Finished in July (and June) (0-6)

I finished one extra game in June and I want to write a review for it. I bought quite a lot casual little games, and I went through them quickly

• Aefen Fall
  

  50 minutes

  12 of 24 achievements

Aefen Fall

5/10

I have very mixed feelings about this game. It is a student project made during one year and it feels. I finished the game in around 40 minutes, and during that time I got stuck and had to reload game two times, and I had a bunch of other beautiful bugs, like seeing my headless body, 2 meters long arms etc, etc. Framerate - horrible, I had to lower graphics setting to have logic amount of FPS. The ending is so abrupt I thought I have a bug and I needed to replay it to believe. But all in all - the gameplay is fun - it’s a parkour game like Mirrors edge, during game you are unlocking new abilities like creating paths in air, or freezing things. There is a good concept here and for a student project its really fun. But as a proffesional game - a bit too rough.

• Hidden Paws
  

  3 hours playtime

  8 of 8 achievements

Hidden Paws

6/10

Very simple game - there are bunch of little dioramas and in them there ar cats and balls of yarn. You need to find them. That’s all. Some things on dioramas are interactive, you can open boxes, and move some objects to search for the kitties, camera is a bit clunky, and hints can be completely useless (I had an island with around 100 penguins and hind told me, that the last cat is next to the penguin. Thanks). But all in all it was a relaxing, nice little game.

• Out of Sight
  

  79 minutes playtime

  5 of 8 achievements

Out of Sight

6/10

Very, very similar game to Hidden Paws, with some things done better, some worse. Instead of cats, you are searching for objects, HOPA style. The camera is both better and worse - it is easier to control, but because you cannot control one of the axis, there were times when I didnt see an object, because it was behind a tree and I couldnt take a good look. The hints are done much, much better, but it’s shorter than Hidden Paws and it lacks a bit of personality. I liked both of the games, didn’t love any of them.

• The Unfinished Swan
  

  4 hours playtime

  5 of 10 achievements

The Unfinished Swan

8/10

If you are telling me, this is a game from the creators of Edith Finch, I have very high hopes. And of course I was a bit disappointed, but it is really nice walking sim. It has very, very light puzzle elements, but it’s not enough to call it puzzle game - most of the time you are walking through environment. The story is a fairy tale, mostly about art and artists, about a king of the magical kingdom… it is told as a child book, which is fitting with a child protagonist. I really like it, but it is not Edith Finch level.

• The Last Show of Mr. Chardish
  

  3 hours playtime

  11 of 20 achievements

The Last Show of Mr. Chardish

8/10

Another walking sim, and this one was suprisingly good. It’s a story about actors from old theatre, part of which is shown by recreating their old plays. I like the story, it is told quite well, it’s engaging and well acted. There are little puzzles here and there, some of them require a bit of thinking or dexterity. Every play has it’s own set of rules, so it’s not boring. If you like walking sims - I can easily recommend it. I really don’t know which one is better - this or Swan, but this one has some extra points by catching me by surprise.

• The Wild Eternal
  

  6 hours playtime

  8 of 19 achievements

The Wild Eternal

8/10

Another walking sim, but this one is something else. It’s a game about an Indian old woman (Indian like - from India, not Native American), who doesn’t like the idea of reincarnation, so she is trying to find a way to die forever. There is a lot of mythologic and religious stuff here, and I’m not informed enough in asian culture to catch everything, but basics are - she found a valley in mountains in which live mistical creatures and she met a demigod fox, who agreed to help her. The main gameplay is just walkin through quite big open world valley. You need to find some things for the fox, but the catch is - you don’t have a map. So you start to wander, and after a while you stop caring about direction, or how lost you are - you are just walking, finding interesting stuff, and finally get to know the valley well enough to navigate on it without the map. There are also upgrades, and for a walking sim there is suprising amount of them - you learn to read signs, feed animals, make marks, don’t die after falling and much more… I feel this game is not for anybody, but for me it was really, really good.

Bonus game:

• The Long Dark
  

  13 hours playtime

  6 of 48 achievements

  ﷯

The Long Dark

A survival game with a plot. I was playing it for a bit and finish the first chapter. But then I learnt that it is not finished yet and there are only 3 out of 5 chapters. I was enjoying it, although the beginning is quite hard, but I don’t like unfinished games, so I will leave it until there will be the whole story. There is also a free roam, sandbox mode, where you need to survive as long as you can, but I’m not a big fan of those kind of games, so I’ll wait for the story.