Gone Home
Sometimes I worry when my opinion on an especially beloved piece of work differs from that of the overwhelming majority of game reviewers. I wonder if perhaps I’ve missed something along the way. I think to myself “Did I play this the wrong way?” or “Was I not paying close enough attention?” BioShock Infinite, with its near universally high review scores and fleeting comparisons to Citizen Kane, was a recent example of the difference in opinion I felt with professional game critics. I found Infinite to be uneven, with the emphasis on narrative being overshadowed by the disconnect between it and the gameplay.
– Real player with 10.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Walking Simulator Indie Games.
Gone Home is a first-person exploration game set in the 90’s in which you play through the eyes of 21 year old Katie. After spending a year overseas she returns to her family home only to discover there is nobody there to greet her. Pinned to the front door she finds a letter written by her younger sister Samantha telling her to not come look for her, but Katie decides otherwise.
Estimated reading time: 2,5 minutes.
Sounds interesting, tell me more.
It’s hard to talk more about the plot without majorly spoiling the important bits of the story, so I’ll focus on the gameplay and presentation instead.
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game
White Mirror
White Mirror is Infernal Dream’s third indie horror game - not that I played the ones before yet - and just one of those mediocre 15 minute hits on horror with really, really, REALLY bad narrative translation. For the record, my play time is for the pure purpose of dropping game cards. It might have been a recommendation if you are a strict horror games collector who wouldn’t mind the lack of a story, but for the ordinary gamer who’d enjoy a decent horror, this clearly is not it.
Our game here has the implication of a story through some notes scattered around the environment, but the narrative translation is so genuinely bad, I’d be fascinated if someone would be able to understand who is who, and what’s been going on. From the fragmented word usage in the notes, I’ve manage to gather that our hero is some kind of an occult collector/artifact hunter in search of an item called “The White Mirror”. His search leads him to our starting area, a seemingly abandoned house. There is someone called Martin leaving us most of the notes, and I guess that’s an informant of some sorts. As we go further into the house, we’ll discover the mention of another person - P.G. - who should have been the former proprietor of the said mirror… and no, said mirror won’t even make an appearance in this 15 minute horror shot.
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Walking Simulator Indie Games.
White Mirror is another game made by the creator of My Bones and it’s just as bad.
White Mirror puts you in the shoes of a man looking for an ancient mirror in a house and that’s pretty much the basic plot.
Now I don’t know why this guy keeps making the same game over and over again, as I stated in my My Bones review all the games this guy makes end up being more or less the same, but they take place in a different environment.
But unlike My Bones this game is somewhat is a game. You have stealth segments, puzzles (if you can call them that) to solve and in general it feels like a true game, but the more you play the more the problems show up.
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
Wooden House
For this review I will talk about my reviews.
I am none-native english speaker and I use steam review to practice my english. It generally worked out for me and I even have a few small review fans that like to read them. Which made me very happy. I feel bad that a lot of my spelling and grammer is bad but I don’t overly concerned to fix every single one of them because i am not selling my review for money.
This game however is selling for money on steam. Very well made small indie horror game by a none-native developer that put in a lot work for the enviroment, music, sound effect and terrible english.
– Real player with 4.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Walking Simulator Indie Games.
GDNomad strikes yet again, with another really bad horror game.
Story:
You play as a man who wants to get away from every day life and decides to take a retreat to their new home, but after a night there you notice there’s some spooky things going on and that’s where the story kicks off.
The story is atrocious and is insanely hard to follow and you barely know what’s going on, because of the most notorious staple of GDNomads games, THE BROKEN ENGLISH. Pretty much every sentence written has poor english grammar that makes it hard to actually understand what is going on.
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
The Graveyard
First of all:
Before buy this game, play the demo. The only diference from the complete version is that, in the complete version the old lady dies. And it is not a spoiler, it is told in game. So when you buy it (if you buy) you won’t feel cheated and you will know that you bought just for support indie and artistic games.
Probably, when you play The Graveyard you will say: Man! What the fuck is that?! - And, ironicly, that’s why I recomend this game.
Yeah… I said that too. However I played it several times wondering what Tale of Tales was trying to do when they made this, and I think I know the answer.
– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game
Tags: Adventure - WS - Walking Simulator
Additional Tags: Delete Local Content & Remove from Library
TLDR: Misguided wanna-be art barely interactive 5 minutes title
Review:
What the game wants to be:
A videogame rendition of the inescapable fatalism inherent with mortality. A look on the frailty of life in a classy black and white rendition of an old woman at the twilight of her existence accompanied with indie folk music from the eastern block
What the game actually is:
A cheap 3D models map with unconvincing tree sway to simulate wind in which you clumsily turtle an elderly person to a bench have them sit, sit through a song of dubious talent and choose to either exit ASAP or see the old woman die. The death was incredibly telegraphed. The song has no subtely whatsoever, tries to have to gritty edge by mentionning people dying of cancer or having lung problems and making vague references to acid on concrete. It is not even gritty enough to really feel morbid, nor is it actually well handled enough to make you feel connected to anything from the nihilistic school of philosophers. It really is just a crude, smack you across the face with references to death while you stare at a semi transparent shot of a bad 3D model of an old person.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
Pluviophile
First, I’ll mention that this is only a slight negative review, and mostly for reasons of polish. Given how cheap it is, if you like rain, and have any interest in an imaginary walk through a (mostly) rainy woods, it’s probably worth it.
Now, for the criticisms:
First, the mechanic of needing to collect a very brightly glowing thingamajig and take it to a stone slab to continue seems very out of place. Instead of a nice walk through a rainy woods, you’re interrupted by a series of inconspicuous dead ends that get magically opened up, for no apparent reason. This is exacerbated by the fact that the first one actually points you in the exact opposite direction of the path it opens.
– Real player with 2.2 hrs in game
This game is amazing!
Yes, its a short experience but its a good one. If you ever want to wander around in another world, this is the “game” for you. No killing stuff, no scary stuff. Just a forest and some rain.
You can escape to this world whenever you like. Just hit the play button.
This world looks gourgeous and it reminds me of the thought I had for many years already: if only there were more short linear games again. Nowadays everything needs to have a large and open world. Many of the processing progresses go to that.
– Real player with 1.6 hrs in game
After Life - Story of a Father
This title is not as much of a game as it is an interactive story. The mechanics are rather simple, as a disembodied soul you float around different areas and look for places that trigger memories that help you experience the life of the protagonist, Rick. The plot is fairly simple and does not take too many twists and turns, although I don’t think that was the intention. This type of storytelling is more about finding intrigue and interest in the mundane. It would be the same experience as going through the personal items of a long deceased relative and piecing together the type of person they were.
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
After Life is a small walking simulator. You are a bodyess soul of a father who wants to see his family’s future. You have a guide who helps you to collect memories of your family. Te whole playtime takes about 3 hours. The story is solid. The visuals are good but there are a few glitches. Sometimes you can see the next room through the walls. The audio is perfect. The worst part of the game is the beacon system shows the important locations. In the 2nd chapter the rain effect makes it hard to see. In the 4th chapter, you can’t see any beacons because you’re in a huge house. I mean big when I say big. I think it’s 800 m2 or so. Plus, it’s really dark inside and it makes so easy to get lost. There is an audible guiding system also but it’s not as efficient as the beacons. If you like the walking simulators and interactive fictionI highly recommend the After Life. Personally, the most brilliant part of the game was the dog’s thoughts. I really like it.
– Real player with 3.5 hrs in game
Evangeline™
FIrst let me start off with I normally dont even take a second look at these kinds of games. But being from the area that the game is based on I figured I would give it a try and I am glad I did. It is a very heartfelt and compassionate narative on love and life. Take it slow, read everything, and think about those around you in your life that mean something to you and maybe you will cry just like me. Well done Racantour games, im excited to see what you do next.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
This game is far too aimless for it’s own good and the most significant story/emotional beat is comprised of one single segment at the very end of the experience. The rest of the 20-30 minutes you spend will be walking around reading like 10 random notes that tell extremely simple and vague stories that are underdeveloped, uninteresting and completely separate from the ending. The game also has this thing about color, but for the life of me I can’t discern what sort of meaning or symbolism they were trying to make because the colors seem to just randomly come and go and don’t have any real pattern or development over the course of the game. It’s also segmented by days, but none of the days build to anything, none of the side stories lead to any interesting revelations, and well… nothing happens. I understand that there was a personal story behind this and the devs wanted to stress the importance of love (which is a nice sentiment) but that doesn’t change the fact that this game is as aimless as they come.
– Real player with 1.0 hrs in game
Plague Doctor: Contagion 430 BCE–2020 AD
Plague Doctor Contagion, was a short and sweet retelling of different pandemics through time. I greatly enjoyed the music in the game, the graphics are nothing special but still stylized in a unique way I wont forget soon, and the game play could do with more interactivity (examples could be, puzzles, finding objects to help people, or having your decisions affect your outcomes in a more prominent sense.).
For $3 this game is not bad, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the descriptions of the diseases and what they were doing to people, and I liked seeing history played out in front of me like they did.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
You can pet the dog
10/10 Game Of The Year
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
The Gardens Between
Imagine playing with a very beautifully illustrated and intricate pop-up book. That is about as good a description I can give you for what The Gardens Between is. You can close and open the page to make things move backwards and forwards. But seeing as this is a digital pop-up book we can add some other mechanics too such as using lanterns to clear fog which would have otherwise been blocking your way. We can spin a dial to mess with the chronological order of other things independent of us….and just in general we can manipulate time to solve puzzles and uncover a fully relaxing and heartwarming story of two friends who love each other.
– Real player with 7.8 hrs in game
The first time I loaded The Gardens Between and saw the title screen, I knew I was in for something special. I was reminded immediately of the initial screen for “Braid” a game that I constantly referred back to for The Gardens Between. And like “Braid”, The Gardens Between is a beautiful puzzle game that often uses time as a mechanic and rewards patience, interest and pondering of the tales we tell ourselves of our rose-tinted youth.
The Gardens Between is a universal story then, all told without a script, dialogue or any written words whatsoever. As you journey with our young friends, Arina and Frendt, you get a sense of their personality and their enduring friendship and moments together, through objects that make up the levels and the snippets of moments they share when each is completed.
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
4PM
Do they hand out gaming awards Willy Nilly in Brighton? How much brown nosing did the developer do to get an award for this pile of dung? The developer can be found here… https://twitter.com/BojanBrbora
4pm is the type of game after having finished it, not only will you want a complete refund, but you will also want to be compensated for time spent playing it, maybe in the way of a $10.00 gift card at Bunnings. In fact we should make that a law here on Steam, so that less and less trash keeps building up.
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game
I recognise this game deals with some very serious issues. I also understand that this alone does not make it immune to criticism.
My thoughts are mixed. The game was short, and conveyed a powerful message. Succinct, and direct. But the dialogue was not particularly inspired, and felt forced.
The story being played over the course of a day I did like, and the revelations at the end were also thought-provoking. However, these high points are truly offset by the fact that the game is entirely played while the camera is criminally defocused. Yes, I recognise this does convey the feeling of someone who is ‘defocused’ in the head, as it were - the same with the unresponsive controls. I GET IT. That does however make for a vastly frustrating gaming experience. Enjoying a video game isn’t always about having fun all of the time - some of my favourite games are true heart-wrenchers - but sadly due to the fact that this particular game has all of the right ingredients, but frustrating execution means that I really had to force myself to finish it. Any longer and I daresay I’d not have had the patience.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game