This game basically has two messages. Message 1: Modern life is pointless (let's go back to the good times of war, famine and disease that are more interesting and exciting for our animal instincts). Message 2: Capitalism is evil (this game is obviously made by first world citizens who never had to live in the misery, oppression and witch hunts of communism, a system that usually kills, robs, rapes and restricts anyone who stands out of the grey crowd even a little.) The artwork is good. The gameplay is boring (even though this is intentional). The message is revolting to anyone who has a good knowledge of history and a basis to compare mundane first world problems to the inescapable reality of our cruel universe. Bottom line: I don't think that anti-capitalists deserve your money.
THE GAME - 5 stars The game has its flaws - clunky controls, stiff animations, bad collisions. However, it has wonderful level design, which gets better and better, in the tradition of the early Tomb Raider games. There are also very interesting locations and story-driven interactions that surpass the early Tomb Raider games. If you are not bothered by the flaws and like to explore intricate, interconnected levels, vast locations that have no hand-holding (unless you activate hints in the map) and solve environmental puzzles, this is the game for you. GOG VERSION - 2 STARS - The game supports modern resolutions - that's really nice. - Runs immediately on modern machines without hassle - also nice. - Unfortunately, decades ago, LucasArts did introduce a showstopper bug in version 1.2 of a re-release of the game. Because of it, in level 7, the Palawan temple, the game gets stuck on a cut-scene and it's impossible to proceed. The GoG version currently (October 2018) has exactly the same bug - completely unchanged, because it's based on the same officially released, but broken, 1.2 version. You'll still need to look for fan made patches that fix this bug online. It's not easy to find these (there are some fake ones). There was a German site that had all fixes. Good luck searching for them. GOG GUIDELINES CLARIFICATION GoG guidelines say I should not discuss technical issues in the review, but this is not a technical issue that the Support team can help with. It's a decade old showstopper bug, introduced by an official v1.2 patched CD re-release. As a result, currently (October 2018) YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GO BEYOND LEVEL 7 unless you look for a fan-made patch. I won't ask for a refund because GoG put in the effort to get the game in the store, and just this effort deserves support, but unless their QA start making full playthrough tests, or look online for fanmade patches BEFORE releasing on GoG, they'll keep offering half-functioning versions like this.
Robin lives in a world, controlled by a religious / communist regime (you can't work whatever you want, you have to be licensed / blessed by the authorities and if you work without a license, you will be subjected to a 'divine' punishment). Developing technology is also forbidden to "protect Nature". On top of that, there is a mystery - something is very, very wrong with this world and its crumbling Moon, but you don't know what it is. Iconoclasts is a Metroidvania with interesting puzzles, interactive, dynamic gameplay, and lots of exploration, but what sets it apart is the powerful story. It is very mature and deep. Even though the author has made the bad guys to be a monopolistic 'corporation', in fact he does a perfect description of a communist and religious dystopia at the same time. He also manages to put a lot of emotion and expressive character into his diverse cast of heroes. His approach to telling an emotional story is very rare and unique. The game is a true work of art and at the same time is very fun to play.
None of the games work as they have to! Let's take Tomb Raider 2. - full screen videos don't work properly (window borders are shown) [happens both on Steam and GoG] - CD Audio tracks are triggered incorrectly (the game plays the correct track, and then plays the NEXT track in the list which totally doesn't match what's happening on screen and ruins the atmosphere) [happens on GoG only] I'm mentioning just TR2 because it's my favourite, but for all 3 games (TR1, TR2, TR3) I had to install a series of community made patches to make their graphics and sound work as they should (I'm on Windows 7). I don't know who is responsible for this, but this is absolutely unacceptable "quality" and violates GoG universal promise to deliver every game updated and working on modern systems. When the GoG version is worse than the Steam one (I have both and the audio issues are not present on the Steam one) it feels like a total betrayal. I'm considering a refund. :(
One of the best examples of its genre. Reminiscent of Heart of Darkness, only better. Spiritual successor of Eric Chahi's Another World. The game excels at everything it does. Art style. Physics. Simulated animation of all characters. Dynamic environments. Dark, sinister setting. Challenging, yet casual puzzles at the same time. Original ideas, that fill the gameplay with drama (the mind controlling parasytes are my favourite). Extremely polished game. Couldn't put it down before I finish it.
Arnt Jensen's INSIDE is an experience, very similar to Eric Chahi's Another World. Loneliness, fear, cruel and sad death. Noone speaks, the world is mysterious. You can build theories in your mind about the society and nature that you see until the next scene shocks you, disproves you and turns everything upside down. The interactivity, the story, the world, the drama, the horror, the emotional experience, the deeply psychological gameplay are far superior to the ones, found in Playdead's previous game, LIMBO. The game is relatively short, but it's also a unique, once in a lifetime experience; games with similar quality are released once in a decade. INSIDE can change the way you think about games, or it can remind you why you started to like games in the first place. Given its uniqueness and outstanding quality, INSIDE is worth twice its full price. What I mean is that even if you buy it at full price, you're actually getting a very good deal. [SPOILER ALERT] P.S. I see nothing confusing about the ending, and even nothing tragic about it. Emotionally, it's very similar to the way ICO ends, and (to some extent) to the way Another World ends. Philosophically, it's closer to themes found in the Penumbra and SOMA series, which makes me wonder whether nordic devs have a soft spot for these themes, just like they have a soft spot for horror.
I didn't manage to play Bioforge in the 90's, I started playing it here on GoG, so I dare to say that my impressions are not influenced by nostalgia or bias. Except for the love I have for action-adventure games. BioForge is very hard and user-unfriendly - even something as simple as throwing a punch requires that you read the manual. With that said, the game is amazing. It's the first game to have textured characters, skeletal animation, motion capture, wounds showing on the character... But it's also very rich as a game. - It has a deep story and humanizes its enemies. They have a complex biography and you don't have to kill them. - There's also the weird atmosphere of the setting - both sinister and humorous. In this game you are a rugged cyborg... who can play a flute. An actual flute you can pick and carry. What does this mean? Were you a musician in your previous life? Was that flute yours? Or is this one of the sick jokes of the neurosurgeon that messed with your brain? Only an adventure game can afford to surprise you like this in its gameplay. - I also really like that there are animations that show character vulnerability, like the ones in the Tomb Raider Reboot (2013) - Lex can't run when he's wounded, if he tries, he trips and falls, if drops of water are dripping from the roof on his head, he tries to protect himself, he covers his face and tries to maintain stability, when seeing an explosion in front of him, etc. Bioforge is not for everyone. The combat is cumbersome. The puzzles are demanding. I played fair and felt so happy when I finally had an idea that worked. You have to read dozens of documents to truly understand the complex world. The game could have been more accessible and understandable - right now it's misleading, cubmersome, and hard. But I'm happy Bioforge reminded me of the beauty, dramatic premise and depth that a game can have. It's a real masterpiece and it now has a special place among the games that I deeply respect.
Technically, the game doesn't deserve 5 stars, but its flaws didn't affect me, so 5 stars it is. I'll be brief. CONS: - It's true that the game has a lot of bugs, I even managed to find game breaking ones (that got my save file into an unwinnable state). I saved often, in different "slots", to avoid trouble. - It's also true that the game is on a smaller scale compared to Neverhood. There aren't first person MYST moments, there aren't many large, detailed environments. - The game lacks the modern feedback we're used to. You don't know what the active objects or the exits from the scene are and this may confuse you. PROS: - The puzzles are pretty good and I really liked the heavy use of backtracking and the interrelated spaces in the fortress. - The exploration felt even better because of the humour and the art style. - The story is funny, sad, dramatic, interesting. The wall of text (similar to the one in Neverhood) with the world's mythology and history is also a very interesting read. Many backers forget that The Neverhood had a budget at least 10 times bigger than the one of Armikrog. This means less time, less people to make the game. It's still a good game that will give you something other titles cannot. And it's not necessarily recommended to nostalgia-filled fans of Neverhood. I haven't actually played Neverhood. It's in my big game collection, but I didn't get to it. Still liked Armikrog.
Shelter is basically a linear corridor with 2 boring interactions - gather food and hide in bushes. From time to time you lose a child to a predator or to the elements and a shiver runs down your spine. And that's it. The disasters are interesting but the game is so slow that even these moments are boring. The game is one hour long. Can you believe that they really pulled this off? Yes, they did, and my friends and me bought this thing, just because we really wanted to believe that they did what they claim to do. Everything Shelter tries to do, other games have done better. If you want to experience survival in the wilderness, you can try Don't Starve or The Long Dark. If you want to experience how cruel the world is, while you're protecting someone, you can try The Last Of Us, Ico, Amy... If you want to experience loss and grief, you can try Brothers. tl;dr - A regrettable purchase.
The game looks good until you realize that you have collected half of the cubes, and you can no longer make any progress. There are obscure "puzzles" scattered across the landscape. These "puzzles" rely on symbols and meaning, or on some meta nonsense like invisible platforms, scanning QR codes etc. They just don't make sense, it's like a designer that tries to show everyone how smart he is and you have to guess what he has been thinking. I regret my purchase.
