mines of Roswell, traverse through rich and atmospheric environments.
• Investigate
Find evidence and play through different memories of what could have happened to the family.
• Survive
Sneak past and survive various enemies that may want more than your life.
Read More: Best Walking Simulator Action Games.
Loveland
Detective, we have received reports of kidnapping and cult activity centered around a small trailer park on the outskirts of Loveland, Ohio. The members of this cult are lead by Pastor Abram, a recently denounced minister for the Heartland Church of Christ. Pastor Abram has experienced a sudden change in his demeanor, exhibited by his increasingly radical sermons in which he proclaims that frogs will save God’s children from extinction.
We believe that this may be the actions of an anomalous creature.
Take on the role of an Agency Detective, as you explore a rural trailer park in Loveland, Ohio, and uncover the secrets of a frog-worshipping cult.
Every decision has a consequence. It’s up to you how this story will end.
Loveland is inspired by cult classics such as Deus Ex & the X-Files. By blending immersive simulations with the psychological thrills of beings beyond our understanding, Loveland delivers an engrossing experience that will have you playing through the story multiple times.
Psychological Horror
Dive deep into the depravity of a religious mind, corrupted, as you uncover the horrific fate of the many members of the Loveland Cove Cult.
Non-Linear Gameplay
You are open to investigate the Loveland Cove Trailer Park in whatever way you see fit. Whether you do the bare minimum, or leave no stone unturned, the choice is up to you.
Multiple Endings
Do not expect your actions to go without consequence. There are multiple outcomes to how this story can go.
Immersive Aesthetic
Engulf yourself in the sights and sounds of a warm summer night in rural Ohio as you traverse through the eerily quite trailer park known as Loveland Cove.
Read More: Best Walking Simulator Immersive Sim Games.
D.W. Dagger: Chapter One
A noir first-person murder mystery set in a gloomy 1947 Pacific Northwest city. Play as the renowned Detective D.W. Dagger to help solve his latest case. A violent murder, a possible suicide, and a handful of suspects.
Can you deduce what happened?
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As the first case in the upcoming series, test your deductive reasoning skills to piece together the truth of a new violent crime.
Taking inspiration from video games like “Gone Home” and “What Remains of Edith Finch,” as well as the board game classic “Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective,” you follow the narrative told through evidence found within the crime scene. As the lead detective, you must find suspects, determine which evidence helps your case and which hurts it, and ultimately, determine who committed the gruesome act.
This is a small, first case to give players an idea of what the larger series entails. It takes around 30-45 minutes to finish, depending on your detective skills! There is no randomized evidence or alternate paths, so once you complete it, that’s it.
Original Soundtrack by Corey Teply
Read More: Best Walking Simulator Noir Games.
Rainswept
Rainswept provides an overall enjoyable experience but suffers from a lack of consistency in what is otherwise a mostly-polished piece of interactive fiction.
You need to go into this with the mindset that you’re about to watch a movie, not necessarily something that’s groundbreaking or will blow you away, but at least delivers on the genre by giving you all the things you expect at it from face value.
Yes, you will be required to show Detective Stone around a small town and click on various interactables as the investigation of an apparent murder-suicide plays out before you, but the developers make it clear from the start that they have a story to tell you, and a specific order of events in which they want to tell it in.
– Real player with 8.4 hrs in game
*This review is for v1.1.5a
Playing status: 100% achievement, ~3x playthroughs
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (11 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Intro
Rainswept is a text-heavy adventure game where you have to investigate a murder that is happening in a small town.
Pros:
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2 endings with minor story branching
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Freedom to explore the area in any order that you want
Cons:
- No fast forward for most dialogues
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
This review is for both The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux. I’ve played both games, they are the same, the redux version has better graphics and some small interface differences. At the end of this review i explain more about the differences*.
More than 20 years ago, when i first played Myst i remember thinking, well, this game seems cool and all, specially the graphics, the story is very vague…and i don’t really see too many things to do…i hope i soon have some things to do.. because if i don’t i’m not so sure this is gonna work out….aand, of course, turns out, in myst, i did have some/several things to do, but in an original and unexpected way and there was a story, although not like you were expecting it to be, and it became one of the most known adventure games of the 90s (even though, it wasn’t considered an adventure by many…). And that’s fine, because the game was anything but a normal adventure, it was something else. You could like it, or hate it, but it was difficult to remain indifferent (once you played it).
– Real player with 5.7 hrs in game
Paul Prospero, a detective with a unique skillset, is called towards a piece of fan mail as though the sirens themselves would emerge the moment he sliced the licked adhesive apart. A boy named Ethan Carter writes to him, detailing some dark happenings in the hidden countryside town he resides in. Paul realizes that Ethan wouldn’t have chosen him if these dark things wouldn’t require his particular abilities. His last case shall be this one, Paul decides, and sets out to the breezy hillsides of Red Creek Valley. Within minutes of arriving, he comes across a series of potentially deadly traps in the woods just on the outskirts of town. This case will be anything but ordinary for most people, but Paul Prospero is used to it.
– Real player with 5.1 hrs in game
Virginia
Worst outcome from the entire affair is the more I look into them and play them, less tolerance I have for walking simulators as such. Which is a shame because Virginia is honestly quite a good one. High production values all-around and obvious effort went into this project. It’s also a walking simulator seemingly hellbent on setting your pace and putting its intentionally jumbled narrative ahead of everything else it may have had to offer.
So, what’s cooking? We step into the shoes of one Anne Tarver, fresh FBI graduate who just got her first case assignment. Paired up with a more experienced partner the two embark to a fictional town of Kingdom where they are to investigate a missing child case. Twist is Anne’s superior instructs her to keep a close eye on her new partner, Maria Halperin. She may have some secrets of her own. That’s the premise and what we have to work with for a while, but as the game itself quickly reveals, there’s more underway and you can’t tell WHEN a lot of it is happening. So don’t let anyone tell you there’s no story in Virginia because there sure is. It’s simply told in this fragmented fashion where everything will only click towards the finale as you get context for game’s multiple events.
– Real player with 4.2 hrs in game
As much as I’m an old school action, adventure and RPG gamer from ‘85 onward, I got heavily into point n’ click/investigative mystery games as time went on. Even in more mixed offerings from the genre like The Suicide of Rachel Foster or the pretty ho-hum Call of Cthulhu redux I can usually find enough mystery elements to stay engaged.
Virginia is a detective game where I didn’t feel like a detective the entire playthrough. I didn’t even feel like I was the janitor on hire to clean out the department’s bathrooms. The Twin Peaks' vibes are strong with this one, there’s a touch of Kubrick happening as well but juvenile, thuddingly heavy-handed cliches and plot twists so insulting the ending may as well be the main character f*rting in your face, absolutely destroy any momentum that the game might have worked up.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
The Painscreek Killings
Summary
Fantastic adventure game with only minor flaws. Play time for me was around 15 hours or so plus another couple of hours for finding the last few items that I had missed originally.
You are playing a journalist who investigates a series of murders that happened a few years back and were never solved. The majority of the game consists of searching through various locations for letters, notes and other clues that allow you to piece together the events that led to the murders and identify the killer. The game is fairly non-linear, most locations are available right from the start although there are quite a few rooms and a handful of areas that you first have to unlock (literally, i.e. you need to find a key/code).
– Real player with 17.7 hrs in game
Walking simulator that quickly evolves from liesurely exploration of an abandoned gated community into a full-blown murder mystery adventure game.
Every place has its secrets. Every suspect is hiding something. Look through drawers, cupboards, the homes and belongings of the persons you are investigating to lead you closer to truth.
You play as an investigative reporter with one simple objective: Solve a cold case file by determining who killed wealthy socialite philanthropist Vivian Roberts and provide a front page photo. Can you find the murder weapon? Can you learn the whole truth about what happened in the now vacant Painscreek?
– Real player with 15.9 hrs in game
Inexplicable Deaths In Damipolis: Inner Thoughts
This game is in an unplayable, buggy state. It is my opinion that this game should not have been released in the state that it’s in. Some bugs that you’ll encounter:
-Does not appear to recognize controllers
-Both English and Espanol language options are labeled “Espanol.”
-“Notes” menu completely non-functional.
-Many inventory items are labeled “Placeholder” when trying to view.
-Getting trapped in menus is a common occurrence, causing user to have to force-shutdown game.
-Inventory items randomly disappear.
– Real player with 2.2 hrs in game
everybody dead, whodunnit? not only is this a question regarding the story of inexplicable deaths in damipolis, but it also applies to the game itself. everything is pretty much broken, and I guess people mentioned in the credits dunnit. they had one whole tester, which explains a lot, and I’m sure kickstarter backers are ecstatic about the result.
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Bohemian Killing
During my playthrough I think this game is quite promising and is unfair in dumbing the product down based on some rough edges. I reminisce on Depths of Fear :: Knossos and how a really good indie game got really, really harsh criticism just for trying to be different and proposing something new. The game had quite a few updates, but still needs polish IMHO.
This is just one of those games like Facade from 2005 or like The Path that proposes something very different and questions traditional approach to gameplay and mechanics. It offers a different theme to crime and detective stories inversing things making the trial at court the ultimate battle, not just a sidekick.
– Real player with 12.6 hrs in game
Brief
This game is amazing. I loved all of it. I would recommend this game at it’s price or on sale definitely as a must-get if you enjoy these styles of games. Even 100%ed the achievements so I could see every ending and know all the details. There are some issues with this game though that I have. Though the bugs I did run into were mostly minor even though they could easily be game breaking. I will keep information about very specific instances minimal due to spoilers.
Pros
– Real player with 9.2 hrs in game
Soul Delivery
Soul delivery is a narrative platformer focused on exploration, story, and interaction. This is a cozy game for every sci-fi story fan that doesn’t require you to be especially reactive. Your choices will affect the story.
The story takes place in a neon city in the future. You wake up as a work unit robot, without knowing who you are and what is going on, you are assigned to a mission right away: delivering an anonymous package to a mysterious robot. As you venture out into the night, the story about humans and AI behind this world starts to unfold.
FEATURES:
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Talk to robots with dynamic options to explore the story of this mysterious world. Make choices that affect the story.
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Upload your consciousness to different bodies, wield their abilities.(Not in the demo)
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Solve puzzles to advance the story.
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Enjoy beautiful 2D graphics generated from 3D models with dynamic lighting.
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No violence, no shooting, and fighting. This game doesn’t require you to be especially reactive.
ABOUT THE DEVELOPER:
Hi, I’m single-minded Ryan.
I used to work as a web designer and part-time programmer. Now I’m trying become a solo game developer.
As an English learner, I consider this game to be a milestone in my English learning process.
This also means you might find the dialogue to be a little bit off or filled with a lot of mistakes.
Please help me improve this game by providing suggestions regarding the language, thanks.