Скорошни рецензии на Serotoninphobe

Speaking of production value, Viscera Cleanup Detail is undeniably a complete trash, the fact that it is also a game about dealing with trashes doesn’t make it any better. Every element that defines a trash game is all gathered in this sorry title: clumsy control, amateur UI design, goofy physics, cheesy visual style, eye-burning color palette, cheap gore effects, and bad jokes – you name it. Yet… I am still giving it a thumb up, why? Furthermore, I am not just willingly do so, but also obliged to recommend it, because I owed it one.

Many positive reviews here were taking Viscera Cleanup Detail as some kind of meme, which is something I’d like to clarify: besides the obvious fact that it is a feast for memesters and streamers, Viscera Cleanup Detail is also of invaluable and irreplaceable practical use, for certain groups of audience.

For people suffering from mysophobia and OCD, Viscear Cleanup Detail provides us a clean way to fulfil our psychological needs. No doubt we enjoy the addicting sense of accomplishment and fulfilment after getting the once-messy situation sorted out (lowing the Entropy to save the universe from heat death, basically doing God’s work), however, it is not something we can experience very often, since we tend to keep our surroundings under control on a daily basis. Besides, we can’t just mess up our surroundings beforehand only to experience what’s after, nah… the misery is way too much this way: we do what we do not for the after feeling, instead, we do it primarily for avoiding the misery caused by untidiness.

Nonetheless, the after-sense of accomplishment and fulfilment is not something one can easily walk away from, this is where Viscear Cleanup Detail fits in: a simulated alternative medicine to soothe and maintain neat freak’s addiction of the aforementioned after feelings, without getting the hands dirty.

In addition to that, Viscera Cleanup Detail does have another practical use.

On the day my best friend, also the other half of my creator duo died, I accidentally stumbled upon this Viscera Cleanup Detail in my library, out of no reason I just kept playing it day and night, to a point that the whole universe is just me and the mop in my hands, nothing else exists. It’s ironic how the state of Zen was most accurately conveyed in video games through this gore and bloody title. Anyhow, with the help of Viscera Cleanup Detail, I overcame the hardest time in my life so far, I owe it my ultimate gratitude.

Don’t believe the saying that time heals all wounds, it doesn’t. You just get yourself occupied and try your best not to think about it, but considering the state of mind at the time, which probably wouldn’t be able to handle anything elaborate, mundane tasks like cleaning and arranging might be your best bet, which is exactly what Viscera Cleanup Detail is about.

Therefore, if you need some mundane tasks to get yourself occupied in order to escape from whatever hardship you are going through at the moment, Viscera Cleanup Detail might be a viable solution.

If Gautama Buddha were to develop a puzzle platformer depicting his journey to enlightenment, what would it be like?

Since Gautama Buddha died in c. 483 BC and did not live to see the era of digitization, The Floor is Jelly is probably your closest bet.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. And I’ve played and finished Steven’s Sausage Roll, now what else has life got to offer? I highly doubt it…

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As a player, Steven’s Sausage Roll gives me existential crisis (literally not metaphorically), I kept dwelling on the thought of whether would it be possible for me to encounter another puzzle game that’s half as good as this Sausage Roll in the rest of my life, at least in the foreseeable future, the possibility is rather remote. For a puzzle enthusiast, this is really dreadful.

So here comes the only suggestion this pointless review is gonna offer, to prevent you from making the same mistake as I did: If you do enjoy puzzle games and wish to extend your happy hour with this genre in general, you may want to consider postponing your first contact with Steven’s Sausage Roll indefinitely. Otherwise, many other puzzle games you used to enjoy would either feel like chewing cardboard or simply child’s play. Embrace Steven’s Sausage Roll only when you’re ready, ready to venture into the end of the world, the end of space and time, that kind of ready.

I’m not saying that Steven’s Sausage Roll is the hardest puzzle game I have played, considering how players these days mistakenly value difficulty over quality, especially within the puzzle genre. No, I have played harder ones, but never have played any puzzle this ingeniously and sophisticatedly made.

Thus, as a creator myself, I am completely overwhelmed by the shadow it cast. Its total supremacy was like an unspeakable existence that you can never imagine yourself to surpass or even come close with, even if exhausting a lifetime of effort. Yet, it still exists there, silently and solemnly, like the Mount Everest, to frustrate you, to defeat you, to deprive you of all hope! And yet in the end, to motivate you…

Anyhow, its otherworldly excellence has far exceeded my verbal skill, I’ll have to conclude this pointless review with this crude statement:

Every spoiled teenager tends to fancy themselves as revolutionist or activist (or anarchist, any title that sounds rebel fits here), wearing slogan t-shirt, participating in anti-fur parade for Tuesday and anti-communist parade for Wednesday, rock n roll never dies, hashtag YOLO hashtag, anti-everything 24/7.

But an unfortunate truth is that most of them either lack a reasonable manifesto to guide their boycott, or lack an executable methodology to pave the road. What’s even worse is that they don’t really care or aware of the things they are against with, the reasons why they are doing so, and the goals that can be achieved by doing so. No, none of these matters except one thing: the adrenalin stimulating activity of anti-something itself. Thus, all they essentially need are loud, swashbuckling slogans to conceal the inner emptiness.

POP: Methodology Experiment One was like that spoiled teenager, swashbuckling with only seizure-triggering imagery, filling every corner of the screen with flashy rainbow palette.

Playing POP: Methodology Experiment One is a surreal experience, it makes me feel like I’m watching a muted music video. What’s harder to tell is that whether it was muted or intentionally made so: you can see characters energetically dancing, moving around with their mouths open and close while bizarre visuals shifting shapes constantly as if trying to deliver some deliberate messages, but suffice it to say that no sounds were coming out. Accordingly, all you can do is make up your own faux comprehension through lip reading.

Have they lost their voice? Have they forgotten the lyrics? Have my speakers blown? Have I lost my hearing? Have I lost my mind? Mystery slowly shrouds you over.

The influence of some early avant-garde works such as Deus Ex Machina (Mel Croucher, 1984) is ubiquitous in POP: Methodology Experiment One, especially the framework: a montage of a series of obscure minigames revolves around the soundtrack akin to an interactive music album. The progress moves forward despite win or lose, and a scoreboard that serves no purpose will be displayed at the end of game (just to add more sense of video game to it, I presume). It’s just that Deus Ex Machina did it much better back in 30 years ago.

The context and aesthetic in POP: Methodology Experiment One is incoherent at its best and simply lame at its worst. The soundtrack is OK on its own, but doesn’t fit into the rest of the game at all except the opening title track. However, what truly separates POP: Methodology Experiment One from its influential predecessors is the absence of self-interpretation.

Scaling and rotating pseudo-pixelated sprites in a vectorial manner is a crime.

According to Wikipedia,

“An experiment is a procedure carried out to support, refute, or validate a hypothesis. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated. Experiments vary greatly in goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results.”

What we can conclude from this definition is that a proper experimentation requires at least: a purpose (which is to support, refute, or validate a hypothesis), a systematic methodology, a trial-and-error dynamic procedure, and a postmortem.

Back to the case of POP: Methodology Experiment One, excluding the postmortem part which is likely done behind the scene, the other three keywords are utterly missing in its structure as afore-discussed. Therefore, despite the fact that both the words “methodology” and “experiment” are presented in the title, POP: Methodology Experiment One fails to stand up to its name. On a personal note, its purpose might as well be to deceive the audience into thinking it as experimentation or art. Ultimately, insincerity is the word.


"Kitsch" might be the best footnote defining POP: Methodology Experiment One. Be it in a good way or bad way? That’s up to you to judge.

It was like watching a nonexistent low budget Philip K.Dic* movie on a heavily damaged VHS mixtape in the midst of a bad trip, while onboard a sinking cruise ship caught by a category 5 hurricane, inside of a folding dimension that is approaching the heat death of the universe.

I have never expected a runner game to be this emotionally evoking.

A narrator with synthetic voice apathetically repeats ironically poetic phrases, with retrofuturistic symbols of the 80s overwhelm the screen. Accompanied by 80s cheesy yet catchy synth-pop tracks while playing the role of a “simplest office clerk” in a totalitarian setting. Indeed, this game is literally a visualization of Radiohead’s Fitter Happier. Since Fitter Happier is one of my all-time favorites, I fall in love easily with this game.

However - there is always this however - my honeymoon with it ends in less than one hour, ever since the moment all the fascinating voice-over, visual and soundtracks faded away in my senses, leaving nothing but the never-ending path in my tunnel vision; the moment a somehow expressive and sentimental experience took a sudden turn into a tediously hard quicktime reaction and muscle memory grind, where the difficulty does not come from well-designed challenges, but from irresponsibly clumsy mechanics.

I will explain the reason of choosing the rather uncommon word “irresponsibly” (in terms of video game review) in following sections. But first to clarify, I beat the game in 4 hours, which is far below the average completion time according to online statistics, to say the least, it proves that difficulty is not the major reason that prevented me from enjoying the game.

People tend to use the term “with rough edges” when reviewing indie titles. Like I mentioned in my other reviews, I do also prefer flawed but unique games rather than perfectly polished indistinguishable titles, for flaw and weakness is what really defines one’s personality. However, the roughness of NO THING has way exceeded my tolerance threshold for rough edges, it’s more like a sea urchin whose only smooth spot is hidden deeply underneath.

The level design starts reasonable, but gets increasingly random and messy as you progress. First we got this level 7, where you need to run through an extra-long sequence of extra-narrow platforms which are only half the width of normal ones with lighting speed (speed increases every time you take a turn), for 5 laps! More than half of my playtime was spent on this single level. After this cursed level is conquered, we got two of the easiest levels as level 8 and level 9, and the chaos eventually reaches its climax at level 10. It’s as if the developers finally ran out of all patience, and decided to just drop a bunch of platforms randomly into the space, then only made a little effort to get them connected somehow and call it a level. At the second half of level 10, none of the platforms are properly positioned and aligned (in any of the three axis!), which leads to unforeseeable gap or altitude offset everywhere. Since you don’t have the liberty to jump in this game, it means you’ll easily get stuck or launched sky-high at any time. BUT WHY???

It results from another disastrous design choice. The developers used Unity’s default physics engine based first person controller in full-scale without any optimization to handle such simple movement mechanism of this game. Player-wise, it means the “simplest office clerk” you control is actually a “capsule shaped rigidbody” which indeed has feet of a hemisphere as the name suggests, thus, thanks to the physics engine, any protrusion on the ground will easily launch you sky-high. Since there are barely any platforms that are seamlessly aligned like aforementioned, you’ll get high all the time, so dope. Now move on to the most ridiculous one, if you fall into one of the larger gaps between platforms, guess what will happen? Falling down? No! you’ll stuck there once the vertical part of your capsule body touches any vertical side of the platform, because of the existence of friction in the physics engine which the developers forgot (or never realized) to disable.

The point of listing all those defects in details, is to shed a light on the fact that none of these problems is that technically difficult for a responsible developer to fix. Therefore, all the confusion and misery caused thereby is per se a result of irresponsibility rather than inability. That, is an unforgivable sin of indie developer.


Now, let's step back and take a look at the bigger picture, NO THING is just another victim of the haunting dilemma that got tons other indie games as well: The symptoms including but not limited to:

• Ignorant/Unconfident about the strongest forte of the game (which is the unique aesthetic, in NO THING’s case), so instead of pushing this particular forte to its maximum, they distributed their resource evenly to all aspects. Due to the nature of limited resource as indie developer, most of the time, it ended up evenly mediocre.
  
  
• Keep adding new features they don’t really comprehend of as a last resort to boost gameplay, but none of the newly added features has been properly deepened, as a result, turned the game into a bloated Frankenstein.

Such as the speed boosting/decreasing pickup in NO THING, which has been dropped at its most primeval state that is no better than nonexistent due to its extremely limited effect. Only in two scenarios of the entire game I can notice its existence that is level 7 and 9. If ever they could recalculate the extent of its effect and introduce more alternative paths to the level layout, a layer of resource management could be easily added atop the uninspiring routine of its gameplay, a game altering difference could be made thereby.

• Compromising in every way in attempt to satisfy all groups of player. They’re either too afraid of being criticized by conventional gamers as lacking of engagement and “gameplay” (quote gesture here), thus turned to raise artificial difficulty through brutally messing with parameters and death penalty and stuff. Or going totally opposite, afraid of being too hard or “gamey” for the art lovers, hence essentially making the whole game into a never-ending tutorial or preschool education program.

As of NO THING, the inhumanly artificial difficulty is presumably a result of some unilateral playtesting sessions. Nevertheless, it can still be simply corrected by reducing the increment of speed per turn and shorting the length of some levels, but they never give it a second try. Moreover, for whatever reason, the developer didn’t even round up the value of speed to a certain decimal place, leaving the number bouncing left and right on the interface constantly, showing stuff like 2.599999 or just 1.85 … sigh


The list can still go on a few more, but the rest is not within the scope of this review, so I’ll just stop it here to conclude this review by answering the question you might be having the whole time: Why give it an upvote since all I do is keep talking about its negatives? The answer lies in the one-of-a-kind memorable experience NO THING provides, especially if you’re into cult classic sort of works, you might even find it enjoyable, but for how long? That’s totally depends on your patience and tolerance level. NO THING is irrefutably a bad game in all standards, however, the irreplaceable temperament it has, in my book, means much more than most good yet replaceable titles out there these days.

You are in front of a mathematics test paper, taking an examination. A seemingly impossible fill-in-the-blank question has bugged you for a long time, you realize that with the given conditions, even if you exhausted all methods you have learned so far, it is still far from solvable. The clock is ticking, you fall in despair.

Unexpectedly, a wind blows the paper onto the floor. While picking it up, you notice a semicircular coffee cup stain on the back of the paper, which makes up a perfect circle with the organic pattern of the marble tile on the floor. Circle was reminiscent of the sun, you stare into the sun outside the window, have your faith replenished, partly.

Through a mere reflection on the glass facade of the opposite building, your split vision lands on the apple tree on the playground. It is an apple tree with birds on its branches: a pigeon, a sparrow and a crow. That is, three birds in total, you ponder.

Three, was reminiscent of triangle; Triangle symbolizes the Illuminati; Illuminati was founded in 1776 at Bavaria, Germany. Wait a second, the country code for Germany is …... 49!

A sense of epiphany overwhelms your mind, you know you have made it. You write the answer 49 onto the paper, with a contented smile on your face.

This, is what I define as a "Hidden Gem". By 8th Jan 2016, the game only received 150+ reviews on steam, which is far from a satisfactory number compared to its excellence. What a Pity.

The game, TRI: Of Friendship and Madness, is possibly the best First Person Puzzler I have played in 5 years (since Portal 2). Of course, as to artistic merit (which is clearly not the main focus of this game anyway), this game falls far behind titles like Talos Principle or Antichamber. However, when it comes to gameplay, especially level design, this game is definitely among the best ones in the category.

Like every other hidden gems, this game is flawed, every outstanding aspect of the game, is accompanied by something not properly done which I'll break into details in the following paragraphs. Nonetheless, as I always believe, with flaws come the personality and sincerity, which are the criterions I used to define good works.


【Mechanism】

Goods: The core mechanism and most puzzles are cleverly designed, both logically and aesthetically. It's a rare one in the First Person Puzzler category that really nailed the 3D thinking, I mean, seriously into a 6DOF level. Let's take a look back, a sad fact is that a large portion of puzzles in other First Person Puzzlers can be easily recreated in a 2D format. (Yes, I'm specifically referring to the base game of Talos Principle here) But not in this game, the refreshing experience you would have when walking upside-down on the ceiling, is as inspiring as Portal provided years ago.

Bads: While the core mechanism gives you a large degree of freedom, it can also be easily exploited and overused. In more than one circumstance，I accidentally broke the puzzle with some tricky/cheaty methods, which I'm pretty sure is not the intended way. It might be welcomed by some players, but I personally do not like it. It's as if I broke the game along with its immersion and gaming context, which makes me feel retar*ed, especially after I discovered the legit way to solve it later on.


【Level Design】

Goods: Levels (after the first few ones) are huge and imaginative, full of secrets and alternative paths, the most important of all: WITHOUT ANY NAVIGATION ( or maybe a minimum amount of). This might sounds like a downside for modern gamers, but undoubtedly a diamond for nostalgic gamers like me. The game has all kinds of surprise in full stock waiting for you here and there , which simply gives you a sense of adventure and exploration, in your full control, unlike any other roller coaster experiences modern games would provide. It's hard not to relate this game to those old school classic FPS of the 90s with identical elements, such a sweet déjà vu.

Bads: Although I speak highly of its overall level design, the first few levels of the game are rather tedious and uninspiring, which I'm afraid is the major reason that prevented more people from knowing the game. But trust me, if you are patient enough to make it through the first quarter of the game, you will be amazed by how ambitious and imaginative the latter levels are.


【Sound Design】

Goods: Another thing worth mentioning is the soundtracks, which is definitely not the best but certainly among the most special tracks I have heard in video games. They are not those generic ambient/drone tracks you would normally expect in the puzzle game genre, but some world/tribal music instead. Some of them do also have an alienated context within that contributed greatly to the theme of the game.

Bads: But strangely, half the tracks end so suddenly with a harsh fadeout, almost feel like unfinished. And what's worse, is the vocal sound effects of the player controlled character, which is laughably bad. If by any luck the developers can read this, I seriously suggest you guys to take a second look on that. For it is, by far, the shortest plank of the game I can come up with.



So conclusively, if you're looking for an awe-inspiring experience and have enough patience and tolerance for those aformentioned flaws in the game, you would not regret to give it a try. Additionally, for achievement hunters out there like me, this is also a must-buy, for there is no grinding achievement at all but all gameplay boosters.

In one word to summarize this game, that is "inconsistent".
True, the game is supposed to be a psychological journey, so inconsistent seems to be an appropriate term in such case. However, the inconsistency is not in this manner but many other aspects instead.

Firstly, the graphics of this game is inconsistent (both qualitatively and stylistically): I ran the game at maximum video setting, so around 30% of the levels look rather appealing which match the quality of the screenshots displayed here. However, the rest are a huge disappointment: Poorly-rendered and lighted environments, Low-res and repetitive textures, unapt color palette. Some levels really brought me back to the 90s, reminded me of the Myst somehow (the original 1993 version rather than the remastered version). Yes, I'm talking about those forest and lakeside levels.

Secondly, the gameplay is inconsistent. Like most other psychological walking simulators out there, as if their developers aren't confident enought with their already-expressive (might as well be self-interpreting) works, always trying to make them more "playable" simply by adding out-of-place cheesy puzzles here and there. But to be honest, most of those puzzles are badly designed, and has nothing to do with neither the narrative nor the expression, which also pull you out of the immersion immediately.
I am excessively into hardcore puzzle game and pure walking simulator (such as Dear Esther), but the compromised hybrid between them? I've rarely seen any good one, and this game is definitely not one of them.

Last and most importantly, the whole "flow" in this game is inconsistent. All scenes and levels are so "isolated", there isn't a sheer connection between level and level. Conceptually, aesthetically, logically, visually, they are isolated in every aspect. Of course, someone might argue that this game is all about a subconscious struggle, so it should be in this inconsistent way, to which I'd like to object.

Designing video games, especially artistic games like what this one wanted to be, is more like formatting the design language in a proper and consistent manner, in order to "persuade" the audience to get into the creator's shoes.

However, with a shattered inconsistent language, this game is far from persuasive, but more like a rough patchwork putting together all scenes made in 3D modelling practices from a long time span (considering the large disparity in quality), then sewed up with an improvised storyline.

This could have be a thumb-up if the game was named "Casino Keeper" or "Clot-Machine Keeper", But sadly, it is not, so despite the fact that I invested 40 hours on this game already, I would seriously not recommend this game as a roguelike game. (Still an entertaining game though)

Many reviews here have related it to the Minesweeper, which is definitely incorrect. Now imaging a version of Minesweeper without the number tile to indicate the amount of surrounding mines, instead, you start with a certain amount of HP, while each click will deplete a small random amount of it, occasionally (also randomly), you will get your HP replenished. You just keep clicking randomly, until you have finally exhausted all HP or stepped on a mine. This, is basically a minimized model of what this game is about.
So, if it is Minesweeper you are looking for, go buy the Hexcells series, that's what a real "Enhanced Minesweeper" should be.

However, one thing is true, Runestone Keeper is quite an addictive game like everyone else has agreed here, but addiction is never the guarantee of a great video game as well.

As is gambling.

I had a fever for roguelike or roguelike-like or roguelite games - whatever you name it - (Just FYI, I have had 100% achievement completion of many other roguelite titles, which at least proves that the following opinions are not from a noob's perspective)
The charm of roguelite games, in my opinion, is how to improvise under different random scenarios (tough ones mostly), and overcome them with all the strategies and skills you have learned from countless previous failures.
Yes, death is everywhere in roguelite games, but in good roguelite games, every death can provides you a sense of improvement, you (as the player not your in-game character) will actually learn alot along with every death. New strategies, skills and tricks will be gradually learnt to overcome all those seemingly impossible situations generated by bad luck. You will realize that there are always multiple ways to avoid it after each death, it is yourself to be blamed instead of the RNG itself.
But such sense of improvement is absolutely absent in Runestone Keeper, and there are always more improperly designed mechanisms I'd like to blame than myself.

Now we are talking about Luck, of course luck is essentially involved in all roguelite games, so I tend to use a "Luck ration" when evaluating roguelite games, which is "How many percentages of luck will be needed for a decent play session (unnecessarily completed)".
In those best also the most well-known roguelite games, for example, The Binding of Isaac, Spelunky, Crypt of The Necrodancer, this “Luck ratio” is definitely lower than 20%, and that’s why it is even possible for skilled players to do a low% run in those titles.
Among those less good roguelite games, like Risk of Rain, this ration might be around 50%.
What’s the difference?
Firstly, for example, in The Binding of Isaac, even the most powerful items will turn into craps when combined with wrong ones, while items with negative effects can occasionally become totally overpowered when combined with the right ones. There isn’t an absolute good or bad item, they were just “different”. Oppositely, in Risk of Rain, there are only useless items, good items and awesome items, no strategy was involved in the decision, all you need to do was just stack more and more items as no bad consequence will result anyway.
Secondly, most random elements in The Binding of Isaac can be manipulated or influenced by player’s action, e.g. the spawn chance of demon room and angel room. Such sense of subjective manipulation is also absent in Risk of Rain.
That’s why I think The Binding of Isaac is a better game than The Risk of Rain, for it has two things that Risk of Rain doesn’t have: One is Strategy, including resource management, subjective manipulation on RNG etc. The other one is “Play Style”, which is also something fundamental in most classical action games, like Devil May Cry.

Well, let’s come back to Runestone Keeper, what’s the “Luck Ratio” in this case? More than 85% even conservatively estimated, I would say.
Strategies only play a very limited role in Runestone Keeper, and most of them were quite superficial and obvious that can easily be comprehended by any player in the first 2 hours.
After that, all you can do is just keep restarting again and again, until you’re finally lucky enough to grind out all the right combinations (equipment, items, traps and enemy settings) at the right times.
While bad luck only means a harder time in other roguelite games, it usually guarantees a certain death in this game. There was an excessive amount of unsolvable facepunching death trap in this game, Yes, I know, I know, they are still solvable somehow with either skill A or item B or equipment C or ABC combined, however, acquiring those ABC stuff (at the right time) requires nothing but sheer luck as well. And there is nothing you can actually do about its RNG besides praying.
A good game is all about experience, but the gaming experience provided by Runestone Keeper was consisted solely by three things: Praying – Clicking – Restarting
This is why I think this Runestone Keeper is more a gambling than a game. There is no doubt that gambling is still an addictive and engaging activity, but I don’t think anyone would agree that gambling is a good example for video game design except some mobile game developers.

So, as a conclusion: if you prefer gambling more than an actual game, and tend to rely more on your luck instead of skill, this Runestone Keeper might be your thing, otherwise, there were just way too many better titles in the roguelite category.