Californium

in library

3/5

( 16 Reviews )

16 Reviews

English & 2 more

Overall most helpful review

Posted on: February 17, 2016

bigsilverhotdog

Games: Reviews: 23

Horribly tedious "game".

I impulse purchased this since it was released just after I finished another viewing of The Truman Show (one of the best movies ever made). But oh no, there was to be no "amazing indie discovery" herein. In fact, this is one of the worst games I've ever played. I literally feel cheated. It's horrible. Just horrible. Imagine Jazzpunk without freedom of movement or clever writing. Californium is the most boring drivel imaginable, masquerading as a story based "exploration" game. I spent the entirety of my 30 minutes playing this game trying to find hotspots to stand on so I could click the game's symbol that magically appears all over. A TV is placed in each level section and counts down in roman numerals as you click each symbol. That's apparently the entire game. Yes, what you see in the videos is the actual game. There's nothing else. This game portends to take place in Berkeley California, at the height of the LSD revolution, but if this game were a drug it would not be LSD, it would be Ambien. Overall an awful purchase. Instant regret. I'm currently begging GOG for a refund...

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Posted on: February 18, 2016

davem74

Games: 532 Reviews: 7

Very Disappointing...

Perhaps if this game gets a bit of a tidy-up in its graphics and text, it'll rate a bit more, but the main problem with it is that there's really not enough here to justify hanging around. As a big fan of PKD, it's fun to see characters spout off little obscure bits and bobs from his life, but after a while it begins to feel very cliquey - like 'oh, so you don't get the joke/reference?'. For the record, I think I got them all (!), but the lasting experience was one of insularisation - it didn't open up aspects of PKD's life and work to people unfamiliar with it, instead it just made it seem like a 6th formers idea of having to out-do other folks with their intimate knowledge of the subject. Not much fun.

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Posted on: February 18, 2016

towkarus

Verified owner

Games: 41 Reviews: 1

PKD fans may like this game.

This is a "The Witness"-like game, that has some pretty visuals and a decent soundtrack, but not so much of a gameplay except for 'hidden object' puzzles that you complete to advance. There are many allusions to Philip K. Dick's stories and biography in dialogues.

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Posted on: February 21, 2016

pawel_z_wrocka

Games: 124 Reviews: 1

Completely unplayable: wasted potential

The most bugged game I have encountered in my whole life. The idea behind the game is brilliant and the graphics create a surreal atmosphere that serves the subject well. And that is for the good stuff. Now, the problems… there are so many that the game in its current state is simply unplayable. 1. Gameplay. There is none. The game plays like a tour of a gameworld, where the only interaction, apart from walking and looking, is clicking small symbols, visible only at a right angle from a right distance, to reveal another portion of an alternate reality. No other action is possible. The apartment you start the game in is full of objects, yet they are all just decorations, you cannot touch, open, or interact in any other way with any of them. Even the door to apartment opens on its own, you cannot open it if you want to. Now, I wouldn’t mind it if upon attempting to open the said door a message would appear, saying that it is too early to leave or something to that effect, but nothing like that happens. Clicking the door or the knob just has no effect whatsoever. Similarly, the people you meet are just monologuing, there are not dialogue options. 2. Graphic issues. If you venture where you are not supposed to, you can fall outside the game space and see everything as two-dimensional decorations. Since there is no indication this is a part of game, I suppose it is yet another bug. 3. Movement issues. There are places where your character becomes blocked, despite no visible obstacles in sight. You cannot move forward, just sideways and back. It is completely illogical and makes it impossible to play. 4. Save problems. To make things worse, when you leave the game, you have to start from the beginning: there is no save available and the autosave does not work. I suppose it may work after finishing a larger portion of the game, but since it is impossible due to the aforementioned movement and graphic issues, I cannot really check it.

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Posted on: March 3, 2022

Prah

Games: 1200 Reviews: 97

Unique and fun game but not for everyone

Californium is what I would call a mix between Stanley Parable (kinda) and Jazzpunk (kinda), but it is very much its own game. Unique, surreal and almost psychadelic at times. It tells a story of Elvin Green, an author with a writer's block. If I said anything more... well that would spoil the game. The game has an interesting art design where the world is 3D but the characters are creepy 2D cut-out dolls. It makes the game feel even more surreal than it already is to begin with. The soundtrack is good, although some parts of the game are too quiet for my liking. Something that is well done despite the small amount of actors is the voice acting, it definitely does parts of the game. I definitely recommend this game, I had a good time with it and it really stands out.

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