Looks like I got distracted from Spooktober a bit too early -- Stasis was the next game on my list and happens to be an excellent dark sci-fi horror isometric point and click adventure.
The story is a pastiche of just about every sci-fi horror trope going back to Alien, but it manages to have its own character. You wake up on a ship that turns out to be a research vessel -- in deep space to avoid having to comply with regulations, of course. You don't have amnesia, but you also don't know how you ended up on the ship. You start off seeing instruments for flesh harvesting and some cloning projects gone awry, and things only continue to spiral into the darker and more uncomfortable from there.
The dialogue is generally well written, though there are a few lapses that had me raising an eyebrow. What really gives the game its narrative oomph is the PDAs from various crew members scattered about the ship. They not only fleshed out the greater world, but provided interesting insights into the crew and the sordid and sometimes sultry details of what happened leading up to the start of the game.
The isometric view along with the excellently crafted and very detailed 2D graphics, evoked a bit of the feel of the old infinity engine games. The level design along with well used lighting, and some truly weird and eerie sound effects set an superbly bizarre and disconcerting mood for the story.
As far as the point and click adventure puzzles... they were mostly ok. There is a bit of moon logic here and there, and one early puzzle had a couple more steps than it needed leaving me confused as to whether I was on the right track or not. Mostly, the game could have used some extra clues as to why actions were failing to get you back on the right track. Still, I only resorted to a guide once at the very beginning, and many of the puzzles were satisfying to solve.
All in all, it's one of my favorite games I've played this year, and I've played a lot of games this year. I've heard the sequel, Bone Totem, was an improvement in just about every way, so I'm pretty darn excited to start that up next.
The story is a pastiche of just about every sci-fi horror trope going back to Alien, but it manages to have its own character. You wake up on a ship that turns out to be a research vessel -- in deep space to avoid having to comply with regulations, of course. You don't have amnesia, but you also don't know how you ended up on the ship. You start off seeing instruments for flesh harvesting and some cloning projects gone awry, and things only continue to spiral into the darker and more uncomfortable from there.
The dialogue is generally well written, though there are a few lapses that had me raising an eyebrow. What really gives the game its narrative oomph is the PDAs from various crew members scattered about the ship. They not only fleshed out the greater world, but provided interesting insights into the crew and the sordid and sometimes sultry details of what happened leading up to the start of the game.
The isometric view along with the excellently crafted and very detailed 2D graphics, evoked a bit of the feel of the old infinity engine games. The level design along with well used lighting, and some truly weird and eerie sound effects set an superbly bizarre and disconcerting mood for the story.
As far as the point and click adventure puzzles... they were mostly ok. There is a bit of moon logic here and there, and one early puzzle had a couple more steps than it needed leaving me confused as to whether I was on the right track or not. Mostly, the game could have used some extra clues as to why actions were failing to get you back on the right track. Still, I only resorted to a guide once at the very beginning, and many of the puzzles were satisfying to solve.
All in all, it's one of my favorite games I've played this year, and I've played a lot of games this year. I've heard the sequel, Bone Totem, was an improvement in just about every way, so I'm pretty darn excited to start that up next.