A relatively simple puzzle game with minimalist design built around a unique mechanics. Reminds you of something, doesn't it? Sadly, despite the developers have managed to create a nicely working game mechanics, therefore did the most important part of the game well, and, at least at first, created interesting puzzles, they have failed miserably to arrange it into a plot. It wouldn't be a big deal if Superliminal was all about puzzles alone like Portal appeared at first, but the plot plays an important role here! Not to mention that when the game is 60-70% complete even puzzles themselves become boring and annoying. By the last third of the game end I was just pushing "W" waiting for the next disappearing floor (a trick that can work once, maybe twice, but not 10 times). After all this resentment it may be surprising that I give the game 4/5. Still, I liked the mechanics and if there is a sequel with a new, more profound, scriptwriter I'd gladly buy it.
There are very few games I enjoyed that much before. Setting is great, gameplay is good to. I really liked the art and effort creators put into this game.
Very interesting game, great lore, good gameplay. I loved fights (fighting strong but not annoying bosses such as Mantis Lords or Hornet was amazing!) and beautiful level design. Also this is the first metroidvania I know that requires a player to build a meaningful strategy to fight EACH boss. Still there are flaws. There is a fast transportation mechanism but it is absent in some places. One has to walk a looooong way just to get out from certain area. Also this explicitly stupid save-load system that allows a player to save only in limited number of points instead of letting them use, for example, their "soul" to save the game (as in Ori). There are mods that allow you to save wherever you want to, and I highly recommend playing with them installed: they will rescue you from annoying ten-minute walks after each two-minute attempt to defeat a boss. But despite all the flaws I still recommend this game. Fight system, plot, and design can forgive almost anything.
An exceptionally good looking piece of art. In this game we control the girl who is obliviously depressed and tries to cope with it. Hints and achievements (5 stages) tell us that she has either lost someone or dying herself. Our final goal is to get her out of the depression, building a star bridge made of good memories and her own talents. That might have been a deep and emotional game... except it isn't. Don't get me wrong, I liked it a lot. But the game is way too naive. Probably, it is hard or even impossible to fit thorough analysis of such a complicated emotional state as loosing someone (bitter grief + guilt + regrets + thought of what is to come next + existential shock, "I am mortal too" + hopelessness + ...) into a platform game. I don't know. Instead of an experience that digs deep into the soul, people who lost someone have a hand on their shoulder saying "Head up, bud. I know what you feel, I'm sorry about your loss. The one you lost would be happy to see you happy, think of how your memories of them helps you", and others get meditative, somewhat sad experience. It's not bad... but it's not great either. Buy this game if you want to play a very beautiful platform quest with good sound design, diverse puzzles, and good story behind. But don't expect more. Totally recommend GRIS.
Only at life's end, you see that your whole life was a lesson, and you were a careless student at it. There I stand with my lesson unlearned. The teacher is out. "Pack your books and leave". I would be glad to be "punished" by someone, to be "left without lunch". But no one will punish. No one needs you. Tomorrow, there will be a "lesson". But for others. And others will study. You will never be taught again. (V. V. Rozanov, "Fallen Leaves", 1913, and my best effort to translate it to English) In Pathologic 2 you play the role of Haruspex who left his hometown to study medicine. He receives a worrying letter from his father and takes the train home to find his father dead, his friends changed dramatically, and everyone thinking he has killed his father. A few in-game days later, things go bad. The game is unfair. It is unfair to the point that you have a dialog option to say how unfair it is. There is always a chance that you loose even if you do everything right. You can spend your day running around the town protecting your friends to find out that Fortuna turned away from them and some of them are dead. Just like in a real life. The game is hard. Survival mechanisms may seem annoying, but they are important for the experience. At some point, you'll find yourself starving to death. There is barter economy in the Town, and you approach a child to offer him/her marbles or a bug in a box, but you don't have enough. Still... you know, you can kill the child to get food. It is not about "possible or not", it is about moral choices. Just like in real life. The game is fascinating. Striving to feed Haruspex and change (or at least see) the fate of the Town, I was constantly forgetting to eat. The game is cruel. Surprisingly, not as cruel as real life: you will be punished and "left without lunch" in it. The game is all about death. This game is definitely worth playing. P.S. For those who want the citation in Russian, search for "вся твоя жизнь была поучением".
Nice intercourse between Samorost 3 I love and Creaks I'm waiting for. The game is really small, one can go through it in an hour or two, but graphics and soundtrack are great.
As I focused more on aesthetics, I've bought this game once I saw screenshots and wasn't disappointed. It is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played, with brilliant drawings, very nice story to tell the player and good soundtrack. Story is focused on a 12 yo boy at the last days of his summer break. He receives a letter, that appeared in thin air with a ritual to summon a friend. When he completes a ritual, Marquis de Hoto comes to him - a giant rabbit, taller than the boy. He says that boy (who is into magic tricks) can become a might magician, traveling between worlds and helping others. And he will be home by dinner! After that, he invites Jerry Hazelnut to Mousewood where he will learns new spells and learn to help people... well, not people - habitats in need. I would enjoy even watching this story as a cartoon, but this is also a game. Point-and-click quest, what I liked since times of Myst III, Neverhood, Freddy Fish etc. And this is where most games fail: it is incredibly difficult to make all puzzles logical enough so that the solution wouldn't be clicking on every point around with all you have in your inventory. Well, mostly they succeeded, but sometimes player must guess and spend lot of time solving really stupid puzzle. As for bugs, I've found 3: boy can walk on destroyed stick in the house of Aro, if one clicks too many times at the hole in the floor at the end, he will stuck and will have to restart, and one can stay after end credits if he talks to someone at the moment they must end. A little bit raw game, but still so pretty drawn, with such a good story and music, that I can't give it anything but 5 stars.
