petpasta

Report 72: ABC Lightning round 3

Welp, here it is: my final lightning round. I finished most of these during 2022.

    The Adventure of NAYU

    The Adventure of NAYU

    6/10
    3 hours playtime

    This is a short cutesy anime clicker.
    The art and music are pretty cute, but the problem is that the game is just piss-easy to the point I can hardly even consider it a game.
    Well, at least it didn’t take much time and it was fun while it lasted.

    Baobabs Mausoleum Ep.2: 1313 Barnabas Dead End Drive

    Baobabs Mausoleum Ep.2: 1313 Barnabas Dead End Drive

    6,5/10
    3 hours playtime

    This is a second episode of trippy adventure series.
    It is rather short, but you wouldn’t guessed it since it consists only of three acts, and the second one takes up 80% percent of the game where you wander around the town. That means you have to solve all the puzzles and complete it in one sitting, since there’s only autosaves at the beginning of each act.
    There’s also a weird mechanic that lets you change between the day and night, and it is NEEDED to complete the act, but the game doesn’t tell you about it at all. What the game tells you about is that it checks with your system time. I don’t really understand how is it supposed to be working since you can’t just close the game and return to it later anyway. Maybe it’s just another troll joke by a dev, either way, I don’t get it.
    The dungeon at the end was much easier and shorter than the first one (thank god). The boss was also easier, but boy did the boss have the tiniest hit box I’ve ever seen.
    Overall, despite being more open-ended and providing you with the whole town to explore, this episode feels sloppier than the first. I also liked the way shorter levels swiftly changed each other, meaning they won’t bore you as much and you’ll be able to, you know, actually, take a break or something. I was somewhat dissapointed by this episode and I hope the game picks up the pace again in the last episode.

    Castle of no Escape

    Castle of no Escape

    6,5/10
    30 minutes playtime

    Eeeh… That was even shorter than I initially thought.
    This is a very simple dungeon crawler where you move between squares with unknown content. It may be a chest, an artifact, an enemy… you get the idea.
    The funny thing is, there’s no achievement for actually beating the final boss.
    Overall, it’s very simple and barely has any kind of strategy element in it, but it’s short and kinda fun for what it is.

    Dead End Road

    Dead End Road

    7/10
    4 hours playtime
      no achievements

    This is a neat rogue-lite-ish horror game where you have to navigate your car through some suburbian roads while managing your money, sanity, and car damage. While you’re going to the final destination, you have to buy things you need to perform the ritual.
    While it’s definitely scary at first, after a while (and trust me, you’re not going to beat the game on your first try), when the game shows all of its tricks, it becomes more frustrating than scary. Took me about 15 attempts to get (what luck) one of 8 secret endings. As far as I see, all of the endings are just different text, so I didn’t bother going for other ones.
    Overall, it’s actually pretty good, but the amount of stuff the game doesn’t tell you makes it kinda difficult to beat.

    Endorlight

    Endorlight

    4/10
    0,2 hours playtime
      no achievements

    Kinda trash Spelunky. Not like I hated it, but the hit detection is pretty bad, so I’m not interested in playing further.

    Fingerbones

    Fingerbones

    6,5/10
    15 minutes playtime
      no achievements

    This is a very short horror-ish walksim by the same guy who created Iron Lung. It is pretty limited and therefore somewhat underwhelming. All you have to do is just read the notes and input the correct passwords to progress further. The writing was okay and the plot itself is simple, yet disturbing.
    Overall, it was too short to make heads or tails of. It’s fine.

    Gorogoa

    Gorogoa

    7/10
    3 hours playtime

    It’s a wonderful and mind-bending puzzle and it’s kinda difficult for me to explain. Let’s just say it was good, alright?
    Not doing these speedrun and limited clicks achievements, no sir.

    Hamlet or the last game without MMORPG features, [...]

    Hamlet or the last game without MMORPG features, [...]

    6,5/10
    30 minutes playtime
      no achievements

    SG win.
    It’s a very short point’n’click advent without inventory, where you have to click on things on the screen to progress. It’s very easy besides a few parts where it’s not really intuitive about what are you supposed to be doing.
    Overall, it’s okay. Don’t know what’s the deal with all these weird jabs at videogame industry in the title though.

    Inmates

    Inmates

    7/10
    2 hours playtime

    This is a short horror game. You can’t really die in this one (at least I didn’t get to) since it’s pretty linear and scripted. The scares were pretty cheap but not as obnoxious as it could’ve been.
    I kinda like the plot’s concept. Felt pretty interesting to me.
    What you’re doing here is mostly walking around and solving puzzles. It was kinda weird that two of the puzzles were completely optional and missable and there’s no reason for you to do it except for achievements.
    Overall, while it was somewhat rough around the edges, I kinda liked it.

    The Journey Down: Chapter Two

    The Journey Down: Chapter Two

    8/10
    3 hours playtime
      no achievements

    This is an amazing follow-up to chapter one. There’s more plot, more characters and actions and you feel more like you’re actually moving the plot forward instead of just screwing around the whole time like it was in Chapter One. The music is still great. The technical quality of voice acting still differ sometimes, but not as sharply as in ch.1.
    Overall, it’s great. I hope ch.3 keeps it up.

    Knock-knock

    Knock-knock

    7/10
    12 hours playtime

    This is a very cryptic game by the guys who did Pathologic. It is pretty creepy at times, and sound effects are pretty effective.
    It takes a while to understand what the game wants you to do, but when you get the hang of it, it becomes somewhat easier until it (potentially) becomes kinda frustrating. The sheer amount of “bullshit!” situation made me question if I even like this game. I still do, actually. It’s definitely a unique experience.

    LiEat

    LiEat

    6,5/10
    7 hours playtime

    This is a jrpg-ish adventure game that’s divided in three short segments. It’s very straightforward and simple, and all battle stuff is just slapped onto it and as shallow as it gets. Puzzles are pretty much non-existent. I liked the art style and short animated sequences, but some of the characters are kinda hard to recognize, especially with the first game segment’s characters sprites.
    Overall it was short and cute.

    Maytroid. I swear it's a nice game too

    Maytroid. I swear it's a nice game too

    7/10
    5 hours playtime

    Another slightly pervy game by Pixelgreeds. This time I didn’t care about expostiion dumps (mostly because I couldn’t understand anything), so I used the option to “turn off the plot”, which is quite a brilliant feature, if you think about it.
    So yeah, there are a couple dozens of platforming stages you have to shoot and jump your way through. You are free to go wherever you please, and as you defeat bosses you unlock new abilities that help you get to other stages. You know, metroidvania.
    The bosses were pretty challenging at times, especially the final one.
    Overall, it’s pretty barebones and small, but then again, it’s not a bad thing. I had fun with it.

    Nanotale - Typing Chronicles

    Nanotale - Typing Chronicles

    7,5/10
    10 hours playtime

    This is yet another typing game by the same guys who did Epistory. It follows pretty much the same gameplay premise. I found it pretty buggy at times, you can get stuck and soft-lock yourself pretty easily in some situations. But it’s pretty lenient, so if you get a game over or get stuck, you can just pretty much return to menu and then continue from the nearest checkpoint without any hindrances. The final boss and ending were pretty meh.
    Overall, it was pretty good.

    OPUS: The Day We Found Earth

    OPUS: The Day We Found Earth

    7/10
    6 hours playtime

    It’s a light-puzzle and VN hybrid. The plot is nothing to write home about (at least yet - there’s two more games in the franchise, and I haven’t checked them out yet), and the puzzle part consists of searching for stars through the telescope, which was pretty interesting.
    Two last achievements (scan 500 and 1000 stars) were mindnumbingly boring.
    Overall, it’s okay, nothing too mindblowing.

    Paratopic

    Paratopic

    6,5/10
    81 minutes playtime

    This is a short lynchian-plot game with PS1-stylized graphics. Another game without saving feature, so yep, you’ll have to beat it in one sitting.
    It was pretty atmospheric and engaging at times, but it’s kinda incomprehensible and confusing story-wise, which I’m sure is intentional, but still somewhat unsatisfying in the end. Driving sections (which demand safe driving for achievements) made my eyes really, really hurt
    Had to repeat the game a second time to get the rest of the achievements. Nothing too hard, though.
    Overall, it was an interesting experience, but too vague for its own good.

    Quake Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity

    Quake Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity

    7,5/10
    4 hours playtime
      no achievements

    And another mission pack for Quake is completed, and now I’m officialy done with Quake (at least the old one, I haven’t touch the remastered version yet and I’m not planning to in foreseeable future. Really liked the map design. Bosses sucked as usual.

    Red Bow

    Red Bow

    5/10
    2 hours playtime

    It’s a small adventure game with really easy puzzles. I don’t want to shit on clearly amateur passion projects, but here I am.
    I found the plot and its, uh, “message” pretty inarticulate despite of how simple it looks. Poorly written dialogues sure don’t help.
    Turns out it’s the same dev who did Just Ignore Them, which I kinda liked. Huh.

    The Shapeshifting Detective

    The Shapeshifting Detective

    7/10
    7 hours playtime

    It’s an FMV detective game. Not much detective work, sadly. Essentially there’s always gonna be one true culprit out of three, and you’ll get pretty much the same clues for these three, making them all look suspicious. In the end, you’re mostly guessing (if I didn’t miss any differences, of course.)
    It was still pretty fun. I liked the characters and actors behind them. The concept of the game is really cool, although the way the story “branches” because of your interactions in shapeshifted form is pretty weird. Realistically, I would’ve f-d up so many things between the characters with my interactions. It’s like they barely communicate with each other. And there’s also segments where you ask someone to do that for you… but to get any results you have to shapeshift as this character and do that on your own? This was honestly counter-intuitive and made no sense.
    Some of the achievements were pretty buggy and I had to replay the game several times to get them.
    Overall, pretty fun despite its flaws.

    Trip to Vinelands

    Trip to Vinelands

    7,5/10
    2 hours playtime

    Another game by the same guy who did Ubermosh series and Swarmriders. These series (there are 4 games already, I think) are as fast-paced, hypnotizing and engaging like the other. You have to quickly navigate through the moving maze obstacles by exiting the screen wherever possible. To complete this, you have to beat 100 screens in a row. Screens’ order is randomized. It is pretty hard, but the fast pace and the fact you can restart literally in a second really help to relieve any feeling of frustration.
    Overall, just as cool as the other series from the guy. I think he can count me in as a fan.

    UBERMOSH:BLACK

    UBERMOSH:BLACK

    7,5/10
    3 hours playtime

    This is a second part of Ubermosh series. It plays exactly the same but it’s harder and has a few new features. Now you can blast away all the bullets and most of the enemies on screen when you kill enough enemies. The scores you have to get to get the achievements are higher this time. I guess the next game will be harder as well.
    Overall, it’s almost the same as the previous game. Not like it’s a bad thing though.

    Valiant Hearts: The Great War

    Valiant Hearts: The Great War

    9/10
    9 hours playtime
      no achievements

    This is a great and emotional action-puzzle-adventure about WWI. I really love the way it’s designed and looks, I don’t know how to explain, but it’s really pleasant and smooth to play. When you get collectables, you can read small bits of info about WWI and how people used to live/survive back then.
    If you haven’t played it already, you should.

    Welcome to Hanwell

    Welcome to Hanwell

    4,5/10
    7 hours playtime

    I feel kinda conflicted about this game. To be fair, it looks pretty good and has its moments. But on the other hand, there’s a very little substance about it and it’s buggy as hell.
    It’s a horror open-world game, and you have to move between points of interest through mostly empty (content-wise) town. The only things you can encounter are weapons randomly lying around, spawning monsters and collectables. You can go inside some of the buildings (besides the plot-related), and it added a nice exploration touch. If only game had something more to reward player for exploring.
    The combat is pretty meh, and the only way to make it slightly more tolerable is to get an insanely overpowered frying pan which kills all monsters from one hit.
    Throughout the whole game I felt like something was missing, even if you ignore the fact of what dev promised to do with the game. It felt like the game (at least during segments inside buldings) was supposed to be built around stealthing your way out and not get killed by a monster, but when it actually is that, these levels are too tiny hallway-ish to sneak around and when the monster finally arrives (happened three times out of six buildings I’ve been in), it’s either a pretty short chase, or you just stumble upon it, die, respawn and now the monster is nowhere to be found.
    As I said, the game is glitchy as hell. When you kill the spider enemy, if you don’t stand with your back to the wall, chances are the spider is going to duplicate behind you. The powers you get after collecting three types of collectibles are straight up not working. I don’t know if I did something wrong. The final level becomes unavailable after you finish it, so the dev decided to just give you all the collectibles you might’ve missed… even if you collected those. Welp, thanks for that, at least that made my walkthrough a bit easier. The secret arena might be the most bug-ridden place in the entire game, and I’ve decided I’m not even trying to get achievements for taking down 50 or 100 enemies and 1000 (!!!!!!) enemies.
    Overall, it’s very clunky and it seems like this game turned out to be too ambitious for the dev, especially with the open world part that’s just kinda lacking and boring to traverse through. Fun fact, I just noticed the dev released another version of the game that is much cheaper and only consists of plot-related levels. Heh, should’ve played that one.

    Xmas Shooting - Scramble!!

    Xmas Shooting - Scramble!!

    -/10
    2 hours playtime

    Yes, I definitely suck at shmups. Looks like next time I’ll have to pick some longer titles for this, since the only short one I got was this.

    Yesterday

    Yesterday

    8/10
    3 hours playtime
      no achievements

    This is a point’n’click adventure. It felt really, really off in its first part - tonally and gameplay-wise. The way the story delivered itself felt very rough (and it still felt somewhat rough at certain moments later), but then I got used to it, and it actually became very interesting.
    The point’n’click stuff is modernized (as in simplified), you have a hint system and you don’t have to combine items - the game does it for you when you have all the needed parts and you use on of them on something on the screen.
    Overall, it was pretty short, but never overstayed its welcome because of that. I’ll be sure to check out Yesterday Origins.

    Zelle

    Zelle

    9/10
    3 hours playtime
      no achievements

    This is a horror adventure game. It’s very stylish and spooky. Don’t want to spoil too much, since it’s better to experience it on your own. Just be sure you’re ready for the first half of the game to be a spookfest. Personally, I loved it.

Backlog progress status:

15% (402/2751)
5% (125/2751)
5% (142/2751)
72% (1993/2751)
3% (89/2751)
Mitsukuni

I pretty much suck at bullet-hells too. At least Aru’s theme was wonderful to listen. :)

Trent

Thanks for the write-up!
I loved The Journey Down series! My kids and I will still say, “Bwana, you’re an idiot,” from time to time.
I liked Epistory but don’t have Nanotale yet. It’s on the list.
I have The Shapeshifting Detective in my backlog– sorry to hear it’s got buggy achievements. That’s a sure-fire way for me never to play the game.
I liked the first Opus game (I grinded for 500 stars, but not 1000). I kind of liked the second Opus game, but found the protagonist (you) extremely rude and abusive so I just started skipping through the dialog about halfway through. I did grind my way up the leaderboards, though. I don’t think I’ll pick up the third (or fourth?) Opus game.
I’ve played a couple Pendulo games and have had Yesterday in my backlog for a very long time. :(

petpasta

You have no reason to not check out Yesterday, then, it’s really short. As I said in my review, just endure the first part.
I also have the whole Pendulo adventure pack in my backlog + Blacksad, are these good?

Trent

I think I only played Runaway, A Road Adventure (years ago). I thought it was good classic point-and-click. But I’ve wanted to play them essentially in order so I haven’t played Yesterday yet.

franplants

Can you expand on the horror aspects of Zelle any more (if it’s possible without spoiling)? I’ve had that game on my wishlist for a while. To me “horror” and “spooky” are two quite different things. I like spooky but tend to shy away from horror (though I’ve been getting braver lately, lol).

petpasta

The first part of the game is, uhh… first person point’n’click dungeon crawler if that makes sense. It has scripted encounters with enemies, some of them pretty obvious, some of them jumpscare-ish. It’s perfectly manageable though, nothing like those screamer flash games level or something like that.

franplants

Cool, thanks! I may brave the unknown next time it goes on sale, lol