In the very ambitious The Witcher we're Geralt of Rivia, a badass monster slayer that travels wanting to recover something stolen from his clan and ends up doing a lot of other stuff like meddling with politics, collecting the heads of powerful monsters, playing dice, fistfighting and having sex with anyone he can. Should be up there with the likes of GTA:SA or so, but it isn't. The best thing of The Witcher is without a doubt, the worldbuilding. You just can tell when the source material comes from an actual book. The second best thing is the mechanics, which are strange at first but once you get the hang of them they become both coherent and rewarding, it does make sense that with a specific sword and style the witcher can either kick ass or struggle more than he should. The rest doesn't stand out as much, but is up to standard. Wouldn't say writing is awesome with our guy being a complete Gary Stu, but it is good enough. That's not the reason why the game isn't up there though, a lot of that are just quirks of the genre. The reason it isn't is because the game also has a lot of little things, mistakes that do add up and end up taking you out from feeling you're on an adventure, reminding you this is a game. Some are translation mistakes that confuse you in a quest, some are technical mistakes like npcs talking in a voice that doesn't belong to them, some are more serious stuff like the game crashing when you have too many saves (forum discussion was a lifesaver here) and some are related with the scale of the game in itself, for me it felt a chapter too long. But is the sum of all those little things that don't allow me to give them the perfect score. -1 for the sum of too many imperfections. The technical issues could have been another -1, but I don't want to blame the game for that, even if GoG proudly displays it as part of the preservation program thing I struggled a lot with this one. Do check the forum discussion if it gives you trouble.
Aer - Memories of old is a game where you can transform into a bird and explore a world of little floating islands. The controls are not perfect but once you get the hang of it you can appreciate the kind of freedom a bird has, or why transforming into a bird is cooler than just flying with your own body. The mechanics for this part are really well done. There's an unfortunate glitch though if you try to explore beyond bounds which can kill your game and turn it into a white screen of death though, so that must be penalized. The rest of the game is mostly forgettable. We have soothing sounds for the comfortable exploring experience, but also low poly graphics that stress the PC more than they should and that take way too long to get charming, the animals are cute but for a lot of other things in the environment it screams unpolished job. And then there's the story and the action, or the actual game. We have a story about Gods and spirit animals and faith and some great event that we can't really trace back to, only read in broken parts, so it's very easily forgettable, and we have puzzle mechanics to complete our mission as the chosen shapeshifter, but the puzzles are all done in human form so the controls are underwhelming and the results uninteresting. At least they're fairly short, so it's not a major downside. The major downside is how the game tries to have this enemy in the story that does absolutely nothing because your only threats are the glitch and the PC struggling with the graphics. It's not only poor writing, the entire game experience works against that. It's a serious conflict, the kind that makes you wonder why the game exists as it is. -1 for game breaking glitch, -1 for performance issues (aka having to disable graphic settings to have a decent enough experience), -1 for poor concept overall.
This freebie is a non interactive visual novel that lasts around an hour or so, which is alright because it's a short but complete story. It's not a demo for Brok the Investigator, it's more of a presentation. The presentation achieves its purpose, it gets you interested in the main game. It has charming graphics, good writing and full accesibility which is one feature worth bragging about. The story has a couple of gaps in terms of getting to know the characters so it loses some impact as a consequence, but is a pretty forgivable thing, specially for a freebie. -1 because like many christmas products its hard to look past them as mere novelties so on my book it was never going to get a perfect score, but that's just me. For what it is, it's pretty good and worth checking out.
Motoracer is a classic for the simple reason that it manages to deliver the adrenaline of being in a.. moto race. Like a perfectly translated game to the arcade so even with the keyboard you get to feel that kind of thrill. Sure, it has those little graphic glitches where the wall disappears if you look at it from certain angles and other problems that were also problems on its time, and it only has 8 tracks (3 of them quite short too) but the core experience was nailed to perfection. It's fun, it's easy to get into, it's simple. You go back to it whenever, a grin in your face. It would probably be too short without the classic trick of race games back then of reversing the tracks or adding a funny mode (pocket bikes) but even then it would still be worth it. Motoracer not only survives the test of time, it passes with flying colors.
Tyrian is a beloved vertical shooter that offers nearly everything you would like if you enjoy the genre, and even tries some new things on top of it. Had it nailed those things a bit better it would have been hall of fame worthy in videogame history. As any good shooter it offers you lots of weapons and ships to choose, resource management, secrets, different game modes, hidden extra hard difficulty if you enjoy suffering, etc.. All of this done with a nice design and a great UI that easily stood the test of time. What it offers on top of it is storytelling, worldbuilding, or at least an attempt of it, complete with bonus information you can pick along the way as you destroy everything if you're quick enough. It mostly doesn't work, partly because in a shoot 'em all mindset you really don't care who you're shooting (not like you can correct course other than to keep shooting more) and partly because it's just too hard to track, you don't have a log or something that allows you to check how things go. That's okay though, it still makes it for a memorable feature of an already great game. It also shows what could have been though, particularly as the "story" gets stretched a bit too long and after about 60% of it inspiration starts fading, and not only with the data cube content but also enemy/level design wise. Still, when it gets close to perfection, it's really easy to appreciate. -1 Because of a boss mechanic that kinda takes you away from the whole flying and shooting vibe. Fair enough, it's an effective one, but also kinda too basic to be repeated so much throughout the game.
Papers please is a simple, short and well rounded game about being an immigration inspector, which basically boils down to 30 or so rounds of "find the differences" that can last up to 10 minutes or so. Setting it into a communist country allows the game to have minor plots involving choices of conscience, rebellions, favors to friends, use of guns, bribes, harsh working conditions and multiple endings that made a lot of reviewers back then consider it an essential game but sadly it's mostly hype, the depth is simply not there for it to truly work. It's a deliberate decision to keep the game short and sweet, but it also means it fell way short of what I was expecting, whether it was in terms of storytelling or on the thrills of being an officer with the power to decide the fates of others. -1 because it was a bore to complete and -1 because although the game is intended to be clunky, a couple of design choices I still thought sucked beyond that excuse (pointless upgrade booths, null encouragement to improve conditions for your family, etc)
Akalabeth or Ultima 0 is one of the earliest examples of a role playing video game, just for that is worth checking out. Like many games that are more than 3 decades old it can look "unplayable" until you learn about its quirks, some of them due to limitations, some of them due to decisions made while treading new ground. And once you "get it", you realize is a fairly short and simple game with charming mechanics from way back then, monsters that flee in order to recover, hp increase instead of experience/leveling, insta death the moment you don't have any food, a copy paste world and thankfully for those who don't want to grind, a game breaking mechanic. It's a quite limited game for obvious reasons so under that lens you can forgive almost everything, only real gripes were how easily you can die right at the start without even getting to explore around (makes the game look unplayable) and getting stuck in a dungeon due to secret doors and not being able to find stairs with ease (makes the game look broken) -1 because I can't really recommend this and -1 because of the issues
Inscryption is a game that oozes ambition and creativity, combining multiple genres and turning a simple card game not only into multiple games in itself but also into a whole plot that involves real life characters and all. As the cliche goes though, jack of all trades master of none, and what starts being a captivating and strange games becomes a sluggish experience way quicker than expected, with a series of bad decisions adding up and almost getting magnified as punishment for the extended scope of the project. This game has three acts and I was already weary before the first one ended, even if I could appreciate the effort and thinking behind the entire thing, it just wasn't enough to compensate. The main issue might be how deliberately slow it is, considering how at its core it never stops being a card game, even though it really wants to be a lot more than that. Was it a problem of scale? I'm not sure, but it also feels like different games stitched altogether which hints to a not compelling enough narrative to tie the whole thing. -1 because I had to trudge for more than half of it and -1 because it feels wasted, even if it serves as a good reminder that great ambition and creativity might not be enough.
The only downsides are that this is a visual novel in the actual sense of the word (that is, not interactive at all) and that this is just the first arc of the novel. But it still stands as a classic due to the way it nails the emotions and immerses the reader with so little effort. The idyllic atmosphere of day to day at small, rural Hinamizawa is extremely well done, and even if the ending isn't fulfilling enough, it successfully leaves you wanting to know more. -1 because I didn't like a specific part that I felt goes too long and where the humor failed to land, other than that is a solid, easy to recommend story even if you already know about it from the adaptations.
