A wonderful turn-based game with a decent story and fun gameplay. If you're a fan of Wasteland or just cRPGs in general, it's well worth picking up this one. There's difficulty levels for everyone.
This game must have had a very niche market and limited advertising in 1996, because I had never heard of it then. I'm kind of sad about that. I just finished it and I love it! It's definitely not scary by any means and most of the acting is pretty cheesy, but it's so disturbing that it's amazing. You play as Steve, a young man who arrives in the town of Harvest and has amnesia. He can't remember anything and everyone thinks he's joking. You learn of a place called The Lodge and something just isn't quite right about the town. It's up to you to uncover the mystery of what's really going on here. Overall the game itself is pretty straightforward. You point and click your way through, picking up items, talking to folks, combining certain inventory items, etc. It's your typical 90s fare. For those who didn't grow up in the 80s or 90s, some of the puzzles may stump you. There's a couple that really are nonsensical. I had practically zero issues getting through all of them, but there were one or two that took me some time. I also grew up in a time where you had to take notes, make multiple saves and try everything (HINT: Do these things for this game! It makes life easier). The story itself is a bit scrambled but overall it does its job for what it is. The game has two potential endings as well. The game is also hilarious. It's obvious enough the graphics are dated, but that's part of the charm! For the price of the game, I highly recommend playing it. I had a blast and it gave me nostalgic feels. One thing to note: SAVE OFTEN, especially when you get to the Lodge. The game was fine until I got inside the Lodge and then I started having quite a few random crashes. It could've been just bad luck for me, but better safe than sorry!
This reminds me exactly why games like this died out after the early 90s – way too much cheap stunlocking by the CPU. I remember that being a huge problem in the Atari version as well. The controls constantly kept messing up. Billy would stop moving randomly in DD1. I'll stick with the SEGA version.
I'm not one to find video games scary in the least, and Visage is no exception to that. However, this game definitely is atmospheric and has a spooky vibe to it. The story is good and the puzzles can be somewhat challenging (it took me over 2 hours to figure out the last puzzle I missed to finish the game). There definitely needs to be a VR version of this as it shows that the game was originally intended to be a VR game. The game opens with a grisly scene and then you are thrown into the mix with little to go on as to what to do. The game is broken up into four chapters which you can pretty much do in any order. The chapters are very loosely connected and there are subtle hints throughout the game to help you along. There are also a few funny Easter eggs you can find as well to break up the tension. While the game isn't scary in my opinion, it will definitely keep those who do find games scary on the edge of their seat. The best experience for this is to turn off the lights, play at night and strap on the headphones. There's a lot of creepy ambient sounds, so you'll want that full effect. Though the chapters are nonlinear, each one is linear in itself. Once you begin a chapter, you must finish it before you can start onto the next, and the game loosely keeps you on a path to finish it. You can still explore a lot of areas, but some will be blocked off or inaccessible for the duration of the chapter you're in. You have a sanity meter, which quickly goes down as paranormal events happen (lights switching off, TVs turning on by themselves, doors slamming, etc.), and when your sanity gets low, more events happen frequently. You can restore sanity by either staying in the light, or taking pills. Along the way you'll pick up key items and usable items to help you through the game. Overall Visage is a great game and I highly recommend it. While others probably knew, it was a nice surprise for me to see Sad Square drop the full version right before Halloween. 5/5
I really want to like this game. It looked intriguing and I saw a lot of good reviews for it all over the web. I purchased the game and was immediately hooked in, but it crashes way too much. I've tried uninstalling the game and removing everything, updating my video drivers and a clean install of the game. That fixed the majority of the crashing, but I still get a lot of random crashes. Looking at Steam it seems a lot of people have that issue. What makes it even worse is you cannot save and the game relies on autosave, so the crashing has led to me frustratingly starting far back several times over. Aside from the crashing, the game feels poorly optimized. My FPS really aren't that great at 1440p with a 1080 TI. With those things out of the way, the game itself seems fun. I love the atmosphere and it actually feels a little creepy when wearing headphones. The voice acting is good and having Bullet as your canine companion makes for a good time. Sometimes I feel like the dog is actually the star of the game. The controls are pretty basic and movement is fluid enough. It definitely feels more like a walking horror simulator. I would definitely say it's worth trying, but I just can't continue because I can't stand the random crashing. I wasn't able to get more than two hours into the game due to the crashes. If you're interested in the game, I hope you have better luck than I did. It definitely seemed promising.
When this game initially came out, I didn't have a PC that was powerful enough to run it. By the time I did, the game was long gone from shelves and it wasn't until last year that I finally played this game. I have never played the other two Gabriel Knight games, but I remember seeing this one on shelves as a kid and was so disappointed that I never got the chance to play. I am probably in the minority here, but I am a sucker from FMV games. I loved Phantasmagoria and to a lesser extent, Night Trap. The game runs very smoothly (as it should in this day in age) and it is a masterpiece to play. I enjoyed the story, I enjoyed the actors (yes, I know the accents aren't up to snuff) and it does have some slightly challenging puzzles. Some of the puzzles might be a bit annoying for the younger crowd who aren't used to adventure games of yore. The only problem I had with this game was I encountered a nasty bug in chapter 3. I had saved my game, and when I came back to the game at a later time, I found the save would load, but everything was completely locked up. I couldn't do anything other than look at things on the screen I was on. I'm not sure what caused this, but thanks to chapter selection and the fact I hadn't gotten far in that chapter, it wasn't an issue to start over and make my way through. So, my advice with all of these old games is to save often and make multiple saves. Side note: splicing cassettes was one of my favorite things to do in the game.
I really enjoyed Arcanum when it first came out. I still enjoy playing it. The story revolves around you being in a blimp crash and being found by a newly religious man named Virgil. Virgil tells you that you are supposed to be the reincarnation of an all-powerful being and that a group of assassins are out trying to murder you. And that is where your journey begins... In terms of plot, Arcanum's works quite well. While it's not overly original, I feel it was very well done and it's a lot of fun to unravel the plot as you reach different points in the game. The main quest is very easy to get through and there are quite a few side quests as well. Arcanum can be a lot of fun. There is a TON of room for character customization. Each level you will gain a skill point to invest where you like. Every 5th level you gain two, and at the start of character creation you have five points to spend. How you spend those points is up to you and what you want to do. You can build nearly anything you wish: from the smooth-talking gunslinger, to the beautiful mage, all the way to a half-wit who can barely speak (hilarious options for stupid characters) but for whatever reason everyone still loves them and wants to be their friend. The only thing you cannot do, is create a character who is both technologically and magically inclined. Combat has two modes: turn based and real time. Real time is pretty much pointless as things move too quickly and are over too fast to focus on what you're doing. You can hire followers (some have voices, others do not). The AI is pretty shallow. Followers and enemies charge each other head on. That's it. This game is unfinished and somewhat broken. Magic is far more powerful than technology. There were also known bugs that I never encountered, but those may be fixed by now. Overall, I say give this game a try. One warning is this version tends to have a speed issue. There is a fix, but I don't know if it works with the GOG version.
23 years since its release, I have not stopped playing this game completely. That being said, it's not like I play it frequently. I still play it, but it's only once or twice a year. I loved this game when it came out. The dark atmosphere and horde of monsters to slay in this dungeon crawl has always been fun. The (mostly) randomized dungeons can keep things somewhat fresh for awhile. Sooner or later, you will have seen it all. Yes, the controls are clunky and the mechanics are dated, but that is why we put on our nostalgia glasses! The only thing that ever really annoyed me about this game and still does to this day, is that since you cannot run, sometimes the fighter has a very annoying time dealing with ranged enemies. If you're looking for a nostalgia trip or somehow did not manage to play this game in between 1996 and 2000, I highly recommend picking it up. It's definitely not as fast paced as Diablo II or Diablo III which might throw off some of the younger crowd, but the builds are far less intricate in this game than the second one. It's pretty straightforward. There is some room for customization of characters, but not as much as one would like given today's options. I hope to see Hellfire make it on here someday as well.
I enjoyed playing The Cat Lady. Like a few other folks, I didn't expect much, but it was relatively inexpensive, so I purchased it. I am so glad I did. The story is good, the mood is just right and the main character, Susan Ashworth is pretty relateable. While the art style put me off a bit, it fits the game. I did enjoy the soundtrack very much. It had some predictable moments, but I feel almost all games have those. For an indie title, it was very well done. While replayability is obviously very low, I did play through it three times just becuase I enjoyed it so much. Give it a try!
I played the Zork text games years ago, though never got very far. I remember in 1993 when my dad purchased Return to Zork, I was excited. This game kept me entertained for hours. The premise is that you are a winner of Rupert's sweepstakes and you are given a grand vacation to the land of Zork. Little do you know that trouble is brewing in the land. The West Shanbar has disappeared, the Road to the South is impassible, and there's some kind of evil being controlling all of the vultures and using them for evil...oh my! Return to Zork is a point and click adventure game filled with real actors and many puzzles. There's also a lot of cheeky humor which really gives the game its charm (Boos Myller, anyone?). You assume the role of the player (whom you never actually see) and go from area to area collecting items, talking to inhabitants and solving puzzles. Your ultimate goal is to discover the ultimate evil and find out how to stop it. While there is technically no real combat in this game, there are many ways to die. There are clues to help you along with the game, but I will warn you: Some puzzles are VERY difficult and some really don't make sense. Make sure to save often as well, because it is possible in this old school gem to do something that will cause you to lose the game. You'll usually know that's happened when you've seen the dreaded message, "The path to victory is now blocked." Zork's charming inhabitants will have you amused for hours, though the sound quality in this game is terrible, and was terrible for its time. There is both a disk version and CD version with slight differences in dialogue (and more video action from the CD version). I am not sure which version is on GoG, though I imagine it's the CD version. The game is event driven, so there's no time limit to figure things out. The graphics were decent back in the day. Overall, I had a lot of fun with this game when I was a kid. I still play it even today. Want some rye? 'Course ya do!
