Amethystov
2018
This review contains spoilers
This game is a visual treat. The pixel art is truly gorgeous, everything is smooth and feels nice. Sound design is not bad either (ignoring the terrible panting sound which annoyed me after the first 30 minutes). Really, this game could've been a blast... if it haven't been hindered by gameplay.
This game is all puzzles, giving you almost no breathing room. That's mostly okay since they stay at kindergarten lvl throughout the game. Some of them just don't work as intended (funnily it's the first puzzle with emblem, which realy dampens the mood from the get-go. I'm going to elaborate further here: the puzzle is consists of up/down sequence. The main hint is the picture featuring 6 different people. For example the picture is clearly "╻||╻|╻". However, for some unknown reason, it won't register if you type "down up up down up down". Why? Because the fourth or the sixth one is actually more taller than other low ones. Yikes.) Some of them are frustrating. And good luck getting good ending without a guide. The solution really borders on being nonsensical.
The story is just weak, you can guess the whole thing from the first ten minutes which is not a good sign. Personally, I never felt any tension during chases, just annoyance. Some spooks are good but then again they're only jumpscares.
And most important — the game lacks atmosphere. Soundscape nor graphics never made me feel creeped out despite them trying so hard. This is a death sentence for horror game.
This game is all puzzles, giving you almost no breathing room. That's mostly okay since they stay at kindergarten lvl throughout the game. Some of them just don't work as intended (funnily it's the first puzzle with emblem, which realy dampens the mood from the get-go. I'm going to elaborate further here: the puzzle is consists of up/down sequence. The main hint is the picture featuring 6 different people. For example the picture is clearly "╻||╻|╻". However, for some unknown reason, it won't register if you type "down up up down up down". Why? Because the fourth or the sixth one is actually more taller than other low ones. Yikes.) Some of them are frustrating. And good luck getting good ending without a guide. The solution really borders on being nonsensical.
The story is just weak, you can guess the whole thing from the first ten minutes which is not a good sign. Personally, I never felt any tension during chases, just annoyance. Some spooks are good but then again they're only jumpscares.
And most important — the game lacks atmosphere. Soundscape nor graphics never made me feel creeped out despite them trying so hard. This is a death sentence for horror game.
Although the adventure mode is fun, it's really exhausting and painful to 100% the game.
It's overall made way better than the first game. However, puzzles are worse. One of them is literally click until you get it right. And to add the salt to injury, one of the endings is literally worse than the other, making the choice meaningless. Mechanics like interacting with npcs are underdeveloped. It's not a total letdown like people say, but I still would prefer the og better.
A love letter to Jules Vernes' work. Though there are still plenty of places where it's hard to see the the item in the background, I'd say this is one of the best adventures from its time. All puzzles are logical and have different solutions, some you can ignore whatsoever if you're keen enough.
2007
This review contains spoilers
Oh, where do I even start.
So, the game is from relatively unknown studio from 2007 of mediocre quality, add to this title similar to televesion series and this game was sentenced to obscurity. Unsurprising, game runs like shit even on the modern hardware. Also a lot of bugs related to graphics (I played in window mode, since on the high quality image becomes deepfried. To add salt to injury, cursor isn't bound to window, so expect messing with your toolbar. It goes without saying that there's no fixes at all).
The gameplay isn't good. Controls are stiff and unresponsive, jrpg aspect of game pose no challenge at all and exist solely to pad out the runtime. I can't stress enough how everything's SLOW in this game. I mean it would be fine, if the game was a 4-5 hour experience, not double the time.
I don't want to go into detail with plot, but it's yet again mediocre at best. Character named HEL (suprise-surprise) is the villain, you probably never saw it coming, huh? Dialogue is very poorly written. After character death there's 2-3 lines at max and he's never mentioned again. It's funny because the game tries to force on you the idea that these robots are sentient beings and indeed "die", not disappear.
I completed it because it was my unbeaten childhood game but I really can't recommend this to anyone. The music's good though. Also "soylent" and "among us" in the credits were funny, mostly because it was unintentional.
So, the game is from relatively unknown studio from 2007 of mediocre quality, add to this title similar to televesion series and this game was sentenced to obscurity. Unsurprising, game runs like shit even on the modern hardware. Also a lot of bugs related to graphics (I played in window mode, since on the high quality image becomes deepfried. To add salt to injury, cursor isn't bound to window, so expect messing with your toolbar. It goes without saying that there's no fixes at all).
The gameplay isn't good. Controls are stiff and unresponsive, jrpg aspect of game pose no challenge at all and exist solely to pad out the runtime. I can't stress enough how everything's SLOW in this game. I mean it would be fine, if the game was a 4-5 hour experience, not double the time.
I don't want to go into detail with plot, but it's yet again mediocre at best. Character named HEL (suprise-surprise) is the villain, you probably never saw it coming, huh? Dialogue is very poorly written. After character death there's 2-3 lines at max and he's never mentioned again. It's funny because the game tries to force on you the idea that these robots are sentient beings and indeed "die", not disappear.
I completed it because it was my unbeaten childhood game but I really can't recommend this to anyone. The music's good though. Also "soylent" and "among us" in the credits were funny, mostly because it was unintentional.