'cause it is a British game (or takes place in England)
and there is a Sam and Max cameo
2 Likes
I started and finished TWO games these last days:
Billy Masters Was Right
The Adventures of Nick and Willikins
(admittedly, they aren’t very long games, but still worth a few hours of pointing and clicking and trying some things that are not solutions for sure - just for fun)
2 Likes
Finished Sol705. Quite a nice game for the most part, but the ending felt rushed*. The puzzles were okay in general, but not awe-inspiring. Two of them were outright mean:
- A door that was locked for the most part was suddenly open, with no visual indication. (There had been a hint of sorts, though.)
- A teeny-tiny hotspot obscured by a big object that did not seem interactive upon cursory exploration. (The game would highlight hotspots when turning on the hint system, however.)
I quite liked the music and voice acting (although there were some inconsistencies with latter). Graphically it’s more of a mixed bag, literally, with how high-res backgrounds are paired with low-res sprites. It’s not that either of them are bad, and at times they blend together well enough, but that look doesn’t come across as overly consistent or polished.
Apropos polish: there was at times quite a big disconnect between dialogue options and what the character actually said. In some cases it almost felt as if picking option A was triggering dialogue B and vice versa, in some cases it seemed the game didn’t really want to reveal what the character would actually say and in some cases the character simply took on a life of his own and said whatever the heck he pleased. Conversations felt rather disjoint or jumpy whenever that happened. Together with the overall story pacing issues, that was perhaps the biggest flaw of the game in my view.
So it’s no contender for P&C adventure of the year, unfortunately, but it has a certain quirky charm to it nonetheless. Just don’t expect narrative greatness.
* As if a 10 hour story was crammed into a 5 hour game, with the prologue and first chapter taking up the first 4.5 hours. It’s a good prologue, though.
4 Likes
I played through Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. It’s pretty good & quite challenging, but not so fun that I feel inclined to try it on hard. It’s somewhat like if you imagine that Dune 2/2000/Emperor had a sequel that was similar to C&C4 but actually good. (I assume it’s more like what if Homeworld were 2D but I’m saving it for later.) That being said, I can see why insofar as I’ve played much RTS post-'05 or so I’ve gravitated more toward Total War style. With all the quick clicking you’re doing less tactics/strategy and more… quick clicking.
Modern RTS in UHD looks pretty.
Fullscreen tactical map view is good. Pity it’s a special key and not a natural part of zoom like in Supreme Commander.
All in all I’d recommend it.
Finished Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise. While not exactly a P&C adventure, it does have some P&C style puzzles thrown in with all the rest. Those are varied and mostly revolve around matching observations to inputs for all kinds of devices, collecting keys and gizmos that open doors and containers and solving the odd abstract puzzle to pretty much the same effect. And best of all, none of that feels overly out of place as we make our way through the hideout of a typical spy flick villain. There’s a plot of sorts that holds it all together, and quite a bit of humor too.
The puzzles weren’t difficult, but felt almost always rewarding as they opened up new areas or provided bits and pieces required for the next batch of puzzles. I found it quite addictive at times, as there was always more stuff to do that would lead to more and more and more …
All in all, it’s been one of the better games I’ve played this year. Quite a little gem, actually 
.
3 Likes
Completed The Journey Down in a feeble attempt to clear out my backlog.
Visually it reminds me a bit of the old Deck13 adventures, and by and large it plays in the same league. First and second episode look a bit dated by today’s standard, but the third one leaves little to be desired.
Gameplay is consistent across all three parts, but I think the puzzles in general are way too easy. Not that the actions always make sense or are even remotely realistic, but they were almost always obvious, especially if you know how adventure games tick.
The African themed plot and art style are quite fresh, but the narrative doesn’t really capitalize much on it. Instead it’s your typical fight against oppression in a dystopian future with a bit of foreign mythology and folklore thrown into the mix. And I guess part of that is made up, too.
So all things considered, it was a fairly unremarkable experience. Not bad, but lacking a bit of charm and certainly challenge. If there had been a progression of puzzle difficulty over the episodes, I think the 3rd one could have been a blast.
1 Like
I only played the first one and didn’t like it either. It’s another game that relies too much on literal puzzles, rather than puzzles derived from the story, or at least that’s how I remember it. Every time I have to put fuses (or whatever) in a right combination I want to cry.
2 Likes
I don’t think they were that prevalent. There’s the one in part 1 that I distinctly remember because the bonus content showed how it was made.
I’d object more to the fact that the puzzles were often the equivalent of this, figuratively speaking:
You never really were in doubt which object had to be used where and when. On occasion, you knew what to use long before even finding the object.
1 Like
This toy is pretty much my level of competence when it comes to literal puzzles so I have a good reason to be annoyed and overstate whenever they are present in the game (that means more than once) : ).
To stick with the African theme, I’ve played Beautiful Desolation. I wish they’d called it Average Looking Desolation and invested some of the saved effort into a better plot instead. I think it still would have been pretty enough and much more enjoyable to play. As it were, you get a checklist of three items to procure, each granted for solving the dispute between two (or more) opposing factions. In true isometric RPG tradition, this inevitably means the total obliteration of one (or more) of said factions. Oh wait, it’s supposed to be an adventure game …
Coupled with an ending that I did not see coming, both the journey and the destination were hardly worth the effort. Which is a bit of a shame, as it was off to a good start: it has an interesting premise, the presentation is top notch, and there’s lots of potential for narrative greatness. Unfortunately, that’s where it utterly fell flat for me. But if causing havoc to communities that may or may not deserve it is your thing, you really shouldn’t miss out!
For now I’m done with adventure games. I took a peek at Crusader Kings III, and I think I might spend a little time with that. Not sure if it’s the right type of game for somebody like me, who doesn’t really harbour great ambitions, as there aren’t any inherent goals except those you set for yourself. But the emergent narrative that arises from simulating all those different characters and their interactions already provided some memorable moments. What more could I ask for !?
3 Likes
I’ve played some of The Turing Test, which I picked up as part of a Humble Bundle some time ago. It’s not bad, but I wouldn’t be inclined to call it good either. I liked The Talos Principle much better. I’m near the end so it’s a bit of a sunk cost fallacy at this point. It’s somewhat relaxing while listening to a podcast.
1 Like
Yesterday I finished Portal 2.
I liked it, but I felt like it was going on for a bit too long.
2 Likes
I played (and finished!) Putt-putt joins the Parade.
Twice even, when I saw there were alternative solutions and even endings.
I also started Putt-putt goes to the Moon, but haven’t finished that one yet - due to a lack of time. (Ok, and also because I get lost on the moon. I should draw a map)
3 Likes
Won’t bore you with CK3, but tonight I dipped a little bit into Paradise Killer, and boy is that looking gorgeous!
Didn’t dive into the investigation yet, only been wandering around, soaking up the unique atmosphere. I’ll keep you updated if it’s also worth playing from a narrative perspective. But the bold art style alone deserves a 10/10; pure 
!
1 Like
More exploration, not much investigation. I do like open world games and this one is no exception. It’s perhaps small in scale, but dense, and with plenty of stuff to discover: items used for “puzzles”, clues for the different cases (there’s a number of crimes to solve, it seems), currency to spend in various ways and lots of apparently useless junk. Plenty of it “hidden” off the beaten track (easy to spot on occasion, but hard to reach), and digging it up is quite fun in and of itself.
And the sights to behold can be nice too, although most of the world is more of an urban setting and a little bit on the dreary side.
Guess one of these days I’ll actually start questioning some of those NPCs … maybe after actually visiting the scene of the main crime, that is …
1 Like
Completed Paradise Killer. I guess I played it backwards, because when I eventually arrived at the scene of the crime (more by chance than intentionally), I had already picked up plenty of important items and clues that I would not have had if, at the beginning, I would have turned left instead of right. The game handled that mostly gracefully, although it was pretty obvious that the developers had planned for players to visit the crime scene first and talk with the main suspect next before roaming all over the place.
There were about two important locations I had missed in my initial sweep (and a third I knew must exist but could not find), but those aside all that remained was running from NPC to NPC until all their dialogue was exhausted and the TODO list down to the last entries (related to that one elusive hidden place).
While the game lists about 8 or 9 crimes, in reality they are all tied to the main case and there is only one trial. For each crime you’ll name the suspect and present whatever evidence you’ve collected. It’s rather unspectacular and I assume it’s pretty much impossible to reach the wrong verdict, unless doing so intentionally. More false leads and ambiguity could have made this part much more interesting, but as it were the trial did not hold any surprises and turned out to be a bit anti-climatic.
All in all, the game is really about the journey, and I loved every bit of that. Gathering evidence for the investigation is closely tied to exploration and a few simple puzzles, and figuring out who did what and why was quite rewarding. However, it’s not the perfect crime and getting to the bottom of it is more busywork than detective skill. It’s great if you’re after a quirky open world experience, but will disappoint if you expect to match your wits against a criminal mastermind (or devious game designer).
Personally, I think it’s one of the best games I played this year, but it’s not quite in the same league as any of my all-time favorites. But I know of no game that has better auroras:
2 Likes
I’m going through the Blackwell series, currently on Blackwell Convergence. Really interesting story and excellent voice acting. Some of the puzzles (like, say, the VERY FIRST one) in the earlier games were confusing, but the game’s a lot more fun now that I have a better idea of what I’m supposed to do and how to progress. I just really wish there were a built-in way of manually resizing the window - there is a “windowed” option but with our screen resolution, windowed mode makes the game about 1/16th of the screen. -_-
2 Likes
What was that again?
Btw, in case you’re interested, here were my thoughts: The 2019 what we are playing thread - #39 by Frenzie