After 30+ years of deep love for point'n'click adventure games, I'm starting to see what their problem is: They are not real games. As Ron Gilbert explained, all mechanics (except the odd puzzle) are based on creating friction for the user, preventing them from running through an otherwise straightforward story. This particular game, is the epitomy of that "friction". Despite the cute pixel-art graphics, AGS engine is really bad. Take away the 2-3 puzzles of the game, and you are left with a decent story wrapped in horrible and frustrating pixelhunting, irrational dialog-selecting, walking around, delays added by the inability to skip cutscenes and UI elements interfering with the game making you want to smash your mouse. It's as if the actual game is a "interacting with disfunctional computer simulator". Take out all this friction and there is 10-20minutes of story tops, with minimal branching. You can't blame the developers though, as they crafted a compelling world with interesting characters, nice atmosphere and a fairly touching ending. The beginning was also interesting enough to counteract the gameplay issues, allowing me to continue despite the frustration. But AGS engine is too outdated and probably it's time for the traditional adventure genre, to finally R.I.P. Having said that, I give it 4/5 stars putting my frustration aside knowing that some people haven't had yet enough of adventure games.
Beautiful, engaging and very very positive game! I usually start playing games only to uninstall them a few minutes later. I also like rushing through games, but in this case the learning curve was excellent, the payoff was there right from the start and it was so pretty that even when I finished it, I kept and kept and kept playing exploring the island(s)! Other than beautiful this game is extremely polished; something that most indie games lack! The flight mechanics are mesmerizing and after spending a good 4h playing (could had been less) I had beautiful nightdreams of controlled flying! Thank you adamgryu for a nice evening!
just wow... Finished the game in two sittings. Visually it's magnificent; I've never taken screenshots in videos games, but I had to... truly feast for the eyes! The game is an artistic experience, a metaphor of an inner journey that I have found very relevant to my inner struggles; I'm sure everybody may relate. It's a very forgiving game (you can't lose) and short too (much less than 10h), plays nicely with the 360 controller and is recommended to gamers, but I've shown it to a few people who aren't into video games and they've been drooling over it too!
It's cute(and cudos for making a non-violent game), but after playing it a bit it crashed (apparently it's buggy on the Mac) so I'm back in the desktop again and not inclined to go back in. Not that it's a bad game: Some people might enjoy it. But there seems to be no story whatsoever and since I don't enjoy the "hidden object" aspect in games, there was nothing that I could find in it for me.
Very beautiful non-violent exploration game! I finished it in two sittings which for me is the sweet spot: Long enough to feel the immersion, but not too long to overstay its welcome. Nowadays I prefer short and memorable games to games full of content but no essence. In terms of gameplay and story its very minimal and could had been better - the gameplay is mainly flying around (which is very statisfying) and reading scriptures and while the story is nothing fancy, the atmosphere and the world are very tranquil and quite pleasant to linger about. Not sure it classifies as game since there is no challenge, but it's for sure an experience. Overall would love to see more exploration games!!!
The graphics are cute and the atmosphere is nostalgic, which is all good. Animation is great too and the music despite repeatable is catchy. I'm sure this is a very good game. The only major flaw of this game is the lack of instructions. I grew up in the 80s so I don't expect a game to hold me by the hand. But this one... just lets you wonder about the mechanics, the buttons... everything. And every time the mechanics change and you can't find your way, you're left scratching your head whether it's an intentional puzzle, something you missed, a mere button your haven't pressed already or you simply are not supposed to be on this level yet. I found myself watching youtube walk-throughs more than once trying to see if I am missing something. I'm sure with a small two page manual or in-game tutorial I'd have a much better time playing it, but today I decided that it's not fun enough to justify myself switching tabs between youtube and the game just to finish it. I'm sad that I'll miss the cutscenes and perhaps the ending, but then again, I think I'm not sorry enough!
6h into the game I've been really enjoying it - the world reminds me a lot of Firefly - instant nostalgia! Nice music and all. The 2D limited movement was a bit strange at first, but it certainly takes much of the 3D navigation complexity out! Upgrading your ship(s) feels also very rewarding! There is story in the game, but I admit I got sidetracked into sidequests so it's been progressing very slowly for me - but from the looks of it, it's not a narrative driven game. I was tempted to keep playing, but being a point'n'click adventure gamer, I'd rather invest my time in some shorter (20+20h is a bit too much for me) primarily story-driven game. Nonetheless, if you enjoy blowing ships, upgrading weaponry, trading, and roaming around, this game is definitely very fun!!!!
I loved the previous three Deponia games. I liked the fourth one too, except that halfway through I had enough and I was just hoping to get to the end quickly. Towards the end the pace accelerated and I was playing casually not caring about all the story complexities that were emerging. Maybe I was not intelligent enough to follow, maybe it was happening too fast to follow, maybe it was not interesting enough to follow or maybe this complexity was mere randomness in disguise. In any case you could still play the game without knowing what you are actually doing. Not very flattering comment for an adventure game, but then again the deponia series has given me enough chuckles - I'd still play a 5th installment :)
Looks very charming, but after an hour or so of moving around, it was missing some sort of gameplay :( It probably (or not?) will get better later on, but it wasn't interesting enough in the beginning in order for me to invest the time to play through all the tutorials of the game... It was very dry. A pity because it's a very colorful world, and for a change it was nice having "pleasant" NPCs!
I admit I only played castelvania on gameboy in the distant past and I've never even played metroid, so I don't know if there is a hidden allure to this particular game that escapes me. I was expecting a platformer in the vains of freedom planet, sonic, owlboy etc - Sadly this game was not able to hold me more than 90minutes - Probably the shortest I've invested in a game before deciding I don't like it! It's not that it was bad, but there was nothing engaging for me to keep going on, and eventually I just decided to unceremoniously quit. It's quite well made, and a noble effort, but not it just didn't work for me!
