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The psychiatrist was also just really not well done. Have you ever tried leaving the screen on a choice? There is no idle animation at all, just whatever horrifying expression the psychiatrist has on his face at the very moment he finishes asking the question. Until Dawn is not a bad story, although it is a game I did not like a lot, but whichever way you turn it, I do not thing it is entirely a quality production.
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Sep 11, 2019 19:42
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Cardiovorax posted:The psychiatrist was also just really not well done. Have you ever tried leaving the screen on a choice? There is no idle animation at all, just whatever horrifying expression the psychiatrist has on his face at the very moment he finishes asking the question. Really? I haven't played it since release but I definitely remember Peter Stormare hamming it the gently caress up if you idled. He'd sit there sucking on his teeth or various other what I call "Woody Harrelson Faces" just mugging in the camera. The Curator reminds me too much of the Criminologist from Rocky Horror, a fun character but the well dressed narrator distant from the action is kind of played out.
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Sep 11, 2019 19:47
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Cardiovorax posted:The psychiatrist was also just really not well done. Have you ever tried leaving the screen on a choice? There is no idle animation at all, just whatever horrifying expression the psychiatrist has on his face at the very moment he finishes asking the question. That's just the way Peter Stromare is, please don't Swedeshame.
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Sep 11, 2019 19:47
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...alright, I'll be honest, now that you say it, I am not entirely sure that I am not mixing it up with the therapist in Shattered Memories. I'll get back to you about that once I've checked.
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Sep 11, 2019 19:49
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The psychiatrist thing was great because it started out seeming like a random gimmick but then got way more involved in the story.
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Sep 11, 2019 19:55
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al-azad posted:Really? I haven't played it since release but I definitely remember Peter Stormare hamming it the gently caress up if you idled. He'd sit there sucking on his teeth or various other what I call "Woody Harrelson Faces" just mugging in the camera. The Curator reminds me too much of the Criminologist from Rocky Horror, a fun character but the well dressed narrator distant from the action is kind of played out. Heh, so about the bit I italicized: (spoilers that probably won't actually ruin your gaming experience, but read at your own risk I guess) The Curator shows up in the background of a number of shots in the game, dressed in his coat and bowler hat. There's a few obvious ones but between the five of us that were playing I think we counted at least a dozen times he shows up. Unless we're way, way off the mark I'm pretty sure he shows up any time one of the characters is in great peril or at risk of dying. So that's not exactly involved in the action of the game, and may just be a cute gimmick inspired by the ghosts in Haunting of Hill House or something, but I still thought it was a nice touch and I hope the Curator is actually more involved than just a narrator connecting the different entries in the series. I have my theories about what role he might play but it'd be a more involved spoiler.
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Sep 11, 2019 20:01
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Background guy actually didn't look a lot like the curator to me. Way more white hair (with a bowler) and more stockily built in general.
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Sep 11, 2019 20:03
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Cardiovorax posted:Background guy actually didn't look a lot like the curator to me. Way more white hair (with a bowler) and more stockily built in general. Nope, it's definitely him. There are a handful of videos and articles floating around that make it pretty clear it's him if you don't believe me
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Sep 11, 2019 20:07
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Alright, fair enough. I noticed the figure and shot a screenie or two, it just didn't look that similar to me. Quality wasn't great, tho.
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Sep 11, 2019 20:09
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The G-Man lives.
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Sep 11, 2019 20:22
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The coat and hat really change his overal appearance.
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Sep 11, 2019 20:22
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Sinking City is so janky that I get angry just thinking about how they allowed it to ship like that. I don't know, maybe if your city inhabitants cant stop flickering in and out of existence maybe the game isn't ready yet. At that point just have it be empty, it would have been better.
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Sep 11, 2019 22:24
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i really want to like sinking city more than i do. it's awesome (tho janky) for a few hours. but there's nothing else, just cut+pasted buildings you have to find clues in and bad combat.
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Sep 11, 2019 22:37
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MockingQuantum posted:Also I'm curious about one thing regarding the plot/ending, for anybody who might have played the game more than once (major, major spoiler) is the ending always that everybody's hallucinating due to the gas? Are all the supernatural elements just hallucinations? Or is there the possibility that, based on your decisions, there's a different outcome? We were really thrown by some of the ghost-y things that pop up, and the whole ballroom sequence, only to find out that the ending was, to be generous, kind of a twist on the "it was a dream the whole time" trope. Full Man of Medan spoilers: It's always hallucinations, yes, although there are two different possible climaxes and several possible endings. I don't know if I'd describe the twist as 'it was all a dream', because the issue with an 'it was all a dream' ending is that there's no real danger or tension. In Man of Medan, the danger is real; it's just that the characters mistakenly believe the threat is external, when in fact they're more of a danger to themselves and each other. I agree that the characters were a bit weak, and that the fact that later scenes were obviously designed to have any characters slotted in probably made it hard to make them more distinctive. I did think that 'the climax can still play out, regardless of which characters are alive' was a really cool alternative to 'characters are immortal until no longer required by the plot', though. What was the outcome of your playthrough? I take it that Conrad spent most of it arsing around on a speedboat.
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Sep 11, 2019 22:40
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Rith posted:Full Man of Medan spoilers: Yeah it was that, that's who I was playing as. He disappeared on the boat early on, and almost everybody made it out alive--Fliss got shot by one of the "fishermen"/pirates right before he committed suicide, which was kind of a sore spot for the person playing Fliss since none of us really understood what she could have done to avoid it. I assume we could have gone with the other conversation options but it really felt like a crapshoot. Maybe we missed something early on that could have gotten us out of it. Other than that, everybody kinda just walked out on deck, Conrad showed up with the Coast Guard, everybody kinda shrugged and said "boy that was weird" and the game ended. It felt pretty abrupt, and it was a bummer that Fliss died so near the end, but it was a decent wrap-up I suppose. We had one other post/mid-credit scene, too, where the army showed up after we already left the ship, but it was random and kind of pointless enough that it just made us laugh in confusion.
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Sep 11, 2019 22:46
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MockingQuantum posted:Yeah it was that, that's who I was playing as. Fliss got shot by one of the "fishermen"/pirates right before he committed suicide, which was kind of a sore spot for the person playing Fliss since none of us really understood what she could have done to avoid it. Man of Medan: My policy in that scene was 'don't deny what the guy with the gun is saying, don't tell him you breathed the mist, stay silent if there's no obvious good answer', which fortunately managed to carry me through. Conrad also got in the speedboat in my playthrough, and returned at the end... but I'd retrieved the boat part and everyone else had already left, so he wandered into the ship looking for them and presumably got trapped in there forever. Whoops!
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Sep 11, 2019 22:58
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Blair witch is on gamepass, so i tried it out. The main character is really annoying, I guess it's to be expected with him being so on the edge about whatever happened, but I'll probably just stop playing.
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Sep 11, 2019 23:18
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Cardiovorax posted:I'd also say that it has a lot of the same issues as Until Dawn, in that I found few of the player characters sympathetic enough that I wanted to follow them around for an entire game.
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Sep 12, 2019 00:36
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You're actually not the first person to tell me that, lol.
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Sep 12, 2019 00:58
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Can we address the weird butt-rock version of O Death from Man of Medan? The version in Until Dawn was great and understated and fit the mood of the game. In Man of Medan it's weirdly jarring. Also in regards to The Curator, I'm pretty sure he's just Death, since he shows up in the background before people die, and at the beginning of the game says that death is inevitable, and then at the end says he'll see the player again soon because "it is inevitable".
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Sep 12, 2019 01:15
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I'm looking at some smaller, less-discussed indie horror titles on stream tonight. Love, Sam, They Breathe, and The Darkside Detective if you're curious: https://www.twitch.tv/goldplatedgames EDIT: Only got to Love, Sam and They Breathe but Love, Sam got me... pretty good. Too Shy Guy fucked around with this message at 08:29 on Sep 12, 2019 |
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Sep 12, 2019 05:00
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Cardiovorax posted:The psychiatrist was also just really not well done. Have you ever tried leaving the screen on a choice? There is no idle animation at all, just whatever horrifying expression the psychiatrist has on his face at the very moment he finishes asking the question. Given the sheer amount of face acting Stormare does when the game's actually in motion I'm ok that his idle animations aren't great. I swear, he behaves like he's been given the direction "do as many emotions as you can at once" and it's amazing.
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Sep 12, 2019 08:04
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Stormare was very cool and good. It reminded me a bit of his Satan. Which was also very good.
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Sep 12, 2019 08:19
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Honest Thief posted:Blair witch is on gamepass, so i tried it out. The main character is really annoying, I guess it's to be expected with him being so on the edge about whatever happened, but I'll probably just stop playing. I got a fair way into it and the whole "haunted past" trope thing was bugging me, so I went back to Stellaris. Then I watched a full playthrough in work by John Wolfe and I'm glad I didn't put any more time into it. The beginning is real neat and cool and getting lost in the woods with a dog was handled SO well, which makes it all the bigger shame that the story plays out the way it does and the later portions of the game look so annoying. "Why the gently caress does the witch care about any of this?" was a good take away from John. Hahah.
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Sep 12, 2019 08:40
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Too Shy Guy posted:I'm looking at some smaller, less-discussed indie horror titles on stream tonight. Love, Sam, They Breathe, and The Darkside Detective if you're curious: https://www.twitch.tv/goldplatedgames Love, Sam is really, really good.
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Sep 12, 2019 09:35
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Too Shy Guy posted:I'm looking at some smaller, less-discussed indie horror titles on stream tonight. Love, Sam, They Breathe, and The Darkside Detective if you're curious: https://www.twitch.tv/goldplatedgames The Darkside Detective is a fun little point and click game. I have Love, Sam installed but haven't gotten to it yet. I run a Twitter for underrated or undiscussed horror games and right now my obsession is the spiritual successor to Lakeview Cabin Collection: Lakeview Valley. The early build I have is super fun. A lot different and way more open than Lakeview Cabin. It's like Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, and Deadly Premonition blended into an isometric third person RPG.
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Sep 12, 2019 11:59
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Too Shy Guy posted:I'm looking at some smaller, less-discussed indie horror titles on stream tonight. Love, Sam, They Breathe, and The Darkside Detective if you're curious: https://www.twitch.tv/goldplatedgames Yeah Love, Sam had me and my friends going real good, despite the amount of text to read through. A great little package.
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Sep 12, 2019 13:20
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Drunken Baker posted:I got a fair way into it and the whole "haunted past" trope thing was bugging me, so I went back to Stellaris. Then I watched a full playthrough in work by John Wolfe and I'm glad I didn't put any more time into it. The beginning is real neat and cool and getting lost in the woods with a dog was handled SO well, which makes it all the bigger shame that the story plays out the way it does and the later portions of the game look so annoying. The analogue controls kinda blow too. I dunno why, but everything feels sluggish and cumbersome to use, like going into your backup, just give me a menu or smth.
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Sep 12, 2019 14:04
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Until Dawn works where MoM doesn't because of the expanded budget and thus expanded cast. The slasher movie feel allows you to gently caress up and lose someone and be okay with it since your expectation is that all but one or two are dead meat anyway. In MoM you gently caress up and you're down 20-25% of your entire cast. It should cause the stakes to feel higher but it's just kind of annoying? And Blair Witch feels like that company was making Layers of Fear 3 before they got the franchise rights and shoehorned some twig figures into the game. I guess there are some different endings maybe but I'm not going back to replay it. Is there a correct solution to carrying the dog or are you just meant to walk around slowly and loop until the game says so?
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Sep 12, 2019 21:12
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weekly font posted:Until Dawn works where MoM doesn't because of the expanded budget and thus expanded cast. The slasher movie feel allows you to gently caress up and lose someone and be okay with it since your expectation is that all but one or two are dead meat anyway. In MoM you gently caress up and you're down 20-25% of your entire cast. It should cause the stakes to feel higher but it's just kind of annoying? You keep carrying it until you pass out or abandon it and pass out. It slightly affects the ending.
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Sep 12, 2019 21:25
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Blair Witch has a "true" ending which in Silent Hill 2 inspired fashion requires you to play in a way counterintuitive to how you'd normally play. Basically you avoid becoming your murderous alter ego by ignoring all the twanas, not picking up certain items, carry the dog until you pass out, ignore the Blair Witch's commands in the end, and not killing the monsters. It's hinted at in the movies that people are influenced by the Blair Witch by interacting with her effigies and the game suggests you avoid this by just not engaging with it. It definitely feels like they had unused ideas for a separate game and the license happened to fall into their lap. My favorite comment on the game was some random Youtuber "I'm glad the Blair Witch supports our troops."
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Sep 12, 2019 22:07
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The Witch isn't a thing. It's all you.
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Sep 13, 2019 00:49
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I should actually try watching The Blair Witch sometime
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Sep 13, 2019 01:02
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The Blair Witch Project is really good but also a sad example of a movie whose imitators and parodies are more famous than it is. There was an attempt at a reboot with The Blair Witch but... eh, you just can't capture the same effect as torturing poor theater actors discovering their scripts via GPS caches and harassed at night by the filmakers.
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Sep 13, 2019 01:09
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EGS has something called Conarium for free right now. What's the consensus?
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Sep 13, 2019 01:38
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Zushio posted:EGS has something called Conarium for free right now. What's the consensus? I like it. One of the better games to attempt the Lovecraft mythos because it seems to get the atmosphere and even the writing style. It’s short and mainly based on exploration, and one of its endings (it should be obvious which) is VERY cool.
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Sep 13, 2019 01:42
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Is it more or less a walking simulator or does it at least have a few puzzles?
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Sep 13, 2019 01:45
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Kokoro Wish posted:The Witch isn't a thing. It's all you. That's not really how this series works. Like the time loop bullshit and the lanky creature in the house are explicitly from the 2016 movie The game is not "oh no it's entirely in the protagonist's head all along!" Blockhouse fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Sep 13, 2019 |
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Sep 13, 2019 02:25
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Blockhouse posted:That's not really how this series works. Even in the text of the game, there are facing the corner pictures which is explicitly Blair Witch MO.
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Sep 13, 2019 02:39
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Zushio posted:Is it more or less a walking simulator or does it at least have a few puzzles? There are a fair number of puzzles, and most of them feel quite naturally integrated into the game. So awhile back, I started revisiting the original lineup of spooky games I reviewed here and posting new reviews. Turns out a bunch of the games I picked weren't all that horror-y to begin with, so I skipped posting them (and linked them below if you really want to read about them), but I finally made it back to something thread-appropriate. It's also less than a dollar on Steam right now.  Spooky Games: Or1gins Spooky Year Walk Eldritch Reanimated Home Not so spooky Hell Yeah! Paranormal State: Poison Spring Adventures of Shuggy 1953 - KGB Unleashed Closure Back to spooky Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi    What would you do if you had an incredible idea for a game, but lacked the technical expertise or funding to pull it off? Would you still make the attempt, or perhaps scale it back to something you could reliably complete? I’m not sure where the deficiency was in the development of Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi, but the result speaks for itself. It’s rough on every level, from basic interactions to clipping errors to game balance, so much so that you’d expect it to be lost to the annals of time. But that would be robbing players of a brilliant, unique game that blends roguelike, horror, and adventure elements. It’s not easy to play and it’s thick with jank, but the experience is more than worth the trouble. Your sister must be really pissed at your family, because she’s decided to marry the lord of Castle Malachi deep in the heart of Transylvania. I guess you’re the only one of your relatives that’s seen any vampire movies because they all go on ahead for the wedding, and when you arrive they’ve all been imprisoned by the obvious vampire your dense-rear end sister shacked up with. Armed with your trusty cane sword, it’s up to you to scour the three wings of the castle and set everyone free. But the undead do not dwell alone, especially not in Transylvania, and the castle is crawling with lesser vampires, vicious ghouls, devil dogs, and much, much worse. With only a few hours before midnight and the sacrifice of your family, you’ll have to work quickly to gather what you need to put this evil to rest for good. That last bit isn’t colorful prose, the game is actually timed. The first of Nosferatu’s many unique features is that once you arrive in the castle courtyard, you’re on a schedule. Your many family members will be killed or sacrificed after certain amounts of time, starting with the priest you find defenestrated near the start. Hostages must be brought back to the entrance of the courtyard (behind where you start) once found in the castle, where they’ll open their luggage for your use or offer you some service. Take too long in your search and all you’ll find is their corpse, and let too many die and it’s game over. It’s not just a matter of speedrunning to their rescue, either. Every time you start the game, elements like key locations and barricades are randomized. The layouts of the wings themselves remain constant, so you’ll always find the east tower or the forge or the hell portal room or your aunt dangling from the rafters in the same places, but you’ll have to take different routes to reach them. Monster and item locations are reshuffled as well, and foes seem to be able to spring up whenever they drat well please so you’ll need to proceed with caution as you hunt. That also means you can be caught flat-footed without much health or ammo, or with one of your gormless relatives in tow. The structure of the game is terribly unique, all the way down to your single-shot flintlock pistols and extremely effective crucifix that you wave in demonic faces. But the ambition that produced this experience also left it rather rough and threadbare in places. I don’t know what engine Nosferatu runs on but it is garbage, with zero graphical options, floaty collisions with anything that’s not a solid wall, and a weird, slippery gait to your character. The graphics themselves are chunky and muddy, and while plenty of atmosphere is wrung from them they still look like the early days of 3D games. Even the level design suffers with lots of completely empty rooms and absurdly long staircases that nip at the corners of your immersion. It’s not going to look or play particularly well, and the difficulty is going to kick you around for your first dozen runs as you learn the ins and outs of this horrible place. But I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a thrilling experience, and totally worth your time. It’s amazing how dynamic the castle feels with the randomization and all the relatives to rescue. It’s remarkable how haunting the halls are and startling your foes can be. And it’s impressive how much genuine challenge there is in mastering this one, even beyond learning to live with all the jank and weirdness. Nosferatu is an ambitious project for its era, one that shows its age more than most but can still thrill and terrify if you let it.
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Sep 13, 2019 16:50
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