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[Vampire On Titus]

Last Stop


Behind The Frame


Road 96


Chinatown Detective Agency

Hadn't heard of Road 96, thanks for posting it. Looking forward to seeing more of Behind The Frame, that game is absolutely gorgeous. Chinatown Detective Agency is an interesting case. I did find the incorporation of real world investigation (via internet research) pretty neat, but at the same time some of the things I had to google to get the right answers were pretty esoteric. I wonder how many people will bother going through all that when they're already tabbed out of the game and can just google a walkthrough instead lol.

 

[Nico_D]

Behind the Frame and Route 96 seem especially interesting to me. I really should start playing more adventure games again. At some point after the peak at the 90s they both vanished and what was left, was pretty shit.

The Deponia series was what made me interested again.

 

[Kuranghi]

This stop-motion Tribeca showcase game looks ace! The motion captured animation is fantastic.

 

[rkofan87]

Last Stop


Behind The Frame


Road 96


Chinatown Detective Agency

chinatown coming to switch f yes!!!!

 

[rkofan87]

Hadn't heard of Road 96, thanks for posting it. Looking forward to seeing more of Behind The Frame, that game is absolutely gorgeous. Chinatown Detective Agency is an interesting case. I did find the incorporation of real world investigation (via internet research) pretty neat, but at the same time some of the things I had to google to get the right answers were pretty esoteric. I wonder how many people will bother going through all that when they're already tabbed out of the game and can just google a walkthrough instead lol.

i am going to use a walkthrough and just enjoy the story.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Behind the Frame and Route 96 seem especially interesting to me. I really should start playing more adventure games again. At some point after the peak at the 90s they both vanished and what was left, was pretty shit.

The Deponia series was what made me interested again.

Assuming you're a LucasArts fan from your avatar, Thimbleweed Park is a great re-entry point into the genre. On the less comedic side of things there's this game called Technobabylon that I've heard is pretty godly cool.

This stop-motion Tribeca showcase game looks ace! The motion captured animation is fantastic.

Catching up on that rn, Harold Halibut is quite the looker. I also saw 12 Minutes in the preview trailer reel, I'd love to see more concrete gameplay from that.

 

[Kuranghi]

Catching up on that rn, Harold Halibut is quite the looker. I also saw 12 Minutes in the preview trailer reel, I'd love to see more concrete gameplay from that.

Thats the one, looks fantastic to me, like a playable diorama.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Some cool presentations from E3 so far. Nice to get a closer look at 12 Minutes since they've been playing that one so close to the vest.



Norco

 

[Fuz]

...did they spend all their budget on Reedus?

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Some of the adventure trailers from the past day of E3. Probably did miss some stuff because I was out group watching the conferences with some peeps. Conway Dissapearence looks really interesting. Seems like a better version of that game from a year or two ago called Flower Collectors. New Sam Barlow game which I've seen some excitement for, not much shown (and I've yet to play Her Story or Telling Lies yet) but that's cool. Also 12 Minutes got a showing at MS' conference and they announced the date for August 12th. So that's coming up real real soon. If it delivers on the concept it could be an AOTY contender imo.

 

[Fuz]

First time I hear about Lake, I think it looks pretty nice.

 

[GreenAlien]

Minute of Islands released yesterday.

 

[The Cockatrice]

^ might bite on this. Its not getting much attention and devs seem cool.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Lake looks pretty nice.

I'll probably start Beautiful Desolation soon. Get ready for rants.

First time I hear about Lake, I think it looks pretty nice.

They say you cant relive the past, but magical moments happen in the AdventureGAF thread.

bonus points for consistency

 

[The Cockatrice]

That reminds me I still havent played Beautiful Desolation. I didn't like the first few minutes and I gave up. I should give it a chance again.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Played through the demo for The Night Is Grey and I came away from it impressed. The visual design and animation that grabbed me initially is as good as it ever was. Barring some examples like Pillars of Eternity and the upcoming Big Hollow, there aren't too many 2D adventures that look and move this well. Sound design did a lot in bolstering TNiG's atmosphere as well. The sfx were a bit too high in the mix for me, initially, but aside from that the rushing winds, creaks and cringes are all properly evocative for the creepy wood setting.

The biggest make or break unknown was of course the writing. So I'm happy to say everything in the demo is fully competent and even pretty skillful. The relationship between the protagonist and little girl who holds him up at gun point was compelling instantaneously, for me. She's a endearingly cheeky kid. Hopefully they keep her character within the realm of "believably naive" without dipping into the "conveniently dumb plot device" that haunts so many other child characters in stories like this. There's some good characterization through the protagonist's observational lines as well. Some of them are a bit on the nose "If only people stuck together as well as duct tape." But still, many more are genuinely clever, even funny, "It's almost useful. Which means it's not useful at all" and the devs have done a good job of teasing out small, lingering questions that leave you with an unsettled feeling.

Puzzle wise everything in the demo is well done but being that it's 40 minutes, consisting of only the first chain in the game, it's hard to say for sure. There is a little extra effort given to add little kinetic elements to some of the interactions (revving a gas generation, reaching for a high up item, etc). It adds to the overall feeling of polish, I think. But yeah, all I can really say is that it's all decently made and logical for the duration. So we'll see how that goes in the full game.

Overall I'm even more excited to play the full game and I recommend everyone check the demo out. It's a nice indicative slice of game that dosen't give away too much, either. Plus there's an exclusive trailer at the end of it, which shows of some interesting new (possibly supernatural) developments.

 

[Alter_Fridge]

GOG is having a pretty damn good sale on Adventure Games at the moment

 

[Luthia]

Not sure if you heard about this one, but I guess it could interest some of you:

I've backed it so I'm really thrilled, I think it looks gorgeous and quite unusual.

And by the way, big thanks to the regulars of this thread, since I've been (silently) following it for a few years now, I may have discovered 90% of the games I play here !
I don't know where you fetch all these amazing games but you're like a gold mine to me

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Not sure if you heard about this one, but I guess it could interest some of you:

I've backed it so I'm really thrilled, I think it looks gorgeous and quite unusual.

And by the way, big thanks to the regulars of this thread, since I've been (silently) following it for a few years now, I may have discovered 90% of the games I play here !
I don't know where you fetch all these amazing games but you're like a gold mine to me

Well, thank you back for linking this game. Hadn't heard of it before and feel free to stick around posting, I'm sure everyone would like to read the impressions of games you've played.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

So, Steam Next Fest started yesterday and there's quite a few adventure game demoes available for the first time. Including many I've been anticipating for a while now so I've been having fun going through a sampling of them.

I played through the demo for Norco (formely Norco: Faraway Lights) and was massively impressed by the writing and atmosphere of the game. The descriptive writing is a perfect match for the rustic melancholy of Norco's sci-fi Louisiana. It's a heavy game but there's also a balance of dry and surrealistic humor which gives some levity and keeps things from ever feeling too pretentious. It's a long demo, too, I'd say an 1hr 30min ~ 2 hrs. You get a really good feel for the game and I'm already invested in its darkly human cast of characters. I wish the gameplay was more involved, so far the extent of the problem solving is fetch quests and the occasional memory puzzle. There does seem to be some variable outcome to taking different actions or dialogue choices, but It's hard to tell how robust that aspect is for now. In any case, I'm really looking forward to the game.

Afterward I played, or rather attempted to play, the demo for Thief's Roulette. Which is an anime style escape room adventure in the vein of games like Zero Escape/Parascientific Escape. With the 3D environment + 2D character cutout style of Danganronpa. It seemed like it'd be decent enough from the store page, but after playing for 30+ minutes last night I couldn't make any progress on the very first puzzle lol. It's a pattern matching puzzle, but there seems to be no indication on how to "start" the pattern. I might give it another shake but maybe I'm just too dumb for Thief's Roulette.

Lastly, I played through the demo for Lake, the chill mail-delivery adventure by Gamious. Really enjoyed it so far, the devs have managed to capture a fairly serene atmosphere with a (relatively) simple visual style. The characters could look and animate better but every one of them is distinct and interesting to interact with. The main character, Meredith, is at a crossroads in her life. She can either choose a fast paced, work oriented, path or a calmer pace with more time for the people in her life. The choices you make during talks with the locals frame how she resolves this contention. It made me think of a Japanese adventure game called "Wind and Rain" where you motorbike around the countryside as a photojournalist, taking pictures to win a competition and meeting various people along the way. Unfortunately my time with the Lake demo was also plagued by several technical issues. There's a persistent stutter, even though the frame rate itself is fine, which no change in settings would alleviate. My car got stuck on the side of the road once and I was forced to reload. Also, one cutscene hung after the initial line of dialogue which also forced me to reload, only this time I lost a full day's progress. So, I actually haven't finished the demo yet but despite those issues I did still have a good time with it. The demo starts with a disclaimer warning of technical and performance issues. Hopefully they can iron those out before launch.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I wish someone would make a game like Penumbra with a strong focus on puzzles.

EDIT: ^ I tried some demos and I ended up removing some from wishlist lol...yeah..I know..I kept Sable but why the fuck would they make it in 30 fps is unknown to me. Theres 0 artistic reasons for it to be at that low framerate. It's jarring and annoying. I thought all the videos were low fps because they were working on the game and optimizing it, but it's clear every animation is locked to a stuttery 30 framerate, you know kinda like SPiderman Multiverse animations which some liked but I hated. The demo wasn't that great either, just some fetch quests here and there. Not very impressed. Might remove it as well. Meh.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Not sure how I missed this from last month, but its probably the longest uninterrupted gameplay demo of 12 Minutes so far. Aside from the really rough ~2015 prototype footage that he shopped around.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Started playing through Ken Follet's The Pillars of Earth and I'm enjoying it quite a bit, so far. First thing about it is that it's absolutely gorgeous. All Daedalic games tend to have very high quality art, but the style and craft in Pillars of Earth is a cut above their norm, I think. Everything from the stylization, to the brushwork of the environments, down to the character designs is top notch imo. Even the use of post processing effects are tastefully done without overpowering any of the scenes, which I find rare. I think the lip-sync could've been better during some of the conversations, but that's really the only nitpick.

(Character designs walk a fine line of being distinct while not dipping into caricature.)
​

It's really nice to finally enjoy all this great art in a Daedalic game without running into the roadblock of the studio's writing. Which historically just doesn't connect with me, especially their sense of humor. Quite the contrary with Pillars of Earth, I've found myself fairly engrossed in it's slow moving character drama. Currently, the plot revolves around a political struggle for England's throne and how that impacts a Prior struggling to rebuild his crumbling cathedral, a Mason's family looking for work and an outlaw mother and son. I'm at the tail end of Book 1 (of 3) and the stage has been well set for all manner of back-stabbings, double crossings and general underhanded maneuvering. So I'm looking forward to seeing just how spectacularly all my choices will blow up in my face.

(Narrative choices come in a variety of forms.)
​

Pillars also does something I think TTG should have employed more often. Which is that, rather than having mostly all narrative choices come down to a freeze frame/slow down "this or that" moment, they more often emerge naturally from the object/environment interaction the player engages in. Both have their place but the latter allows for a more immersive experience that can make use of some puzzle solving. It also lets smaller moments build into bigger rewards. Like early on theirs a small puzzle to cure some venison, it's possible to miss the solution and continue with the game, but doing so successfully will help you ingratiate yourself with a character who initially dislikes you.

Seems like a fairly long game (for an adventure game, so I'm expecting like 10~15 hrs). I hope the quality keeps up throughout because this could be a real winner. Also, if you've been keeping up with the Epic Game Store giveaways then you probably have this claimed somewhere within the dark, untouched, recesses of your library tab. That's how I'm playing it and I almost feel guilty playing it for free. Well, not really, but I assume that's what someone with a conscience would say.

 

[Fuz]

I thought it was a "Telltale-like" with just choices and no puzzles, but from your review it seems it's got puzzles as well? How much of a game it is (as opposed to a visual novel)?

It's really nice to finally enjoy all this great art in a Daedalic game without running into the roadblock of the studio's writing.

Have you played Memoria?

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Yeah, it's got puzzles. They're not tough ones and typically aren't absolute roadblocks to progress but rather optional objectives you can figure out to get the best outcome. For instance, in a segment where you're playing as Prior James, there's an upcoming meeting where James can potentially become the head of the monastery. You can do the bare minimum to begin the meeting and advance the plot, conversely you can figure out various ways to ingratiate yourself with the other monks. Which involves solving small puzzles like using a cloth to pick up a hot stone, to give to a monk with cold feet.

There's also a mechanic where certain events give you conversation topics as inventory items that you'll need to use on the right person to advance. Though, it's a little weird because sometimes you can bring up those topics as a dialogue option and sometimes you can't.

In terms of a gameplay to narrative ratio, It feels kind of on an Unavowed-ish level. Maybe a little bit simpler, but it's hard to say because I'm still in Book 1 and the puzzles seem like they're ramping up slightly.

Have you played Memoria?

Nope. Is it worth checking out?

 

[Fuz]

Nope. Is it worth checking out?

I recommended it time and again. It's a 10/10 for me.
You might want to play Chains of Satinav before, being a sort of prequel, but the stories are autonomous so it's not mandatory. CoS is also good - not as Memoria though.

Edit: just checked, two euros https://www.gog.com/game/memoria
I mean, it's a big investment.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

I recommended it time and again. It's a 10/10 for me.
You might want to play Chains of Satinav before, being a sort of prequel, but the stories are autonomous so it's not mandatory. CoS is also good - not as Memoria though.

Edit: just checked, two euros https://www.gog.com/game/memoria
I mean, it's a big investment.

Picked it up. This and Silence are my next Daedalic hopefuls.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Upcoming adventure I came across, it's a sci-fi murder mystery that takes place in a locked laboratory. I kinda like the rough look of the animation. Looks like the pretty standard gathering evidence + reasoning stuff but the Steam description promises some unique mechanics to be revealed. So, we'll see about that.



New trailer for The Night is Grey, different from the one that's at the end of the demo and actually better. Turns out that demo wasn't timed to the Steam Next Festival so it's just available to play whenever anyone wants. TNiG continues to look really promising.

 

[Fuz]

Picked it up. This and Silence are my next Daedalic hopefuls.

Sorry, Silence is crap.

 

[Luthia]

Started playing through Ken Follet's The Pillars of Earth and I'm enjoying it quite a bit, so far. First thing about it is that it's absolutely gorgeous. All Daedalic games tend to have very high quality art, but the style and craft in Pillars of Earth is a cut above their norm, I think. Everything from the stylization, to the brushwork of the environments, down to the character designs is top notch imo. Even the use of post processing effects are tastefully done without overpowering any of the scenes, which I find rare. I think the lip-sync could've been better during some of the conversations, but that's really the only nitpick.

(Character designs walk a fine line of being distinct while not dipping into caricature.)
​

It's really nice to finally enjoy all this great art in a Daedalic game without running into the roadblock of the studio's writing. Which historically just doesn't connect with me, especially their sense of humor. Quite the contrary with Pillars of Earth, I've found myself fairly engrossed in it's slow moving character drama. Currently, the plot revolves around a political struggle for England's throne and how that impacts a Prior struggling to rebuild his crumbling cathedral, a Mason's family looking for work and an outlaw mother and son. I'm at the tail end of Book 1 (of 3) and the stage has been well set for all manner of back-stabbings, double crossings and general underhanded maneuvering. So I'm looking forward to seeing just how spectacularly all my choices will blow up in my face.

(Narrative choices come in a variety of forms.)
​

Pillars also does something I think TTG should have employed more often. Which is that, rather than having mostly all narrative choices come down to a freeze frame/slow down "this or that" moment, they more often emerge naturally from the object/environment interaction the player engages in. Both have their place but the latter allows for a more immersive experience that can make use of some puzzle solving. It also lets smaller moments build into bigger rewards. Like early on theirs a small puzzle to cure some venison, it's possible to miss the solution and continue with the game, but doing so successfully will help you ingratiate yourself with a character who initially dislikes you.

Seems like a fairly long game (for an adventure game, so I'm expecting like 10~15 hrs). I hope the quality keeps up throughout because this could be a real winner. Also, if you've been keeping up with the Epic Game Store giveaways then you probably have this claimed somewhere within the dark, untouched, recesses of your library tab. That's how I'm playing it and I almost feel guilty playing it for free. Well, not really, but I assume that's what someone with a conscience would say.

Pillars of the Earth was quite enjoyable indeed. The artwork is absolutely great, this is what really appealed to me at first, and the story is interesting enough.
It's maybe a bit too Telltale-like for my taste (but better still). I have to admit, I was really annoyed when it was announced because it confirmed that Daedalic was following on Telltale's footsteps, an I had so much hopes they would continue to do classic point'n'click... Telltale why did you have to ruin the genre
By the way, I was so sad when The Devil's Men was cancelled, I was really looking forward to it, too bad...

I recommended it time and again. It's a 10/10 for me.
You might want to play Chains of Satinav before, being a sort of prequel, but the stories are autonomous so it's not mandatory. CoS is also good - not as Memoria though.

Edit: just checked, two euros https://www.gog.com/game/memoria
I mean, it's a big investment.

Totally agree about Memoria, the story is so good. I loved that I didn't see the ending coming at all, it tends to be too rare (all media included).
Chains of Satinav is nice and I do recommend playing it first, but Memoria is way better.
Both are quite lovely in terms of artwork, the animation is stiff but overall it didn't really bothered me.

Sorry, Silence is crap.

I wouldn't say it's crap, but yeah... clearly not one of my favorite.
I played the demo first a long time ago, and I found the voice of the main character so irritating I thought I would never buy it.
I finally bought it years after, because in the meantime I played other Daedalic games that I really enjoyed like Deponia, so I thought I would give it a chance.
In the end, it's ok but not memorable, I won't play it a second time.

However, one Daedalic game I remember I really disliked was A New Beginning... Everything was bad, the environments were ok but the character design was awful, the story, characters and puzzles were boring. I felt like it was just vomiting at your face it's ecologic moral whenever it could. And I consider myself as quite concerned by environmental issues, but this was just too much and too poorly done.

 

[Fuz]

However, one Daedalic game I remember I really disliked was A New Beginning... Everything was bad, the environments were ok but the character design was awful, the story, characters and puzzles were boring. I felt like it was just vomiting at your face it's ecologic moral whenever it could. And I consider myself as quite concerned by environmental issues, but this was just too much and too poorly done.

Absolutely agree. A New Beginning was just plain bad. It's a game that contributed to my prejudice toward Daedalic.

Silence has a good story and bad everything else, especially the insane - and continuous - loading times.

 

[GreenAlien]

So, I just played a bit of Beckett. It's a weird point and click adventure game with lots of text written like a novel. I don't know if there are puzzles, but I'm not counting on it..
Presentation is kinda minimalist, as in no 3d graphics or pixel art, it uses stylized real life pictures for some stuff and it works for me. Music and sound complement the mood well, but there is no voice acting.

I have played it for about 10 minutes, so it's too soon to recommend, but for 1,20€ you can't really go wrong..

Edit: .. and done. The story itself just isn't that good. I would probably not be happy if I bought it at full price.

39 steps from the same devs?/publisher is also heavily discounted right now. It's a non-anime visual novel based on the novel of the same name. I liked it a lot and really wish there to be more similar book adaptions..

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Sequel to the stellar AI:The Somnium Files has been announced! There was a cryptic teaser you could unlock by solving a puzzle on Chunsoft's twitter account a few days ago and from there the twitter sleuths deduced it was likely an AI sequel. Love that we're getting another go in this world. I figured the sales were pretty middling compared to other Chunsoft adventures like Zero Escape and Danganronpa, and figured it would be a one-off game. Psyched that it isn't and can't wait to play this.

 

[Fuz]

I played Strangeland.
I'm not sure if I liked it.

Sequel to the stellar AI:The Somnium Files

Wait. Is that game really good? I know nothing about it, except for its name.

 

[Nico_D]

Wait. Is that game really good? I know nothing about it, except for its name.

Yes. There's couple of ridiculously childish action scenes but stupid gags. But other than that, it is really good story with an excellent mystery. I was happy how it turned out.

 

[Fuz]

Yes. There's couple of ridiculously childish action scenes but stupid gags. But other than that, it is really good story with an excellent mystery. I was happy how it turned out.

Hmm. Game or visual novel?

 

[Vampire On Titus]

I played Strangeland.
I'm not sure if I liked it.

Yeah, I get that reaction. You should check out the commentary, or at least some of it. I think it adds a lot to the experience.

Wait. Is that game really good? I know nothing about it, except for its name.

Yeah, definitely, it's one of my favorite games of the past few years (came out in 2019, I played it late last year). Probably the best Kotaro Uchikoshi game, if you're familiar with 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, Virtue's Last Reward or Zero Time Dilemma. He's known for writing over-the-top mystery stories that make heavy use of science/science-fiction concepts, superstitions, obscure history and massive twists. I refer to 999 as "high schlock" for it's equal propensity to be a genuinely engrossing mystery with characters that move you, and also completely fucking ridiculous camp at the same time. AI:The Somnium Files is more grounded than 999 and the Zero Escape games but it still has the same dynamic at play.

The gameplay is split between investigation sections where you're pointing & clicking around talking to characters and finding clues, and somnium sections where you use a machine to enter a dream like representation of a suspects consciousness. There you solve puzzles to uncover secrets they've been keeping from you to further the case.

You can get a decent sense of it in this gameplay trailer:


But yeah, I love the game.

 

[Nico_D]

Hmm. Game or visual novel?

More visual novel but with similar puzzle sections as in Zero Escape. Or so I've understood, haven't played those yet.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Famitsu Article with a few extra details about Nirvana Initiative
The new game "Ai: Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative" will be released in spring 2022. The sequel to Kotaro Uchikoshi's mystery adventure is coming.

Full Article (Translation via DeepL):

Spike Chunsoft has announced that their new adventure game, Ai: Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative, will be released in Spring 2022. The game will be available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Windows 10, and Steam.

Spike Chunsoft's teaser site, which unexpectedly appeared the other day, showed a countdown timer after solving a riddle, and the keyword you had to enter after solving the riddle was "Nirvana Initiative".

"Ai: Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative" Overview:
You tore my AI apart.
The sequel for the Ai: The Somnium Files game series
Ai: Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative is here!

Ai: Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative is the sequel to Ai: Somnium Files, which was released in September 2019. The previous title, Ai: Somnium Files, was an adventure game set in a Tokyo that seemed to be in the near future, and featured the story of special investigations detective Date Kaname, who pursues a murderer with his AI-powered partner, Aiba.

From the main visuals and prologue shown below, it seems that Mizuki (Okiura Mizuki) and Aiba, who appeared in the previous game, will appear in "Ai: Somnium File Nirvana Initiative" again this time.

The main staff has been carried over from the previous game, with Kotaro Uchikoshi of the "Zero Escape" series in charge of the scenario again this time. Masashi Okada, who worked with Uchikoshi on the "Zero Escape" series and was the director of " Ai: Somnium Files", is also the director this time.

Prologue:
It was six years ago when the "right half of the body" was first discovered.
At that time, no matter how hard they searched, the left half was never found.
Six years later, the missing "left side of the body" was found.
It had not decomposed at all, and it looked as if it had been alive just a moment ago.
Mizuki, a newly appointed ABIS special agent, begins to investigate this "half-body serial murder case" with her autonomous AI robot, Aiba. ......

Trailer:
---

Staff:
Director: Masashi Okada
Scenario: Kotaro Uchikoshi
Character Design: Yusuke Kozaki
Sound: Keisuke Ito

Game Spec:
Title: Ai: Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative
Platform: Nintendo Switch/PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Windows 10/Steam
Release date: Spring 2022
Suggested Retail Price: Price TBD
Genre: Adventure
Number of players: 1 player
CERO: To be reviewed

TL;DR, it confirms that all the key staff are back in their roles including the director, character designer and composer. Which is great news.

 

[Amiga]

A Plague Tale: Innocence should be here. an adventure game with modern mainstream mechanics

 

[e0n]

Kind of cool
Prime Gaming members can claim a trio of Lucasfilm Games classics this summer

 

[Nico_D]

Root Letter seems to be on sale. How is it? Quick scan of reviews says I shouldn't bother but get Root Film instead.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Root Letter seems to be on sale. How is it? Quick scan of reviews says I shouldn't bother but get Root Film instead.

I played it. It's alright, very traditional Japanese mystery/detective adventure right down to list of verbs permanently affixed to the right of the screen. Straight out of the 80s.

​

It's also very beautiful, the style of the character portraits isn't exactly to my taste but the high-res environment art is amazing + you go to a fuckton of locations throughout the game. The drawback is that it's super linear/hand-holdy, you're always told exactly where to go next so outside of the Phoenix Wright style interrogation puzzles (where you match inventory items against witness statements to expose their lies) you don't have to think much. Those parts are solid enough, though. Eventually the game loosens the grip, but not by much and it's only in the last 3rd.

I think the best thing Root Letter has going for it is its serene/chill atmosphere. Plus moments of unintentional comedy since all of the suspects in the mystery have weird nicknames, one of them is literally just "bitch" and the main character constantly refers to her as bitch nonchalantly. Overall I had a decent time with it, I'd go for it depending on the price. There's certainly worse ways to spend your time.

As far as Root Film, I played a little bit of it but found aspects disappointing and didn't continue. The BG art went from detailed paintings to photographs lightly touched up with photoshop filters, the exploration went from point and click to pre-highlighted hot spots that you just cycle through and the puzzles seemed simplified from the first game. I did like the character designs better and it's possible the story is good, didn't play enough to really know.

 

[Nico_D]

Thanks! Maybe I'll take a look then, it is only 12 € on eshop. Been playing so many rpgs lately that visual novels feel like a good change for now. Playing and enjoying Worldend Syndrome atm.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

lmao, this game had some crazy shit

 

[GreenAlien]

Thanks! Maybe I'll take a look then, it is only 12 € on eshop. Been playing so many rpgs lately that visual novels feel like a good change for now. Playing and enjoying Worldend Syndrome atm.

You are probably better off getting Last Answer, since it has an alternative Live Action mode and a little bit additional content..
At least as long as the price difference is marginal like on steam.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

So here we've got another "Southern Gothic" adventure with a dark and opressive feel, similar to Norco, called GRUNND. Except, unlike Norco, I don't quite know what to make of it yet. A Kickstarter for the game has just sprung up and there's a demo on both Steam and Itch. So if you're curious, give it a look.

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GRUNND is a 100% handcrafted, fully voiced adventure game about travelling to a seemingly ordinary place right next to you that slowly introduces itself as surreal and twisted world and has it's own invisible gods, agendas, and order. You - tired after a dull day at your 9to5 job - fall asleep at the train on the way home. Next thing you do is jump out of that train into unknown station, and now need to plan your way back home. Surely enough, it's not so easy?
People you meet are slightly weird, and in the air there's an ethereal, omnipotent power floating just beyond your senses...



A bit of a different take on the point-and-click genre, with platformer-style built locations, fast travel, and multiple choice events introduced early on. This is not a puzzle heavy adventure and all puzzles are made without any nonsense or moon-logic. There is a rich story background for you to unravel; that is not only about you and the world - the people around you have their own thing and they are not here to help you.


The world is inspired by the works of Franz Kafka and David Lynch, and the setting has those taste droplets of Southern Gothic. This is not only the Protagonist's journey - it's yours as well.

Please enjoy the Demo, and let us know about your experience!

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Another game with an ongoing Kickstarter "of pawns & kings." To be completely frank I don't think this game looks very good at all lol. The environments are super busy, garishly high contrast and all the angles are way too pulled out imo. But I've seen people on social media react positively to this so I'm sharing it because maybe it's just me.

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“of pawns and kings” is a strongly story focussed point & click adventure game in visually stunning environments.
Solve puzzles, combine and use objects in the game world, talk and discuss with the characters living in this enchanting world. Follow Nik on a journey through 10+ chapters and dive in the rich story of the game. Do you have what it takes to solve Niks family secrets and save the ones he loves ?

protagonist Nik [olas] - nearly grown up ,17 years old, lives together with his grandpa Erasmus on an idyllic, tropical beach, nicely furnished in an old shipwreck. His father, mostly absent, only visits him a few times a year, so Nik was raised by his grandpa, a very friendly, but somehow crazy old man, Nik loves very very much. Nik doesn't know his mom at all. Except for rare dreams of a friendly woman, he doesn't have any memories of her at all.

Nik, till today, lived a very protected life, mainly self-determined planning his days. This changes abruptly the moment a stranger appears, starting a heated discussion with Erasmus, which ends with the disappearance of both of them.
Suddenly Nik is forced to leave all he knows behind to find clues and he sets on a journey to search for his grandpa.

On this journey he will discover many surprising things about his family, he will be forced - fleeing the mysterious stranger - to find his way through many diverse scenarios, some of them beautiful, some more frightening. He will meet friendly, fascinating, but also unscrupulous characters.

Most part of the journey he will be accomplished by a sassy and impertinent toucan -named Fitzgeraldo-, who to his surprise can talk ...
Fitz intentions in helping Nik most of the time don't work like they should, though...

We accompany Nik on his journey, experience him growing up fast, taking responsibility and coping with fear and prejudice.
Will he be able to discover all secrets, will he find help and will he finally save the ones he loves the most ? The deeper Nik delves into the history of his family the more it will astonish him and lets him discover his own part in it.

A marvelous adventure with many dangers and secrets begins …

• a well protected, most innocent boy
• never suffered at all, his life full of joy
• then suddenly, like a lightenings strike
• his whole life is changed, all done by a psyche
• forced on a journey, so different each land
• searching the wisdom, on making his stand
• through adventures and dangers, both sad and profound
• finding friends, also foes, even two of them crowned
• is he steady and strong, is he witty and fast
• will he travel those worlds, unbelievably vast
• is he lucky enough, might he undo some wrong
• is he seeing the ones, speaking only false tongue
• dare to see this yourself, want to play with my game
• only thing to be done is to back this campaign

Also, recently announced is "OPUS: Echo of Starsong" the 3rd entry in a series of space-travel themed adventure games that I've recently found out about.

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Echo of Starsong is a narrative-driven mix between puzzle adventure and space exploration. Asteroids containing a substance known as "Lumen" has become the center of conflict for the immense power they hold. Determined to find lumen of his own, a boy ventures out with a girl who can sing the song of asteroids, lending her voice to unravel an ancient myth hidden in the heart of space.

"I will find the lumen, and bring honor to the clan."
Exiled by his people, Lee ventures out in search of lumen to atone for his mistakes. But progress is slow, until he saves Eda, a witch who can sense the presence of lumen. However, what appears to be a blessed encounter, will end up becoming a lifelong burden...

The female protagonist - Eda, can sense the thunderous echos of lumen in space, and navigate their spaceship towards the asteroid it came from.

The male protagonist - Lee, can explore asteroids to locate their echo's source, which reside in magnificent temples deep within the asteroids, hiding their ancient secrets.

Throughout their journey, the crew will encounter people of all sorts. From lumen intel brokers, to lumen excavation enforcement officers. Some may act as an obstacle, while others will prove themselves to be allies.

Most people of Thousand Peaks have a personal story to tell when it comes to the conflicts that have ravaged their homeland. Uncover the troubled history of this solar system as you get to know each character.

The story's main setting, Thousand Peaks, has been in a state of chaos ever since the Lumen War. Help the crew travel through the territories of different factions, as they gather intel on the fabled lumen.

Echo of Starsong is a narrative-driven game. Although puzzles and resource management are involved throughout the story, gameplay is kept simple to provide an accessible experience.

Adore the look of some of these scenes. Thinking about diving into this series before this new release, seems interesting.

 

[The Cockatrice]

of pawns and kings has a nice idea but the presentation or the graphics are dog shit. Can't understand a thing in that video. Still, maybe they'll improve if they get backed.

 

[Danjin44]

Currently playing AI: The Somnium Files and reached the part when Date "thinks" Iris got killed and dived in to So's Dream.

I'm really liking the game so far and I love the banter between Date and Aiba, they have nice chemistry together. The time limit in Dream sections is not as bad as some people made it out to be, the Time limit act much more of a meter rather than actual time since it really starts when you start to move and use time to interact with objects. In all honestly its no different than the meter you see in Ace Attorney court section.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Currently playing AI: The Somnium Files and reached the part when Date "thinks" Iris got killed and dived in to So's Dream.

I'm really liking the game so far and I love the banter between Date and Aiba, they have nice chemistry together. The time limit in Dream sections is not as bad as some people made it out to be, the Time limit act much more of a meter rather than actual time since it really starts when you start to move and use time to interact with objects. In all honestly its no different than the meter you see in Ace Attorney court section.

Yeah, it's pretty integral to the design; so you don't just go around exhausting every option with no thought whatsoever. I do think the Somnium's get short shrift in some people's estimation, they're very creative and I do take the criticism that there's perhaps too much trial and error vs considered problem solving. That being said it's not purely guesswork the way some people tell it. There are clues in the story leading up to each Somnium that help you understand the dream logic of them and in some cases it works really well.

Overall the I enjoy the more conventional adventure puzzles in Zero Escape but I'm happy to see Uchikoshi take risks, try new things, etc. The Somnium puzzles hit more than they miss for me and I think they'll refine them further in the sequel.