An expanded game of Shipwrecked 64
A recovered copy of a lost game from the late 1990s about a Beaver named Bucky and his friends trying to escape from an island they crashed upon. Excerpt from the back of the original Shipwrecked Box: “BUCKY AND HIS FRIENDS NEED YOUR HELP! After a sudden crash during a routine fishing trip, Bucky ends up on a mysterious island, where his friends appear to be apprehended by a pack of wolves for disturbing the peace. Embark on a puzzle-based adventure, as Bucky wanders the vast island of Nulla Terra, helping his friends work off the damages, fix your boat, and get back home!”
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This review contains spoilers
-Interesting ARG type game with horror as the main genre.
- Got frustrating with the number pads and the obscure puzzles until you get to layer 3 where it just tells you what to do.
- The monster are actually scary on the lower levels but are really just time wasters until you wait for them to go away.
- I wish the final plot went somewhere else but we got what we got, at least there is a side plot and different interpretation of the main plot.
- Got frustrating with the number pads and the obscure puzzles until you get to layer 3 where it just tells you what to do.
- The monster are actually scary on the lower levels but are really just time wasters until you wait for them to go away.
- I wish the final plot went somewhere else but we got what we got, at least there is a side plot and different interpretation of the main plot.
Shipwrecked 64 is a indie/mascot horror game that I was following its development on for a long time. I remember playing the original version of the game a year or so ago, and being very blown away, and very impressed by what I was playing, so when I found out Shipwrecked 64 was becoming a full fledged game, I was extremely excited.
And then, the game came out. It was everything I wanted, and more. Visually, it was significantly better, character models looked better, environments looked better, the movement was better, everything was better from a technical standpoint.
The story is also really good, it's very interesting, and there's many layers to it, and many different ideas that it presents that you could theorize on, and have different ideas and theories on what really happened.
And, even though its a horror game, it's actually quite fun. The movement is just so fun in this game, that just going around your hub area, jumping around, going fast, is just extremely fun in its own right. The parkouring is also really good, and adds to the fun factor.
So, the only tiny issues I have is that the game is not that scary, the first time you get to the Plaza/Layer 3 it's quite scary. But after a while it really does wear off, and does not remain as scary as how it started.
The game is also a bit too easy, they give you lots of second chances, and ways to climb back to where you were, which makes the game much easier, there really is no ''death'' in this game, you dont lose any progress when you are captured, so it does take away from wanting to stay alive, because if you are caught nothing changes and you can get back to where you were in a few minutes.
But this is genuinely a masterpiece, the 4th wall breaks are amazing as well. How it interacts with your PC is groundbreaking, and I hope what Shipwrecked 64 did now, will inspire a developer to improve upon, and go a step further with the meta-horror in the future. As it stands now, this is one of the best indie horror games ever made, both from a playing standpoint, and an actual technical/objective standpoint.
Also, this game was primarily made by an 18 year old, let that sink in. The amount of creativity in this is crazy, and how expansive it is, is also crazy. Knowing an 18 year old made this is actually mind blowing, this developer really has something going for the future.
Overall: 10/10
And then, the game came out. It was everything I wanted, and more. Visually, it was significantly better, character models looked better, environments looked better, the movement was better, everything was better from a technical standpoint.
The story is also really good, it's very interesting, and there's many layers to it, and many different ideas that it presents that you could theorize on, and have different ideas and theories on what really happened.
And, even though its a horror game, it's actually quite fun. The movement is just so fun in this game, that just going around your hub area, jumping around, going fast, is just extremely fun in its own right. The parkouring is also really good, and adds to the fun factor.
So, the only tiny issues I have is that the game is not that scary, the first time you get to the Plaza/Layer 3 it's quite scary. But after a while it really does wear off, and does not remain as scary as how it started.
The game is also a bit too easy, they give you lots of second chances, and ways to climb back to where you were, which makes the game much easier, there really is no ''death'' in this game, you dont lose any progress when you are captured, so it does take away from wanting to stay alive, because if you are caught nothing changes and you can get back to where you were in a few minutes.
But this is genuinely a masterpiece, the 4th wall breaks are amazing as well. How it interacts with your PC is groundbreaking, and I hope what Shipwrecked 64 did now, will inspire a developer to improve upon, and go a step further with the meta-horror in the future. As it stands now, this is one of the best indie horror games ever made, both from a playing standpoint, and an actual technical/objective standpoint.
Also, this game was primarily made by an 18 year old, let that sink in. The amount of creativity in this is crazy, and how expansive it is, is also crazy. Knowing an 18 year old made this is actually mind blowing, this developer really has something going for the future.
Overall: 10/10
This review contains spoilers
This is a really tough one to rate. On one hand, the story is engaging and I really appreciate all the unique ways it is told throughout, and on the other hand there are some glaring flaws that ultimately had a somewhat negative impact on my immersion, without ruining it outright. Here are just some of my scattered thoughts on this wild ride of a game.
- Love when something in-game causes something else to happen on your computer or outside the parameters of the game window, such as opening up tabs, launching videos and even downloads, and even going as far as to send you a friend request on the Epic Game Store. Original, and honestly pretty terrifying.
- Forces you to lose mini games in order to progress the story, which I thought was cool.
- Scares run the gamut from simple atmospheric horror, to over-the-top jump scares. It's all over the place, and I love that.
- Use of the otherwise empty black bars on the sides of the screen is really creative and spooky.
But there are some downsides.
- Platforming can be annoying at times, especially wall jumping. Needs a little more polish.
- Most of the gameplay is more or less finding passcodes and inputting them correctly to progress, yet some of the solutions to these are SUPER convoluted (which I guess is the point, but ruins momentum).
- Probably my biggest gripe comes in the later layers of the game, when you are tasked with outmaneuvering and sneaking by the monsters. What starts as a genuinely creepy part loses its charm when hiding from the monsters, which can be for MINUTES at a time in one spot. Like I'll hide in a tube and wait for them to disappear which can literally take up to 5 minutes. Makes my mentality go from "oh this is scary, let me avoid them" to "I don't care if I get jump-scared I just want to progress." Really this can be fixed to be slightly more forgiving for a better overall experience.
Overall, despite these flaws, I would recommend this for anyone interested in a horror game that takes an unusual approach to storytelling.
- Love when something in-game causes something else to happen on your computer or outside the parameters of the game window, such as opening up tabs, launching videos and even downloads, and even going as far as to send you a friend request on the Epic Game Store. Original, and honestly pretty terrifying.
- Forces you to lose mini games in order to progress the story, which I thought was cool.
- Scares run the gamut from simple atmospheric horror, to over-the-top jump scares. It's all over the place, and I love that.
- Use of the otherwise empty black bars on the sides of the screen is really creative and spooky.
But there are some downsides.
- Platforming can be annoying at times, especially wall jumping. Needs a little more polish.
- Most of the gameplay is more or less finding passcodes and inputting them correctly to progress, yet some of the solutions to these are SUPER convoluted (which I guess is the point, but ruins momentum).
- Probably my biggest gripe comes in the later layers of the game, when you are tasked with outmaneuvering and sneaking by the monsters. What starts as a genuinely creepy part loses its charm when hiding from the monsters, which can be for MINUTES at a time in one spot. Like I'll hide in a tube and wait for them to disappear which can literally take up to 5 minutes. Makes my mentality go from "oh this is scary, let me avoid them" to "I don't care if I get jump-scared I just want to progress." Really this can be fixed to be slightly more forgiving for a better overall experience.
Overall, despite these flaws, I would recommend this for anyone interested in a horror game that takes an unusual approach to storytelling.
2 ARGs in a row that are this good is a massive achievement
even if myhouse.wad is better i would 3000% recommend
These type of games are something else
9/10
even if myhouse.wad is better i would 3000% recommend
These type of games are something else
9/10
This review contains spoilers
Shipwreck 64 is a unique attempt at a palpable "youtube series" video game ARG that I quite enjoyed. It's friendly introduction to a more sinister depth, common and expected, surprisingly kept me engaged with cypher puzzles, exploration, and out-side-the-box thinking.
The game craftily places expectations of how the game should be with two in-game versions. The 2024 version, which is described as the way the planned game was intended, and the 1997 version where all the spooks and scares appear but can only be accessed after playing the 2024 version. This seemed odd to me at first but after finishing the game I realized that the 2024 version was implemented to comfort me in the world, to show me what was seen as natural and normal before changing it in the next version. It slowly, but without stopping, pushes you more and more deeper into the game. Changes being more and more apperent to the point you almost forget what "normal" is, which I deeply enjoyed.
The developers must have loved working with the ARG aspect of the game, as is shown through the effort and passion was put to every aspect. For example, you can find a computer that'll take you to a custom designed hand-written guide by two of the ingame characters on your default browser which made looking through it more of a spectacle and wonder.
My main issue with the game derives from the story, which I initially fell in love with but quickly fell out of said love. It's main premise being extremely believable and easily translated as a real life event. The quick run down being that an animation studio that had a history of covered up incidents and deaths in its theme park hired a game company to develop for them and hopefully boost attention and financial gain. After 2 years the CEO disliked the game that was presented and cut funding, leading to the head developer, in anger and disbelief, to disappear and finish the game by himself, but implementing exposure of the company's darker side. A story I thought could be told as a real event and be believable which I adored. However, deeper digging into the game reveales aspects of "undead spirits returning" and "immortality experiments" which I am frankly sick of at this point of recycled horror slop :/
My experience playing it was along side my brother, keeping paper and pencil near until we filled it with marks and scribbles keeping track of lore, important locations, cypher translations and doodles will be absolutely unforgettable. Coming across new events and solving difficult puzzles were my favorite to watch with my brother, as we looked back and forth at each other soyjacking at new information that connected/solved a previous piece of text or screaming at a scare will stick to my heart
Overall, the gameplay, atmosphere, and interactivity is phenomenal although very simple. The writing is grand and overall quality shows for itself. The game only falters in a story that could be great but fell flat so quickly. (Also bugs and glitches would be appear more than wished and be very cumbersome, but my brother had to be the one to deal with em, not me, so I didn't mind :B)
The game craftily places expectations of how the game should be with two in-game versions. The 2024 version, which is described as the way the planned game was intended, and the 1997 version where all the spooks and scares appear but can only be accessed after playing the 2024 version. This seemed odd to me at first but after finishing the game I realized that the 2024 version was implemented to comfort me in the world, to show me what was seen as natural and normal before changing it in the next version. It slowly, but without stopping, pushes you more and more deeper into the game. Changes being more and more apperent to the point you almost forget what "normal" is, which I deeply enjoyed.
The developers must have loved working with the ARG aspect of the game, as is shown through the effort and passion was put to every aspect. For example, you can find a computer that'll take you to a custom designed hand-written guide by two of the ingame characters on your default browser which made looking through it more of a spectacle and wonder.
My main issue with the game derives from the story, which I initially fell in love with but quickly fell out of said love. It's main premise being extremely believable and easily translated as a real life event. The quick run down being that an animation studio that had a history of covered up incidents and deaths in its theme park hired a game company to develop for them and hopefully boost attention and financial gain. After 2 years the CEO disliked the game that was presented and cut funding, leading to the head developer, in anger and disbelief, to disappear and finish the game by himself, but implementing exposure of the company's darker side. A story I thought could be told as a real event and be believable which I adored. However, deeper digging into the game reveales aspects of "undead spirits returning" and "immortality experiments" which I am frankly sick of at this point of recycled horror slop :/
My experience playing it was along side my brother, keeping paper and pencil near until we filled it with marks and scribbles keeping track of lore, important locations, cypher translations and doodles will be absolutely unforgettable. Coming across new events and solving difficult puzzles were my favorite to watch with my brother, as we looked back and forth at each other soyjacking at new information that connected/solved a previous piece of text or screaming at a scare will stick to my heart
Overall, the gameplay, atmosphere, and interactivity is phenomenal although very simple. The writing is grand and overall quality shows for itself. The game only falters in a story that could be great but fell flat so quickly. (Also bugs and glitches would be appear more than wished and be very cumbersome, but my brother had to be the one to deal with em, not me, so I didn't mind :B)
I played this with my brother over Discord over two weekends and it was one of the most fun cooperative experiences I've ever had. He works nights so on his off nights we'd stay up until 3-4 AM trying to crack this game's many puzzles and I'll tell you right now they are not easy. Seriously, get ready to get the notepad out because you'll need it. This is a game that not only desires your undivided attention but it is absolutely required if you want to complete this game. Him and I truly got stumped a couple times but we eventually made it through. It is such a rewarding experience.
As a follower of ARGs for a while it was so much fun getting to feel like I was part of one for once instead of being a bystander like I usually am. It's $8 entrance fee is well worth the price. Support the creator and his years of hard work and give it a try; you will not regret it.
As a follower of ARGs for a while it was so much fun getting to feel like I was part of one for once instead of being a bystander like I usually am. It's $8 entrance fee is well worth the price. Support the creator and his years of hard work and give it a try; you will not regret it.