Mr. Joe Richardson is, what people could call, an absolute madman. Weaving art, potty humor and clever dialog into one package, while managing to offend almost everyone (as can be seen by the 1-star reviews by the two priests, who unfortunatley picked this game to fill their rare leasure time), is a rare talent for sure. While all three games are great, The Procession of calvary can undoubtedly be called his magnum opus. The puzzles are not too challenging but cleverly implemented. And the way the real life paintings are altered to create the different scenes and sceneries, makes for a beautiful world to explore and a well rounded experience for (almost) any point and click adventure fan.
Full disclosure here: Knights of Honor is my absolute favorite game and I might look at it with at certain bias. Still I hope that this review can be helpful for some. Starting of, the visuals are absolutely timeless. Black sea studios made the right choice in choosing drawn artwork for the icons, maps and infoboxes, as well as going for 2D, rather than 3D visuals for the world-map, unit sprites and battle-maps. Thanks to this, the game never really looks outdated. The colors pop and the castles, forests, units etc. look straight out of a picture book. And just like those picture books from your childhood KoH invites you to loose yourself in its visuals: Birds fly across the map, ocean waves and whales can be spotted at sea, carts and wagons move from town to town...visually it is an immersive experience that is complimented by....: ...The fantastic soundtrack. The music is more than fitting and exceptionally beautiful. Just looking at the worldmap, managing your castles, economy and troops while "Where my heart is" or "Handful of Sorrow" are playing, might be the most relaxing gaming experience you'll ever have (no exaggeration of course) . On the battlefield the music switches from peaceful to epic and gives every battle a certain weight and importance. The soundtrack is so good, that it will be hard for you to ever forget. The Gameplay of KoH is pretty good but also where most of my criticism lies. At first, the game has everything you would want from a "global" strategy game. Economy, warfare, city, dynasty and troop management, diplomacy, trade, espionage etc. etc. creating a fantastic and satisfying mix of kingdom management and strategy game. BUT!!! if you expect deep mechanics like in a paradox game, you won't find them here and managing your troops in battle is a nightmare. Which could make KoH disappointing for veterans, but a perfect entry game for beginners. If atmosphere and immersion are the things you seek, then KoH is THE game for you!
Sengoku Jidai is one of these games that, from the screenshots alone, grabs your attention. You know this game will immerse you with it's visuals, fittingly influenced by the art of the Edo period in which the game is set. And it's all here : Beautifully drawn portraits, maps and UI. If you are mildly fond of these aesthetics you will feel right at home. Sadly, this is where the immersion ends. The music, while fitting for the setting, is functional at best, looping to often while trying to hard to be "epic" with it's overblown and computerized synth VST's. For a turn based strategy game, it feels to distracting. (turning on the "Shogun 2: Total War" soundtrack will greatly improve your experience. ) Where the music is to much, the animation is to little. While the art is beautiful, the units on screen barely show any signs of movement. While moving you don't see moving feet, while attacking you never see spears rustling, bows firing, arrows flying or swords dueling. It is there, but it's all numbers and little visual clues like little blood splats when close combat units engage, or smoke clouds when guns are fired. Think of it like moving around chess pieces. And given the art, this bothers me "But Moonsorrow.." I hear you say "why 4 stars, when all you do is whining about animation in hardcore turn based strategy games, you pleb ?". Well, my Paradox and Slytherin loving history buffs, because the game is actually great when you can look behind the surface. The level of thought and care that went into the tactical gameplay is astounding. If you love your realism and the TW Games are to easy for you, then you're in for a treat. You'll get an abundance of units to choose from, each with it's own weaknesses and strength. Terrain to use to your advantage, occasional randomness to consider, cover and unit distance to master and a clever AI that WILL put your skills to the test. You will have to learn a lot, but you will be rewarded for your patience.
this is no Machinarium, Botanicula or Samorost 3. If you go into Chuchel expecting a grand adventure with an interesting world built around it, prepare to disappointed. In Chuchel you help the titular hero chase the thiefs that stole his cherry. You chase them from screen to screen with every screen providing a puzzle that you have to solve to progress to the next one and so on. But where the bigger Amanita games provide a world that you can really dive into and explore, Chuchel is really just a collection of puzzles and minigames that are not too hard either. There is no chance you sit for hours in front of the screen, figuring out what to do. Just a few clicks on the objects or creatures on screen is enough to get to the solutions, even if you don't know what your doing. Why give it 4 Stars then ? Well, Chuchel is, even if it is not the most challenging and best, still an Amanita Design game. And that means beautiful art, colorful characters and fantastic creature design. And even if it is to easy for the majority of adults , the game is fun. It just makes you laugh when the hero interacts with these nice designed "monsters" or when he finally catches the cherry just so it gets taken away from him seconds later. The game is just a joy to play and experience and kids will love Amanitas new hero. But hardcore Adventure Game Fans should not expect a challenging game with an engaging story. And with a pricetag of 9,99 on release "Chuchel" was probably never meant to be the next Machinarium anyways. Buy it, play it with your young ones, laugh, have a great time and be happy that you didn't waste your ten bucks on some stupid Lootbox or DLC.
..this is no Machinarium, Botanicula or Samorost 3. If you go into Chuchel expecting a grand adventure with an interesting world built around it, prepare to disappointed. In Chuchel you help the titular hero chase the thiefs that stole his cherry. You chase them from screen to screen with every screen providing a puzzle that you have to solve to progress to the next one and so on. But where the bigger amanita games provide a world that you can really dive into and explore, Chuchel is really just a collection of puzzles and minigames that are not too hard either. There is no chance you sit for hours in front of the screen, figuring out what to do. Just a few clicks on the objects or creatures on screen is enough to get to the solutions, even if you don't know what your doing. Why give it 4 Stars then ? Well, Chuchel is, even if it is not the most challenging and best, still an Amanita Design game. And that means beautiful art, colorful characters and fantastic creature design. And even if it is to easy for the majority of adults , the game is fun. It just makes you laugh when the hero interacts with these nice designed "monsters" or when he finally catches the cherry just so it gets taken away from him seconds later. The game is just a joy to play and experience and kids will love Amanitas new hero. But hardcore Adventure Game Fans should not expect a challenging game with an engaging story. And with a pricetag of 9,99 on release "Chuchel" was probably never meant to be the next machinarium anyways. Buy it, play it with your young ones, laugh, have a great time and be happy that you didn't waste your ten bucks on some stupid Lootbox or DLC.
.... is shite. It's plain and simple and the first thing I wanted to get off my chest. The music is absolutely unbearably shite. The first thing that comes to mind, looking at the screenshots and realizing it's a sword and sorcery game, are definitely not some generic tunes that sound like they belong in a childrens jump 'n run game. At it's best, the music sounds like a bad version of the bowsers castle theme in the original Mario bros. games. That said, the rest of the game is pretty great. Realms of Chaos is a fairly straightforward action platformer, set in a fantasy world, every 80s and 90s child could dream of. You fight awesome enemies, like catpeople (Putting out fire with gasoline) with maces and swords, wolves, lizards, skeletons, golems and, and of course, annoying bats, with your sword and magic, which you can upgrade by collecting enough loot. The levels are, like I said, pretty straight forward, so seldom is there any backtracking that needs to be done. But that doesn't mean that it's a walk in the park. The game can be pretty unforgiving at times, especially in the later levels and in the bossfights, which you have to try over and over again, until you eventually find its weakness or learn the pattern. But defeating a boss, after dying 20+ times and closing the game in frustration, feels pretty rewarding. So if you want an action game that screams cheesy 80s fantasy, you are willing to fail a few times, and you turn the godawful music off and listen to your own powermetal playlist, this game is worth every second and every failed attempt.
