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Lone Survivor's map is unforgivable and when I played it I accidentally answered the question at the beginning of the game that disabled it completely save for at certain points in the game where you find a new one. What a poo poo design decision.
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Oct 26, 2014 14:50
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Lone Survivor has a lot of those. The various victory conditions are so obtuse they would give FF12's Zodiac Spear a run for its money.
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Oct 26, 2014 14:51
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Is there anything obtuse enough to ruin enjoyment of the game? Been hm'ing and ah'ing over getting it.
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Oct 26, 2014 15:03
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The game itself is easy enough to finish, but don't expect to understand why you got the ending that you did without using some sort of guide.
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Oct 26, 2014 15:04
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Cardiovorax posted:The game itself is easy enough to finish, but don't expect to understand why you got the ending that you did without using some sort of guide. The two basic endings (Blue and Green) have requirements that become really obvious after one playthrough. The new ones (Yellow and White) are ludicrous and I don't think they're even all that different from the originals.
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Oct 26, 2014 15:07
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Without directly spoiling anything, essentially the game has a "sanity" mechanic that influences what ending you get. You stay more "sane" by keeping well fed and well rested, but it's a bit more complicated than that since there's a lot of little interactions that can raise or lower your sanity rating (As an example I think watering your plant raises your sanity a bit). It's not actually indicated anywhere in game how "sane" you are so it's fairly obtuse trying to go for endings that require high or low sanity. Plus it's not the only factor that determines what ending you get. I think the system is inspired by the way SH2's endings worked, where it was based on s bunch of things tracked during the game like "How much do you try to use the knife" and "How close do you stick to Maria" and other things, rather than a simple good/bad scale. Also yeah, the mask always looks like a big smile to me too.
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Oct 26, 2014 19:20
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The Cheshire Cat posted:I think the system is inspired by the way SH2's endings worked, where it was based on s bunch of things tracked during the game like "How much do you try to use the knife" and "How close do you stick to Maria" and other things, rather than a simple good/bad scale. Has anybody actually datamined SH2 to find the exact values for that poo poo? Because it's really fascinating to me. I want to know more besides "Checking the hospital diary over and over is a really bad idea unless you like Water!"
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Oct 26, 2014 20:14
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I'm fairly certain ive seen faqs that have dissected exactly how many points you are given towards certain endings for specific actions.
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Oct 26, 2014 20:31
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Zombie Samurai posted:
Thank you for doing these, by the way! It's always a pleasure to read. I love horror games from a distance (I'll watch tons of videos of them being played, but I'll never play them myself) so I'm really enjoying this feature.
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Oct 27, 2014 03:17
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I could never play Lone Survivor. Not because it was too scary or anything but because I literally couldn't differentiate anything. The pixel art was a really bad choice because if I played it windowed I could barely see anything and fullscreen was just a mess of pixels. It seemed neat but it was frustrating to play and hurt my eyes.
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Oct 27, 2014 03:44
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Cowman posted:I could never play Lone Survivor. Not because it was too scary or anything but because I literally couldn't differentiate anything. The pixel art was a really bad choice because if I played it windowed I could barely see anything and fullscreen was just a mess of pixels. It seemed neat but it was frustrating to play and hurt my eyes. same, I kept getting lost and couldn't differentiate anything. It felt like a mess. If the art or art assets were improved I might have another go at it.
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Oct 27, 2014 03:54
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Songbearer posted:Thank you for doing these, by the way! It's always a pleasure to read. I love horror games from a distance (I'll watch tons of videos of them being played, but I'll never play them myself) so I'm really enjoying this feature.  The Challenge Games 1. Alien: Isolation 2. Year Walk 3. Deadlight 4. Adventures of Shuggy 5. Atom Zombie Smasher 6. Alan Wake's American Nightmare 7. Infected: The Twin Vaccine - Collector's Edition 8. How to Survive 9. 1953 - KGB Unleashed 10. Burn Zombie Burn! 11. Home 12. Huntsman: The Orphanage (Halloween Edition) 13. Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi 14. Scarygirl 15. I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream 16. Closure 17. Alien Breed 2: Assault 18. F.E.A.R. Online 19. Ghostship Aftermath 20. Hell Yeah! 21. Eldritch 22. The Path 23. Shadowgrounds: Survivor 24. Ghost Master 25. Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut Bonus Games A. Painkiller: Black Edition B. The Void C. Shadowgrounds D. Haunted Memories E. Serena F. The Forgotten Ones ----------------- 26. Amnesia: The Dark Descent Why am I writing this up? It's Amnesia. It's the game that everyone points to first when someone asks "What's a scary game?" People that have never played it recommend it to people who will buy it and never play it. What am I even doing here? The truth is, I needed a reason to revisit this one. I'm a terribly jumpy person and genuinely scary games can wear me out good. The first time I played Amnesia, I never even made it to a monster. I knew I needed to give it another go and this was the perfect time to do it. And while I was playing, a thought occurred to me. Amnesia's been around for years at this point. How does it hold up in a post-Alien: Isolation world? Amnesia casts you, unsurprisingly, as an amnesiac in a drafty old castle back in the 1800s. You soon find a missive from yourself, assuring you that you didn't want those memories anyway and there's someone in the castle you really ought to kill. As you begin exploring the darkened, crumbling halls, you find that there are other residents of the castle that are none too pleased to see you. There's no fighting in this one, it's pure stealth or fleeing. The cornerstone of Amnesia's gameplay, much like Penumbra before it, is sanity. Looking at monsters, seeing freaky things happening, and being in the dark make you lose sanity. Of course, if you stand there in front of a torch, the things that want to turn your insides into outsides will have an easy time spotting you. Encounters with monsters are all about balancing your stealthy skulking against your dwindling sanity, which is only restored by progressing through the game. It's a finite resource system like food in Lone Survivor, and works to layer urgency on top of your horror. I must admit it's a bit of a bother here though, because it puts some irritating visual effects on you when it gets terribly low. The sanity effects are about the only misstep in the aesthetics, though. The graphics still hold up and manage to be rich and varied while still maintaining the dark, oppressive atmosphere. The level design is simple but effective, sending you through lavish halls and crumbling cellars and stranger places still, pacing out the frights and creatures. The big standout here though is the sound design. There is a lot more going on here than in most games, with your character making all sorts of breathing sounds and whimpers, footsteps for everyone being accurate to the surface that produces them, and even light sources making their own realistic ambient sounds. The castle itself is full of creepy sounds as well, most being apropos of nothing, but that just makes it all the more effective when it DOES signal something. I was very pleased with the pacing of the game, and found it had little to no contrivances to get you where it wanted you to be. Enemy encounters are infrequent enough to keep you on edge when they're not around, and absolutely terrify you when they are. Dealing with them is obviously less involved than in Alien: Isolation but much more free-form than, say, Outlast. I could see some of the terror being lost if you have to repeat certain sections a few times, but the game is balanced well enough with pacing and items that it shouldn't be a concern unless you're really trying to pull back the curtain for yourself. To my surprise, I found myself getting scared more often with this than in Alien. For me, Alien is much more about constant tension and the battle of wits with the xenomorph, whereas Amnesia is more about the terror of being helpless and confused. Not many games have managed to pull off the powerless protagonist angle without it becoming grating, but Amnesia owns it. Simple sounds and sudden visual effects will chill you to the bone, not as cheap jump scares but as payoffs to the incredible atmosphere the game maintains at all times. I feel confident in saying that no matter how far the genre progresses, Amnesia will always have a place of honor among the games that truly terrify. Now, since I probably just told you a bunch of stuff you already know, let's talk real quick about a few games you might not know or may have forgotten. That's right, it's time for another BONUS ROUND G. Blood    The transitional period from 2D to 3D FPSes saw all sorts of colorful creations, and Blood is one that deserves more recognition than it got. Rising from the grave to wreak bloody vengeance on the cult that murdered you, Blood is an ultraviolent love letter to the entire horror genre. Along with the endless nods and references you'll be treated to a fantastic variety of weapons like flare guns and dynamite to use across all manner of levels, including a cursed carnival and a runaway train. Be warned that this one is HARD, harder than you would expect from its contemporaries. Levels feature lots of ambushes with brutal enemies, so using your whole arsenal (and explosives in particular) to their fullest is a must. It's a different take on classic FPSes and tonally perfect for the Halloween season. H. Shadows: Price For Our Sins Remember when I said I have a weakness for hidden object games? Well, this one is why. It's not the best (honestly Infected was probably better) but it's Halloween-themed out the rear end and charming in its own way. The graphics are good, there's a ton of puzzles and item searches, and the story is just the right kind of cheesy. The item searches can be a little trying at times, but if you can score this one for cheap it's a worthy entry in the object-clicking timewaster genre. I. Anodyne I'm pretty sure I just heard someone shout WHAT THE gently caress over the internet but bear with me for a second here. Anodyne is a retro-looking adventure game that plays like Zelda, but has you exploring a dreamlike world in search of meaning. It turns out to be a pretty hosed up dream world in a lot of ways, and I found myself considerably creeped out by some of the things I encountered. It's a good game in its own right, with some cool level design and puzzling dungeons to overcome. Combat isn't a major focus, allowing you to enjoy the ride and explore the bizarre little world to its fullest. If you like your games weird and retro, I strongly recommend it.
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Oct 27, 2014 08:48
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Anodyne owns. Kind of a spooky Link's Awakening. I don't know if Don't Starve would count as a Horror Game, but it is definitely a Halloween kinda game.
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Oct 27, 2014 13:50
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Any mention of Blood is fine by me. Best game.
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Oct 27, 2014 14:35
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Zombie Samurai posted:I. Anodyne
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Oct 27, 2014 14:39
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Cardiovorax posted:A commercial Yume Nikki, though? Sign me the gently caress up! This is pretty much exactly what it is, too. Yume Nikki is one of those games where I love the concept and I'm glad it exists, but I just don't enjoy actually playing at all. Its influence on Anodyne is very clear, and while it loses a little in the weirdness by having clearer, more fleshed-out gameplay systems, it makes it much more fun to experience.
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Oct 27, 2014 16:32
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Some of the Yume Nikki offshoot games are pretty intriguing, too. So long as you shy away from the fandom bullshit (which, probably, you should do with most things), .flow can get into some weird, creepy poo poo.
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Oct 27, 2014 16:35
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.flow is less classy and more into gore than the surrealism of Yume Nikki, but otherwise it's ok.
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Oct 27, 2014 16:37
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I beat Anodyne although admittedly I wasn't having fun at some points. The same asks you to perform some crazy platforming and puzzle tests near the end and god, as much as I love Link's Awakening I do not love the roc's feather or platforming in my Zelda games. I loved the bosses, though. One guy is like this horror movie slasher and I think he's in the same dungeon that's preceded by a Harvester-esque idyllic suburb with random bloody bodies found in the houses.
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Oct 27, 2014 16:44
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Bogart posted:Some of the Yume Nikki offshoot games are pretty intriguing, too. So long as you shy away from the fandom bullshit (which, probably, you should do with most things), .flow can get into some weird, creepy poo poo. .flow has a really cool aesthetic, and it has just enough story to it that you could probably put the pieces together and figure out what is going on. Yume 2kki also is pretty great and weird, but by virtue of it being a collaboration project, doesn't have consistent quality. It does have a HUGE amount of content, though (if you can figure out how to get to it). Also, most translations are outdated, so you have to play it in Japanese (which isn't really a problem since it has the exact same interface as Yume Nikki). A lot of people say that Yume Nikki isn't fun to play, but it's kinda weird in that I feel like a lot of the atmosphere and creepiness would be lost if you had actual gameplay or dialogue.
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Oct 27, 2014 19:38
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I think I might need to get Anodyne, it sounds pretty cool.
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Oct 27, 2014 19:42
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It's time for another BONUS ROUND since this dumbass game I'm playtesting makes you wait in realtime for things to happen. Fellow goonlorde Captain Swing has streamed a number of games with me that I never would have looked twice at otherwise, so let's talk about a few that I haven't played myself but know well enough. J. Vlad the Impaler    I'm basically stealing from my first post in the Steam thread, but this is one of the better visual novel games I've encountered. You pick one of three classes and travel to Istanbul, where dark poo poo is afoot. The game is broken into 15 days (3 days per "chapter"), and on each day you choose a location in the city to visit. The game has been updated since launch so that you get to choose an event to play through in which you get a binary choice, A or B, and your decision affects your stats and the potential to get other events later on. You have 8 stats to keep track of, and at the end of the game there is an actual battle where your stats determine which of your options are most effective. Seems pretty good for a few playthroughs, and they're still adding stuff to it (it's not Early Access). The writing and art style are both quite good, and really evoke some gruesome, Lovecraftian tones. It's also come down in price since launch (and there's a 4-pack for reasons unknown), so I really see no reason not to give it a try if you like creepy vampire stories. K. Doorways: Chapters 1 & 2    This one was a little confounding, because we were expecting it to be complete garbage and it turned out to be... decent. I'm actually really torn on Doorways. It's a spooky walking sim with some interesting level design and actual enemies, though your adversaries are a mixed bag. It's clear the dev is no good at animation or AI, so they came up with some pretty clever, non-traditional ways to craft enemies. Some work, some don't, but it's a step up from Slender or whatever. The story starts weird and sticks with it faithfully, and the sequel makes it look like they're going to see it through. If you're into these sorts of games it's probably one of the better ones out there, but I can't recommend it in good conscience at full asking price. L. The House  Gif magic courtesy of Captain Swing Let this be a warning to everyone not to put random poo poo on your wishlist. The House is a badly translated walking sim in a supposedly spooky house. You'll never know if it really is spooky or not because the lighting engine is all hosed up. No light source reaches more than a few feet, including blazing fireplaces and oil lanterns. And even if you could see, you'd be treated to a litany of poorly-animated jump scares and paintings that turn into screamer images. The gameplay is utterly incomprehensible. Don't even get this one as a joke. Too Shy Guy fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Oct 29, 2014 |
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Oct 27, 2014 19:42
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Yeah I'm really liking your reviews, there are a lot of unique games I'd never heard of. Except this one, I've finally found one I actually ended up playing!
I also liked this more than expected but still had a more negative overall impression than you. Copy/pasting a review I wrote a while ago (it may have been on another forum): Short Review This has some good ideas, but gets bogged down with lots of backtracking, cheap jump scares, and... platforming? Yeah, there are some puzzles that are just you jumping over gaps and pushing things around so you can jump on them. It's episodic, which seems to be a bad idea for a small indie game, and I wasn't interested enough by what I saw to check out the next episodes, if they come out. I didn't dislike the game but it was pretty forgettable. Long(er) Review In this game you play some sort of detective. It's intentionally left mysterious, but apparently you can travel through certain types of weird doorways that lead you into the worlds of the criminals you're trying to catch. The areas the game takes place in are really abstract and I think are supposed to represent the minds of the criminals you're tracking, rather than being any sort of real world locations. Or the game is just too low-budget to make complicated maps, so they go for big open levels that have a strange sense of scale. Either way, it's not explained at this point. Most of the scares are obnoxious, like the kind you'd find in a flash game, and involve loud noises and things happening suddenly, like ghost faces jumping up in your screen or you having sudden visions of horrible things. The voice acting is really good, it's done by the actor who does Daniel in Amnesia: Dark Descent. The puzzles aren't difficult, but they do involve backtracking constantly. It feels like the game's length was really padded with this, as you'll go back through the same sections up to 4 times in some places. One questionable design decision they used is to change the player's speed at different points in the game. I can see the reason for this, especially in one section where you have to go through a narrow hallway filled with statues that may or may not be alive, at which point the game slows you down to a slow walk and kills all the sound and music. This was pretty effective at creating tension, but takes control away from the player more than I like to see. Also you have to go through this hallway 3 more times. Thankfully, for all the fetch quests you have to do, the game lets you move at a pretty fast run. This was $3.50 on Steam for the summer sale, I'd check this out if it goes on sale for that or cheaper again, but skip it otherwise.
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Oct 28, 2014 01:05
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Also where is the Steam Halloween sale V$lve??? And speaking of Doorways, GamersGate does have some stuff on sale starting today, including Doorways episode 1 and 2 for $2.50. Outlast is $5, the DLC is $2.25, and Amnesia is on sale for $5 if you don't already have it for some reason. I've used GamersGate a couple times, it's fairly painless although it's not Steam.
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Oct 28, 2014 01:50
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Speaking of Doorways, 10 bucks nets you all three episodes. https://www.humblebundle.com/flash
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Oct 28, 2014 03:06
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Zombie Samurai I also have a soft spot for hidden object games and I was wondering what games you'd suggest. I've got Infection and that Shadows game along with a lot of others.
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Oct 28, 2014 04:37
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RightClickSaveAs posted:Also where is the Steam Halloween sale V$lve??? I think this Friday was leaked.
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Oct 28, 2014 05:19
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Weird Games days 1-4 Weird Games days 5-8 Weird Games days 9-12 Weird Games days 13-16 Weird Games days 17-18 Weird Games days 19-21 Weird Games days 21-24 25. Darkwatch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsQ2nVBFFo4 Coming off Psycho Circus I wanted another first person shooter to play and remembered one that flew under everyone's radar. Darkwatch is a first person shooter in a supernatural/wild west setting. It's the Jonah Hex game I always wanted to play and doesn't disappoint in delivering some good action. It's a solid shooter with good graphics and some of the monster design ranks pretty high up for me. There's a rudimentary morality system where good/evil choices grant unique powers much like the inFamous games. For some strange reason Darkwatch is console exclusive. The Xbox version has 16 player online multiplayer, which is absolutely insane to me in hindsight. The PS2 version only has 4 player but it exclusively has split-screen co-op and is the version I played. High Moon Studios knew what they were doing, this game looks good and plays well for a console shooter. If this had also come out on PC we'd probably remember it fondly today but I'd still drop $2 on a used copy. The "weird west" setting is untapped in video games and it's a shame because there's so much potential. The combination of native mysticism, old world religion, folklore, and the unexplored frontier could be used for great effect but Darkwatch is the only (good) game I can think of in this genre. 26. Kuon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d1NnvW8Mak Kuon is From Software tackling the survival horror formula. Visually it resembles Capcom's Onimusha series but plays much more deliberately. You're physically weak, as is often the case in these games, with your primary defense being a simple melee weapon. This puts focus on the magic talismans which are implemented quite like the Souls series. In addition to projectiles you can summon monsters to protect you. There are three chapters with three separate characters centered around a haunted mansion. The game is steeped in Japanese lore and I think the overall aesthetic is stronger than the first Fatal Frame although I readily admit it's a far better game. Kuon almost feels like a lost link in the games leading up to From Software's breakout Souls series. You can see vestiges of its gameplay carrying over and it's one of the stronger horror games I've highlighted this month. It's not a good game by any stretch of the definition but certainly an interesting one. 27. Darkwood/Sunless Sea (didn't take any screens of Darkwood, sorry)    I didn't want to devote two separate days to Early Access games but I find these two interesting enough to talk about them together. Darkwood, as far as I can tell, is a story driven "survival game." It strongly reminds me of Don't Starve* but with an active plot that I can't unravel. It's set in some Eastern European location where I assume the woods are sentient and rapidly killing off civilization. There's some monsters roaming the woods, a man with a wolf head, and other strange NPCs you'll encounter. I know I'm not selling it but trust me, the atmosphere here is top notch. The game is played entirely top down and stresses lighting and line of sight which reminds me heavily of Nox. It's not uncommon for creatures to sneak up behind you and I've genuinely been startled quite a few times from the snapping of twigs and a rushing monster from my flank. By day there's very few encounters but hidden traps, one of them being poisoned mushrooms which are nearly impossible to spot and my only major complaint at this stage in development. At night you have to return home to drink from an evil well (I guess) and hole up in your fortified home. Line of sight and lighting is also important for enemies: if the badguys can't sense you, they generally won't bother you. Stay away from the windows if you can because prolonged combat always works against you. There's some rudimentary level up system and the mechanics are sound. I've put about 5 hours into this game and I'm excited to see how it'll evolve over time. Sunless Sea is based on the Fallen London universe, a browser based game which is actually quite good. You're the captain of a ship in the Unterzee, a massive underground world beneath the surface where London has fallen. On the surface it's a trading and exploration game but the heart is its "living stories," essentially miniature text adventures with a variety of triggers. These mini-stories are the heart of Sunless Sea and the writing and world building is some of the best industry. I don't want to talk about it too much because every story is too good to spoil but game is heavily inspired by Poe and Gothic fiction writers. You have to manage your ship's terror and supplies or bad poo poo (including cannibalism) starts to happen. Death lurks around every corner, but one of the themes is that it's truly difficult to stay dead. There's a colony of the undead where people seal themselves in sarcophagi and ask to be delivered, old gods living beneath the sea that influence your adventure, and even hell exists where actual devils will mingle with mortals. I get a heavy feeling of Planescape's Sigil: this is a melting pot world but everything in the pot is fantastically written. Sunless Sea is one of the few Early Access games I'm comfortable in recommending to everyone. It had a successful Kickstarter, the game itself updates almost weekly (a major overhaul happened this month although it broke the terror system a bit), and the text-based story system allows the developer to pump out new stories which are downloaded automatically when you login.
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Oct 28, 2014 05:20
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Zombie Samurai's write up of Amnesia made me realize why I never really had the urge to go back and keep playing through it, even though the game was good. I thought the scariness of it is what was keeping me from going back. But it's the sanity thing. I'd be fine if the game was simply exploring the castle, being scared shitless by the general atmosphere and the monsters, and the running and hiding to avoid them. The sanity stuff with the AWFUL visual effects it adds to it is just an obnoxious addition to the gameplay
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Oct 28, 2014 05:28
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al-azad posted:It's not a good game by any stretch of the definition but certainly an interesting one.
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Oct 28, 2014 05:29
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Cardiovorax posted:I really want to dispute that claim. It's atmospheric, creepy and has solid if bare-bones gameplay. As survival horror goes it's definitely one of the better ones, especially for how basically completely unknown it is. It sets out to tell a creepy ghost story and succeeds admirably. I have to say up front that survival horror games usually aren't "good" games to me. At least not good playing games, however you want to define "game feel." I think Kuon is conceptually stronger than all the Silent Hills (except maybe SH2) but I wasn't looking forward to replaying it, even for the hour I could give it this year. I won't be playing Rule of Rose this year but that's the same deal: superb concept, meh game. e: It is a totally under appreciated game. If you want to see the evolution of From Software's design I think it's a link leading up to Dark Souls that's as important as King's Field and Shadow Tower.
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Oct 28, 2014 05:38
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Cowman posted:Zombie Samurai I also have a soft spot for hidden object games and I was wondering what games you'd suggest. I've got Infection and that Shadows game along with a lot of others. In truth, I haven't actually played that many. The first one I ever got into was Yardsale, and that's only because I was a tester on it. It's super bare-bones but I enjoyed it enough that when I got Shadows: Price For Our Sins in a bundle, I gave it a try and really ended up liking it. Infection turned out to be even better, if shorter, but that's the extent of my experiences so far. Spoiler alert: I'm going to write up Paranormal State and Evil Pumpkin tonight, so you'll have a preview of two more soon enough. I bought a bundle of hidden object games just a few weeks ago too, and when I get to those I'll probably write them up over in the Steam thread. EDIT: I remember after I finished Shadows and was asking about other hidden objects in the Steam thread, several people suggested the Midnight Mysteries series. I can't speak to their quality yet myself, but if you have them that might be the place to start. Also, a friend who had never played a hidden object game in his life got Infected from the same bundle (  ) and now he's hooked on them, so it's not just me that likes that one.
Too Shy Guy fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Oct 28, 2014 |
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Oct 28, 2014 05:44
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al-azad posted:25. Darkwatch Oh man, I wish this came out on PC. I would love to play it, but I just can't do console FPS'. I love horror, and I love westerns, so a horror western would be right up my alley. Kuon is another game I want to play, despite hearing it's rather middling in execution. Edit: Darkwatch also has a horror remix of Ennio Morricone's theme for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. That's pretty cool.
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Oct 28, 2014 05:46
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I don't think Kuon is middling at all. Considering the time it came out, it's at least on the same level as the Fatal Frame games in my mind. It's way loving better than Rule of Rose either way.
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Oct 28, 2014 09:10
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al-azad posted:I have to say up front that survival horror games usually aren't "good" games to me. At least not good playing games, however you want to define "game feel." I think Kuon is conceptually stronger than all the Silent Hills (except maybe SH2) but I wasn't looking forward to replaying it, even for the hour I could give it this year. Hakkesshu posted:I don't think Kuon is middling at all. Considering the time it came out, it's at least on the same level as the Fatal Frame games in my mind. It's way loving better than Rule of Rose either way.
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Oct 28, 2014 14:32
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Aside from Cosmology of Kyoto, Kuon is the strongest game I played about Japanese mythology. The atmosphere is oppressive, there's no question about it.
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Oct 28, 2014 16:29
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al-azad posted:Aside from Cosmology of Kyoto, Kuon is the strongest game I played about Japanese mythology. The atmosphere is oppressive, there's no question about it. You gotra check out Otogi 1 man, we've come a long way since Musya: The Classic Tale of Japanese Horror on the SNES. They're straight action games, but Sengoku 1 and Samurai Ghost are rad as hell for this too.
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Oct 28, 2014 16:41
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Yeah Otogi's sweet. From Software is a neat company, they have such a highly varied catalog.
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Oct 28, 2014 16:47
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Zombie Samurai posted:In truth, I haven't actually played that many. The first one I ever got into was Yardsale, and that's only because I was a tester on it. It's super bare-bones but I enjoyed it enough that when I got Shadows: Price For Our Sins in a bundle, I gave it a try and really ended up liking it. Infection turned out to be even better, if shorter, but that's the extent of my experiences so far. Infected is hilarious and I love it so much. Paranormal State is fantastically stupid. I'll send you a screenshot to use (even though you'll almost definitely screenshot it yourself). Evil Pumpkin and Yardsale I haven't played but the Midnight Mysteries games are top quality in terms of Hidden Object. The 4th one has a weird bug 1/2-3/4 of the way through that makes it impossible to finish and you have to restart. I never beat the 4th one because of that.
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Oct 28, 2014 17:16
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*checks PMs* Ahahahahahahaha The Challenge Games 1. Alien: Isolation 2. Year Walk 3. Deadlight 4. Adventures of Shuggy 5. Atom Zombie Smasher 6. Alan Wake's American Nightmare 7. Infected: The Twin Vaccine - Collector's Edition 8. How to Survive 9. 1953 - KGB Unleashed 10. Burn Zombie Burn! 11. Home 12. Huntsman: The Orphanage (Halloween Edition) 13. Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi 14. Scarygirl 15. I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream 16. Closure 17. Alien Breed 2: Assault 18. F.E.A.R. Online 19. Ghostship Aftermath 20. Hell Yeah! 21. Eldritch 22. The Path 23. Shadowgrounds: Survivor 24. Ghost Master 25. Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut 26. Amnesia: The Dark Descent Bonus Games A. Painkiller: Black Edition B. The Void C. Shadowgrounds D. Haunted Memories E. Serena F. The Forgotten Ones G. Blood H. Shadows: Price For Our Sins I. Anodyne J. Vlad the Impaler K. Doorways: Chapters 1 & 2 L. The House ----------------- 27. Paranormal State: Poison Spring Let's get something out of the way right now. Can you deal with seeing this face every 60 seconds or so? Because if you can't, turn around and walk away. If you can, you'll be rewarded with one of the most polished hidden object games I've ever seen. I hear this is based on some TV show on A&E that I've never seen because our waxen-faced hero there won't shut the gently caress up about it for the first 5 minutes of gameplay. He's the leader of some rag-tag Scooby gang that goes around and uses their dad's spare electronics to pretend ghosts exist. Some poo poo's going down in a state park built on an old Civil War battleground and you get to help them suss it out. Aside from the fearless leader and the contrived-as-hell plot, this is a very solid game. The graphics are clear and detailed, which you would think would be a regular priority in games where you have to find things. It really does make a huge difference in the item searches, which are a small step backwards from Infected in that you have to find some really obtuse, nonsensical items like shadows and symbols. They're still quite fun and seem easier than in similar games. The puzzles have also been great so far, clearly explained and easy to get the hang of, but still provide a decent challenge. The detail extends to the environments you navigate, with lots of things to examine and learn more about the park from. There are even some hidden objects scattered around the map to find just for fun. I think this one makes a perfect entry-level hidden object game for people new to the genre, and is polished and fun enough for veterans as well. Thumbs up. Seriously though, he makes that kind of face through the entire game. 28. Evil Pumpkin: The Lost Halloween The incorrigible Fart of Presto gifted me this one because he was so indignant it wasn't on my list. It is without question the Halloweeniest game I've written up this month, but as a hidden object game it was unfortunately a huge step back from the others I've played. The thing about it, though, is that it's not really posed as a hidden object game. It has three difficulties that actually change what gameplay is emphasized. On the lowest difficulty the game is set up more as a hidden object hunt, with key items highlighted for you. On the higher two it plays more as a point-and-click adventure game, with you scouring each scene for things to interact with and combine to progress. It occupies a weird in-between place that honestly I don't think needed to be inhabited at all. You play a little boy stuck in his room on the eve of Halloween. You nicked some Halloween book from your dad, and a magical owl encourages you to uncover its secrets. It's a pretty weird plot that's only made weirder by the Tim Burtony house you explore and the bizarre translations that the store page tries to pass off as kooky. I would be totally okay with that if the game was easier to get through, but it can be VERY difficult at times to figure out what you're supposed to be doing. For example, once you get the book from your hiding place there's no indication what you're supposed to do with it. You have to take it over to your desk and use it on the desk to open it up, despite nothing on the desk hinting at that. In fact, clicking on your bed gives you a bunch of messages about reading THAT SPECIFIC BOOK in bed, which led to a couple frustrating minutes of me trying to figure out how to get the book into my bed. There's no map in the game either, so I wasted a couple more minutes clicking on everything in sight because I had no idea I could move to another area by mousing over the space just above my inventory. It seems obvious in hindsight but Evil Pumpkin often has little indication you can move on to other areas, especially since the scenes are pretty crowded. In the hour I played I didn't end up making much progress at all despite using hints, and the only puzzle I encountered was a damnable sliding block deal. Evil Pumpkin is a weird little alternative take on hidden object games, but with the amateurish design only hardcore pixel hunters need apply. I'm down to 4 games left (since Evil Pumpkin came outta nowhere), and I'm going to try to get them all done by Wednesday night so the reviews will be in before the sale starts on Thursday. In the meantime, Swing and I were talking about some of the other games he's streamed and it gave me enough material for another BONUS ROUND M. Depths of Fear :: Knossos    Man. The more I think about this one, the sadder I get. Seriously, it's a first-person hack-and-slash Roguelike set in a procedurally-generated labyrinth where you do battle with beasts from Greek mythology. You can collect gold to unlock weapons, books to unlock magical powers, and parts of the environment are destructible i.e. you can burn lots of poo poo. Doesn't that sound amazing? Well, I bet it would be if it were made by a talented dev team. Unfortunately, what you get here is muddy graphics, garbage stealth mechanics (which are at times seemingly necessary), and poorly-balanced enemies. It controls like a Quake mod and you can tear around at lightspeed, but the enemies can too and they will form a train on your rear end. Swing was doing pretty well speedrunning levels until he ran into the gryffons, which were faster than him and murdered him in two hits. There is so much potential here, but it's just not the game to realize it. Sigh. N. White Noise Online    Someone looked at Slender and said "You know what, this needs to be co-op". White Noise lets you team up with 3 other friends to find a bunch of cassette tapes left in spooky places that could end the world or something. Too bad for you, some horrible thing that never moves yet is always where you don't want it to be is menacing you as you hunt. The co-op mechanic adds an interesting strategy mechanic to the game at the cost of horror. Looking at the monster drains your health or sanity or whatever, and the closer you are the faster it drains. But as long as one person is looking at it the thing can't move, freeing the other players to find the McGuffins you need to win. Coordinating with your team is actually necessary because if you don't manage the beast it can end up right in your way. The different characters you can choose have different stats, though it's not very clear what those stats do. My favorite feature was the map at the end of a round, which shows you where you've all wandered, where you encountered the monster, and where you found cassettes. It's a neat idea, but the graphics are plain, the novelty runs out fast, and at the end of the day it's still an indie walking sim. Imagine my surprise when I learned that these developers went on to make the supposedly-awesome Ziggurat. O. Eleusis    This was an interesting one. You end up in a little Greek village looking for your family, but the place is deserted and evil is afoot. The map is almost completely open, allowing you to explore a detailed village, nearby ruins, and the surrounding environs freely. The graphics are solid and the atmosphere is plenty spooky, but this one falls apart in two ways. The first isn't really a dealbreaker, but the tension in the game comes from the enemies which will find you periodically and chase you. They are always faster than you, and the only way you can escape is to find rocks and huck them at your foes to give yourself the time to hide. It doesn't work very well in practice and gets tedious REALLY fast, especially with all the walking you have to do in this game. However, you can turn the enemies off and play this one just as a pure adventure game, which is nice. The second issue and the one that sinks it is that some of the puzzles require you to a crazy amount of backtracking and pixel hunting, and with all the space in this game to hunt it's practically a crime. One of the first puzzles in the game can take forever if you don't happen to spot the right thing immediately, and one of the last puzzles is borderline impossible without a walkthrough. It's a real shame because this one does so much right, but in the end the frustrations really win out over the atmosphere.
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Oct 28, 2014 17:56
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