very first characters you run into are three dudes listening to an instrumental cloud rap beat talkin about "finding the light" and "money". this was how all you drainers sounded like to me back in 2016. the good (low fidelity, usage of vaporwave/cloud rap/house music, smoke button) works here more than the bad (a bludgeoning of an ending, "loneliness +1", a general briefness). some striking moments like goin on a elliptical bender in a coastal town & getting really nervous eating potato chips around girls. think the ennui ultimately misses the mark for me in a way that other games with similar experiences don't though--the mood feels so particular to a college-adjacent early 20s anxiety & somehow too abstract to strike a real nerve. the ending convo is going for the jugular on a certain type of person but it feels a lil tacky in how subdued the rest of the experience is. VtM:B still clears for climatic conversations with a taxi driver i fear. i liked it enough to be invested in sad3d's other works when they go on sale tho.
Drowning In Problems if it wasn't made by a hateful person (there's even a "mechanic" here that could be somewhat compared to the one on that game). Still, some of those nihilistic sentiments are present but followed with what is a positive and much-needed reflection on them. Featuring commentary on escapism and loneliness, and the Slav setting that works as a conduit for them (I see people on steam getting tangled in its setting, but I don't think this is really about that), with a great ambiance and song choices... I think this will stick in my mind just by the music.
Watched a few playthroughs to see if I missed any details, and it's interesting to notice how the overall message also works on a meta-level. With the players that don't take time to soak in the game's world and don't interact with the people end up not finding much meaning in it (this was something I forgot to mention with A Short Hike, now that I remember).
Btw, consider turning off the pixelation filter once you start playing... made me dizzy as hell by the end.
Watched a few playthroughs to see if I missed any details, and it's interesting to notice how the overall message also works on a meta-level. With the players that don't take time to soak in the game's world and don't interact with the people end up not finding much meaning in it (this was something I forgot to mention with A Short Hike, now that I remember).
Btw, consider turning off the pixelation filter once you start playing... made me dizzy as hell by the end.
Neyasnoe is a walking sim with a focus on post-soviet generational malaise - a deep dissatisfaction with life manifesting itself through apathy and escapism. Drinking and dancing. Wandering and, perhaps most importantly of all, zoning out.
There’s very little explicit story in Neyasnoe – small interactions with mostly single-lined NPCs make up the bulk of your interactions through the first two levels, though the game caps off its focus on loneliness and introspection in its final two acts, through a poetry reading and extended conversation with a taxi driver.
The game’s themes work best when implicit, rather than the exposition dumps that the aforementioned poetry and conversation confer. Instead, the game feels at its strongest when wandering the suburbs or the city, navigating back alleys and loud bars, eavesdropping on couples or friends as they try and untangle their unease in the company of another.
Standing at the outskirts of the town, with the buildings to your back, the world outside seems positively lunar. Gray buildings turn to equally gray topography with nary a remark, emphasizing the cold loneliness of it all. These same buildings too, seem to echo the warped structure of the institution of their birth, the polygons warping and curving upwards rather than following intended blocky lines.
There’s an innate haziness at the core of Neyasnoe that I am absolutely delighted by. Opening the skills menu to be greeted with loneliness, corporeality, and reflextion. Time and time again doors lead into impossible spaces, dumping you out in disparate corners of each level.
Neyasnoe embraces the inherent artifice of its design though, with the game divided into discrete “levels” - invisible walls made visible, striped in a banner of “you can’t be here”
Neyasnoe is utterly content with leaving everything to the player. There are no signposts, there are no explicit goals. You almost assuredly already understand if this is a game that will or will not work for you. If you’re okay with this, I think Neyasnoe is a fantastic entry into sadboi vibe pieces and would wholeheartedly recommend.
There’s very little explicit story in Neyasnoe – small interactions with mostly single-lined NPCs make up the bulk of your interactions through the first two levels, though the game caps off its focus on loneliness and introspection in its final two acts, through a poetry reading and extended conversation with a taxi driver.
The game’s themes work best when implicit, rather than the exposition dumps that the aforementioned poetry and conversation confer. Instead, the game feels at its strongest when wandering the suburbs or the city, navigating back alleys and loud bars, eavesdropping on couples or friends as they try and untangle their unease in the company of another.
Standing at the outskirts of the town, with the buildings to your back, the world outside seems positively lunar. Gray buildings turn to equally gray topography with nary a remark, emphasizing the cold loneliness of it all. These same buildings too, seem to echo the warped structure of the institution of their birth, the polygons warping and curving upwards rather than following intended blocky lines.
There’s an innate haziness at the core of Neyasnoe that I am absolutely delighted by. Opening the skills menu to be greeted with loneliness, corporeality, and reflextion. Time and time again doors lead into impossible spaces, dumping you out in disparate corners of each level.
Neyasnoe embraces the inherent artifice of its design though, with the game divided into discrete “levels” - invisible walls made visible, striped in a banner of “you can’t be here”
Neyasnoe is utterly content with leaving everything to the player. There are no signposts, there are no explicit goals. You almost assuredly already understand if this is a game that will or will not work for you. If you’re okay with this, I think Neyasnoe is a fantastic entry into sadboi vibe pieces and would wholeheartedly recommend.
In a cold spring night, I opened my window just a bit in hopes of catching some of my chain-smoking neighbor's cigarette smoke in my apartment for the second playthrough of this game, as I don't smoke myself. Maybe I should?
For me, this game captures the melancholic feeling of why it's so good to be alive while reminding about the pointlessness of one's existence in modern society.
The aesthetics and sound design tingle my neurons so well that I want to become one with it. It's as fleeting as the blue hour, yet like any stunning mood in the world, it can't last long at a time.
(damn I'm on a roll with this review)
In short: the game is brilliant if you dig the mood it's delivering. :)
For me, this game captures the melancholic feeling of why it's so good to be alive while reminding about the pointlessness of one's existence in modern society.
The aesthetics and sound design tingle my neurons so well that I want to become one with it. It's as fleeting as the blue hour, yet like any stunning mood in the world, it can't last long at a time.
(damn I'm on a roll with this review)
In short: the game is brilliant if you dig the mood it's delivering. :)
En muchos aspectos, la obra cumbre de Sad3d. Su capacidad para trasladar la alienación e inutilidad del mundo contemporáneo al entorno 3D, pasando por miles de tradiciones (desde el motor Source hasta la época actual de Backrooms) y aterrizando con un mensaje sobre el mundo actual que sólo aumentará en relevancia cuanto peor vayan las cosas.
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Sad3d's crowning achievement, in several ways. Its ability to translate the alienation and futility of contemporary society on a 3D environment, going through thousands of traditions (from the Source engine to the current Backrooms era) and landing with a story about today's world that will only increase in relevance the worse things get.
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Sad3d's crowning achievement, in several ways. Its ability to translate the alienation and futility of contemporary society on a 3D environment, going through thousands of traditions (from the Source engine to the current Backrooms era) and landing with a story about today's world that will only increase in relevance the worse things get.
This review contains spoilers
Loved the melancholic atmosphere, and especially the cab driver's monologue in the end. Man, what a great game.
la ambientacion pueblo ruso en mitad de la nada todo lo doomer mola un webo y es de las pocas medias q usan lo liminal para comunicar d verdad (aunq el dialogo final se siente q te lo tiran a la cara pero el resto guay)
((asi es como m imagino a la carlota))
((asi es como m imagino a la carlota))
i need a huge open world version of this or something like it asap
A wonderfully moody game that sees you exploring the nightlife of a crumbling, post-Soviet cityscape. Diegetic music and radio broadcasts invite you to encounters with strangers all in search of their own place in an indifferent universe. Where other experiences may become overbearingly nihilistic, Neyasnoe manages to find warmth in the pockets of life people have carved out as respite from the cold and dark. You share a smoke and ruminate on the state of things. You attend a poetry recital amongst friends. You drink and dance like fools into the fleeting night. What else is there to do at the end of days?
push me to the edge, all my friends are dead
pet the rat
kino +1
kino +1
I feel like I would have gotten a bit more out of the vibes this game was trying to put down if I were into either smoking or poetry.
I definitely would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't kept running into some sort of bug where I couldn't walk forward while using the keyboard. Movement fuckery was fine when I chose to down several beers at once, less so when simply trying to get from Point A to Point B.
I definitely would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't kept running into some sort of bug where I couldn't walk forward while using the keyboard. Movement fuckery was fine when I chose to down several beers at once, less so when simply trying to get from Point A to Point B.
cyka