I could play this visual experience (cause it's not a game for sure) if it only had a run button. Without it it's just pure misery.
I was very disappointed with this one. It's true that it looks like Ghibli production. But unlike their famous movies there is almost no story through 99% of game. All is released in a nice cutescene at the end of the game when it doesn't really matter. Bizzared decision, to my taste. Because of that througout most of it I felt bored. Btw - all Ghibli movies I've seen so far were much more mature and interesting then most of this game. The second big problem is that many game designs feel like created for very young kids. Apart from the final area and story revealed as final cuscene all seemed childish. Repetitive goals of finding butterflies, marked on most simplistic map I've ever seen, quickly get boring. Finally arcade aspects of this game are not very fun as character movemenet is very stif. It makes rather difficult to beat some of platform challanges but raises more of irritation than ambition to solve them. And yes, it's very short. If you like to try it anyway I recommend buying it on good discount.
For me it's a AAA game. It's also one of my favourites on GOG. It has beautiful graphics that makes you fees like you're inside Salvador Dalí's paintings. It has great music. Gameplay is nicely balanced around solving puzzles and doing some platforming. It's not too hard in any of this categories but hard enough to give a lot of satisfaction. Game has multiple stages with huge maps, each has its own vibe and graphical style. It's quite long, should take few days to finish it. Exploration is so much fun as all those big structures distance can be reached and most of them give you some reward for doing so. There is a mystery to solve that drives you through. Mystery that is well explained at the end and feels beautiful and satisfying.
It's hard to call TIS-100 a game. It is divided into separate puzzles which consist of instruction to fulfil. There is a simple way to compare your results with statistics giving you some additional chalange. It has a loading screen which is the only moment you have some cool sound other than bip or click. It has a story which is just a few lines of text pinned to each puzzle. Thats all. Whole gameplay is about writing and executing your code against tests that verify its correct. Code that generates numbers. Later in the game those numbers are at least visualised on an extremely simplistic display wich makes it a little bit more fun. Writing this code is also frustrating due to bizzare game mechanics decisions. It's impossible to write your code reusable (ports naming) wich is a huge wasted oportunity to make collecting your own solution snippets an addition game element. Debugger tool lacks "step back" functionality - would be so helpful. You are limited in line numbers (wich is fine) but empty lines and comments also count, punishing you for trying to make code more readable. I can easily understand high ratings for this games. Solving this kind of programming tasks may be very enjoyable and addictive. I know this cause I do this on a daily basis. However execution of this game is lazy and has very little to offer. In a game I expect some story telling, graphics, sounds, interesting gameplay variety, some reward for solving a puzzle. This product lacks it all and is a wasted potential. If you loved this game and don't understand why I'm so harsh for TIS-100, ask yourself, did you try something real? Buy yourself some real programable modules and create some home automation. Check those fancy programmable robot toys. Coding real stuff will be as fun as this game and an outcome will probably get you more satisfaction and fun. Also your family will a little bit better understand your nerd hobby.
