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[Vampire On Titus]

Some newly released and upcoming adventures:

Dr.Livingstone, I Presume? is a 1st person 3D adventure game with a neat golden brown African aesthetic to it. Supposedly a "reverse escape room" where you journey deeper and deeper into a mysterious mansion rather than trying to get out. It's out now, there's also a demo.

Lacuna is a science fiction noir mystery where you solve a murder case with deeper conspiratorial implications. I played the demo during a steam festival and it was pretty good. There were some simple-ish puzzles but the main focus seems to be choices & branching. Which I couldn't really get a sense of in a 40 minute demo. The way they wrote the steam page annoys me, though. Particularly this part:

Hungry for Point & Click Adventure?​

While the classics were great in their time, Lacuna does away with the baggage of many adventure game tropes:

• Pointing & clicking Platformer movement controls (WASD / controller)
• Selecting all dialog options one by one anyway Non-repeating conversations and choices
• Inventory management and counter-intuitive puzzles Immersive, story-driven mysteries
• Pixel hunting Optional outlines on anything interactable
• Story grinds to a halt at every puzzle can always be driven forward
• "x will remember this" Real choices and multiple endings

I'm all for trying new things with adventure games, I've written many posts before with that in mind. But surely you could make these points without coming across like you're shitting on the whole genre? Let alone the fact that they're acting as if they've reinvented the wheel for making all the same changes that have been commonplace in many games since 2012. Way before that if you want to look to outlier examples or, you know, an entire subgenre of Japanese adventure games that goes back to the 90s. At the end of the day the game still may be very good and worth playing, but yeah, stuff like this just comes across so douchey and pretentious to me.

Livestream: Escape From Hotel Izanami is described as an action-adventure and as such I normally wouldn't post about it in this thread, but I've actually been playing through this game on Switch and it isn't. It's a horror adventure game where you occasionally run away from a monster chasing you, similar to ClockTower on SNES. There's also some bits of gratuitous interactable fan-service. So if that's your thing, godspeed, and if not you can be over with them quickly. It's been out on Switch for a bit and it's coming to PC June 10th.

Spoiler: Trailer Preview Possibly NSFW

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Adventure Jam 2021 has just ended the submissions phase and now voting has begun. To my memory, it seems like there's as many entries this time compared to previous years but don't quote me on that. In any case, there are still a lot of interesting looking games to check out. In adventure jam's past we've even seen things like secret Wadjet Eye prototypes, so you never know what might happen.

Random sampling of games that grabbed my interest:

 

[RAIDEN1]

If only there was a full throttle "fan" project...basically a spin off from Full Throttle, employing the same graphical style as the 95 edition

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Some behind the preview stuff for Krams Design's upcoming game, The Big Hollow:


Love the look of this game, it's got a really melancholy look that's perfect for a murder mystery.

 

[TripleSun]

Some behind the preview stuff for Krams Design's upcoming game, The Big Hollow:


Love the look of this game, it's got a really melancholy look that's perfect for a murder mystery.

Great to see updates. Game is definitely one of my most anticipated point and clicks lately. Loved Anna’s Quest and I have a penchant for murder mysteries.

 

[rkofan87]

Some newly released and upcoming adventures:

Dr.Livingstone, I Presume? is a 1st person 3D adventure game with a neat golden brown African aesthetic to it. Supposedly a "reverse escape room" where you journey deeper and deeper into a mysterious mansion rather than trying to get out. It's out now, there's also a demo.

Lacuna is a science fiction noir mystery where you solve a murder case with deeper conspiratorial implications. I played the demo during a steam festival and it was pretty good. There were some simple-ish puzzles but the main focus seems to be choices & branching. Which I couldn't really get a sense of in a 40 minute demo. The way they wrote the steam page annoys me, though. Particularly this part:

I'm all for trying new things with adventure games, I've written many posts before with that in mind. But surely you could make these points without coming across like you're shitting on the whole genre? Let alone the fact that they're acting as if they've reinvented the wheel for making all the same changes that have been commonplace in many games since 2012. Way before that if you want to look to outlier examples or, you know, an entire subgenre of Japanese adventure games that goes back to the 90s. At the end of the day the game still may be very good and worth playing, but yeah, stuff like this just comes across so douchey and pretentious to me.

Livestream: Escape From Hotel Izanami is described as an action-adventure and as such I normally wouldn't post about it in this thread, but I've actually been playing through this game on Switch and it isn't. It's a horror adventure game where you occasionally run away from a monster chasing you, similar to ClockTower on SNES. There's also some bits of gratuitous interactable fan-service. So if that's your thing, godspeed, and if not you can be over with them quickly. It's been out on Switch for a bit and it's coming to PC June 10th.

Spoiler: Trailer Preview Possibly NSFW

not a pc guy but as soon as lacuna is on console day1 for me.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Also available on GOG

One of my most anticipated releases for the year just dropped! Strangeland is out now, going to jump into this later today.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Have fun with it. Wish it was more puzzle focused AND story focused instead of one or the other as we usually get but oh well. Let us know how it is.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

So, I just finished playing through Strangeland and it's, as I expected, a very good game. It pulls off a lot of great effects you typically don't see in an AGS game, or from teams this small in general. Of course the art direction is stellar, chunky and expressive brush strokes render Strangeland's bizarre carnival in stand-out fashion. Puzzle wise, it's densely packed, fairly diverse and there's a lot of creativity on display. Still, I breezed through the game, at most getting stuck briefly for 5~10 min once or twice. I think any seasoned adventure game fan would have a similar experience. It's likely due to the size of Strangeland, a carnival consisting of just a few screens (maybe 11 or 12 total?), it never takes too much wandering around before what to do next clicks in your mind. Despite that, the puzzles are fun and very well designed, especially in the sense of highlighting the twisted nature of the setting and the protagonists mind. I particularly enjoyed the part where you have to remember the Tarot cards you assigned your past, present, and future selves.

Strangeland's writing will likely be its most divisive aspect, I think. The basic form of the story is a psychological horror meant to reflect the protagonist's psyche/inner turmoil. A fairly tried and true horror convention in gaming, with notable examples like Silent Hill 2, Sanitarium and Detention. Still, Strangeland has its own distinct spin on things and part of that is all the characters speak very cryptically, vaguely alluding to things, and making a lot of literary references. It makes the game distinct and in most cases I found the dialogue really compelling. However, there's a trade-off in that it was hard for me to get emotionally invested when every character speaks in taciturn riddles. At a certain point it's a little lacking in humanity, I guess? In a game like Silent Hill 2, the characters are confusing but say more effectively with less by letting the imagination wander. Perhaps not a fair comparison but games like Silent Hill 2 and Detention came to mind frequently while playing Strangeland.

For all the ambiguity, though, Strangeland's story itself is not a confusing one. Everyone will understand the broad strokes by the end and in those final moments there's a string of scenes that connect more on an emotional level, which left me with a really good impression of the game overall. I'm definitely going to play it again with the commentary on and I think it will be interesting to hear the devs speak about the symbolism/references in the game. I might go through it one more time regularly, to see what I pick up on during a 2nd run. Kinda withholding final judgements until then, but for now I'd say it's a really good game. It didn't completely knock my socks off, I enjoyed Primordia more than this. But really good and certainly worth playing.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

damn. as a PnC raised and now animator (professionally), this thread ALWAYS renews my interest in making my own Adventure titles. just for fun even. what I see people do and the dev tools available reinvigorate me to try. but then I always go down the road of scope creep and wanting to do more in depth personal projects and in the end veer away from my original PnC goals.

prob my favorite thread (and surviving community) on gaf

thank you all for your continued posts and insight

 

[Fuz]

So, I just finished playing through Strangeland

That was fast.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

That was fast.

Yeah, I really blitzed through the game in 2 sittings. It's probably 4~5 hours, 6 max if you're a particularly relaxed gamer.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Unexpected but surely welcome, Backbone get's announced for June 8th:

Backbone's gameplay is a modern take on the classic point-and-click adventure,
featuring stealth, exploration, and elaborate dialogues inspired by old school CRPGs.

As Howard, you will:
• Make meaningful connections with a diverse cast of characters in pursuit of truth
• Explore both flourishing and decaying districts of a now walled-off Vancouver
• Uncover clues and collect evidence
• Solve puzzles and sneak around
• Be a raccoon

 

[Vampire On Titus]

TL;DR on the vid - Ken and Roberta Williams have been working on a new game for the past 6 months. Ken is programming, Roberta is providing art direction and other influence that's not entirely clear at the moment. No specifics on the game itself, or even the genre, are currently known. Ken says they're gonna talk about it more in a months time.

 

[Fuz]

TL;DR on the vid - Ken and Roberta Williams have been working on a new game for the past 6 months. Ken is programming, Roberta is providing art direction and other influence that's not entirely clear at the moment. No specifics on the game itself, or even the genre, are currently known. Ken says they're gonna talk about it more in a months time.

 

[Fuz]

By the way, let's remember Roberta Williams as best as we can.

Spoiler

Smart, talented, nerdy and gorgeous. The perfect woman.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Finished the 2nd run of Strangeland and the game did benefit from the deeper understanding of a second go round. It really is a game of deep themes and rich symbolism. Also, for me personally, I found that once I understood the bigger picture going in, I was able to connect a lot more with the characters and relate to them on an emotional level despite their cryptic dialogue. It's a dark game but ultimately a hopeful one.

I've started a 3rd playthrough with the commentary enabled this time and so far it's one of the best commentary tracks I've come across in a game. I'd count it as an essential addendum to playing through the game itself, very illuminating on the games themes and influences, and genuinely moving as well. Especially in the instances where the lead designer talks about the personal struggles in his life that inspired the game (trying to keep that as vague as possible).

Wadjet Eye and Wormwood both have definitely got another worthy title under their belts.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Hi all -- I don't want to say too much, because:
a) I'm trying to focus on the game, and Facebook can become a full-time job, and there are only 28 hours in a day
b) It's too soon. I probably shouldn't have leaked that I'm working on a game. There will be a time when I want all the publicity I can get, but it just isn't that time yet.
Anyway .. here's some answers to questions (a pre-emptive faq):
What are you working on? -- It is indeed a game, and it's one that is very mainstream. Roberta talked me out of the educational game and into something more people would enjoy. I'll say what it is about six weeks from now. In the meantime I just want to be head-down focused.

When will it be done? -- Our goal is November, but that probably isn't realistic. We're pushing hard though.
What platforms will it be available on? -- I don't know. Certainly Mac and Windows. I hope eventually it will be on most platforms and in most languages. A lot will depend on how people like it.
Can you give me a hint? -- I hope not!
Can I beta test? -- Possibly. Send me an email - ken@kensblog.com. I won't respond but I will put your name on a list of possible beta testers. I don't know yet how many we'll want or how we'll choose them, or even what we'll be looking for. I'm inclined towards fewer people who have the time to take it more seriously and put in more time. I'm guessing beta testing can start in August (or, at least hoping!).

Can I do the music? the box cover? character voices? the foreign translation? the porting to Apple ][? Probably not. We will need help with foreign translation and porting to other platforms, but the box art, voices and music are already handled.
Is the game any good? -- I have said that I do not think a small team can produce a product that is competitive in today's world. I still believe that. The major studios have nothing to fear from this game. It's an incredible accomplishment for a small team, and those who play it will find much to love. But, I am not kidding myself that this will sell millions of copies. That said, I do think traditional Sierra fans will be very happy.

What's Roberta's involvement? -- So far, her involvement has been important, but minimal. She was the original inspiration for the game, and has been consulted almost daily. But, in terms of hours spent in front of a computer it is 99% Marcus and myself. We've been filling all spare time 7 days a week. Roberta will get more and more involved as we get closer.
What's the game's exact current status? -- The whole game is there, but with scratch graphics. That's one reason for no screen shots. We wanted to rough out the whole game and then make a second (and, third and fourth) pass to replace the placeholder graphics and animation and start polishing things. If you saw the game today I doubt you'd be impressed. You would need a LOT of imagination. That's how we planned it and that's how it is.

Is this the beginning of a new company? -- I have no idea. Marcus (my partner in this effort) is in this for the long haul. He's young and has the ambition and talent to do something great. Whereas, I am happily retired and more excited about having an excuse to create and write code than I am about building a company. I do think people will like this game and that it will be the start of something. But, what that is, and whether Roberta and I will hang in there, or if this was just a fun one-off I do not know. At this point I don't want to think much beyond solving bugs and polishing the game. All of that said, I do have more ideas for things to do and have surprised myself (and, hopefully you) by what we have accomplished. I would have thought it impossible to do what we have done, but with a good set of tools and a lot of focus and hard work, big things appear to be possible. I can't imagine ever not waking up and going to my computer. So, we shall see!
Ken Williams

More clarification on the upcoming Ken & Roberta game. Originally posted on the "Point-N-Click Adventure Fans Unite" facebook group.

 

[Mr Underhill]

maybe the local gibbous dev can share their insight - i did see its at a new low on sale for the switch this week

Greetings fellow adventurers, just catching up with this year's thread, happy to provide some numbers.

We are currently at 48k units sold on Steam. I can't really recall whether I'm allowed to say exact Switch numbers but they are nowhere close to Steam (think under 10%). Several reasons for that, one of them being that Steam has amazing discovery for games and Switch, uh... basically has none - if the press ignores you (and they did, probably because most sites won't review a console port of a game they've already reviewed a year before) you're donezo. I think we have already recouped the cost of porting, and the thrill of having the game on a Nintendo console is 100% worth it either way.

I have a pretty strong interest in how point and clicks do financially since this is our bread and butter, and staying up to date with the scene is crucial, so without any false modesty I'd say don't judge the scene based on our performance. We are one of the - sadly - very few debuts that did really well on Steam, especially for this niche genre, and by constantly watching most notable releases in the scene I'd say we are very much an outlier. Admittedly, my gauge isn't really about numbers sold, I'm more into player interest (concurrent users).

Getting into a bit more niche nerdy stuff here, but if you are curious about how games are doing on Steam (which, as far as we are concerned, is where it *really* matters how you're performing - sorry, GoGers!), here are a couple of tricks:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/914020/members?p=1

This link takes you to our follower page - number of followers is pretty relevant on Steam; to give you a rough idea we launched at ~3k and we're now at 11k. If you're curious about other games, just copy their app id from the URL and replace ours ("914020"), ta-da - nr. of followers.

A decent (but veeery aproximate) way of estimating sells is multiplying the number of reviews with ~40 (some say 20, some say 100). Again, this will give you just a very general ballpark figure.

And finally, and probably the best way to stay up to date with how Steam games are doing, you can install this handy steam extension:

https://steamdb.info/extension/

...which will not only show you followers, but also current number of concurrent players, today's peak, and all-time peak.


Sure, units sold is very relevant, but I'm personally more interested in player interest, which is reflected in the number of folks playing the game at any given time.
E.g. our game gets anywhere between 5 and 20 players on average normally, probably double that during or after a major sale, and has an all-time peak of 293 concurrents. For a newly released game, this peak is usually reached in the first week-end after launch. For reference, I'd consider a game with a peak of over 500 a legit minor indie hit; anything over 1k I'd say is pretty major. Adventure games... Well, they rarely ever overcome the 400-500 mark, but hey - it's a nice, warm and cozy niche

Hope this helped! I don't have numbers for any other games; not all devs are so eager to share them and I respect that. Since we're doing this for a living I'm constantly doing my best to stay up to date on how the scene is doing.

Gentlemen, stay pointy and clicky! I might return with exciting news soon-ish


P.S. Multiplying number of units sold with the base price will not get you anywhere near realistic numbers - this is TYOOL 2021, where games really only sell when discounted; we've just ended a 70% off sale a couple of hours ago. Them's the breaks.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Gentlemen, stay pointy and clicky! I might return with exciting news soon-ish

Thanks for such insight and thorough write up. Love that you took the time to share your first hand knowledge. Stay strong and keep up the hustle!

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Greetings fellow adventurers, just catching up with this year's thread, happy to provide some numbers.

We are currently at 48k units sold on Steam. I can't really recall whether I'm allowed to say exact Switch numbers but they are nowhere close to Steam (think under 10%). Several reasons for that, one of them being that Steam has amazing discovery for games and Switch, uh... basically has none - if the press ignores you (and they did, probably because most sites won't review a console port of a game they've already reviewed a year before) you're donezo. I think we have already recouped the cost of porting, and the thrill of having the game on a Nintendo console is 100% worth it either way.

I have a pretty strong interest in how point and clicks do financially since this is our bread and butter, and staying up to date with the scene is crucial, so without any false modesty I'd say don't judge the scene based on our performance. We are one of the - sadly - very few debuts that did really well on Steam, especially for this niche genre, and by constantly watching most notable releases in the scene I'd say we are very much an outlier. Admittedly, my gauge isn't really about numbers sold, I'm more into player interest (concurrent users).

Getting into a bit more niche nerdy stuff here, but if you are curious about how games are doing on Steam (which, as far as we are concerned, is where it *really* matters how you're performing - sorry, GoGers!), here are a couple of tricks:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/914020/members?p=1

This link takes you to our follower page - number of followers is pretty relevant on Steam; to give you a rough idea we launched at ~3k and we're now at 11k. If you're curious about other games, just copy their app id from the URL and replace ours ("914020"), ta-da - nr. of followers.

A decent (but veeery aproximate) way of estimating sells is multiplying the number of reviews with ~40 (some say 20, some say 100). Again, this will give you just a very general ballpark figure.

And finally, and probably the best way to stay up to date with how Steam games are doing, you can install this handy steam extension:

https://steamdb.info/extension/

...which will not only show you followers, but also current number of concurrent players, today's peak, and all-time peak.


Sure, units sold is very relevant, but I'm personally more interested in player interest, which is reflected in the number of folks playing the game at any given time.
E.g. our game gets anywhere between 5 and 20 players on average normally, probably double that during or after a major sale, and has an all-time peak of 293 concurrents. For a newly released game, this peak is usually reached in the first week-end after launch. For reference, I'd consider a game with a peak of over 500 a legit minor indie hit; anything over 1k I'd say is pretty major. Adventure games... Well, they rarely ever overcome the 400-500 mark, but hey - it's a nice, warm and cozy niche

Hope this helped! I don't have numbers for any other games; not all devs are so eager to share them and I respect that. Since we're doing this for a living I'm constantly doing my best to stay up to date on how the scene is doing.

Gentlemen, stay pointy and clicky! I might return with exciting news soon-ish


P.S. Multiplying number of units sold with the base price will not get you anywhere near realistic numbers - this is TYOOL 2021, where games really only sell when discounted; we've just ended a 70% off sale a couple of hours ago. Them's the breaks.

Thanks for the insights and taking the time to post them! Also congrats on the success. Very impressed with those numbers, especially from a first time dev. Looking forward to seeing what you guys cook up in the future.

 

[Fuz]

Posted it on the free games thread, but since it's relevant: Samorost free on GOG.

Samorost 1

Explore the beginnings of the Samorost series in the space gnome’s original bite-sized

www.gog.com

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Really sad an unexpected news from Microids' website.

29 May Mourning Benoît Sokal​

Posted at 10:00h in Microids by Microids
Paris – May 29th 2021 – It’s with extreme sadness and heavy hearts that the Microids team must announce the death of Benoît Sokal, who passed on the 28th of May 2021 after battling a long-term illness.
Known first and foremost as a storyteller and talented comic book artist, Benoît contributed hugely to advancing the video game medium internationally, through a varied and prolific output over the past 25 years.
A true visionary and extremely talented artist, Benoît left an indelible mark on Microids’ history. He worked hard to share his vision with the world, starting in 1999 with his first title, Amerzone. His distinctive style made the various universes he built unforgettable for thousands of players worldwide, even earning him the position of Art Director at Microids for a time.
Benoît is also known and revered for creating the cult Syberia games. This was a series in which he brilliantly transposed his love for all things Eastern European, all encompassed in unique and singular adventures cherished and loved by a loyal army of fans.
The entire Microids team share the grief of his family and friends.
About Benoît Sokal
Benoît Sokal began drawing for À Suivre magazine in 1978. At this time, he created the Inspector Canardo series, featuring a depressed anthropomorphic duck detective with a penchant for cigarettes, alcohol and femmes fatales. In 1996, he started the video game project Amerzone, published by Microids. Benoît Sokal is one of the first graphic novel artists to design, implement and supervise the entire production of a video game. He then went on to become Microids’ Art Director, publishing his second game, Syberia, in 2002. He was recognized as “Person of the Year” at the 2002 video games Phenix Awards; Syberia was crowned “Best adventure game of the year” in 2002 in the USA. In April 2004, the release of Syberia 2 met the same success as the first episode of the saga and was greeted with enthusiasm by fans all over the world. With Syberia 3, Benoît Sokal chose to stick with the old-fashioned way of drawing with pencils and watercolors, rather than using digital tools, giving his universe and characters a very distinctive look. A multi-talented artist, he also crafted the beloved game story and the characters’ dialogue. During these last months, Benoît Sokal was working with the teams at Microids and Koalabs on the upcoming game Syberia: The World Before.
Despite his prolific career in video games, Benoît Sokal never let go of his original passion, and released the graphic novel Kraa in 2010. He also developed the Aquarica universe for several years with his friend François Schuiten. Together, they released the first graphic novel based on Aquarica in 2017.

Benoit really had a unique talent for crafting distinct and imaginative worlds. He'll definitely be missed, RIP.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Damn.. RIP

 

[Fuz]

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[CitizenZ]

Has anyone tried, " An airport for Aliens run by dogs" yet. the title alone makes me laugh and then i looked at the achievements, probably first time ive laughed so hard in a yr.

 

[Fuz]

So, I stumbled upon this



Never knew of its existance before. It's got a big Toonstruck vibe. Anyone played it?

 

[GreenAlien]

Buy Tell Me Why: Chapters 1-3 | Xbox

All Chapters FREE for the month of June! Tell Me Why is the multi-award winning episodic adventure game from Dontnod Entertainment in which twins use their supernatural bond to discover the truth of their troubled past.

www.microsoft.com

Tell Me Why seems to be free on the MS store.

 

[Fuz]

What a fucking horrible site. I already own games in there, but where the fuck can I see (and eventually download) my games?

God, who designed that shit?

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Has anyone tried, " An airport for Aliens run by dogs" yet. the title alone makes me laugh and then i looked at the achievements, probably first time ive laughed so hard in a yr.

I think I might've seen it mentioned in passing on Twitter, but aside from that hadn't heard of it. Looks pretty funny, though, I might check it out. Do you know how long it is?

So, I stumbled upon this



Never knew of its existance before. It's got a big Toonstruck vibe. Anyone played it?

Interesting, the game looks very Ren & Stimpy-ish. I always think we didn't get enough traditionally animated adventures before the switch to 3D.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

What a fucking horrible site. I already own games in there, but where the fuck can I see (and eventually download) my games?

God, who designed that shit?

Not a great answer, but I found the MS Store desktop app easier to navigate than the website.

 

[Fuz]

Not a great answer, but I found the MS Store desktop app easier to navigate than the website.

Yeah, that's the point. I'm not installing launchers and I wanted to check what I own. I've seen a few in my M$ account, but there are some missing.

Btw, it's free also on steam:

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Teaser trailer and dev diary for Pendulo's upcoming new release based on the Hitchcock film of the same name. Pretty big shoes to fill there but hopefully the game turns out alright.

 

[ShadowNate]

Now that sounds really interesting. As an idea and approach at least. (of course I love that movie)

 

[GreenAlien]

Teaser trailer and dev diary for Pendulo's upcoming new release based on the Hitchcock film of the same name. Pretty big shoes to fill there but hopefully the game turns out alright.

I suffered through the whole guerrilla collective presentation at work and this was the only interesting adventure game.
Hope we see some more on the second part..

 

[Fuz]

Just completed The Lion's Song.



Four small interactive stories somehow loosely tied together. Very interesting art style and use of very few colours. There are no puzzles, they're interactive stories with choices exactly like Telltale games (which I am not a fan). Interesting themes and good overall writing. It could be a very good movie. The soundtrack, as you can hear from the video, is phenomenal. The ending is a bit touching, and the themes and characters just... kind of linger on. Really good narrative overall.
And here's the negatives. The usual flaw... only autosave. I can't stand it. I bloody hate the devs' arrogance and their need to waste your time if you want to try a different choice by replaying the same sections of the game and reading the same lines of dialogues until you FINALLY get to the actual choice you want to change and this is made worse when the outcome doesn't even change... I replayed the portrait scene of Emma/Emil and she just storm out no matter what - You ask her to undress? She storms out. You ask her to remove her hat? She storms out. You don't ask anything of her but mention you see a duality? She storms out. Not sure there's a way to avoid this, but I doubt it. Manual saves should be fucking mandatory, and devs who refuse to implement them should be put to the wall and shot.

Anyway, I enjoyed it. it's good and it was free on EGS, so...

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Just completed The Lion's Song.



Four small interactive stories somehow loosely tied together. Very interesting art style and use of very few colours. There are no puzzles, they're interactive stories with choices exactly like Telltale games (which I am not a fan). Interesting themes and good overall writing. It could be a very good movie. The soundtrack, as you can hear from the video, is phenomenal. The ending is a bit touching, and the themes and characters just... kind of linger on. Really good narrative overall.
And here's the negatives. The usual flaw... only autosave. I can't stand it. I bloody hate the devs' arrogance and their need to waste your time if you want to try a different choice by replaying the same sections of the game and reading the same lines of dialogues until you FINALLY get to the actual choice you want to change and this is made worse when the outcome doesn't even change... I replayed the portrait scene of Emma/Emil and she just storm out no matter what - You ask her to undress? She storms out. You ask her to remove her hat? She storms out. You don't ask anything of her but mention you see a duality? She storms out. Not sure there's a way to avoid this, but I doubt it. Manual saves should be fucking mandatory, and devs who refuse to implement them should be put to the wall and shot.

Anyway, I enjoyed it. it's good and it was free on EGS, so...

Nice impressions, had this game on the backburner for a while so I'll keep it in mind next time I want a branching and choice heavy game. Was The Pillar of Earth's way for that but we'll see I'll probably just play both.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Also on GOG

Hotly anticipated indie adventure Backbone is now available. Anyone planning on diving in straight away? I just may start it very soon. Feeling a little guilty for putting FDC Remake on the back burner but this might be how it has to go down.

 

[Fuz]

choice heavy game

Not that heavy.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Also on GOG

Hotly anticipated indie adventure Backbone is now available. Anyone planning on diving in straight away? I just may start it very soon. Feeling a little guilty for putting FDC Remake on the back burner but this might be how it has to go down.

Not that hotly apparently. It seems the demo was better than the main game for marketing purposes and a few people on steam confirmed the main game has no puzzles while the demo does which sounds incredibly baffling and I hope they're lying. It's also under 4h which wouldn't be a problem but "elaborate dialogues inspired by old school CRPGs." being a huge bs, along with whatever else they lied is a bit worrying. I'm not going to bite, I'll wait for more thoughts on it, maybe you guys will dare venture forth with it. I already have a huge backlog as it is.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Yeah, reading some worrying impressions on Steam as well. Might wait for a price drop considering I'm seeing a lot of really low hour counts. I did also read that review that said only the prologue parts have puzzles (initial 40 min of the game). Which would be... really weird at minimum. In actuality totally misleading and terrible on the part of the devs considering their gameplay description:

Backbone's gameplay is a modern take on the classic point-and-click adventure, featuring stealth, exploration, and elaborate dialogues inspired by old school CRPGs.

As Howard, you will:
• Make meaningful connections with a diverse cast of characters in pursuit of truth
• Explore both flourishing and decaying districts of a now walled-off Vancouver
• Uncover clues and collect evidence
• Solve puzzles and sneak around
• Be a raccoon

So yeah, hoping that's not accurate.

 

[Fuz]

Yep, even the reviews marked as positive are not good reviews, for me.

 

[supernova8]

Did someone say... leather jacket?

 

[Kuranghi]

Also available on GOG

One of my most anticipated releases for the year just dropped! Strangeland is out now, going to jump into this later today.

I really really liked Primordia, so will give this one a go.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

The Corruption Within is out today. Seems solid from the review of YakWaxLips, really like the color palette in this game.

 

[TripleSun]

Wow, never heard of that title. Art style is certainly beautiful.

 

[GreenAlien]

Last Stop


Behind The Frame


Road 96


Chinatown Detective Agency

 

[Kuranghi]

This thread is awesome, I can see there is a lot of love here. I'm needing to get back to adventure games and play them as much as I did in my youth. I'm don't see the fun in a lot of modern genres so I think I need to go back to something with a slower pace:

 

[The Cockatrice]

This thread is awesome, I can see there is a lot of love here. I'm needing to get back to adventure games and play them as much as I did in my youth. I'm don't see the fun in a lot of modern genres so I think I need to go back to something with a slower pace:

Theres all kinds of classic adventures for every taste, even for picky aholes like myself.