More than a year ago I kindly asked Devolver Digital if they were going to bring Sludge Life to my store of choice, because I really didn't want to get it on EGS, even though it has been there for absolutely zilch for an entire year. I gave in and got it anyway, because... well... free is free, and the game looked right up my alley. I loved it from the get-go, spent months, on and off, just wandering the sludge planet, talking to its whacky inhabitants, getting pooped on by giant humanoid blue storks, throwing jars with human eyes at stuff, smoking Ciggy cigarettes, climbing buildings, finding stuff I had absolutely missed, previously. I didn't have to buy it, but I *did* ask for it to come to GOG, and here it is, finally, now including "selling out" jokes that were added for the current release, so I paid the 10 bucks so Terri Vellmann can go get himself a nice dose of virado à paulista on me. As for the game itself, let's get this straight out of the way: IT'S NOT FOR EVERYONE. Every single game in existence should come with this disclaimer right from the start. You know Baldur's Gate? Great game, not for everyone. Deus Ex? A cornerstone of video games, not for everyone. KotOR? Incredible but, again, not for everyone. These are three games I mentioned that I have the highest respect for, but I just can't get into, because they were clearly not meant for people like me. And that's OK. If you feel like you could enjoy Sludge Life, there's nothing wrong with you, you're no less of a gamer for it. Also, if you think you might enjoy it, chances are you probably will. It's an open world "vandal-sim" where you wander around, tagging stuff à lá Jet Set Radio, no clear goals at first glance (but there's an upgrade you can find in the game that keeps track of your goals, so... yeah), just the joy of finding a dog humping a bag of concrete or a cat with two buttholes -- including side by side poops in its litterbox. It's not an easy game to recommend, but I would, anyway.
The game itself looks great, what little I got to see of it, and the mechanics (again, the ones I could pull off) also seem to be very clever. If fully developed, I'm sure this would be a great little 2D platformer. Not with this control scheme, though. I get it that French keyboard users get enraged whenever a game doesn't have key rebindings and they get stuck with a QWERTY layout just because that's what most of the world uses, but this really comes across as AZERTY revenge. Now, I'm familiar with AZERTY (and HCESAR) keyboard layouts, so I kind of knew what keys should do what function, but working with a regular PT-adapted QWERTY keyboard didn't make it any easier, especially with the key for up being Z, which is in the worst natural position it could be, especially when trying to pull off some jumps that need diagonal input (up+left=Z+Q, up+right=Z+D). Maybe this works fine with an Xbox controller but I never needed one and certainly am not going to purchase one just on account of this game, which, from my undestanding, is little more than a proof of concept "extended demo". As it stands, despite how gorgeous and promising it looks, I can't honestly recommend it, unless you live in France, Belgium or any other place that uses the AZERTY keyboard layout.
If you've been missing a "proper" action-adventure in the vein of the oldschool Zelda titles (you know?, the ones where you didn't have to worry about weapon durability, inputing motion commands to use items or stamina bars, just good ol' fun exploration and adventure), look no further, Death's Door is the game for you. There have been a couple of decent indie action-adventures in recent times, like Hyper Light Drifter, Owlboy, Titan Souls, Iconoclasts, etc, but, unlike those, Death's Door isn't a pixel art game, which feels refreshing to me (as much as I'm a sucker for pixel art, it's also nice to see a game in this genre using a different style). Speaking of indie titles in this genre, if you enjoyed Hob (RIP OG Runic Games), you'll LOVE Death's Door. The plot is lighthearted enough but still engrossing and "serious" in the right amount, the world and character design is absolutely gorgeous, there are A LOT of hidden secrets for players to find, including some side challenges, in case the engaging combat is getting too easy for you. The controls are, honestly, some of the best I've come across in games of this type -- and I say this as a keyboard+mouse player, it really does play wonderfully. It's also pretty well optimized, you will probably be able to run it satisfyingly in a machine way below the official minimum specs -- even if you have to lower the resolution to 720p and turn some bells and whistles off, the game still looks beautiful. I honestly don't know what to add to this. I'm in love with this game, it's definitely one of the best titles I played in the last 5 or 6 years. If you like/miss "original" action-adventures with no crafting, no stealth, no BS, this is the game for you. Oh, also, despite what some people have been assuming, this is NOT trying to bank on the Souls-like craze. It's NOT a Souls-like. And that's great, in my book, too.
First of all, a disclaimer: I did instabuy Strangeland because Primordia is one of the best point & click adventures I've ever played. For what it's worth, I don't particularly recommend Strangeland if you enjoyed Primordia: other than the (gorgeous) art style and some (great) writing on Mark Yohalem's part, they're really not that similar, even in terms of pure gameplay: Primordia plays more like your regular old-school point & click, whereas Strangeland is shorter, more streamlined and admittedly more about the experience, the message, making the player feel like part of the engrossing narrative. Gameplay-wise, it's your typical point & click. Puzzle solutions do have multiple approaches, which is great, since the game accommodates pretty much every kind of player. It also has one of the best in-game hint systems, if I say so myself. Think a less on the nose version of Thimbleweed Park's payphone line (again, experimenting with the game instead of relying solely on the hint system tends to be more rewarding, not only for the obvious accomplishment reasons, but because puzzles have multiple solutions and approaches). Some people will think the game is too "pseudo", and that's OK. No game is for everyone, you're not a better or worse person/gamer if you love or hate this kind of game, but do be advised it IS a game that's built more like a short experience with A LOT of literature, mythology and psychology in it (there's an Annotation Mode, in case you want an insight into all of the references and hidden meanings -- for obvious reasons, I don't recommend it on your first playthrough). In terms of length, YMMV depending on how familiar you are with this genre of games; a first playthrough took me ten minutes short of 5 hours, but I wouldn't necessarily say I've "finished" it, since there's a lot of stuff I missed, and Strangeland is clearly built around us playing it at least two or three times. All in all, wholeheartedly recommended
While Narita Boy might not blow you away, it's definitely a well-crafted, lovingly made little game. And, sometimes, that's all you need, not all games need to be instant classics or "gems", some are just fun, and, to me, that's what Narita Boy is: a whole lot of fun. The art direction is obviously not for everyone, but if you like what you see in the trailers and screenshots, expect more of that gorgeousness throughout the entire game. As far as I'm concerned, it's some of the downright best pixelart I've seen in a video game in recent times. Gameplay-wise, it's smooth as butter and, just like the team promised in their Kickstarter project, extremely easy to get into but hard to fully master. There are some surprisingly deep mechanics at play and they manage to keep the game feeling fresh even when you're 8 hours in and you're still learning new skills and getting new items that can all be combined with what you've been able to pull off since the very beginning. As for the story, it was a nice surprise, since it's been extremely interesting to learn about the Creator, even if it does get a bit convoluted at times, If you don't care about story in video games, you can enjoy Narita Boy all the same but, in case that's important to you, the game does have one and it's actually pretty engrossing and well thought-out. Now, Unity is infamous for its poor CPU optimization, and, being made in Unity, I was afraid of optimization issues. Fortunately, all my fears were put to rest, since I've had none. It runs very well and you can probably play it on older computers without a problem (running it on an AMD Ryzen 5 with Radeon Vega 8 graphics laptop and it just works). One thing that could be improved, in my opinion, is the lack of key rebinding, though they do give you three different keyboard profiles built around either WASD or the arrow keys. Also, no annoying "this game plays best with a controller" patronizing message, which is always a plus in my book.
So, Paradise Killer is an open-world Phoenix Wright, that much is established. I'd add it's an open-world Phoenix Wright as Goichi Suda would have envisioned it, in his earlier, zany style, right down to the presentation, the music, the use of digitized voices, the moon picture motif, the cryptic way characters talk and act, etc. Considering all of this (and this should be obvious, by now), Paradise Killer isn't a game for everyone (no game is, I can't stress this enough). Still, if you watch the trailer, look at the screenshots and read the description and feel interested, then you might just be the target audience for this title, and, if so, I can't recommend it enough. Let's get one thing straight: this isn't "just a Phoenix Wright clone". Far from it. The sense of freedom you get once you start the game and fall down to the island country is something no Phoenix Wright title ever gave us. This is not a linear game, in which you have a set of options and they make you strictly follow the "logic". In Paradise Killer, you follow your own logic. Truth and fact aren't necessarily the same, and it all depends on which you decide to follow your gut or going rational, law-abiding detective. I even tried to finish the game right at the start, accusing the first suspect I could, and it's definitely possible (all you have to do is go through the first 20-30 minutes of the game, and once it opens up, you can immediately "finish" it by arresting the first suspect, without doing any investigating whatsoever). It's certainly an odd game, it does wear its heart on its sleeve, and I'm pretty sure the usual people will blame it for being "too political" (whatever that means, I honestly don't know, anymore), but if you ignore all the noise, there's a wonderful game to be had, here. It's also extremely well optimized, it runs flawlessly on my 2015 laptop with integrated 512MB AMD GPU with no lag or artifacting or issues. Superb work done on UE4. Nice surprise, 5/5 for what it is.
