Amitte

Progress report: May ‘21 (a.k.a. Uhhh…)

I was going to post this one earlier… and then I procrastinated! That’s the theme of this whole month! Yaaay!
(forrealthoughihavefinalsinthreeweeksandimstuckplayingfreeendlessgamesohmygodsendhelpnow)

be you 2 - Let’s face it… I didn’t understand the first game, and I don’t understand this one either. I gave it a little over an hour and multiple playthroughs just to see that most of the script is the same no matter what you choose. It’s all absurd (and bear in mind, I don’t mind absurd), but to the point that unless you’re the author, you are literally not going to understand a single thing. Still can’t believe this dev’s games are getting mad positive reviews, either. EDIT: From what I understand, there’s a secret ending you can get by replaying the game over and over while changing the choices that do make a difference, but it also seems that you have to do it all in one sitting and I wasn’t ever so little as considering that, so whatever.

Dissolving - A short kinetic VN about a girl who’s got an ex nice enough to keep being friends with him. She comes over to hang out with him, even though he’s a shut-in. But he’s no regular shut-in, and she’ll realize that in due time… Dissolving looks better than it’s written, although the language quality in the VN is considerably better than the short stories you can find within the game. There’s also a separate scenario from a different POV hidden within the game and the devs do want you to find it. The plot of the VN is fine, I like this kind of stuff, but in the end either something got lost in translation or my cold is taking over my mind, because I didn’t really get into it.

Dr. Frank’s Build a Boyfriend - This one’s a free VN/point-and click hybrid about the (totally qualified) Doctor Frank, who one day falls in love… and ends up heartbroken not too long after that. To get his revenge, he sets out to create the most handsome, most caring… basically the perfect boyfriend. And how does that work out for him? Find out inside! I found the characters quirky and likeable, just like the overall humor of the game (although I did find it a tad immature in some places). The point-and-clicking was a welcome element. Also, always nice to see free achievements!

Drinks With Abbey - Exactly What It Says On The Tin™, this is a relatively straight-forward simulation of a first date at a bar. It features a realistic art style (which I’m not a fan of, but it’s still nice to look at), music that sounds like it would actually play at a bar (albeit including vocals, which distracts from reading) and an incredibly minimalistic UI. I would usually complain about that aspect, but here it’s just right. Your first playthrough should take about 30 minutes, and assuming you use the skip option, each consecutive playthrough will get shorter. There’s also a neat option to toggle between modified versions of the BGM (with added bar bustle) and clear ones, as they were recorded. As for Abbey and her story, well… take it from this reviewer.

Keyboard Killers - This is one of the dozens of games that were being given away for free during the pandemic. Still… it’s just not very good. It manages to do what it’s meant to: be a typing game, but the visual presentation leaves a lot to be desired. Plus, if you want to get all achievements, you’re much better off running a macro in the background than risking a broken keyboard and sore wrists.

Mystery Island - Hidden Object Games - A family of four sets out on a journey to find mysterious symbols that will help them prevent the end of the world… or something like that. HOG-ing ensues. This is one of those “moving” HOGs where you have to scroll left and right to scan the whole location, which I’ve never played before. I can only assume that most, if not all of the utilized graphics in the scenes are just photographs, cliparts, etc. but even then, some of them just look bad - they’re smudged or pixelated. The scenes are also littered with items - the game features three modes per scene, one of which is finding a set amount of variations on the same item, which means that if you notice during the regular search that the scene is full of cats, that’s what you’re going to want to look for later on. The BGMs don’t loop properly, which is equal part hilarious and bad. The game runs on an “energy” model, letting you explore only 5 new scenes per set amount of time, but since there are only 40 scenes in total, it doesn’t take too long and you could do much worse when it comes to “free” pay-to-play games. I won’t lie, I was only really in it for the achievements myself. EDIT: This game’s going pay-to-play this month. Sorry to all 0 people that were planning on playing it.

talesshop puzzle 테일즈샵 퍼즐 - Just a simple puzzle game featuring artwork of girls from tales#’s visual novels. It’s a really good-looking game, with a sleek UI and pleasant VN music playing in the background. The preview image is always visible and pieces snap together/into place when they’re near other pieces/the place they belong, respectively. (Shame that the devs putting out the most popular jigsaw games on Steam conditioned us to put up with content of much lower quality…) The only thing that’s missing is the ability to look at the puzzle after solving it; the game automatically flashes the completion screen, covering the whole play area with it.

The Silent Age - I would not have played this game any soon, had it not been for a few names I’ve started getting familiar with on the voice cast. The Silent Age follows Joe, who works a janitor at a big company in the 70s. He is but a tiny cog in a grand machine… or so he thinks, until a peculiar meeting sets him out on a journey involving time travel. Personally, I would think to leave some mystery in here, but since time travel is this game’s selling point (rightfully so), there’s really no need to do so. The game is fairly straight-forward, there’s no moon logic to be seen (although some funny choices can be attempted to get achievements) and everything you pick up eventually sees use. Everything about this game is minimal, from the art style, through the UI, to the voice acting, but in no regard is that fact a con. Unless you’re not into side-scrolling environments and reserving part of the screen for the UI, since that gives it an appearance not unlike a mobile game would have, you’ll be golden. As little as there was to learn about Joe, I found him believable as an ordinary guy, with perhaps lower than usual trivia knowledge, as he can be seen not recognizing political figures or mistaking a clownfish for an entirely different breed. All in all, it was a decent way to spend a Saturday evening.

The Wolf Among Us - Another month, another narrative-driven game! This time, it’s about the land of Fables… or rather what could have happened before the story told in the comic book series. As Bigby Wolf, the modified counterpart of the wolf appearing as an antagonist in dozens of classical tales, you stumble upon a gruesome mystery, and needless to say, you’re going to solve it. If you’ve played a Telltale game before, there are no innovations to the gameplay - I’ll just say I’m glad the game is very lax with recognizing the prompts you input - I always managed to progress the action scenes with pressing RT despite the game asking for LT. I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of characters from various tales and fables trying to find a way to live in modern day America, as well as the synth soundtrack accompanying the game. As for the voice acting, at first I expected Bigby to sound different, but as time went on, he really grew on me. The rest of the cast is no worse, featuring acclaimed voice actors, some of which have starred in other Telltale titles. Despite the mystery wrapping up with the end of the game, however, there still is a sense of craving more, and so I can’t wait until the sequel comes out. Seriously, I can’t imagine having to wait another eight years… and in the meantime, I might even check out the original comic.

See you next month! :)

almost 3 years ago 1 comment
Cece09

I like the be you games, im excited to touch their 3rd one but I get your feelings. It can certainly be weird and confusing at times. Sometimes its hard to tell what matters
GoodLuckWithFinalsHopeTheyGoWell
StayAwayFromFreeGamesTheyAreAddictive

almost 3 years ago