This game is such a vastly underrated gem. It's so deceptively simple, which I'm sure is off-putting to some. I wasn't initially interesteed because I thought the game's title was silly, and that it would be one of those childish games that are pure-hearted but empty-headed with no interesting mechanics. And now I Was a Teenage Exocolonists is one of my favourite games of all-time. I revisit it often. It's got so many layers, and makes me think, but also gives me warm and fuzzy feelings, and while yes, the gameplay is simple, it's stimulating enough to strategise your runs and there's enough clever stuff to be engaging mechanically. It's unlike anything else I know, really, so it's hard to frame a recommendation. If you like thoughtful games, give this one a chance.
If you find the game at the right time for you, you will probably enjoy it more than I did. The Star Named EOS is a cosy puzzle game that is mostly about making you feel things. The writing is on the juvenile side and very twee. I wouldn't recommend it for the story as such. But I think combined with the gameplay conceit of being a puzzle game about photography and the gorgeous picture book-type art, it manages to be somewhat evocative. If you're in a nostalgic, cosy mood, and want to get lost in a few spaces for an afternoon or so, this game could strike the right chord. I will say that I ran out of patience as the puzzle design at times ended up being really uneven in terms of difficulty or hints. One early example comes to mind where [VERY MILD SPOILER] the player has to solve the combination to a puzzle box related to celestial directions. [/VERY MILD SPOILER] It's not the fairest puzzle, but it's not unfair either, but it's so early in the game and next to such easy puzzles, that I was quite frustrated. The end game in particular suffered from puzzles lacking any sort of hints. In between were a lot of puzzles that hit a good sweet spot though for the tone of the game. I also sort of wish the story were different. It really didn't manage to resonate with me. I wonder who it's for and what it's trying to say, really.
I can't recommend the title in any way. The setting and plot are uninspired, unoriginal, and uninteresting. It's clearly "inspired" by Gothic Horror and Penny Dreadfuls, but mind you, Penny Dreadfuls were cheap, mass produced fiction aimed to titillate, which is very different from the literary greats like Frankenstein, Dracula, or Dorian Gray. Crimson Manor is definitely more Penny Dreadful than it is Gothic Horror classic. There are no particular themes. No characters. The conceit is given away after about 5 minutes of gameplay, with few more twists to the narrative. Even though the player explores a family's mansion, there is nothing of substance we learn about any of the characters, nor does the eponymous mansion itself have much personality either. It's all just the bare minimum. OK, but what if you don't care about the context, you just want to solve a bunch of puzzles? Most puzzles are decent to good, though none were particularly stand out or creative. However, the design overall is often poor. From UX issues like using the journal vs. inventory vs. map never becoming intuitive (watch a playthrough and you will see others struggle with this, too) to more serious issues with the puzzle design itself. First of all - the Hint System isn't a Hint System, it's a Solution System. Then, some puzzles are just trial and error. OK, there's a memorisation aspect to it, which is a form of brain teaser, that's cool. But that puzzle type appears 2 or 3 times. Sometimes the clues for the puzzles are just poorly constructed, broken, or non-existent. Sometimes this is because of the contextual issues. Everything is arbitrary. It doesn't feel like you're exploring a lived in manor, but just a puzzle box (some of this is explained loosely by Hadley Strange "testing" you, but it doesn't make sense in many contexts). Ultimately, exploring the manor felt like a slog, and the design was fighting me along the way.
