Report 44: Exploring the unknown (and also Max Payne)
This is a simplistic pawn shop simulator where you rummage around abandoned properties and garages to find stuff you can sell.
Even though I don’t usually watch TV and hate almost all reality shows, for a while I had a great time watching Storage Wars as a guilty pleasure. When I heard about this game, I knew this would be just the kind of product my monkey brain will like.
Sadly, that’s all this game is - it has a really dumbed down gameplay and pretty much no planning ahead or thinking is ever needed. Not to say it was bad, but I would’ve LOVED the serious kind of game with the same concept.
As I said before, you mostly rummage through various locations looking for items you can sell, but besides that, there’s some occurences where you should first win the auction. Just like the rest of the game, it’s too simple and there’s basically no strategy whatsoever, you just spend money until every AI opponent refuses to raise the bid (and it’s kinda noticeable that the final sum is fixated). The game also has three events just like the TV show, but it was really dissapointing, since there’s really no reason for you not to gather as much money and buy all of the containers without even letting your opponents buy even one, making you win by default. (You really don’t want to risk it if you’re hunting for achievements, since these events are one-off deal, and their car prizes are unique.)
This game can also be really glitchy. There were even some completionist achievements temporarily removed at the time I was playing for some reason (I guess too many people were complaining about some bugs that prevent them from getting these).
I spent a lot of time shitting on this game, but even if it’s dumb, it’s still fun. It has a strong humorous tone and never takes itself too seriously, and it’s still enjoyable and easy to play.
Overall, it’s a great concept that gets somewhat spoiled by the dumbed-down execution. I wish there was a serious, more complex game about it, with randomized levels and stuff.
or, as normal people would call it, Hotaru no Nikki. It’s a puzzle-adventure with indirect control. And good god was I close to putting it into “Hated it” category.
This is game is ball-bustingly frustrating. I wouldn’t even call it hard, it’s just designed in a way that often makes playing it really annoying. First of all, this game is pretty slow, so if you want to retry the segment you’ve failed you have to GET there first, and most of the time, it takes so much time that you lose any kind of momentum going. The indirect control takes time to get used to, especially when you’re supposed to push or drag something. Some of the achievements are pure pain.
But I really liked the artstyle and atmosphere, similar to Yomawari, I… think I liked the plot? It was much more vague than Yomawari’s.
Overall, it was nice, but a really frustrating experience.
Boy, it was a blast to replay it. It’s a classic 3rd person shooter. If you haven’t played it already, do yourself a favour. It didn’t age all that bad. What other game has so many memorable cool quotes?
The difficulty is just right. It is pretty easy to die in this one, but since you can save anywhere you want, it’s not much of a problem and you can adjust your save frequency for your comfort.
Steam version (or maybe it’s modern OS fault?) has some technical difficulties. I had to install the patch to return the sound, and even then, Max kept getting stuck at walls at random and also refused to jump high enough on certain levels (you can bypass it by doing a side jump, but still).
Overall, a short and fun noire-ish classic.
It’s a short survival horror heavily inspired by Silent Hill series. Doesn’t rely on jumpscares much and keeps the fear going with the oppressing atmosphere.
Low-poly visuals work great, and the soundtrack is pretty good. The combat’s clunkiness is just right for creating the balance between uncomfortable helplessness and actual accesible gameplay.
It can be rough around the edges, but if you want something to scratch that slowburn horror itch - go for it.
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