Imaginación 10 / 10
Gameplay 0 / 10
Solo con imaginación no se consiguen grandes cosas...
Se podría resumir este juego como un point&clic demasiado simple, tanto en gameplay como en narrativa. Para colmo, se supone que debe ser gracioso pero no lo consigue. Sinceramente, hay juegos educativos más currados y con más mérito que este.
Gameplay 0 / 10
Solo con imaginación no se consiguen grandes cosas...
Se podría resumir este juego como un point&clic demasiado simple, tanto en gameplay como en narrativa. Para colmo, se supone que debe ser gracioso pero no lo consigue. Sinceramente, hay juegos educativos más currados y con más mérito que este.
Neat game with wonderful presentation, very fun way of implementing combat into a visual novel, and the most emotional glue trap scene in all of fiction
You're here, man. If you're reading this, you're here with us weirdos talking about a weird game for weirdos. Now that you're here and all the doors are mysteriously locked I have but one question for you: What if one of those Xbox 360 Live Arcade games featuring 3D porn models doing weird shit was good enough to play all the way through? About an Elf is your answer.
First of all, watch this 20 second clip of the game and however you feel about it will 100% be how you feel about the game in it's entirety.
About an Elf is a mostly a visual novel style game, but there are small bits of gameplay and your dialogue choices that affect certain outcomes but it's not really that deep. This game is primarily an incoherent trip you're meant to glide through that truly remind me of indie games from the 90's with it's mix of incoherence and visual splendor.
To better explain, the dialogue reminds me of a dude in my old social circle who was a theater kid that brought lean to every party he was invited to and would talk in sentences that sounded like he was reading a thesaurus for assholes. That's right Logan, shoebox moon pie taurus oblongotta. Go play Project M with the others, I'm busy trying to hit on art hoes by pretending to be into Renaissance-era French architecture.
It isn't an exaggeration or me giving up trying to explain the vibe of About an Elf by saying this all comes off like a fever dream. You'll find yourself having mundane conversations with a 10 foot cat named Roland -- or having unearned meta conversations with a character that looks like the main character but with different hair and clothes. There's some pure cringe dialogue here, but the way the dialogue is presented by absurdly high rendered models in nice space backdrops while reggaeton beats are playing at nearly all times; all mostly really works in establishing a very unique identity I was charmed by.
If you are the type who plays weird shit for weird shit sake, here is something new for you. It's only on Switch tho, with no PC port at all. I suggest giving the devs money with an eShop purchase but emulating this if you only have PC is worth the effort.
First of all, watch this 20 second clip of the game and however you feel about it will 100% be how you feel about the game in it's entirety.
About an Elf is a mostly a visual novel style game, but there are small bits of gameplay and your dialogue choices that affect certain outcomes but it's not really that deep. This game is primarily an incoherent trip you're meant to glide through that truly remind me of indie games from the 90's with it's mix of incoherence and visual splendor.
To better explain, the dialogue reminds me of a dude in my old social circle who was a theater kid that brought lean to every party he was invited to and would talk in sentences that sounded like he was reading a thesaurus for assholes. That's right Logan, shoebox moon pie taurus oblongotta. Go play Project M with the others, I'm busy trying to hit on art hoes by pretending to be into Renaissance-era French architecture.
It isn't an exaggeration or me giving up trying to explain the vibe of About an Elf by saying this all comes off like a fever dream. You'll find yourself having mundane conversations with a 10 foot cat named Roland -- or having unearned meta conversations with a character that looks like the main character but with different hair and clothes. There's some pure cringe dialogue here, but the way the dialogue is presented by absurdly high rendered models in nice space backdrops while reggaeton beats are playing at nearly all times; all mostly really works in establishing a very unique identity I was charmed by.
If you are the type who plays weird shit for weird shit sake, here is something new for you. It's only on Switch tho, with no PC port at all. I suggest giving the devs money with an eShop purchase but emulating this if you only have PC is worth the effort.
THAT SUUUUUUUUUURE WAS A SWITCH EXCLUSIVE MASTERPIECE ALRIGHT
okay so uhhhh i dont know what i expected, its Technically a puzzle rpg but the puzzles are barely even that
nothing in this universe seems to care that hard about things like stakes or taking itself seriously until when it totally does
The gameplay is in this really interesting premise to me where its technically just a visual novel but youre doing turn based battles lilke it's a guessing game of rock paper scissors
except in this game your rock paper scissors are magic orbs tht let the main character do a special move and like
eVERYTHING goes down in one hit, even you
I think that this is for the best since there isnt anything like stats and such and so everything is very forward
rinse and repeat, and even if you die youll get so many gummy bears thatll keep you respawning i doubt its even possible to get yourself a game over in this game unless you actually are trying to see if there is one (im not sure if there even is or not LMAO)
But yeahhhhh the story and the dialogue is really the main thing youre here for.. MAYBE...
youre on a grand quest with two idiots and i like both of them
Dam progressively gets more likable to me as the game goes on even if she's ultra airheaded
And I was actually kind of worried Roland was going to be this outdated cat joke character for the whole time through but he's kinda great especially when I was Imagining him talking like Mike Ermantraut from breaking bad the whole time
U could probably beat this whole game in one day but i dont really recommend that because even though the gameplay is simple i think the humor is fun but could probably wear on you if youre doing it all in one shake
And last, the sound design and the designs in general, i think this game looks GREATTTTTTTT
It's kind of hard to explain but its the type of game that feels like its got everything I like in an aesthetic but its being coy about it with me
Like there is jestercore/clowncore galore (hehe tht rhymes)
and i love that shit
I love the weird crystal ball premonitions, the picsart default font for the text
the sick fashion for Dido and Dam
The environments are mesmerizing almost with how everything looks like an actual rendered display set from a mall or some kind of art piece in its own right, its very toylike down to the very last character and i adore that
To be honest its like the chaotic good version of the Xbox Live "Plastic Realism" art style that a lot of weird titty game crap had back then tht youd see youtubers cackle at as a kid
I even like her Princess Dementissma fit so much I actually wish there was a new game plus with more shit that let you play as just the dementissma alternate because a disaster evil goth game is something the industry can never have enough of tbf
final thoughts: All in all i think for 12 bucks its EHHH KINDA STEEP?? Mostly because I found shit to be getting really repetitive in the mid to late section but thats also probably because i was playing for a good bit and i was starting to really notice the patterns
But patterns arent necessarily bad
I think the hints through the crystal ball are also rlly cool but at one point THATS your difficulty curve because youll straight up get one thats just a guy opening a fucking fridge and u see an apple sitting in there and youre thinking like a crazy person like "what the fuck does that mean... flame orb??? electric orb because of the fridige?? water orb because apples can be made into juice? light because of the fridge light???" im sure the devs knew this'd happen and had a laugh over it, and i think thats awesome
I think id like it just a BIIIIIIIIT more if there was some more variety here and there with the gameplay but I enjoyed it for what it was as this weird silly, sometimes meta joking, rock paper scissors visual novel rpg about an elf
also this is one of the only fucking games on the nintendo switch that you can play completely through the touchscreen... no i didnt make that up this is deadass one of the only games that lets u do that thats not shovelware LMAO
princess dam is my favorite failed elf-race-baiting niche instagram microcelebrity that escaped a straightjacket and had an allpowerful reality bending emo manic pixie phase...
wow she's kind of like if bayonetta and xavier renegade angel got their brains snagged out and caught in a paper jam, no wonder i like her so much
okay so uhhhh i dont know what i expected, its Technically a puzzle rpg but the puzzles are barely even that
nothing in this universe seems to care that hard about things like stakes or taking itself seriously until when it totally does
The gameplay is in this really interesting premise to me where its technically just a visual novel but youre doing turn based battles lilke it's a guessing game of rock paper scissors
except in this game your rock paper scissors are magic orbs tht let the main character do a special move and like
eVERYTHING goes down in one hit, even you
I think that this is for the best since there isnt anything like stats and such and so everything is very forward
rinse and repeat, and even if you die youll get so many gummy bears thatll keep you respawning i doubt its even possible to get yourself a game over in this game unless you actually are trying to see if there is one (im not sure if there even is or not LMAO)
But yeahhhhh the story and the dialogue is really the main thing youre here for.. MAYBE...
youre on a grand quest with two idiots and i like both of them
Dam progressively gets more likable to me as the game goes on even if she's ultra airheaded
And I was actually kind of worried Roland was going to be this outdated cat joke character for the whole time through but he's kinda great especially when I was Imagining him talking like Mike Ermantraut from breaking bad the whole time
U could probably beat this whole game in one day but i dont really recommend that because even though the gameplay is simple i think the humor is fun but could probably wear on you if youre doing it all in one shake
And last, the sound design and the designs in general, i think this game looks GREATTTTTTTT
It's kind of hard to explain but its the type of game that feels like its got everything I like in an aesthetic but its being coy about it with me
Like there is jestercore/clowncore galore (hehe tht rhymes)
and i love that shit
I love the weird crystal ball premonitions, the picsart default font for the text
the sick fashion for Dido and Dam
The environments are mesmerizing almost with how everything looks like an actual rendered display set from a mall or some kind of art piece in its own right, its very toylike down to the very last character and i adore that
To be honest its like the chaotic good version of the Xbox Live "Plastic Realism" art style that a lot of weird titty game crap had back then tht youd see youtubers cackle at as a kid
I even like her Princess Dementissma fit so much I actually wish there was a new game plus with more shit that let you play as just the dementissma alternate because a disaster evil goth game is something the industry can never have enough of tbf
final thoughts: All in all i think for 12 bucks its EHHH KINDA STEEP?? Mostly because I found shit to be getting really repetitive in the mid to late section but thats also probably because i was playing for a good bit and i was starting to really notice the patterns
But patterns arent necessarily bad
I think the hints through the crystal ball are also rlly cool but at one point THATS your difficulty curve because youll straight up get one thats just a guy opening a fucking fridge and u see an apple sitting in there and youre thinking like a crazy person like "what the fuck does that mean... flame orb??? electric orb because of the fridige?? water orb because apples can be made into juice? light because of the fridge light???" im sure the devs knew this'd happen and had a laugh over it, and i think thats awesome
I think id like it just a BIIIIIIIIT more if there was some more variety here and there with the gameplay but I enjoyed it for what it was as this weird silly, sometimes meta joking, rock paper scissors visual novel rpg about an elf
also this is one of the only fucking games on the nintendo switch that you can play completely through the touchscreen... no i didnt make that up this is deadass one of the only games that lets u do that thats not shovelware LMAO
princess dam is my favorite failed elf-race-baiting niche instagram microcelebrity that escaped a straightjacket and had an allpowerful reality bending emo manic pixie phase...
wow she's kind of like if bayonetta and xavier renegade angel got their brains snagged out and caught in a paper jam, no wonder i like her so much
🚨LOVELY GAME ALERT🚨
ABOUT AN ELF is full of boppin dembow beats, politecore trap music, occasional violin, a magical world brought to life with flawless art pop stylings (held back only by the budget of this game’s two-person (‼️‼️) development team) and 🔍 clue-based combat (I love guessing games!).
⚡️
it’s about an elf too: she’s adorable, charming, approachable, delusional, with dreams of an elftopian promised land. She reminds me of one of my favorite people IRL, and if you’re lucky, it’ll hit like that for you too! Elf princess Dam is accompanied by Roland, feline hero-in-training. Wasn’t expecting there to be totally heartwarming moments along their adventure, but yup. They’re here tho!
💦
About An Elf reimagines the fantasy adventure paradigm of many classic RPGs as a visual novel with free-associative guesswork being it’s core combat gameplay mechanic. Win by correctly matching a visual clue with one of your elemental magic affinity of your weapons. For example, does a video of a goldfish mean you should select water magic or fire magic?
So blessed this work of art exists. Issa vibe.
👀 Watch the trailer
ELF LOVE
🤍🧚🏿♀️
ABOUT AN ELF is full of boppin dembow beats, politecore trap music, occasional violin, a magical world brought to life with flawless art pop stylings (held back only by the budget of this game’s two-person (‼️‼️) development team) and 🔍 clue-based combat (I love guessing games!).
⚡️
it’s about an elf too: she’s adorable, charming, approachable, delusional, with dreams of an elftopian promised land. She reminds me of one of my favorite people IRL, and if you’re lucky, it’ll hit like that for you too! Elf princess Dam is accompanied by Roland, feline hero-in-training. Wasn’t expecting there to be totally heartwarming moments along their adventure, but yup. They’re here tho!
💦
About An Elf reimagines the fantasy adventure paradigm of many classic RPGs as a visual novel with free-associative guesswork being it’s core combat gameplay mechanic. Win by correctly matching a visual clue with one of your elemental magic affinity of your weapons. For example, does a video of a goldfish mean you should select water magic or fire magic?
So blessed this work of art exists. Issa vibe.
👀 Watch the trailer
ELF LOVE
🤍🧚🏿♀️
Princess Dam for Smash!
I thought this was a christmas game lol I waited to play this on christmas eve. I'm torn because I think I could have done without part 2 and 3 but I really liked the bottle quest. despite my apathy for probably most of the gameplay loop, I was charmed by the time I finished. also the art and music is really good imo, def gonna relisten to the ost because the dev put it on spotify; it's appreciated
If suda51 fell asleep on his keyboard after taking dayquil I think this is what would come out and I do mean that in the most complimentary and flattering way possible
crazy that this looks so good and it’s just wasted on millennial nyan cat ironic and insincere humor, a real shame tbh
I think I like this game
esoterica in peak form