Someone commented that this game would be better as a screen saver. I kind of agree. The game revolves around a journey you make with a strange vehicle. Leaving your home, going somewhere further away, through a vast wasteland. I really like the idea. The actual interactivity is limited to pressing the gas button (you have to press it every ten seconds or so, or it will stop) and once in a while break to pick up fuel cells (that just lays scattered all over the place for some unknown reason) or solve a simple boring puzzle to progress. If at least the game would not require you to press gas every ten seconds and then break to pick up the fuel cells you are driving over, you could enjoy the scenery. This would also up for including more interesting gameplay elements than pressing gas five times in a row, break, exit vehicle, pick up fuel, refuel and repeat. I give it a 2/5 because I like the artstyle and the idea. Close to a 1 though.
A simple and very enjoyable game. A few hours long at most and with little replay value, I still recommend it to anyone keen on relaxing badger adventures and protecting cubs from danger. The game is not a nature documentary in any way. It is a game and not educational. You have some various stages, where some are more exploration based and others has more dangers and action. If a cub dies it dies. Play it with a badger loving gf or bf for best experience.
The game has a major strength in it's storytelling and it's atmosphere. However, it fails miserably at capitalizing on it. Overall, my memories of the game are about the good parts, but whenever I boot it up I remember how horribly boring it is. I've seen others comment the same. They love the game but hate playing it. I wouldn't say I love the game at all, but I respect some of it's qualities. The never ending gameplay loop of scavenging for useless items, crafting boring things and exploring one dull area or another, ruins it however. As a player, I only occassionally enjoyed it, when exploring an interesting area. I know the game is meant to be bleak. It focuses on civilian struggles and suffering. I just don't see why they had to make the gameplay so horribly tedious. Scavenge some scraps to upgrade your workbench or build a little herb garden or whatever. If at least, it felt more realistic, I guess it would have been OK. But it doesn't even feel realistic. Scavenging, you run around with half a ton of garbage on you. For example, you may want to craft a chair at home. You can't scavenge one because it's too big or whatever, but you can carry ten times the crafting material. More about chairs: crafting a few cigarettes requires as much crafting material one chair. Food is incredibly valuable but in this supposedly hyper realistic sandbox game you aren't even able to allow eggs to hatch. You can grow plants during the cold winter months though. One problem: it is all made up. The location, Pogoren, is fictional. The characters are fictional. Why not make it more realistic by choosing actual locations and basing the stories on actual events. At times, the stories impresses but overall the qualities are few and far between. The gameplay is extremely boring 80% of the time. I'll read Balkan Babel instead of finishing the game.
A lot of people seem to complain about the wordiness of the game. Yes, indeed, it is very dialogue heavy and at times this causes dialogue fatigue. But it shouldn't have to be a problem. Just try to play it while you feel sharp and up for following dialogue. After some time, if you feel tired, just get a break or continue another day. And if you encounter someone who talks about something you're completely uninterested in, just skip the dialogue. Most of the dialogue is not needed for main or side quests, but just tries to explain characters, the world etc. The game will be a lot more enjoyable if you don't strive to listen to as much dialogue as possible, but instead try to focus on the stuff that is relevant and interesting to you. Some people will get drawn to some characters and ideas while others will get drawn to others. Don't force yourself to discuss topics you are uninterested in and the problem is gone. For me, the only real problems were these: #1 (big problem) the game is too political. While it seems to make a fair attempt at mocking all ideologies, I just felt like the constant presence of politics diminished the experience. I also thought that some ideologies got more bashed than others and were without good representation. The fascists especially were more or less caricatures. That hurt the believability of a few characters but most of all it hurt the believability of the game and the creators. I was often reminded that this was a game and more than anything, that it was created in the current political climate. For a game like this that is a big failure. #2 (small problem) stats decided by your clothes. A pair of sunglasses could add +1 to charisma but perhaps a -1 to perception. With so many various stats (24 in total) and so many different clothes, switching back and forth for skill checks gets tiring quickly. If at least there was an option to max out a certain stat by a simple click, it would be fine. Overall a 5/5 game if not for politics.
Lots of bugs, as others have mentioned. I only encountered two, luckily. Both times, the game just crashed. Once I had to reboot the game, the other time it just eventually kicked back to life again. But the bugs are a small problem. The main problem is how extremely clunky and crappy everything is. Examples: - By the end of the game, your inventory will be full of complete garbage gathered during previous puzzles. Every time you have to use an item you have to browse browse browse and then at the bottom of the long list, you'll find the items most recently picked up. - What is even worse is that in one important puzzle you suddenly have to go back and use one of these old "ghost items" that just linger around. Since all of the others are just dead items, many will expect this one to be too. - No text for interactions. Mostly if you try something out it just says you can't do that in a very generic way. Often it doesn't even say that but the game doesn't even react when you do something. No jokes, no interesting comments or dialogues, no nothing. Just generic "I can't do that" 90% of the time. - Pixel hunting. - Very ugly graphics. - Voice actors sound bored. - characters are completely hollow - dialogue system is horrible + good music + interesting setting + nice but not amazing story +some nice puzzles I would not recommend it. Sure it has it's nice parts but the bad ones outwheigh them by far.
The game is very simple. You, a struggling alcoholic, explore one of your dreams, speaking with various demons, or rather listening on what they say. The graphics are plain but do the job. It would have been nice with something just a little bit better looking but I won't complain. The style suits the atmosphere. I like the sounds, the dialogue of and the design of the various demons as well. I really like that the game is so extremely simple. No attacks, experience points, meters or whatever. It just tells a story and tries to portay a troubled person.
I love that the game is very short. I played it through in 80 min, finishing 5/8 shrines. Its really nice with these short little games that don't ask a lot of you as a player. Finished in an hour or two without feeling like a demo or something. They are kind of rare so that is one reason I didn't give this one a 3 rather than a very strong 2/5. The problem is that even though the game was of ideal length for a sleepy late evening the game itself is in need of some polishing. Levels are a bit uneven in quality with some being frustrating. Some of the optional stages are frustrating but since they can be skipped it's not a massive issue. I was disapointed with the many enemies, instakills etc. The game would have benefitted from focusing more on the atmosphere and making sure that playing it felt smooth and enjoyable. The visuals, music and story is relaxing and doesn't go well together with the frustration sometimes felt throughout the game. The graphics are surprisingly good. Felt nicer than in the screenshots while playing. Music and sound was also very good. I'd recommend the game on a sale. 3/5 may sound a bit low but for what it is it is a good score. Just a quick break. It's not a life changing ecperience and didn't try to be. 3/5 is a good score.
Besides from the graphics and the music this game has little going for it. Writing is below average. Starting with the intro. A guy falling to his death from a skyscraper, thinking to himself that it is "epic" to die that way. A little bit of bad writing wouldn't be a massive problem but in a game that's almost completely text based... it's not a + World building. I don't know if they thought things through or just made them up on the spot and then went with the things. Again, not a problem, but in a game that is 5% game play and 95% reading dialouges, it is a big problem. The puzzles. Plain garbage all of them. Mixing drinks. Doing pottery (as a hyper modern NWO cyborg, your globo homo megacorp has nothing better to task you with than doing pottery out of some funky material). The puzzles aren't difficult or anything but just boring and atmosphere killing. I don't know what they were thinking. Feels like they just wanted to be different (desperately). Very much woke stuff coming up. I don't mind games being inclusive or anything but when almost every character feels like a token rather than original character, it's a bit much. About 1/3 of the characters have been lgbtq. Almost 100% of the women are high ranking strong leaders. Dialogues constantly veer towards discussions about racism, sexism, homophobia etc. The stance taking is so blatant that it reminds me of a stereotype. The only good thing except for the musics and graphics is how the game forces you to interpret other characters. If you understand another characters motivations and feelings well enough, you're sometimes able to make practical use of it in a kind of mini game. It's an interesting take and makes the game more interesting. Too bad the mechanic is wasted on rather hollow carbon copy stereotypes. I recommend this game if you like bad sci fi, pretentious writing, boring and simple puzzles and pixel art.
I don't have much good to say about it. The camera is a complete disaster. In a game where the camera is as important as in this one, completely focusing on exploration, that is a big problem. They should have fixed that before releasing the game. The music ruins the athmosphere. Constantly this cheerful a bit noisy folk music playing in the background, no matter what happens. Feels like a loop. The music doesn't change with the content. Mostly it feels out of place, even though the songs themselves are well made and the soundtrack is amibious. Walking, whistling. Nah. I'd skip this game unless you're someone that likes really slow games that are very low on gameplay and loves collecting things. Read a book instead if you are that into stories. I give it a 2/5 because I respect that they tried.
