The Expanse: A Telltale Series ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2023 ) + STEAM REVIEW

Man, Telltale has to be a grand master Lich or something at this point considering they died and then had various degrees of comebacks, successors or otherwise. The Expanse is a particular example of newly (re)formed Telltale cooperating with Deck Nine with a popular IP coming from both novels and TV show. Well, I only wish it was a bit better.

We play as Camina Drummer serving under captain Cox in her pre-Tycho days. Scavenging some space wrecks leads them to discover possible payload that would ensure they’re set for life… which, of course, means Cox has to set her up. Fortunately our girl survives, manages to return to their ship, and deciding whether their former captain takes a one-way trip to the airlock or becomes a resident in the brig is among the first big decisions you’ll make. Turns out there are people actually looking for whatever you found first, and some of them are not super nice. Space pirates. They’re space pirates.

It pains me to say The Expanse just might be the dullest Telltale excursion I’ve played. License itself is strong, and this one doesn’t fall into the Game of Thrones trap where writers crippled themselves with over reliance on canonical characters, but neither the story or characters are all that engaging. Drummer herself comes across as almost sedated for the most part and I don’t think I can really blame the actress on this one since there is an emotional scene where she truly shines, so it has to be poor direction. Your crew fares better although there’s still some dead weight. Khan and Virgil steal the show for being on complete opposite personality ends while both harboring a secret. Maya is the token romantic interest writers are absolutely dead set on hooking you up which becomes annoying if you want to fend off her advances. The twins didn’t really get that much attention in my playthrough beyond the obvious.

Naturally, this is an episodic game so you get some chafing from that setup alone. Real issue is the story since it’s a short prequel that gets neatly resolved. Not helped by one episode basically recycling the previous for half the duration as our heroine is experiencing oxygen deprivation. Game also really loves having you “swim” in zero gravity as you’re gathering nebulous scrap, and only occasionally tasking you with optional finds that provide narrative gain. It’s a weird addition to the formula of yapping with characters interspersed with QTEs. Both of which are surprisingly toned down since you only get your crow to hang around with and scant few action scenes. I also counted precisely one instance of what could be categorized as a puzzle with the solution hanging visibly right behind the character. Compliments denied.

Compared to the older games this sure got a facelift, but you can tell some budget limitations must have been imposed elsewhere. For a game set on a space ship in the Expanse universe this could be the most constrained Telltale offering I’ve played.

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80 Days ( PC (Steam) – CYOA – 2015 ) + STEAM REVIEW

80 Days is many things; a CYOA, travelogue and adventure, but it is foremost based on the novel by Jules Verne. Mind you, player has full freedom in how you go about things since the game is open ended rather than some 1:1 recreation of Around the World in Eighty Days.

Phileas Fogg has made a wager that he can travel around the world, as in start from and make it back to London, in 80 days. With half his fortune at stake, both Fogg and his trusted valet Jean Passepartout embark on a journey of a lifetime. It's up to you whether they make it. Amusingly enough, I found the success of the journey to be the least relevant motivator. It's the narrative of various places and self-contained arcs that happen on actual journeys that steal the show. World itself is also something worth bringing up since we're not looking at the real world. For example, there's the Artificer's Guild who are making mechanical automata, airships are flying about as means of transportation and political situation is tense for variety of reasons. Our duo gets caught up in these events by default and some can have dire consequences.

Traveling from location to location, action you would in most games treat as entirely perfunctory to get you to "the good stuff", is where the bulk of that time will end up spent at. Which is where my big annoyance with 80 Days comes up - you need to discover routes between cities before you can travel. Either by exploring in a city, talking to people while en route to somewhere or through special means like buying items that reveal these routes to you. Unless you go into the game with a specifically laid out plan for the entire journey, availability of known routes becomes a factor. Buying implies inventory which does, in fact, exist. Number of bags determines how many items you can carry and this begins to matter as luggage affects your travel expenses. So you're constantly balancing three things: days left, available funds and inventory Tetris for tangible benefits or for what can be sold at some point. There's also Fogg's health which didn't play a notable role for me. Just talk to the man, for god's sake. And DON'T let him talk you into boxing the current champion.

Another element you'll fight constantly is UI clearly not designed for PC. I lost count how many times I wanted to quickly cross-reference my inventory to see if that katana I bought in Yokohama will sell for a lot of dough in New Orleans. Basically, 80 Days only wants you to engage with the interface when it feels like it. Which means events. Most of your actions happen in cities where you're relegated to market, bank, exploration/hotel and departure. Pretty self-explanatory. I was surprised by how many elements synergize and how many I didn't even see in play because there are many routes you can take. Aspect of CYOA where you get to determine how events play out, backed by strong narrative, are probably the highlight of the game and you end up dealing with mechanics to realize them. Loop you're looking at is: exploration to unlock a route to the next city, sleep at the hotel and do some shopping until you depart, something happens while you're traveling before you ultimately get to the next location, rinse and repeat. And yet... it works.

Simple stylized visuals do their job, be it with backgrounds or characters, but I think the soundtrack ended up surprising me the most. Theme especially with how adventurous and setting-appropriate it comes across as. 80 Days may be one of those titles that require multiple intentionally different playthroughs to get the most out of.

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Home ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2012 ) + STEAM REVIEW

I can't remember when was the last time game had me check its manual to find a code, beyond MGS1's Codec frequency, but Home now has that dubious honor if you want an optional achievement + note bringing some narrative clarity. Game itself is perhaps a bit too simple, but that may be of P&C charms if you boil them down. You barely even need puzzles these days if you can make due with atmosphere.

Our protagonist wakes up dazed in a house he doesn't recognize. At first blaming it on sleepwalking he then goes along with the flow as mystery compounds. Going through some kind of industrial plant, one where he seems to have worked at, and even finds his way through the local park while making a horrible discovery seemingly unrelated to his own motivation - get home to Rachel. All set against the backdrop of an impending storm looking to shake up more than just local weather. That summary above is meatier exposition than Home provides, but that's more because this a slow burn.

Every new location reveals clues, direct or otherwise, both you and protagonist are piecing together. I especially found the game's insistence on asking you "do you want to pick up X?" whenever you came across a new object odd. This is apparently part of getting an achievement where you ignore everything and rush through, remaining none the wiser as to what actually happened. Home's supposed selling point is how in critical moments you get to decide what happened retroactively which is peculiar when you're putting together a story post-fact. I wouldn't really say it's the narrative shaping according to your decisions, but it gives certain weight to everything that makes you want to scrounge for every bit of information you can get your hands on. Your reward for this approach is our protagonist making assumptions based on what he knows. I'll just say if you DO make the effort you may end up not liking the result very much which is quirky award. Especially considering you get to decide how the game "ends". As I've alluded to in the opening, there aren't really any puzzles present since whatever you find you'll also automatically use where appropriate, and locations are small enough with clear PONR (Point of No Return) telegraphing.

Production-wise soundtrack is doing the heavy lifting in Home. Not that chunky pixels fail to portray a sufficiently depressing vibe, even though I was sometimes entertained by our ginger guy shuffling over the screen, but it's the subdued atmosphere that ends up stealing the show. Especially when it tonally shifts in the finale and goes for an oppression galore where you're supposed to be the safest.

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Vampire: The Masquerade - Reckoning of New York ( PC (Steam) – VN – 2024 ) + STEAM REVIEW

Effectively the third part of the New York trilogy of games, Reckoning of New York takes us back to Vampire: the Masquerade in what the license appears to be the most comfortable with - Visual Novels of all things. Just like the previous two, this one functions perfectly fine as a standalone although you will appreciate seeing established characters. Even if Reckoning doesn't honor previous decisions since there's no save import to work with. Still worth checking out regardless.

New Year of 2024 is almost upon us which should be a time for celebration... unless you're Kali of clan Ravnos who just got accosted up by local Camarilla enforcement and dragged to see the Prince. Not that Kali is innocent, hailing from a clan of con artists and tricksters, but this seems to concern her Sire who is apparently in even deeper problems involving some serious smuggling. Getting a stay of execution under the condition she delivers her absentee Sire to New York's Camarilla, Kali pulls a fast one and gets a sympathetic Caitiff mediator to accompany her, lest she flee the city. So begins a week of nocturnal mishaps featuring Kali and Padraic as they hunt for clues, avoid vampire hunters and navigate the traitorous nature of what they are.

Unlike the previous game this is a far more linear affair with some "pretend choices", that becomes more evident on replay, and I think only ONE genuine decision conveniently a reload away if you wanted to check it out. You'd think that would be a problem in a game with one autosave slot, but not in this case. You just end up going with the flow and realize you're on-rails. Whether you want to have Hunger and Hunter Threat on is an option here. I would recommend playing with both enabled since it doesn't affect things that much and at least you won't spam Disciplines to get out of every situation. Or you will seeing as sometimes it doesn't result in Hunger increase. Neither are serious core features game dies or lives by while going into the extreme negative does net you some unique scenes.

Since I mentioned it, yes. There are two playable characters. Not like the game goes out of its way to hide who you'll play other than Kali, but I won't spoil it for you. Whether it's worthwhile to go through what is largely the same story from a different perspective and maybe 20-30 minutes of new context is up for debate. Bizarrely, this is where the one true choice comes in as that's picking the REAL ending for the game. You get to customize Kali's Disciplines: picking from Animalism, Obfuscate and Presence to cover all the bases, but the other character is locked. There's no RNG involved so as long as you qualify for the Discipline requirement you pass. Be careful as what you pick is what you get given this ain't no RPG showering you with ability points or at every step. I'm almost pressed to say Discipline choices are almost merely flavor if you turn off the above mentioned mechanics.

I don't want to say much about the story or characters since, well, it's what you're playing a VN for. If you're familiar with Vampire: the Masquerade you can pick up on some clues earlier and this is a kind of plans-within-plans setup. Nice to see the old reprobates albeit in different art style, for better or worse. Shame my girl Julia from Shadows didn't have a bigger role to play. If there's a downside to how the game is structured that would be the way entire setup hinges on you liking the polar opposite duo in the lead. Ravnos don't really get to shine in the license material, quite the opposite actually, so it's definitely refreshing to see one as a snarky energetic girl.