4 reviews liked by selph
Sally Face
2016
Man...
I finished Sally Face with my mouth open...
What happened with this final chapter? I still can't process it...
It escalated in an unbelievable way, as Sally Face went from a supernatural mystery to Larry cosplaying as Gandalf unleashing magic?????????????
God... I think this was one of the worst narrative downfalls a work could have to the point that I am offended.
Chapter 1-4
The story holds up well despite not being anything great, but having characters that you as a player sympathize with and a mystery plot that works is already interesting in itself and has potential for improvement as you progress through the story and plot unfolds or so we thought.
As you play you will notice that with each new episode the quality noticeably declines culminating in chapter 4 which my friends was difficult, but not the worst because the chapter that would close Sally Face was still to come.
Chapter 5
This one we pretend doesn't exist for the sake of Sally Face...
For the sake of our sanity, because what is here is not even worth mentioning...
I finished Sally Face with my mouth open...
What happened with this final chapter? I still can't process it...
It escalated in an unbelievable way, as Sally Face went from a supernatural mystery to Larry cosplaying as Gandalf unleashing magic?????????????
God... I think this was one of the worst narrative downfalls a work could have to the point that I am offended.
Chapter 1-4
The story holds up well despite not being anything great, but having characters that you as a player sympathize with and a mystery plot that works is already interesting in itself and has potential for improvement as you progress through the story and plot unfolds or so we thought.
As you play you will notice that with each new episode the quality noticeably declines culminating in chapter 4 which my friends was difficult, but not the worst because the chapter that would close Sally Face was still to come.
Chapter 5
This one we pretend doesn't exist for the sake of Sally Face...
For the sake of our sanity, because what is here is not even worth mentioning...
Sally Face
2016
with an art style reminiscent of 90's nickelodeon cartoons and a storyline on the cusp of bleeding edge, sally face seemed poised to be the new Hot Topic It Girl. it slotted nicely in with invader zim, next to nightmare before christmas. it had nostalgia for people older than me, people the same age as me, and the appeal of the metal and grunge subculture of yesteryear for the current generation of alt tweens and teens. the 90's are in, and sally face was ahead of the curve.
so what happened? why don't you see sal fisher next to zim and jack skellington and kuromi and my chemical romance's the black parade? it's not like they didn't try on some level, you can find tiny little smatterings of sally face on the website. like with many things, it's not a very climatic story.
sally face has an opening more gauche than ghoulish but it sets the tone well for a game that indulges in graphic gore with the same kind of zest as a child using finger paints. this isn't a bad thing, to be clear, i don't think teenagers are the target demographic for sally face but i do think it accrued a younger audience than initially intended. there's references to 80's cult horror movies through the game, understandably so with the time period. ash herself is simply a long, long set up for an evil dead reference that doesn't pay off until the last portion of the game.
there's not much here, really, that's new for the genre. it's a supernatural murder mystery with the twist of demonic possession. it doesn't set new standards but it does consistently meet them, with shocking twists and turns where it seems like everything that could go wrong does. it's part tragedy, really, watching sal and his friends try to save the world.
as far as a point and click adventure goes, it works well and accomplishes what it wants to do. it implements rhythm games eventually, if a bit wonkily but the attempt to shake up gameplay is appreciated. where the game really shines is the unique, colorful cast of characters in sal's apartment complex that steve gabry takes extra care in introducing you to. it's easy to get attached to a fair few of them. gabry's character writing is charming, and he brings a sort of refreshing and dark quirkiness to his characters that i don't think anyone would be able to copy. it's very distinct.
what actually stunk about sally face is that the gauche opening was more of a preview than an introduction. the ending of the game is dissatisfactory, raising more questions than answers. one problem is dealt with but the rest are ignored or implied to continue in a later installment. that installment never came, and if it does, i'll be surprised. steve seems more occupied right now with launching what looks like a board game adaption of the game than continuing it.
a number of things and characters are written up and implied to have more to do or say just to... not. maybe that's indicative of what gabry's actually writing about: the inevitableness of death, the way that those who have left us for the other side are always going to have unfinished business. that life itself is an ongoing story with no end in sight, until it simply does. death is a cornerstone in sal's life, something that defines him as much as he denies it. it's what makes sal a compelling protagonist, to be someone who fights despite his circumstances. seeing him grow into the person he does is part of the journey, if not the whole journey.
it's not really just that potential was wasted here. it was tossed aside, forgotten and ignored for a number of references that no one really wanted. sally face, just before the finish line, forgot what was fun about itself. it traded the fun of ghost hunting and mystery solving for straight cult horror and action, neither of which were pulled off well, in truth, and i knew this from the first scene. the mystery was always fun, but when it was solved with a blaze of glory, it lost all the charm.
maybe the reason you don't see sally face merchandise in hot topic is less because people lost interest in it. maybe it's more likely that the game is actually more similar to the mall store giant; it started out with a macabre niche that it filled nicely only to collapse under the weight of the things it kept trying to carry and sloughing them off, one by one, to make room just for the pop culture references it was desperate to make.
just watch the evil dead.
so what happened? why don't you see sal fisher next to zim and jack skellington and kuromi and my chemical romance's the black parade? it's not like they didn't try on some level, you can find tiny little smatterings of sally face on the website. like with many things, it's not a very climatic story.
sally face has an opening more gauche than ghoulish but it sets the tone well for a game that indulges in graphic gore with the same kind of zest as a child using finger paints. this isn't a bad thing, to be clear, i don't think teenagers are the target demographic for sally face but i do think it accrued a younger audience than initially intended. there's references to 80's cult horror movies through the game, understandably so with the time period. ash herself is simply a long, long set up for an evil dead reference that doesn't pay off until the last portion of the game.
there's not much here, really, that's new for the genre. it's a supernatural murder mystery with the twist of demonic possession. it doesn't set new standards but it does consistently meet them, with shocking twists and turns where it seems like everything that could go wrong does. it's part tragedy, really, watching sal and his friends try to save the world.
as far as a point and click adventure goes, it works well and accomplishes what it wants to do. it implements rhythm games eventually, if a bit wonkily but the attempt to shake up gameplay is appreciated. where the game really shines is the unique, colorful cast of characters in sal's apartment complex that steve gabry takes extra care in introducing you to. it's easy to get attached to a fair few of them. gabry's character writing is charming, and he brings a sort of refreshing and dark quirkiness to his characters that i don't think anyone would be able to copy. it's very distinct.
what actually stunk about sally face is that the gauche opening was more of a preview than an introduction. the ending of the game is dissatisfactory, raising more questions than answers. one problem is dealt with but the rest are ignored or implied to continue in a later installment. that installment never came, and if it does, i'll be surprised. steve seems more occupied right now with launching what looks like a board game adaption of the game than continuing it.
a number of things and characters are written up and implied to have more to do or say just to... not. maybe that's indicative of what gabry's actually writing about: the inevitableness of death, the way that those who have left us for the other side are always going to have unfinished business. that life itself is an ongoing story with no end in sight, until it simply does. death is a cornerstone in sal's life, something that defines him as much as he denies it. it's what makes sal a compelling protagonist, to be someone who fights despite his circumstances. seeing him grow into the person he does is part of the journey, if not the whole journey.
it's not really just that potential was wasted here. it was tossed aside, forgotten and ignored for a number of references that no one really wanted. sally face, just before the finish line, forgot what was fun about itself. it traded the fun of ghost hunting and mystery solving for straight cult horror and action, neither of which were pulled off well, in truth, and i knew this from the first scene. the mystery was always fun, but when it was solved with a blaze of glory, it lost all the charm.
maybe the reason you don't see sally face merchandise in hot topic is less because people lost interest in it. maybe it's more likely that the game is actually more similar to the mall store giant; it started out with a macabre niche that it filled nicely only to collapse under the weight of the things it kept trying to carry and sloughing them off, one by one, to make room just for the pop culture references it was desperate to make.
just watch the evil dead.
Deadly Premonition
2010
Deadly premonition is horrible.
The graphics suck, the animations suck, the audio editing sucks, the sound mixing sucks, the voice acting sucks, the textures sucks, the controls suck, the camera SUCKS, the combat sucks and so on.
Basicailly every technical aspect of this game except for the OST itself has been fucked up beyond belief.
And it's also one of the best horror games ever because of it's engrossing story, magnetic characters, sublime protagonist and unrelenting horror atmosphere.
And these positives utterly obliterate the legendarily bad technical execution.
Deadly Premonition is still an absolute masterpiece. The worst masterpiece of all time, but a masterpiece nonetheless.
The graphics suck, the animations suck, the audio editing sucks, the sound mixing sucks, the voice acting sucks, the textures sucks, the controls suck, the camera SUCKS, the combat sucks and so on.
Basicailly every technical aspect of this game except for the OST itself has been fucked up beyond belief.
And it's also one of the best horror games ever because of it's engrossing story, magnetic characters, sublime protagonist and unrelenting horror atmosphere.
And these positives utterly obliterate the legendarily bad technical execution.
Deadly Premonition is still an absolute masterpiece. The worst masterpiece of all time, but a masterpiece nonetheless.
Sally Face
2016
MAJOR TW [racism, mentions of cults and sacrifices, f slur, p slur]
I absolutely loved this game up until episodes 4 and 5, there's no arguing about it this game is irredeemable. I wish more people talked about it because before playing I looked very thoroughly to see if it had any issues and not a single person mentioned anything about 4 and 5, I'm ashamed that I even put hours into this game. In episode 4 the character Travis is introduced and the first couple minutes into meeting him he says the f slur, (he is gay but the fact that the cishet creator included that is really iffy) everything about how Travis was handled is just very strange to me. Episode 5 is honestly one of the worst things I've ever experienced, not only is the gameplay terrible there's also use of the p slur and racism towards black and indigenous people. Towards the end of the game the whole plot changes, it went from paranormal investigations to a cult run by indigenous people. As if them demonizing indigenous people wasn't already disgusting enough, they decided to kiII both of the black characters in a sacrifice. in conclusion I hate Steve Gabry he's a disgusting person and I genuinely cant believe people still support him and this game.
I absolutely loved this game up until episodes 4 and 5, there's no arguing about it this game is irredeemable. I wish more people talked about it because before playing I looked very thoroughly to see if it had any issues and not a single person mentioned anything about 4 and 5, I'm ashamed that I even put hours into this game. In episode 4 the character Travis is introduced and the first couple minutes into meeting him he says the f slur, (he is gay but the fact that the cishet creator included that is really iffy) everything about how Travis was handled is just very strange to me. Episode 5 is honestly one of the worst things I've ever experienced, not only is the gameplay terrible there's also use of the p slur and racism towards black and indigenous people. Towards the end of the game the whole plot changes, it went from paranormal investigations to a cult run by indigenous people. As if them demonizing indigenous people wasn't already disgusting enough, they decided to kiII both of the black characters in a sacrifice. in conclusion I hate Steve Gabry he's a disgusting person and I genuinely cant believe people still support him and this game.