Lopes_Doria
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Went in expecting a classic short indie musrder mystery. Started off quite light-hearted. About an hour in the tone changes dramatically. At two to three hours plot seemed to be losing focus. Mysterious machines got me hooked. The puzzles and minigames were ok. The deduction moments were satisfying (especially at the ending) Sadly it's open ended as it's supposed to be a chapter 1 and the final choices have no relevance unless they affect the sequel. The game also had some meta puzzles I didn't bother with, but it's cool they're there.
Overall, very enjoyable and would recommend if the sequel comes out. It'd be a shame if it doesn't get a proper ending.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Went in expecting a classic short indie musrder mystery. Started off quite light-hearted. About an hour in the tone changes dramatically. At two to three hours plot seemed to be losing focus. Mysterious machines got me hooked. The puzzles and minigames were ok. The deduction moments were satisfying (especially at the ending) Sadly it's open ended as it's supposed to be a chapter 1 and the final choices have no relevance unless they affect the sequel. The game also had some meta puzzles I didn't bother with, but it's cool they're there.
Overall, very enjoyable and would recommend if the sequel comes out. It'd be a shame if it doesn't get a proper ending.
2022
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Expected a light and easy metroidvania. Turned out to be very complex (as in it had a lot of different abilities mapped to many buttons) Had a very strong focus on platforming challenges, HARD but satisfying. Highly customizable difficulty.
Overall, very fun. No big downside.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Expected a light and easy metroidvania. Turned out to be very complex (as in it had a lot of different abilities mapped to many buttons) Had a very strong focus on platforming challenges, HARD but satisfying. Highly customizable difficulty.
Overall, very fun. No big downside.
2023
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Expected a simple puzzle game. The difficulty shot up WAY high since level 1. Simple but clever and hard to find solutions with new mechanics coming up often enough to stay fresh. Only got stuck on 2 out of 50 puzzles.
Overall, very fun and hard.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Expected a simple puzzle game. The difficulty shot up WAY high since level 1. Simple but clever and hard to find solutions with new mechanics coming up often enough to stay fresh. Only got stuck on 2 out of 50 puzzles.
Overall, very fun and hard.
2019
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Expected a mystery point and click adventure game. Soon realized it was a timeloop game. Gameplay consists on attending events to obtain information, conveying said information to other characters to create more events to witness and learn more. Manipulate characte's behaviours in order to obtain the outcome wanted. Plenty of posibilities. Multiple endings. Reached what seemed to be an objectively perfect happy ending, but it was a fakeout. Very cool reveal. End consists of choosing one of the imperfect endings (what each person considers the least bad varies wildly) I chose to live in an unreal fantasy where everyone is happy. Going back into the game would imply purging this ending forever, so I stuck with my choice. Saw all other endings in youtube. Getting the ending where you detach from your emotions and kill everyone leads to direct connection with Outer Wilds' Dark Bramble. Fun easter egg, satisfying to notice.
Overall, had fun finding the ways to make the thing I wanted to happen to happen. Characters were good. Conceot and execution were cool, but I personally would have preferred a more "by the books" beat bad guy and get happy ending.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Expected a mystery point and click adventure game. Soon realized it was a timeloop game. Gameplay consists on attending events to obtain information, conveying said information to other characters to create more events to witness and learn more. Manipulate characte's behaviours in order to obtain the outcome wanted. Plenty of posibilities. Multiple endings. Reached what seemed to be an objectively perfect happy ending, but it was a fakeout. Very cool reveal. End consists of choosing one of the imperfect endings (what each person considers the least bad varies wildly) I chose to live in an unreal fantasy where everyone is happy. Going back into the game would imply purging this ending forever, so I stuck with my choice. Saw all other endings in youtube. Getting the ending where you detach from your emotions and kill everyone leads to direct connection with Outer Wilds' Dark Bramble. Fun easter egg, satisfying to notice.
Overall, had fun finding the ways to make the thing I wanted to happen to happen. Characters were good. Conceot and execution were cool, but I personally would have preferred a more "by the books" beat bad guy and get happy ending.
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I wanted to like this game. I expected a "Kid's First Detective Game" with at least a couple of interesting mysteries or twists, but got none of that.
All the sesuction segments are bland, strightforward and hand-holdy. It may be argued that this is by virtue of it being a game designed for children, but having the gameplay be as simple as a multiple choice without consequences for wrong answers allows for mysteries to be complex yet easy to solve.
The most enjoyable part of the game was being able to comunicate directly with the Pokemon while playing as Pikachu. Reminiscent of Pokepark. And a couple of the sidequests had unexpected results.
Overall, a big disappointment. Would not recommend even for children for how boring of a slog it was.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I wanted to like this game. I expected a "Kid's First Detective Game" with at least a couple of interesting mysteries or twists, but got none of that.
All the sesuction segments are bland, strightforward and hand-holdy. It may be argued that this is by virtue of it being a game designed for children, but having the gameplay be as simple as a multiple choice without consequences for wrong answers allows for mysteries to be complex yet easy to solve.
The most enjoyable part of the game was being able to comunicate directly with the Pokemon while playing as Pikachu. Reminiscent of Pokepark. And a couple of the sidequests had unexpected results.
Overall, a big disappointment. Would not recommend even for children for how boring of a slog it was.
2023
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I expected just a port of the Flash classics, but the game puts a lot of effort into adding content to connect all the entries toghether into a beautiful package with tons of secrets.
It was one of those impulsive insta-buys, but I'm happy to report I do not regret it at all.
Overall, super fun game for returning players and newcomers alike.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I expected just a port of the Flash classics, but the game puts a lot of effort into adding content to connect all the entries toghether into a beautiful package with tons of secrets.
It was one of those impulsive insta-buys, but I'm happy to report I do not regret it at all.
Overall, super fun game for returning players and newcomers alike.
2010
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
After playing through all of Submachine Legacy I found out this was the only game not included. I was a bit hesitant to play it because I knew it reused most rooms from the other games and because its main selling point was being a game to play with the whole community while it was being updated throughout the years. Even so, I decided to give it a shot and boy am I glad I did.
I now have in my possesion two full pages of notes filled with numbers, clues, drawings and scribbles incomprehensible to anyone who has not played the game. And I'm also proud that I only had to look for help with two things and they were not solutions to puzzles, but just items laying around I had failed to see.
Overall, a most enjoyable experience.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
After playing through all of Submachine Legacy I found out this was the only game not included. I was a bit hesitant to play it because I knew it reused most rooms from the other games and because its main selling point was being a game to play with the whole community while it was being updated throughout the years. Even so, I decided to give it a shot and boy am I glad I did.
I now have in my possesion two full pages of notes filled with numbers, clues, drawings and scribbles incomprehensible to anyone who has not played the game. And I'm also proud that I only had to look for help with two things and they were not solutions to puzzles, but just items laying around I had failed to see.
Overall, a most enjoyable experience.
2023
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Just like its predecessor, Lonesome Village, A Tiny Sticker Tale is a decently fun, simple and short game.
Most definitely recommended for young players.
Overall, simple but enjoyable.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Just like its predecessor, Lonesome Village, A Tiny Sticker Tale is a decently fun, simple and short game.
Most definitely recommended for young players.
Overall, simple but enjoyable.
2022
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Sadly, I did not enjoy this game as much as I wanted to. The puzzles were good (although not really music based) but I feel that they never managed to reach a high enough level of complexity that they could be, even in the side content.
Speaking of side content, scraping every wall to find the hidden collectibles soon became an annoying chore because of the movement speed, invisible walls and collision bugs that made me get stuck multiple times in different places. It happened so many times, I gave up on 100% and stopped looking for them.
I much preferred the collectibles that were clearly visible but required a puzzle to be solved, an alternate solution to be found, a hidden path to reach them, or to backtrack with new tools.
The story was fine, if a bit rushed. But the lore tabletsmade up for it in my oppinion.
Overall, the game wasn't bad, but I would only recommend it if you are starved for more new puzzle games.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Sadly, I did not enjoy this game as much as I wanted to. The puzzles were good (although not really music based) but I feel that they never managed to reach a high enough level of complexity that they could be, even in the side content.
Speaking of side content, scraping every wall to find the hidden collectibles soon became an annoying chore because of the movement speed, invisible walls and collision bugs that made me get stuck multiple times in different places. It happened so many times, I gave up on 100% and stopped looking for them.
I much preferred the collectibles that were clearly visible but required a puzzle to be solved, an alternate solution to be found, a hidden path to reach them, or to backtrack with new tools.
The story was fine, if a bit rushed. But the lore tabletsmade up for it in my oppinion.
Overall, the game wasn't bad, but I would only recommend it if you are starved for more new puzzle games.
2017
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Well, I really tried, but I did not vibe with this game. Who know, maybe I'll pick it back up in the future with more success.
Overall, disappointed it wasn't the great experience it was chalked up to be.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Well, I really tried, but I did not vibe with this game. Who know, maybe I'll pick it back up in the future with more success.
Overall, disappointed it wasn't the great experience it was chalked up to be.
2023
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
The more time goes on, the more bland these games start to feel.
I enjoy getting tidbits of lore and I like the fact hat they have ARGs going on in the background, even if I don't participate in them myself.
But as far as the actual game goes, the only part that I really enjoy is the backtracking at the end, reexploring all zones to find the secrets and achievements.
Overall, a good sequel to its predecessors.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
The more time goes on, the more bland these games start to feel.
I enjoy getting tidbits of lore and I like the fact hat they have ARGs going on in the background, even if I don't participate in them myself.
But as far as the actual game goes, the only part that I really enjoy is the backtracking at the end, reexploring all zones to find the secrets and achievements.
Overall, a good sequel to its predecessors.
2023
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I expected a short and sweet adventure game woth some light puzzle elements, therefore I decided to try hard mode from the get-go. What I found, instead, was a giant pile of complex puzzles.
I was constantly having to drop out of questlines because there was a map or riddle I simply could not figure out, only to come back hours later on one of my three clean-up sessions and suddenly have the biggest realization and having all the pieces fall into place. I still had to turn on easy mode for one main story puzzle near the end, and despite generally being a thorough completionist, I decided to leave many side-quests I've been stuck on unsolved in case I ever feel like replaying it.
The most satisfying moment was being on giant streak solving all of the chessboard map puzzles one after the other in one fell swoop.
I do, however, highly recommend the PC version since I found a couple of bugs, inconsistencies and performance issues while playing on switch, but I see the developer is very active and receptive to feedback and has been pushing many updates on steam to improve and polish the experience.
Overall, highly recommended game. Play the PC version if possibe. Play on hard if you love puzzles or on easy if you want to chill, but don't be afraid to switch back and forth.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I expected a short and sweet adventure game woth some light puzzle elements, therefore I decided to try hard mode from the get-go. What I found, instead, was a giant pile of complex puzzles.
I was constantly having to drop out of questlines because there was a map or riddle I simply could not figure out, only to come back hours later on one of my three clean-up sessions and suddenly have the biggest realization and having all the pieces fall into place. I still had to turn on easy mode for one main story puzzle near the end, and despite generally being a thorough completionist, I decided to leave many side-quests I've been stuck on unsolved in case I ever feel like replaying it.
The most satisfying moment was being on giant streak solving all of the chessboard map puzzles one after the other in one fell swoop.
I do, however, highly recommend the PC version since I found a couple of bugs, inconsistencies and performance issues while playing on switch, but I see the developer is very active and receptive to feedback and has been pushing many updates on steam to improve and polish the experience.
Overall, highly recommended game. Play the PC version if possibe. Play on hard if you love puzzles or on easy if you want to chill, but don't be afraid to switch back and forth.
2016
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I expected a language with many symbols, meanings, structures and possible dialogues. The game does have a lot of symbols but once out of the tutorial you realize many (if not most) of them don't have a meaning/definition/use within the game. I understand that it is intentional that you can never get to know all of the intrincacies of an old extinct language, yet it's still a bit disappointing.
I also understand the linearity of the questions you are allowed a response to, as writing an answer for all possible prompts with correct syntax would be an insurmountable task; yet I still would have a enjoyed having a couple of side conversations about tangential topics that might not matter to the main path/story of the game.
Where I really think this game fails is at is how direct it is with what all symbols mean and wich ones you should use on your next prompt. There's almost no work from the player unless you force yourself to not open the notebook. I think the game would benefit from having an everpresent hint as to what the next topic of discussion should be but have the option to translate what the terminal answered and/or what your next prompt should be only for when you are feeling stuck or lost.
The good ending attempts to do a part of this by not having notebook pages attached to it at all, but by doing that there is no hint towards which is the only sentence that will get a response despite the fact that there would be many ways to continue the conversation.
The moment that felt the greatest while playing was when I had a streak of 4 consecutive questions without having opened the journal all flowing naturally like a conversation (or as naturally as a conversation with a computer in a different language can be) and then finally opening the notebook and seeing those four pages stating and outlining all of the deductions and logical steps I had done and followed on my own.
Overall, this was a good game for how cheap it is and I'm it exists and that I played it, but would probably recommend a few other "language games" over this one.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I expected a language with many symbols, meanings, structures and possible dialogues. The game does have a lot of symbols but once out of the tutorial you realize many (if not most) of them don't have a meaning/definition/use within the game. I understand that it is intentional that you can never get to know all of the intrincacies of an old extinct language, yet it's still a bit disappointing.
I also understand the linearity of the questions you are allowed a response to, as writing an answer for all possible prompts with correct syntax would be an insurmountable task; yet I still would have a enjoyed having a couple of side conversations about tangential topics that might not matter to the main path/story of the game.
Where I really think this game fails is at is how direct it is with what all symbols mean and wich ones you should use on your next prompt. There's almost no work from the player unless you force yourself to not open the notebook. I think the game would benefit from having an everpresent hint as to what the next topic of discussion should be but have the option to translate what the terminal answered and/or what your next prompt should be only for when you are feeling stuck or lost.
The good ending attempts to do a part of this by not having notebook pages attached to it at all, but by doing that there is no hint towards which is the only sentence that will get a response despite the fact that there would be many ways to continue the conversation.
The moment that felt the greatest while playing was when I had a streak of 4 consecutive questions without having opened the journal all flowing naturally like a conversation (or as naturally as a conversation with a computer in a different language can be) and then finally opening the notebook and seeing those four pages stating and outlining all of the deductions and logical steps I had done and followed on my own.
Overall, this was a good game for how cheap it is and I'm it exists and that I played it, but would probably recommend a few other "language games" over this one.
2013
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Expected a short and silly zelda-like adventure game. Got a short and silly puzzle heavy game and I'm not complaining about it.
Item dungeons were fun, but felt confused by the existence of hard side paths/shortcuts.
Item interactions were very interesting, but felt confused because many puzzles could be broken with them.
Master cave was an awesome experience requiring all tools and a lot of thinking.
Loved the ultimate weapon and true ending acquired by smacking [REDACTED].
Then I decided to try doing the 2 item runs and that's when everything fell into place. The shortcuts made the dungeons shorter, yet still interesting on repeat playthroughs. Puzzles required actual solving with the lack of one of the main tools. The final bossfight adapting to your current arsenal was cool. Routing these runs was very fun.
I'm not too into speedrunning, but getting the 15 minute achievement is not too tight. I still didn't have much fun doing the 3 attempts it took me, though.
Overall, good puzzles and silly jokes all around. Very much recommend doing the 4 main runs.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
Expected a short and silly zelda-like adventure game. Got a short and silly puzzle heavy game and I'm not complaining about it.
Item dungeons were fun, but felt confused by the existence of hard side paths/shortcuts.
Item interactions were very interesting, but felt confused because many puzzles could be broken with them.
Master cave was an awesome experience requiring all tools and a lot of thinking.
Loved the ultimate weapon and true ending acquired by smacking [REDACTED].
Then I decided to try doing the 2 item runs and that's when everything fell into place. The shortcuts made the dungeons shorter, yet still interesting on repeat playthroughs. Puzzles required actual solving with the lack of one of the main tools. The final bossfight adapting to your current arsenal was cool. Routing these runs was very fun.
I'm not too into speedrunning, but getting the 15 minute achievement is not too tight. I still didn't have much fun doing the 3 attempts it took me, though.
Overall, good puzzles and silly jokes all around. Very much recommend doing the 4 main runs.
2023
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I think I got too overwhelmed by the amount of puzzles.
I would love having been able to interact more with the meta puzzles and the narrative because those had me hooked, but they were so few and far between a bunch of sokoban puzzles with no undo and a limited amount of restarts that got me tense, stressed and not having a good time.
I still have my big notes document in case I decide to go back and try to play it again, so I will refrain from watching it on Youtube for now.
Overall, sad I could not get into it as much as others seem to have.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I think I got too overwhelmed by the amount of puzzles.
I would love having been able to interact more with the meta puzzles and the narrative because those had me hooked, but they were so few and far between a bunch of sokoban puzzles with no undo and a limited amount of restarts that got me tense, stressed and not having a good time.
I still have my big notes document in case I decide to go back and try to play it again, so I will refrain from watching it on Youtube for now.
Overall, sad I could not get into it as much as others seem to have.