Don't worry, I haven't been idle in my month long absence. You could make a point I had the exact opposite problem having played plenty of demos and outright free games Steam has to offer. It is precisely the latter I return with in full full force bringing along FOUR reviews for games you can immediately check out for yourself.
Melodramatica ( PC (Steam) – Strategy, Simulation – 2021 ) + TRAILER
I've been partial to management/simulators in the past, but have lapsed in recent... well, decade or so. Managing a Victorian theater was certainly a first which makes it even worse because Melodramatica has some inherent problems that could've been avoided.
First of all, I don't think the chosen control method was the smartest one. Assuming direct control over the heiress as you stride across theater boards to reach your actors, props production, etc doesn't add anything being general busywork and zoomed-in camera perspective. Neither of which is worth the trade-off when it comes to losing that familiar, mouse-driven control associated with management games. Interface itself also suffers from some cramping up on the right side of the screen where your available actors and play currently underway are both listed with expandable sub-windows. It quickly turns into a vertical mess, but this is one of those minor things that could've been averted with further QA that otherwise works.
Game itself is exactly what it says on the tin. Divided into acts you get to choose which play to perform. Managing said feat means mastering your actors aka sending them to appropriate training so they can improve their singing, acting or dancing stat. Trick is you only get X number of days 'til the premiere and with each actor having limited number of energy units to spend daily what you dedicate them to matters. Some planning is required on top of acquiring whichever costumes and backdrops certain plays demand if you want to get scores as those, in turn, determine your initial funds in the next act. And so it goes round and round with little pay-off in performances themselves. I'm talking couple of still shots with some dialog. This ain't The Movies if you were hoping for something more along those lines OR wanted background story, exploration of a historical setting, etc.
I did not like Melodramatica very much and didn't see it through to completion. For a free game and something to expand upon it is praiseworthy, but it's also too rigid and questionably designed from the opening act. I'm not even taking into account dodgy optimization that sent my PC into overdrive for no apparent reason. Something to wet the appetite if you want to try more of the genre. That tush, though.
Zolaris ( PC (Steam) – FPS – 2021 ) + TRAILER
It pains me to say the following about Zolaris because you can tell its heart was in the right place, but it just so happens to be held back by inexperience and tech problems galore.
Story begins rather intriguingly as you assume control over Valeria, resident gunslinging spirit-dealer, and her chatty incorporeal companion Pike on a mission to, well, "forcefully visit" a local cultist temple with goal in mind to find out what happened to Valeria's sister. Not to mention you're tasked to do so by your village elder because said cultists are clearly up to no good. Entire setup also benefits from game's humble origins in that there are no long preambles on how or why, rather you're left to immediately get into the thick of it. Upon reaching the temple you find out two local spirits, one of Owl and one of Bear, don't much like being usurped and these cultists are trying to summon... something into existence. Each offering their own way to power - stealth or action - and Valeria decides some cleaning up is in order.
But what is Zolaris? A FPS combining guns, magic and stealth executed with all the finesse you'd expect from a free indie title that decided to bite more than it could possibly chew. Maybe it's just my nostalgia for Clive Barker's Undying that paints what's attempted here as charming, though. To game's credit it does have a tutorial section for using each of your powers, ranging from close range shocking attack, directional shield protecting for ranged attacks, etc, but these powers for the most part only work when they feel like it. Whispers meant to distract the enemy was absolute bust for me and aforementioned shield was a 50/50 toss up, for example. Not that enemies can really do much to you beyond swarming, even taking into account you have a pretty pissy eight-round revolver with extremely dodgy rate of fire. Something that pleasantly surprised me was how two spirits offer their own paths to progressing throughout the game. Do you want to sneak around to get tomes of power or straight up destroy obelisks? Considering game is jank incarnate I went with destruction.
I lost count just how many times I had to restart from checkpoints because scripts wouldn't load or level geometry decided it has had enough leaving me stuck in the void. The worst thing was when I had to restart the game altogether because Zolars HAS save support and does, in fact, let you load. Problem being save slots are session-based so they disappear upon quitting.
Plokoth ( PC (Steam) – Platformer – 2021 ) + TRAILER
Sometimes you want a platformer that means business and Plokoth fills out that role just fine.
Provided the closest comparison is what you're after it would be Super Meat Boy without the level selection or in-your-face absurd story. Breaking down the package further I'd say Plokoth eschew levels as something to overcome individually and is rather structured in a form of a single cohesive world with bite-size sections meant to challenge your platforming skills. End result is very stop-and-go approach to gameplay as you go through primeval jungle where things are gradually getting worse the deeper you go with purple thorns becoming more prominent and acting as instant death spikes. Good news is checkpoints are plentiful and loadings non-existent, meaning you're immediately back in action and usually just a couple of seconds from where you departed.
Aside from some running animation cycle and falling off the edges shenanigans I found controls to be very responsive which kinda matters here. Latter only became an annoyance accidentally when I had to stand still in a specific scenario to get the incoming power up or I wouldn't have even registered it. You're otherwise looking at your usual jumping off walls and sliding down said walls in addition to instantaneous rush forward... when the game feels like letting you have it for story reasons. Of which there's very little and is conveying to you via indirect storytelling. Something's going down in the jungle and our little three leafed guy has to save his girlfriend, I take it? What's there is more context than proper motivation.
Gorgeous 2D visuals do sell Plokoth even when you notice the tileset arrangements. Audio design less so with ambient tracks that could've used more prominence considering there's painfully little happening on the audio side of things given the absence of combat sounds or enemies. For a platformer with some bite I'd say all the moving parts hit the right notes. Give it a look - you can't beat free.
Star Apprentice: Magical Murder Mystery ( PC (Steam) – Bullet Hell, VN – 2021 ) + TRAILER
Does it count as cheating if game itself offers the freedom to do so under options? Well, I can't say but I certainly feel that way having finished Star Apprentice Magical Murder Mystery and realizing I most likely could not have done so otherwise.
Ever wanted to play an intense bullet hell game with side of quirky detective mystery? Because that's what you get when you put on Minnie's apprentice detective hat. It just so happens that her mentor gets killed while they're aboard a moving train and you're left with a small, albeit bizarre as all hell, cast that could have potentially done it. Twist? Minnie's method of seeing through inconsistencies and REFUTING them is rather unconventional - completing bullet hell stages and choosing when to drop the truth bomb, figuratively speaking, to reveal the truth.
What actually surprised me is just how lightweight Star Apprentice is when it comes to its narrative or total lack of puzzles beyond rudimentary clue gathering. I actually got its genre the other way around as bullet hell stages were straight out of hell for someone not really that proficient with the genre. In fact, I'm pretty sure you could easily double or triple your play time if you choose to disable unlimited lives game so generously includes. Frustration of playing this the legit way would weight too heavily on me, though. I simply didn't cut it in this case so I held on for just long enough to see the story climax because "screen full of bullets" fails to describe this one appropriately.
I won't hold the fact it was made in RPG Maker against the game seeing as it manages to shine through with pretty decent production. Lines of voice acting, pretty 2D visuals and pumping music all do their job. One thing I would recommend would be using a keyboard rather than mouse to control. A good game even if I'm no good AT it.
You’re presenting us with a selection of quite unique games again. I’ve never heard of any of them. Too bad that the first two seem to have their flaws. They look and sound interesting enough. Platformers are not my thing so I only skimmed over the last two reviews – at least it looks like those two were satisfying.
Glad you enjoyed the reviews. You should keep in mind these are all free games so it’s possible I’m overly harsh on them, doubly so because some are student projects and alike. Some simply haven’t been realized or thought through enough, though.
I see your point. So maybe it would help to see these games rather as case studies than as actual games? Because the ideas do sound unique and worthy of exploring, esp. with Melodramatica
Possibly. Some of those fall short specifically when it comes to execution. It’s one of those “hope they refine the ideas in the future” kind of things.
That Star Apprentice game looks promising, especially since you said it’s more bullet hell than adventure game (the screenshots on the game’s Steam page definitely imply otherwise). I am curious, though:
Are all the clues obvious and stand-out, or does it devolve into one of those “push the examine button against everything” games at some point? EDIT: Not necessarily every floor tile, but maybe every shelf even though most don’t have anything in them, or a potted plant that looks no different from the other potted plants.
How far apart are checkpoints if that’s turned off? My biggest issue with not just bullet hells, but SHMUPs in general, is that dying either respawns you right were you are or sets you back an absurdly long way. Like, I want challenge, but forcing me to redo the same stuff I’ve already gotten past just for another shot what’s been killing me is simply bad game design (and unlimited respawns is quite possibly the most ignorant way a dev can “fix” that problem).
Calling it “clue gathering” was maybe generous on my end. It’s a linear murder mystery on a train with couple of cabooses you can enter. This being an RPG Maker game means there are hotspot/tile without becoming obnoxious, at least to me. You’ll spend more time talking to anime characters and walking around than engaging in bullet hell, but latter was definitely what I walked away with remembering more.
If you lose all lives you get a line about “losing control of the interrogation” and restart the schmup section. This could be annoying because each section has three stages with increasing complexity as they add more to attack patterns. I admit to being bad at these sorts of games so maybe difficulty won’t be a problem for you at all.