Recent reviews by mdqp

I'll keep this short. This is a game in the vein of Animal Crossing (I haven't played it, but I am familiar with the idea). If you think you'd have fun completing small incremental tasks to revive a magical town filled with iconic characters from various Disney worlds, than this game truly delivers.

Farming, mining, fishing and interacting with the various inhabitants of the town is simple, yet fun. Seeing the town bloom under your care is fulfilling, and the cute tone of the game is relaxing. There is a lot to see and find, and the artstyle is quite fitting, in my opinion. Perhaps the game could let us have a slightly larger inventory from the get go, given how easily it fills up, but other than that, everything in the game feels satisfying.

The game benefits a great deal from having well-established characters, as it doesn't require as much characterization to take place. This might be a negative if you are completely unfamiliar with the Disney characters, but even then I think their archetypal nature manages to give them enough personality to work just fine.

The game isn't a full-priced release, and this (together with the early access) shows in some minor aspects here and there (NPCs getting stuck every now and then is probably the most common issue, and the fact that there isn't a lot of voice acting betrays a limited budget), but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun for my entire run so far. I am far from finishing the game, so my opinion is still incomplete, but I am confident this is a great game for its target audience.

The Book of Unwritten Tales is a classic point-and-click adventure, and a truly solid one at that. The game has lots of charm, the story walks a fine line between classic fantasy and a more comedic approach. The writing is slightly too self-aware at times, but it's not overdone and as someone who usually dislikes it, I can say it was done with humour and moderation. The writing doesn't try to crack jokes every 5 seconds, but it managed to put a smile on my face for most of my playthrough.

Visually, the 3D pre-rendered (I assume) environments are gorgeous, and while the 3D models of the characters are a bit funky (especially during some of the more unfortunate animations), they too have charm, with enough detail and mostly inspired art direction. The music is a nice fit, and there are some good tracks in the game, rounding up an already positive presentation.

The gameplay is as standard point-and-click as it gets, without missing a few quality of life features (once you exhaust all interactions, hotspots become inactive, and you can highlight all hotspots by holding down the space button). Standard things like subtitles (although they are not there for the few videos which feature dialogues, but you can go in the discussions to find videos you can use where I baked in the subtitles another user created) and being able to skip dialogue are also featured (only a handful of dialogues cannot be skipped). Most of the puzzles are classic, but on the easier side for this type of adventure, and you should be able to make it without ever getting stuck if you have some passing experience with the genre.

The story is standard, but it's enough tongue in cheek to give the whole plot personality and slight twists to remain enjoyable, if a bit predictable. The ending feels sadly a bit rushed, but it at least manages to wrap up the main "looming danger" before our heroes ride into the sunset. The characters you can play are all fun in their own ways, and our team of unlikely heroes truly managed to get me invested with their quirks. They feel very "genuine", for lack of a better word.

A truly nice game, which I found after experiencing a few disappointment in the genre, and as such it was very welcome. I recommend it to anyone who likes adventure games.

I am surprised such a gorgeous game came paired with such mediocre writing and gameplay. Not only is the english voice acting really bad (as in, it's hard to tell what emotion they are going for most of the time), the script is also a bit janky (probably a faulty translation). This still wouldn't be so bad, but the game has no idea what it wants to do for its themes and tone.

The music has this somber mood, the visuals also offer a similar feeling, but the puzzle and some of the dialogues are "comedic" nonsense from the very start. The inventory can't be interacted with (items are automatically used in the contextual menu when you interact with the environment), which makes the puzzles a rather uninvolved affair. Plus, there aren't good jokes to go with them (imagine, if you will, Monkey Island level of puzzles, but with mostly serious dialogues and deliveries). You get a grounded plot at the start (someone stole your papers, you are a physicist), with some mystery and "spooky" elements attached, but nothing in this fits the crazy logic attached to the rather bad gameplay. The dialogues range wildly from silly to serious and "normal", making it hard to characterize any of the actors of the narrative.

I have played about 1 hour overall, finishing chapter 1, and I can't take this anymore already. I generally don't leave reviews without having played more, but this is torture. By the way, you move slowly and since clicking anything brings up a contextual menu with 4 options, the gameplay is slower than it has any right to be, without being funny enough to compensate, at least.

As the title flat out states, this is a classic 2d metroidvania, and an enjoyable one at that. The presentation is very nice, with great animations for the pixel art, and a good soundtrack to go with it. The gameplay is also well-done, with just a handful of issues here and there. The game is not as responsive as it could be when it comes to shooting arrows and then sliding to avoid damage, or switching between the two spirits you have to use the different moves/properties they have, for example. You get nice (if a bit simple) mobility upgrades as you progress, and your movement speed hits a sweet spot from the start, turning the exploration of the map into an enjoyable affair. You get a decent array of spells, although some are much more practical than others. The weapon selection is perhaps a bit too limited, however, if not in number, at least in functionality, with too many similar melee options.

As mentioned before, the game is extremely easy, and I think I got everything there was to find in 6 hours. Then again, this isn't a 60 dollars release, and the easy difficulty at least doesn't hinder the pacing of the completion. If you are a fan of the genre, definitely give it a go, and it might even be a good entry point for newcomers, assuming these flaws aren't discouraging.

Whispers of a Machine is point and click adventure, with a few twists as far as the gameplay goes (the ability of our character of using super human abilities thanks to what boils down to "cybernetic magic"). Sadly, the game stumbles in the last quarter (the game is about 4 hours long, by the way). What starts as an intriguing murder mystery in a future semi-dystopia becomes a thematically weird adventure about shallow themes on the implications of an AI singularity and what are we willing to do for our departed loved ones (yeah, it's as mismatched as it sounds). The game doesn't do enough to provide us with the necessary information about what that choice would mean in the game's world, so it all feels a bit shallow (especially since we have a few possible endings).

It's a pity, because the investigation is nice (if a bit too easy) and the world building is interesting in more than a few areas (but it's sadly underdeveloped). On the other hand, we get some "temporary cutscene stupidity" to justify putting us in a tough spot, and sadly we don't get enough time to develop the characters at all (not even the protagonist, I would argue).

The gameplay is nice and easy, for the most part, the graphics are the good kind of pixel art, and the music gets the job done. Some puzzles are genuinely nice. Negative notes are the inability to save whenever you want (I guess to keep you from experimenting with the various choices, which I find a rather unhappy design decision), with the game auto-saving pretty much constantly, and more than a few "busywork" puzzles, which are devoid of challenge or interesting interactions/comedy/whatever. The UI is fine, although I sorely miss games which use at least left and right click, to differentiate between observing and interacting. This one uses a one button does it all approach, and at times you'll get unexpected actions by the protagonist.

This is one of those games that would be a 6 out of 10 for me, but given Steam's system, I feel I should give it the thumb down. It seems overrated and it's hard to recommend a game that lets you down so much in the last stretch. If you don't care too much about thematic and logical consistency, you might enjoy this game, despite my qualms with it.

Anyone who tells you this game is GOOD, is either lying or is incapable of critical thought. The game has some design choices and limitations which would have been archaic in the early 90s.

The gimmick of the point-and-click interface is completely useless as it is implemented. 95% of the times, you want to interact with what's right ahead of you, and the remaining 5% doesn't justify making everything else clunky (it also could have been limited to the first person mode, which you unlock around the halfway point, saving the user experience). Said first person mode locks you on the spot, makes it unable to attack, and is mandatory in at least one fight which also has enemies spawning left and right.

You can get your inventory (limited to 8 slots) filled with ease. Items of the same kind don't stack, and you never get a chance to drop them in a box or something (you HAVE to use them, if you need space to pick a key item). The game uses a saving system similar to old Resident Evil games, requiring you to spend a "save token" to save your progress. These will swarm your inventory, unless you save every 10-15 minutes.

If you interact with the rare notes, books or anything else, you never have a way to turn back a page (and in a puzzle with 3 grandfather clocks, if you make a mistake you'll have to change the clock time taking the longest route possible as a result).

The game has no quit button in-game, so when you want to exit you either kill yourself (since the main screen does have a quit button), or you alt+F4. The game also has no pause button (but you can click on your character to show the controls, which pauses the game, and actually I think clicking on anything keeps you safe until you make the message disappear). Finally, the game is boxed in a tiny portion of the screen (you can check the screenshots, to see how the inventory is always on screen, and it also has bars on each side).

Combat is clunky in its own right. You can learn how to be careful, and take little to no damage, but from time to time you'll get an enemy spawn almost right on top of you, or will chuck a rock or some other ranged attack from off screen (near the end, you also get spawns all around you, making it easy to eat a stray attack). The bosses would be fine, but they could honestly have half the health and you'd get a better experience (they are a bit simple, and once you know what to do, you can run circles around them). Still, they are the highlight and provide an interesting challenge. For the rest, enemies constantly respawn, making traversing the maps more of a pain, than a challenge. Admittedly, I think there is some way to upgrade your weapons, so maybe that would make things smoother, but I finished the game without finding the way to do so.

This game has some limited backtracking. It's of the bad kind, which doesn't make you unlock significant new areas, nor lets you play around with some new abilities you unlocked in the meantim, with the exception of the first person view (which arguably should have been there since the beginning).

A good chunk of the puzzles are pick the key/use the key, and a few others are just busywork. BUT! There are also a few good ones, which help the gameplay reach an overall "decent" score.

The story is okay. It manages to have enough twists and turns for how short it is. It's not memorable or even completely surprising, but it's good fun.

The graphics once again hit a weird mix. I'd say they are what a playstation 1.5 would put out if such a thing existed.

So, why do I stil l recommend it? The game has a very nice soundtrack, and the atmosphere is just perfect, in my opinion. It manages to capture the creepy vibe you'd expect from a horror story like this one. The game is not scary, but being creepy is all it needs. The mansion is the best part, which also offers the best puzzles and exploration (as limited as it is). The characters are simple, but work well for their intended roles. The game is fairly short (it took me a little over 4 hours, and I bet most won't take more than 5 to beat it, unless they get stuck on one of the few "real" puzzles), so at least it doesn't overstay its welcome (although it has the gall to re-use its first two bosses at one point).

If you want a creepy retro game and you are interested in the japanese setting (demons and all), then this fits the bill. It's a bit like the PS1 Clock Tower game, with that one being scarier, much uglier and a bit more competent than this.

Gleaner Height promises a mystery, but the way it's delivered is so lacking it almost brings down the rest of the game. First of all, there is very little content to the main story. We are talking about a handful of cutscenes and locations directly related to it, and not many more dialogues or hints to it scattered in the interactions with the inhabitants of Gleaner Heights.

The way to progress through it is mostly easy to find, but it also feels stilted. To take a story seriously, you want some pacing to it, and Gleaner Heights does not deliver on that front. You'll be doing your own thing 99% of the time, and every now and then stumble on the next thing that moves the plot forward, before stopping again.

So, the main story is short and delivered poorly, but what about the mature, side content? It's mostly small scenes triggered in cryptic ways that bring the atmosphere down, revealing small or big flaws in the way the villagers conduct their lives (quite a few should end up with the perpetrators in jail, by the way). All of this is usually quickly waved away by the game, unable to give the proper attention to its own stories, and moving on with its cheerful mood for the most part.

The majority of your time, you'll be having fun farming and tending to the animals (which is done well, with the exception of how fences are handled, since you can't add doors nor can you build the fences around the pre-positioned barn and coop, meaning that you have to manually take your animals to a fenced area, if that's what you want). It works as you'd expect for the genre, and clearing up your field and planning which crops to buy never gets old.

You might also want to be bored out of your mind with the mines (every floor is randomly generated and NEVER stored, meaning that going up and down the same ladder takes you to different areas every time). You break the walls with the hammer, and you have a random chance at a drop. This means that if you don't exploit the random generation, you can very well spend all of your stamina and get back nothing of value for it (also, the stair to the floor below is sometimes hidden in the walls, and you need to unlock a perk just to get a hint as to where it's hidden). If you exploit the random generation, instead, you'll waste a lot of time, but are guaranteed a haul that can break the game's economy. Either way, they are terribly designed.

Fishing is simple, but fun (just wait for the fish to bite and pull it back with a single button press), and giving gifts to people, partecipating to events and so on also works well (although the amount of dialogues the characters have is a bit too limited/repetitive).

There are other things to do, but many are just nice (fighting isn't very complicated, and you can unlock diving underwater later on in the game, but it's basically just a new area to explore once), without offering enough to do or being intricate/difficult enough.

Ultimately, the thing that sets it apart from the other games in the genre is a bad fit for this type of game. I don't know how many people want to farm into a cold, unforgiving setting... When it remembers to be dark. Most importantly, this could have still worked if they had at least delivered the story appropriately, with a good build up, taking their time to ramp things up (and perhaps toning down the "every neighbour is a terrible person" nihilistic shtick, which doesn't help getting invested at all), but they treat it like the small vignette which are common in the genre, but which can't work when you have a serious story to tell (instead of having cute/touching moments). Heck, maybe at least having the characters more fleshed out, could have granted enough investment into them to save the story from its own limits. Alas, none of this is true.

There are some minor graphical glitches and the controls could be better designed, but as I said at the beginning, the farming, which is the core works fairly well. Not earth-shattering, but it's plenty of fun. The support around it, however, is not, and you'll be asking yourself "why am I doing this?" faster than in any other games.

I also managed to wrap the main story up halfway through the first year (I did end up exploiting the mines, which makes the game too easy, but even without it, I am sure I could have done the same with an extra month), so I can't stress enough just how little there is to the main story.

I am tempted to recommend people who buy the game to NOT follow the main story, and just relax farming. I hear you'll be hit with a nasty surprise (story-wise) at the end of the second year, but at least you won't waste time expecting a good story to come together out of the disjointed pieces you get.

The game also has a nice soundtrack, so there is that.

I am very conflicted with this one. I will still recommend it, despite its shortcomings, but I wish I could give it a sideway thumb.

This is an embarrassing step back from RE2 and the original RE3. As many reviews mention, the amount of cut content is staggering, but the biggest problem is that what's there is either bad or mediocre. The storyline and dialogues are aggressively bad. Sure, the original trilogy had plenty of cheesy dialogues, but they got all the story-telling beats right, while this one makes everyone sound both whiny and overwhelmingly smug at the same time, and rushes you through the story from beginning to end.

Most of it is incredibly linear. The starting area is the most open part, and it's still tiny and extremely gated. For some reason, a large percentage of items are inside "piñata crates", which only serve the purpose of wasting a bullet if you don't carry the knife with you. You will swim in ammo, and the game fails to have any atmosphere (and uses "scary violins" to an eccessive degree, where are good soundtracks these days?).

There are too many dialogues and cutscenes, which often repeat the same themes or info (I can't believe how many times Jill is chased in a cutscene full of explosions and falls, seems like Uncharted or modern Tomb Raider). Everything is spoon-fed to you.

Combat is also atrocious. The Nemesis has a few attacks that can stun-lock you to death (giving you only a fraction of a second to open the menu, which means you'll probably mash, open and then instantly close the menu, and then die). Particularly fun is if there are zombies around and you get hit, shoved into a bite, and hit again during the bite animation, killing you (3 hits is usually all it takes to kill you).

The dodge is spotty, and inconsistent, outside of the Nemesis. Many enemies either run or teleport when you aren't looking at them, covering distances that are simply impossible with their usual meandering.

I could go on and on, but at this point I am too disappointed to care. RE2 remake had its issues, but at least it was enjoyable, here dying for a minor mistake is the norm, you are pitted against zombies in large areas (which does them no favors), and everything generally feels clunky and uninspired. As soon as they stray more from the originals, it becomes evident that Capcom has no idea of what to do to make a good survival horror.

Ultionus is an action-platformer, styled after games from the 8-bit era, as far as its gameplay goes. It does present some deliberate limitations people might find annoying (like being unable to move and attack at the same time, the limited fire rate or the slow movement), but if you accept the game's design instead of fighting it, you get a pretty fun platformer, actually. If you embrace the limits, and focus more on movement and dodging before killing your enemies (which sadly respawn forever from the edge of the screen or from specific spawn points for small flying enemies), things also become much easier (the game can feel pretty hard at a first impact, but it's not too tough to master, thanks to its simple nature).

The game also contains some secrets, which are necessary to get the best ending and also unlock improvements for your attack and defense. The attack improvements solve some of the limitations (like fire rate) someone might have and make the experience easier (although you can unlock said improvement only after a few stages).

The game might need a few tries for players to locate these secrets (and you need to spend your points to unlock the upgrades) so I should probably recommend to make a couple runs to explore the various areas, before trying to complete the game in one sitting from the start (to accumulate the points). The upgrades aren't required, but they make for a much easier experience, and you need to find certain locations to unlock the best ending (as mentioned before).

The bosses are really fun, although they too can be hard the first time around when you don't know their pattern (another reason to go for a "trial run" before the actual attempt to finish the game).

The graphics, look more like 16-bit (the pixel art is quite gorgeous, in my opinion) and the music is also well-done (if you can appreciate retro, I think the overall presentation is quite well done).

There is very little story, and what's there is a little weird. You go on a rampage just because you want to punish an internet troll, who turns out to be the planet's prince, so it all ends in a chase by the local authorities and a fight with the prince's giant mech. Kind of funny but stupid at the same time, is the best way to describe it. Since the game doesn't focus much on it, however, it's not detrimental to the experience.

The game is painfully short (It took me less than 2 hours to get the best ending on normal difficulty and get a few achievements), but at least it doesn't overstay its welcome. Overall it was a nice surprise and I can recommend the game, especially those who don't mind slower platformers a bit on the hard side.

It's a very simple, yet satisfying game where you set out to to be the "Merchant of the Skies" in the title. You slowly unveil more and more of the map, discovering islands, learning trade routes and meeting some of the unique creatures inhabiting this world. You can eventually buy your own islands, extract resources and even refine them into more valuable (but harder to sell) products.

The visual presentation is very nice if you can appreciate 2D pixel art, and the music is nice as well (you might hear the same tunes a bit too often in the long run, however).

The gameplay is simple and relaxing. It might be considered too easy (with no combat, the only risk is running out of fuel and money, and you must be very reckless to do so), but at least there are already enough choices and goals to keep you busy for a while, if you dig the gameplay loop of buying low selling high, upgrading your ship and so on.

It's still in early access at the moment (december 2019), and it seems like the devs want to add more content to it, which should make the game even more fun (the UI already improved quite a bit with one of the updates, so they are willing to put in the effort).

All in all, don't expect an in-depth commerce simulation, but rather a "cute", polished game to play at your own pace. The lack of challenge might be a turn-off for some, but it's a nice game to unwind with while still offering something to those who like the genre.