Gappy833
This was my school but replace the somewhat expensive American pharmaceutical drugs with weed, cheep cocaine and hoax weed.(which was basically black tea leaves dipped in bleach among other chemicals for a few days and then left to dry out in the sun)
2021
Has some generally funny stuff but didn't grab me all that much in it's entirety
Return of the Obra Dinn:
One of the most interesting puzzle solving games I've played with a uniquely stylization and a solid environmental narrative implemented in it's core.
With a game mechanic I can only hope to see other puzzle-like games try to imitate or follow in pursuit as a concept in the future, since the execution of a detective game where the perpetrator and victim are both shown, but their identities masked behind unknown motives and an unruly crew which fates you've yet found -- where the only way to concoct an answer is to follow the given, yet diverse, set of clues as in their accent, nationality, clothing, job title, interactions, and even their body language in the freeze frame death scenes, which are executed really well and feels rewarding once you guide yourself case-by-case.
And as for the art direction, while I personally like the aesthetic I find a positive and a negative aspect to it, the monochrome artstyle does compliment the "identity hunting" part of the game well enough where it gives you a great deal of detail on the person to recognize their module while looking at specific deaths.
However it also masks some little details on what exactly was the cause of their death looking at the carcass when it comes down to it's "shading" and light. (i.e "The Calling" and that one corpse in the "Baragain")
Another negative point I would give, which some other reviews have pointed out. Is that in the middle to end sections of the game the body finding and the soul guiding could feel awfully monotonous and slow, as well as if you've presumably already found out identeties of newfound victims via other corpses the fixed 30 second timer to look around the crime scene could kill the game's pace by a lot. But still, I'll say it with a grain of salt since the game being barely 8-10 hours didn't bother me in my playthrough that much.
Solid sound design and OST. By god I hope Lucas Pope actually tries to do a similarly styled game again.
One of the most interesting puzzle solving games I've played with a uniquely stylization and a solid environmental narrative implemented in it's core.
With a game mechanic I can only hope to see other puzzle-like games try to imitate or follow in pursuit as a concept in the future, since the execution of a detective game where the perpetrator and victim are both shown, but their identities masked behind unknown motives and an unruly crew which fates you've yet found -- where the only way to concoct an answer is to follow the given, yet diverse, set of clues as in their accent, nationality, clothing, job title, interactions, and even their body language in the freeze frame death scenes, which are executed really well and feels rewarding once you guide yourself case-by-case.
And as for the art direction, while I personally like the aesthetic I find a positive and a negative aspect to it, the monochrome artstyle does compliment the "identity hunting" part of the game well enough where it gives you a great deal of detail on the person to recognize their module while looking at specific deaths.
However it also masks some little details on what exactly was the cause of their death looking at the carcass when it comes down to it's "shading" and light. (i.e "The Calling" and that one corpse in the "Baragain")
Another negative point I would give, which some other reviews have pointed out. Is that in the middle to end sections of the game the body finding and the soul guiding could feel awfully monotonous and slow, as well as if you've presumably already found out identeties of newfound victims via other corpses the fixed 30 second timer to look around the crime scene could kill the game's pace by a lot. But still, I'll say it with a grain of salt since the game being barely 8-10 hours didn't bother me in my playthrough that much.
Solid sound design and OST. By god I hope Lucas Pope actually tries to do a similarly styled game again.
2017
Managed to finish this a couple of days ago and purely by itself it’s one of the better top-down pixelated games I’ve experienced.
The first thing that galvanized my positive reaction was the exact same reason I had in me to pick it up in the first place – artstyle, and its visuals reflected upon the world and character designs carries around one of the most horrid, bleak yet expressive illustrations that reflect greatly on the atmosphere the game portrays, with a nicely animated pixelated art style as a veil to use for gameplay that feels both fluid yet rigid depending on the actions performed in the game. Not to mention the sound design using small insignificant sounds to build up the player’s isolation and tenseness from being trapped in a forest full of horror’s.
Gameplay and mechanics are sufficient, being mostly looking and managing loot for both present updates and future constructions upon your working bench and hideouts in the night time when it becomes a tower defense mini simulator, for which depending on the difficulty chosen is either a mild walk in the park with spooky noises keeping your attention in check, or a annoying hell fest, particularly if you get bad night events. And all time you would be spending backtracking or figuring out where the hell you are between marked objects on the map are a gripe to me, as well as the slow swinging melee weapons you could afford at the beginning, that partly burdens the tool of being to slow against every single thing (maybe without the Savages) that moves in the woods that tires to kill you
For the story and overall “plot” of the game is both very contrasting, in the sense that you could focus enough in the main objective of the story, and not bother figuring out the slightly incoherent pieces of the lore puzzle dropped here and there that are needed to understand both the woods and the other characters and find it quite alright, maybe even mediocre, since the story choices at either of the two endings you get it pretty trivial trough it’s end.
But on the other side of the coin, in figuring out all the story pieces you get one of the more unique (almost) Giger-esque cosmic horror media pieces. From both the clones, to the “Thing”-like being in the heart of it all and the “human turned tools” by the forest tropes are decently executed
And to rule my initial impressions after fully completing the game it’s pretty good
The first thing that galvanized my positive reaction was the exact same reason I had in me to pick it up in the first place – artstyle, and its visuals reflected upon the world and character designs carries around one of the most horrid, bleak yet expressive illustrations that reflect greatly on the atmosphere the game portrays, with a nicely animated pixelated art style as a veil to use for gameplay that feels both fluid yet rigid depending on the actions performed in the game. Not to mention the sound design using small insignificant sounds to build up the player’s isolation and tenseness from being trapped in a forest full of horror’s.
Gameplay and mechanics are sufficient, being mostly looking and managing loot for both present updates and future constructions upon your working bench and hideouts in the night time when it becomes a tower defense mini simulator, for which depending on the difficulty chosen is either a mild walk in the park with spooky noises keeping your attention in check, or a annoying hell fest, particularly if you get bad night events. And all time you would be spending backtracking or figuring out where the hell you are between marked objects on the map are a gripe to me, as well as the slow swinging melee weapons you could afford at the beginning, that partly burdens the tool of being to slow against every single thing (maybe without the Savages) that moves in the woods that tires to kill you
For the story and overall “plot” of the game is both very contrasting, in the sense that you could focus enough in the main objective of the story, and not bother figuring out the slightly incoherent pieces of the lore puzzle dropped here and there that are needed to understand both the woods and the other characters and find it quite alright, maybe even mediocre, since the story choices at either of the two endings you get it pretty trivial trough it’s end.
But on the other side of the coin, in figuring out all the story pieces you get one of the more unique (almost) Giger-esque cosmic horror media pieces. From both the clones, to the “Thing”-like being in the heart of it all and the “human turned tools” by the forest tropes are decently executed
And to rule my initial impressions after fully completing the game it’s pretty good