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[Vampire On Titus]

Welcome to the 2022 Adventure Games thread! This thread is a community for discussing all things pertaining to the adventure game genre. It also serves as a resource to keep track of the years latest releases, announcements, news, etc. 2021 was a year of ups and downs. While many in the community commented that it was a lacking year for bread and butter traditional adventures -- a few disappointing releases and many delays to blame for that -- the year was not all lost. Capcom finally got brought Shu Takumi's latest masterpiece(s) to the west with The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, and some indies and experimental titles like Road 96, The Forgotten City, The Captain and Genesis Noir managed to impress. Fingers crossed that 2022 is the year that several persistently pushed back titles finally see the light of day, given that we should have a well rounded year full of great games to play.

What are Adventure Games? - Adventure is a unique narrative gaming genre that consist of exploration, story and puzzle/problem solving. It is distinct from other genres in that the gameplay is narrative lead. Whereas, in a puzzle game, solutions are determined by logic that is independent of whatever narrative may exist (such as matching 3 colors or lining up shapes to create an image, etc), in an adventure game narrative context determines the correct solution. Drugging Elaine's pet poodles is the "correct" solution in The Secret of Monkey Island because of the scenario the game's narrative presents, without context from the story the gameplay couldn't function, likewise for presenting a particular piece of evidence to contradict a witness in Ace Attorney. As such, in adventure games, story and gameplay are intrinsically tied to one another more than other genres.

Due to this unique aspect of adventure game design, the genre is host to all sorts of unique stories and worlds that couldn't conform within the mold of other game genres. For this, as well as many other reasons, adventures have sustained a dedicated niche of gamers who play them for those unique experiences and unforgettable worlds.

Early Years - 70's ~ 80's
The genesis of adventure games was the text adventure. In recent years referred to as interactive fiction or "IF." These games contained no graphical element aside from text on a screen but nevertheless set the foundation of what the genre would later become. The genre's namesake is derived from "Colossal Cave Adventure," which released in 1976 and developed by Will Crowther. Players would explore locations, navigate mazes and solve puzzles by inputting commands into a text parser. The most notable developer of this era was Infocom. Which developed games like: "Zork," "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" and "Planetfall."

Graphical Years - 80's ~ 90's
Eventually computer technology would advance sufficiently to allow the genre's next leap. Legendary game developer, Roberta Williams, created the graphic adventure in 1980 with the release of "Mystery House." At the start, these games were still very similar to text adventures. Only now with an accompaniment of crude, static artwork to represent where you were and what you did. Williams, and her company Sierra, would innovate on this with their seminal "King's Quest" series. Which added player controlled movement and a more dynamic game world. In 1987 Ron Gilbert would popularize the influential point & click interface for graphic adventures with the early Lucas Arts classic "Maniac Mansion."

Golden Years - 90's ~ 00's
As technology continued the advance, allowing for a more sophisticated audio-visual experience, and developers like Lucas Arts and Sierra found their footing; adventure games entered a golden age of top quality releases. When most people think of "adventure games" chances are they're thinking of a title from this era. In 1990 LucasArts released The Secret of Monkey Island which to this day is still one of the most influential and highly revered games of all time. LucasArts would establish itself as the masters of the adventure genre through a string of classic releases like: "Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis," "Sam & Max: Hit The Road" and "Day of The Tentacle" just to name a few. Sierra would release many of it's most beloved and successful titles such as: "King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow," "Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and The Time Rippers" and "Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers."

Other prominent developers would also make notable contributions like Revolution Software's "Broken Sword" series and Infocom's "The Longest Journey." In addition to Seirra and LucasArts iterating on their formula, a lot of experimentation occurred during these years. In 1993 Cyan Worlds released "Myst." Its distinct visuals and narrative approach of exploring a mostly vacant world spawned a vast legion of imitators. Myst would go on to become the highest selling PC game of all time until being surpassed by The Sims in 2002. However, not all experiments yielded positive results. At the end of the 90's more developers were focusing on fleeting trends like FMV and struggling with early 3D development. This would set the stage for the next period of the genre's history.

Dead Years - 00's ~ 10's
In the late 90's many developers, in attempt to keep pace with the ever increasing technical fidelity of ascendant genres like the FPS, scoped up production budgets and transitioned to 3D development. Something that they struggled with producing clunky, visually ugly games like "Simon The Sorcerer 3D" or "Gabriel Knight 3." Famously, LucasArts' Grim Fandango under performed, despite a bigger budget, longer development time and even attaining great critical reception. In 2003 LucasArts formally halted it's production of adventure games, cancelling the then in development Sam & Max sequel as well as the planned sequel to Full Throttle.

In 2005 Ron Gilbert wrote, on his blog, "From first hand experience I can tell you that if you even utter the words 'Adventure Game' in a meeting with a publisher you can just pack up your spiffy concept art and leave. You'd get a better reaction by announcing that you have the plague."

However, despite this, adventure games never really died. In the mid 00's the genre enjoyed a miniature resurgence on the Nintendo DS with games like "Hotel Dusk: Room 215," "Another Code: Two Memories" and "Ace Attorney" among others. European developers Microids and Pendulo continued to develop popular games such as: "Syberia," "Still Life" and "Runaway: A Road Adventure". Some of which sold millions of copies. David Cage's Quantic Dream studio would take inspiration from Westwood's 1997 Blade Runner to make games like Indigo Prophecy. Eventually breaking into the mainstream with Heavy Rain. Freeware development tools like Chris Jones' Adventure Game Studio made small scale, DIY, development accessible for many. Which resulted in an entire underground scene of adventure games.

Meanwhile, in 2004, Ex-LucasArts developers would come together to form TellTale Games. Starting small and innovating with an episodic formula. A sign of things to come.

Revival Years - 10's ~ Now
Three major changes happened around the same time in the early 10's that brought adventures back from the "dead." Those were the rise of Telltale Games, indie development gaining prominence and Kickstarter. In the late 00's TellTale had been making its moderately successful episodic adventure games. They enjoyed good reviews and at that time their most popular game, Back to the Future, sold 500,000 units. This modest success would be eclipsed with the release of 2012's The Walking Dead. Taking notes from Quantic Dream, TellTale updated their formula. They simplified puzzles, adopted a darker tone and implemented choice and branching narrative mechanics. Their new take on the genre, at least initially, proved to be a massive success. The Walking Dead sold 28 million episodes and won many GOTY awards.

Also in 2012, Tim Schafer and his Double Fine studio would launch a KickStarter campaign. Initially asking for a modest budget of 300,000 dollars and an additional 100,000 dollars to produce a companion documentary series. However, "Double Fine Adventure" exceeded all expectations when their record breaking crowdfund campaign brought in 3.3 million dollars from over 80k backers. Double Fine had managed to subvert game publishers and show there was still a sizable demand for adventure games. This would inspire a massive wave of crowdfunding campaigns for games like "Broken Sword 5," "Thimbleweed Park" and "Kentucky Route Zero."

These first two changes in conjunction helped shape a new narrative in gaming. Publications that had previously mused over the death of adventures were now saying "adventures are back!" Which, along with the overall increasing popularity of indie games, helped give attention to the scene of DIY developers who had been chugging along for years keeping the genre alive using tools like Adventure Game Studio.

However, the successes of The Walking Dead and Double Fine's crowdfund campaign ultimately weren't sustained. After the overnight rise of TellTale, mismanagement and creative stagnation resulted in declining sales. Eventually culminating in the studio's closure in 2018. Broken Age, the game that DFA became was a good effort, but delays and an underwhelming 2nd act disappointed many fans. KickStarters were, overall, very hit or miss. The genre's comeback deflated somewhat after that initial spike of hype. But really it's more like things just leveled out a bit. The state of adventure games currently is a very good one, especially for fans. Every year there's a flood of cool games to play. You just might have to dig a bit to find some of them.

But that's what this thread is for, anyway.

Syberia: The World Before - Microids - March 18th 2022 - (Steam) (GOG)


AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES nirvanA Initiative - Spike Chunsoft - June 24th 2022 - (Steam)


Dordogne - UN JE NE SAIS QUOI - 2022 - (Steam)


STASIS: BONE TOTEM - The Brotherhood - 2022 - (Steam) (GOG)


Read Only Memories: Neurodiver - Midboss, LLC. 2022 - (Steam)


The Night Is Grey - Whalestork Interactive - 2022 - (Steam)


Rosewater - Grundislav Games - 2022 - (Steam) (GOG)


Chinatown Detective Agency - General Interactive Co. - April 7th 2022 - (Steam)


Norco - Geography of Robots - March 24th 2022 - (Steam)

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Life is Strange Remastered Collection - Deck Nine - February 1st 2022 - (Steam)


OXENFREE II: Lost Signals - Night School Studio - 2022 - (Steam)


The Tartarus Key - Vertical Reach - 2022 - (Steam)


Nightmare Frames - Postmodern Adventures - 2022 - (Steam)


Unusual Findings - Epic Llama - 2022 - (Steam)


Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard - WatchDaToast - June 2022 - (Steam)


Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space - Dexter Team Games - March 2022 - (Steam)


Perfect Tides - Three Bees, Inc - February 22nd 2022 - (Steam)


Cats and the Other Lives - Cultic Games - 2022 - (Steam)

 

[Vampire On Titus]

LocoMotive - Robust Games - Summer 2022 - (Steam)


Children of Silentown - Elf Games/Luna 2 Studio - 2022 - (Steam)


Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit - Tag of Joy - 2022 - (Steam)


Harold Halibut - Slow Bros. - 2022 - (Steam)


The Many Pieces of Mr.Coo - Gamera Nest - 2022 - (Steam)


Eden.schemata(); - WSSPlayground - 2022 - (Steam)


NAIRI: Rising Tide - HomeBearStudio - 2022 - (Steam)


3 Minutes to Midnight - Scarecrow Studio - 2022 - (Steam)


Jennifer Wilde: Unlikely Revolutionaries - Outsider Games - 2022 - (Steam)

 

[Vampire On Titus]

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow - Cloak and Dagger Games - 2022 - (Steam)


Born Punk - Insert Disk 22 - June 15th 2022 - (Steam)


Star Trek: Resurgence - Bruner House - 2022


Nine Noir Lives - Silvernode Studios - 2022 - (Steam)


Lucy Dreaming - Tom Hardwidge - 2022 - (Steam)


Death of the Reprobate - Joe Richardson - 2022 - (Steam)


Who's Lila? - Garage Heathen - February 2022 - (Steam)


Tormentum II - OhNoo Studio - 2022 - (Steam)


Justin Wack and The Big Time Hack - WarmKitten - Spring/Summer 2022 - (Steam)

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Stray - BlueTwelve Studio - 2022 - (Steam)


Minds Beneath Us - BearBoneStudio - 2022 - (Steam)


Blood Nova - Cosmic Void - Late 2022 - (Steam)


Lost in Play - HappyJuice Games - Q2 2022 - (Steam)


Intruder in Antiqonia - Aruma Studios - 2022 - (Steam)


Kapia - 2 FOR 2 - January 25th 2022 - (Steam) (GOG)


Mechanic 8230 - Nudiventra - 2022 - (Steam)


Port Valley - Wrong Pixel - 2022 - (Steam)

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Martha Is Dead - LKA - February 24th 2022 - (Steam)


A Space For The Unbound - Mojiken - 2022 - (Steam)


The Dark World: KARMA - POLLARD STUDIO LLC - 2022 - (Steam)


Monolith - Animation Arts Creative GmbH - 2022 - (Steam)


Mindcop - Mindcop Games - 2022 - (Steam)


Desolatium - SUPERLUMEN - 2022 - (Steam)


Open Roads - Fullbright - 2022 - (Steam)


The Case of the Golden Idol - Color Gray Games - 2022 - (Steam)


N1NE: The Splintered Mind Part 1 - OD1N Studios - 2022 - (Steam)


Midnight Girl - Italic - 2022 - (Steam)

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Yurukill: The Calumniation Games - NIS - July 5th 2022


Whateverland - Caligari Games - 2022 - (Steam)


Verne: The Shape of Fantasy - Gametopia - 2022 - (Steam)


Yotsume God Reunion - SEEC - February 15th 2022 - (Steam)


The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story - h.a.n.d. - May 12th 2022 - (Steam)


To Hell With The Ugly - La Poule Noire, ARTE France - 2022 - (Steam)


Beacon Pines - Hiding Spot - 2022 - (Steam)


DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternative - MyDearest,Inc - Winter 2022


Return To Monkey Island - Terrible Toybox - 2022


Voodoo Detective - Short Sleeve Studio - May 24th 2022 - (Steam)

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Goetia 2 - Moeity - May 19th 2022 - (Steam)

This section is intended for people who are new to playing adventure games. In the past adventure games have been stigmatized as being obtuse or having unforgiving puzzles, while there is a degree of truth to this (particularly for older games), it's far from the overall truth. So, with that in mind this is a list of adventure games, sorted by difficulty. Each game is suited to newcomers looking to get their feet wet with the genre.

The Book of Unwritten Tales - Medium Difficulty

The Book of Unwritten Tales is a stand out example of a post-90s LucasArts inspired adventure game done right. It's a colorful, sufficiently epic in scope, satirical and (most importantly) fun journey where you'll encounter every fantasy and role playing trope you can think of. Even if that's not your thing, per se, the likable cast of characters will probably win you over anyway. This is a good first foray into adventures because it's a puzzle dense game that doesn't hand-hold, yet the logical leaps are fairly mild and the signposting is effective. Give it a shot if you're in the mood for a funny fantasy game. Also, if you like it, be sure to check out the even more fantastic Book of Unwritten Tales 2 when you're done.


Shardlight - Easy Difficulty

One of the better games in Wadjet Eye's impressive catalogue, developed by Grundislav Games, you can feel the measured design of a seasoned adventure developer at the helm. You play as Amy Weller living in a post apocalyptical society ravaged by a disease called "green lung." Amy is forced to take dangerous jobs to earn the medication she needs to survive. Shardlight exemplifies modern adventure game design tendencies, focusing the playable areas to a few plot relevant locations, no red herrings or overtly punishing leaps of logic, two click interface, etc. Some hardcore fans may bristle at these aspects but for someone looking to warm themselves up to the genre, it's a good place to start. Plus, simple though they may be, Shardlight's puzzles are still varied and creative.

Another Code/Trace Memory - Easy Difficulty

This one is a bit of a qualified recommendation, but I had to do it. Why qualified? Well, as you can likely tell from the screenshot this is a DS game and it's not available on any other platforms. So you'll need to find a used copy or emulate it, but I think it's still worth a look.

Another Code (Trace Memory in the States) is a heartfelt mystery by veteran Japanese adventure designer Rika Suzuki. With decades of experience, Suzuki's late career run of games at CiNG perhaps shines the brightest, and it started with Another Code. You play as Ashley Mizuki Robbins as she journeys to Blood Edward Island to be reunited with her astranged father, who Ashley had been told was dead for years. The trip doesn't go as planned as Ashley is quickly separated from her aunt, Jessica, meets a ghost companion named D who has no memories. After bonding over their mutually harrowing predicaments, Ashley sets out to uncover the secrets of the Edward manor and find her father at all costs.

The greatest thing about Another Code, and Suzuki's writing in general, is its ability to capture earnest human emotion and deliver drama that never feels cheap. But the gameplay is no slouch either. Although it's a relatively easy game Code's puzzles can be exceptionally creative at times, particularly the ones that take advantage of the DS' unique hardware capabilities. Which, unfortunately, don't always translate fantastically to playing the game emulated. So that method gets some strikes against it. But, if you're okay with missing out on certain aspects of the puzzles, or can get your hands on a physical copy Another Code/Trace Memory is a fantastic game that you can enjoy in an afternoon or two, and a great place to develop an appreciation for adventure games.

Here's some cool adventure game related media that you might be interested in checking out. Various content creators that cover or do entertainment based on adventure games.

Pushing Up Roses
Hands down the best adventure focused content creator on YouTube. Roses does various retrospectives, let's play's and video essays based on adventure games. She has a particular affinity for the classic Sierra games but there's a bit of everything on her channel. Lately she's been branching out to other topics but there's still a massive amount of adventure related content in the archives.

Mostly Walking
A weekly series dedicated to playing and riffing on adventure games hosted (in part) by popular Twitch streamer Day9. This show is part Let's Play series and part podcast. Expect many humorous anecdotes that, at times, are entirely unrelated to the game they're playing. What makes it work is that the three co-hosts Sean Plott (Day9), Sean Bloom and Leigh Graner have really solid chemistry. They're funny dudes. You could consider this as much a podcast as a Let's Play series. For some, the tangents may go on long but it's well worth checking out.

Adventure Game Geek
A series of comedic reviews for classic adventure games in the vein of AVGN or old TGWTG reviewers. The reason why I like AGG's content is because his comedy is absurdly cheesy but he's well aware of that and plays into it for his gags. I find his videos have an early internet like charm to them. How YouTube content used to be before things got so produced. He also plays a lot of obscure ass games I'd never had heard of otherwise, which is cool too. But really it's all about that theme song, tho.

Grimbeard Diaries
A reviewer that focuses on darker "grim" games. Not exclusively adventure game content but like PUR, they comprise the majority of the reviews. Not only is the comedy on this channel extremely funny (think a more macabre Plinkett review) but Grimbeard Diaries also focuses on more obscure games, primarily, so you can also learn about games you otherwise might have never heard of. One of my favorite gaming channels in general.

YakWaxLips
Chill channel that covers adventure game news, commentates over newly released trailers and does the occasional podcast/interview. Good place to discover some new adventure games that might've flown under your radar.

Assorted Content
Who Shot Guybrush Threepwood? - A 3 part series of fairly deep musings on the adventure game genre. One of the better video essays on the subject I've seen.
War Stories: How Blade Runner Reinvented Adventure Games - Cool mini doc on the making and impact of Westwood's 1997 Blade Runner.
War Stories: How Myst Almost Couldn't Run on a CD-ROM - Another great episode of War Stories detailing the technical challenges behind the production of Myst.
RetroAhoy: The Secret of Monkey Island - Full length, well produced documentary about the history of Monkey Island as well as the adventure genre in general.
The Amazing Story of The Dig - 30 minute documentary video about The Dig's sordid production history.
The Making of Monkey Island (30tth Anniversary Documentary) - In depth behind the scenes look at the creation of SoMI. Be sure to check out the supplementary interviews as well.

The Forgotten City
Members of the AdventureGAF community voted on a poll for the best adventure game of 2021 and the winner is The Forgotten City! Originating as a Skyrim mod, game developer Modern Storyteller fashioned a unique and deeply philosophical time travel adventure game. The Forgotten City plays out like a thrilling, in depth, interactive episode of the Twilight Zone ruminating on morality through the lense of a supernatural circumstance and larger than life characters. It's also a fair bit more dynamic than other narrative adventures, with choices playing out (sometimes even incidentally) because of the actions you take rather than simple "this or that" binary choice moments. For this, as well as many other virtues, The Forgotten City is a well deserving winner for 2021's adventure game of the year!

 

[Vampire On Titus]

I officially beat COVID so we could be inexplicably in here boiiiiiiis!!!!!!!!

Fuz TripleSun The Cockatrice Danjin44 R rkofan87 SlimeGooGoo RAIDEN1 dok1or amigastar kurisu_1974 DadEggs GreenAlien H Hammerite Zealot Fools idol J jacksp Faenrir SweetShark Mr Underhill B barslan ShadowNate A Alter_Fridge A arvfab Bartski kingpotato protonion plushyp Kazza Nico_D B bravoguy Luthia Kuranghi Amiga e0n CitizenZ The Dead Flag Blues ResurrectedContrarian SpiceRacz DeepEnigma nikolino840 cormack12 dottme DunDunDunpachi

 

[kingpotato]

We officially beat COVID to be inexplicably in here boiiiiiiis!!!!!!!!

I don't know where you live, but it's as bad as ever here. I hardly know anyone who isn't sick right now.

On topic though, I recently played the newer version of Myst on Gamepass and really enjoyed it. Still solid after all these years. After I finished it, I watched this video which was interesting as well.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

kingpotato It's just referencing that I was sick when I started making the thread so it took me longer than usual. I talked about it in the previous thread but there's people I @'d who probably didn't see that, so I'll edit the post slightly.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

I wonder if this one will get released this year

 

[Vampire On Titus]

I wonder if this one will get released this year

It would be awesome if it did. In the Crimson Diamond's interim development time I wound up playing, loving, replaying, and reloving it's primary inspiration: The Colonel's Bequest. It's a really unique game in the way it uses the text parser for mystery solving and making choices. Like when you discover you can eavesdrop it feels like you're actually a sleuth because the UI didn't spell it out for you with a menu of available actions. Plus the experimentation with characters being all around the manor, doing different things at different times.

The only part that sucks is that The Colonel's Bequest didn't really go on to be influential, inspiring a wave of similar adventure games in its wake. Crimson Diamond is my only hope to scratch that itch, thankfully it looks fantastic.

 

[kingpotato]

kingpotato It's just referencing that I was sick when I started making the thread so it took me longer than usual. I talked about it in the previous thread but there's people I @'d who probably didn't see that, so I'll edit the post slightly.

Sorry to hear it, glad you're okay

 

[plushyp]

Vampire On Titus

 

[Fuz]

Awesome OP.

By the way, where's frogmeetsdog?

 

[SweetShark]

Good to know you defeated COVID.
To other news, because I saw the post about Myst series, there is a Humble Bundle package which include all the games.

https://www.humblebundle.com/games/myst-more-bundle

 

[The Cockatrice]

I officially beat COVID so we could be inexplicably in here boiiiiiiis!!!!!!!!

Lets go! Great op as usual.

 

[rkofan87]

kick ass op lets do this.
ps love the aa art what game is duck from?

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Awesome OP.

By the way, where's frogmeetsdog?

I was trying to @ him along with everyone else in my post but his name wasn't showing up on the drop down list for some reason. Miss that guy.

Lets go! Great op as usual.

Thanks!

And thanks for the gifted gold again, dude. That's really nice of you.

Edit:

Made an Imgur album with a step-by-step break down of the 2022 banner, if anyone wants to check that out.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

ps love the aa art what game is duck from?

Thank you very much!

The duck is actually Klaymen from The Neverhood. It's a game from the 90s with hand crafted graphics directed by Doug TenNapel, who's best known for creating Earthworm Jim. I've actually never played through the game despite admiring its style for a long time. So I don't know for sure what Klaymen is supposed to be, but I think dudes from The Neverhood just look like that.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Digging into more of the NirvanAI information that came out since the trailers release. There's an interview Uchikoshi gave with NintendoLife that has some interesting excerpts. Although, I recommend reading the whole thing because some of the answers Uchikoshi gives are just hilarious. I also wonder if the Switch was a big platform for the first AI since this NintendoLife interview is the only one I found.

Were there any specific aspects or systems in the original game which you wanted to revise or refine in the sequel?

Uchikoshi: We of course wanted to revise the game systems, and I feel that most of them were improved in AI2. We took into account a lot of player feedback. Thank you!

You'll have to wait for more information about game features in the future, but in terms of scenario, I can say this title has dual protagonists. I feel like depth has been added to the story. Especially the interaction between Mizuki and Aiba, and how different it is from Date and Aiba's relationship, so please look forward to experiencing that.

Not much meat on this bone, but enough to suggest my hunches about some form of expanded dual somnium/dual character gameplay. An excerpt from a 2021 year end wrap-up 4gamer wrote contained a quote from "Planner/Director/Butt Director," Masaru Okada which suggests they're expanding on mechanics from the previous game (translated via DeepL):

The year 2022 will see the release of AI: The Somnium Files, The Nirvana Initiative! It's a sequel to the investigative story where you and your AI buddy invade the dreams of a mysterious person to find the truth. While there are elements that have evolved from the previous game in terms of systems, the scenario is just as crazy......! I'm sure you'll enjoy Kotaro Uchikoshi's fierce scenario that can only be experienced in this game!
Also, I can't tell you the details yet, but there are a lot of things we're working on before the release, so please wait for the announcement!

Continuing with the NintendoLife interview:

Can you talk a little about your writing process? How do you approach a project like this and what tools do you use to write the story in the initial stages?

Uchikoshi: First, I think about the main theme which will be the core of the story. Then, I think about big juicy melons, shake that distraction off, and get to conceptualizing the storyline and the main gimmick or twist. My heart then prances off toward thoughts of nice, round coconuts, and then I blow away those impure thoughts and start setting up characters' backgrounds and the central drama. Finally, I purify my ears with an owl's hooting, wash the auditory hallucination down with the tequila I have left, and fit the characters' human drama and mystery into the plot.

In the early stages, I use only three tools to write a story: paper, pen, and three gallons of tequila. That's all I need.

I think we can safely pour out a shot of tequila for the woke AI fans hoping they'd nix the pervy humor in the sequel. I'm willing to bet some of those impure thoughts made it into the script.

Would new players who haven’t played the first game be okay starting with nirvanA Initiative?

Uchikoshi: No problem at all. The main plot of this game has no relation to the first game at all. Characters that are involved in the inciting incident are mainly new characters. With it being a "new case that needs to be solved," the new characters are on completely equal footing as the previous title's characters.

Main characters from the previous game will appear, but their backstories and relationships are properly explained, so there aren't too many points that you'd need to understand from the previous game.
This game also does not spoil anything from the previous title. It's totally possible to play AI2 and then play AI1.

There's even a special setting for "display information from the previous game for returning players" which you can use to enjoy the story in a deeper way. Isn't that nice of us?

Interesting that Nirvana Initiative is written in a way that doesn't spoil the original game. That would seem like it's hard to do since Date is confirmed to be a major character and his appearance alone would spoil major twists. We'll see how that shakes out.

It feels like over the past few years there’s been a real growth in the appreciation of adventure games. Do you agree? If so, why do you think that is?

Uchikoshi: That's true. Detroit: Become Human, Life Is Strange, Doki Doki Literature Club!, Coffee Talk, etc., many masterpieces have been released. Even indie games can provide as much fun as AAA games. Maybe that's why adventure games are becoming more popular. Anyway, I'm personally very happy that's the case.

But I will say the excitement for adventure games in Japan isn't really there... 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim was without a doubt an amazing work, but it's been years since a masterpiece has been released... Oh, sorry, I forgot about one. AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES! If you don't know about that game, you should run to Gamestop immediately. Or, like I mentioned before, AI2 does not require that you play AI1, so you could wait for AI2's release and then play AI1. That's one way to go about it.

Anyway, please try playing both AI1 and AI2. You'll think more highly of adventure games for sure, I guarantee it!

Uchikoshi showing some love to other adventure games. Rightly name checking Life is Strange and Detroit as great games. Detroit, in particular, seems to have been very well received in Japan. Which is not necessarily typical of other QD games. He mentions a lack of stand out JADV games in the last few years which made me wonder if he's played GAA, but that would've been a while ago now going by the domestic release.

Spike Chunsoft also put out some new general information on their website coinciding with the story trailer's release:

The themes of the new story.
Two is one. Two opposites is the main theme of the game. For example, Yin and Yang, man and woman, double helix... Love and hate could also be one of them. The title "AI" also means "love" in Japanese. Similar to the previous work, this game will involve various types of love. Familial love, love for the opposite sex, and love that is not bound by any framework. In addition, this work will dive into the opposite of love, hatred. A love-hate mystery that begins with half of a corpse. I hope you enjoy.

Having two protagonists in the game.
From the above-mentioned theme, it was decided in the early stages that the game would have dual protagonists, and Mizuki would be one of them... She was the most popular character from the previous title, and personally, I wanted to write about her growth...

Well, what about the other protagonist? Obviously, at first I thought of Date, the protagonist of the previous game. However, if the story was about Date and Mizuki, the flavor lingering from the last title would become too strong, and it might be too hard for new players to follow... So, by interweaving an existing character and a new character, anyone can enter this fictional world."

Whether the hero from the first game Kaname Date will appear.
He will of course appear. Not as a minor appearance, but as a character who plays an important role... So, Date fans, never fear! This sequel will feature an even cooler (or less cool) Date, so please look forward to that.

The official website for Nirvana Initiative has also updated, mostly with info from the prior update on Spike Chunsoft's website. But there's also some hints in the graphic design, like the two remaining mental locks, suggesting that there's two remaining trailers to drop pre-release.

My guess is that we're getting a gameplay trailer next followed by a release trailer in June. I'm really interested to see some of the expanded systems that have been hinted at in the last few info drops. The three things I'd love to see most are:

1.Improved Interrogations - Questioning witnesses in a fashion that plays out similar to Ace Attorney is a solid idea, but it's lacking depth in the original AI. Upping the challenge a bit and having higher stakes could help. Like maybe if your success in an interrogation impacted branching? Or even simply changes something about how a Somnium plays out with that witness afterward. Going into the game's theme of duality, gives ample opportunity for some good cop/bad cop dialogue puzzles. Imagine trading lines between Mizuki & Ryuki in just the right way to make a witness talk. They weren't a big part of the first game, but with some sprucing up these parts could add a lot, I feel.

2.Deeper Investigation - Your AI-Ball companion has all these cool uses like X-Ray and Thermal Imaging, but the use is so limited that you never have to apply them in clever ways. With a couple more AI functions and a few sections designed to capitalize on their use sprinkled throughout, it could add more life to the investigation parts. Which are already great because of the characters and hilarious optional hotspot dialogue, but why not go further?

3.Character Switching/Dual Somniums - At this point I'm completely convinced this is happening so it's just a matter of exactly how its implemented. But there's just so much they could do with this from a game design and narrative level. Seeing inside someone's mind from two different perspectives. Combining actions from both dream worlds to cleverly solve mental locks. My mind shudders at all the subtle, nigh imperceptible, ways Uchikoshi could tie this into the games core theme.

 

[Fuz]

how different it is from Date and Aiba's relationship

Uchikoshi: First, I think about the main theme which will be the core of the story. Then, I think about big juicy melons, shake that distraction off, and get to conceptualizing the storyline and the main gimmick or twist. My heart then prances off toward thoughts of nice, round coconuts, and then I blow away those impure thoughts and start setting up characters' backgrounds and the central drama. Finally, I purify my ears with an owl's hooting, wash the auditory hallucination down with the tequila I have left, and fit the characters' human drama and mystery into the plot.

Ahahahaha he's amazing.

 

[amigastar]

Love me some good Adventure game. Nice OT.
Also Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard looks really nice.

 

[pramod]

Awesome thread. Didn't get to scan all the games mentioned but I recently played From Beyond Prologue which is a really cool Shadowgate style clone.

Also just want to mention the two amazing Lucas Pope games: Return of the Obra Din and Papers, Please. Although they don't fit the strict definition I think at their heart they are adventure games...ie gradually telling you a story.

 

[Fuz]

So many promising games in the OP. First I heard of Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard and The Many Pieces of Mr Coo, but they looks absolutely fantastic. But there really are a good number of games in there that I can't wait to play.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Yeah, there's a lot of games I'm genuinely excited for this year. I want to see what The Brotherhood does with STASIS: Bone Totem, they've really refined a skill for immersive settings. Beautiful Desolation ended up being really under-appreciated but that game's world stuck with me, I'm glad they're making more games. Dordogne's art style still looks fantastic, it looks like a perfect relaxation game. The Tartarus Key was a demo that hooked me in from some Steam festival past. It's a good take on the low poly aesthetic and the puzzles & character interaction were very well done in the demo.

There are also some games that I'm fairly certain will be released at some point during 2022 but its unconfirmed. Like Old Skies, The Wolf Among Us 2, and (hopefully) Eldritch House. Eldritch House looks really cool:

 

[TripleSun]

Hell yeah we back! Thanks for another amazing OP man. 2022 will be another great year for PnC!

 

[SF Kosmo]

I don't know where you live, but it's as bad as ever here. I hardly know anyone who isn't sick right now.

On topic though, I recently played the newer version of Myst on Gamepass and really enjoyed it. Still solid after all these years. After I finished it, I watched this video which was interesting as well.

I reeeeeally hope we finally get a release of Firmament this year.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Unexpected and welcome surprise. A game I'd been following, and had not expectation of getting an English localization, is actually coming out same day in English. The developer, SEEC, has gained a pretty significant cult following releasing their JADV games for mobile phones. I've seen them here & there for a while but the free-to-play design aspects I noticed kept me away. So I welcome these enhanced versions for Switch and PC with none of that BS included.

SEEC's Japanese-style escape adventure, Yotsume God - Reunion - is coming to Steam! The Steam® version is available in four languages: Japanese, English, Traditional Chinese and Korean. ◆On sale from Wednesday, February 16, 2022. ◆Steam Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/13...


＜Synopsis＞

"An 'unwanted child' will be taken away by Yotsume God."

Mai Sahara, a third-year junior high school student, goes with her father to her grandparents' house in the mountains.
Mai has idiosyncrasies that allow her to see and hear things that the people around her can't.
Before long, Mai arrives at her grandparents and falls asleep, exhausted from the journey.
As she wakes from a strange dream, two children suddenly appear in front of her.
Guided by the children, she wanders into Yotsume Shrine.
There she meets a mysterious boy.

"Don't touch me."
"Misery will come upon you."

"Solving two mysteries: the truth about the Yotsume God and the past of the Sagara family.
The remake of the Japanese-style escape adventure is now on Steam®.

＜Features＞
-Character voices played by amazing voice actors and actresses to make the story even more dramatic.
-Enjoy new illustrations and scenarios not seen in "Yotsume God".
-Characters that move expressively with animations.
-"Escape adventure novel" - a new genre that adds a profound story to the escape game.
-A multi-ending system where endings change depending on the choices made and items used.
-A Japanese-style storyline that allows players to enjoy the world of shrines and Japan.
-A hint function is included to help first-time escape game players enjoy the game.

＜Voice Cast＞
Mai Sahara: Hiyori Kono
Imigo: Megumi Arakawa
Tagata: Kodai Sakai
Kuro: Atsuki Nakamura
Shiro: Ayaka Fujimoto
Makoto Sahara: Yu Kitada
Shuji Sagara: Kanehira Yamamoto
Others

◆Opening Theme Song◆
"Kamikakushi"
Singer: Riko Sasaki
Lyrics: Riko Sasaki, Hisao Sasaki
Composer/Arrangement: Hisao Sasaki

Planning and scenario: SEEC
Official Twitter: @SeecInc

It's worth mentioning that when you see "Japanese escape adventure" in the descriptions for this game, the word "escape" has a different connotation here than it would normally in the west. (super broad strokes here) In Japan, for a long time the most popularized forms of ADV game had been mystery/detective adventures (originating from Yuji Horii early games, where you typically gather evidence and progress the story through various forms of reasoning and deduction) and novel games (Originating from Chunsoft's sound novel series where you progress via simple choices to avoid game overs or bad ends). Similar in ways, but distinct from, the typical western style adventure (where you use objects in combination with the game's world to peform actions in order to progress). But in the mid 00s Japanese games like The Crimson Room and Zero Escape series popularized escape the room ADVs, which were pretty similar to the typical western style albeit narrowly focused on escaping a singular location. Over time, the term "escape adventure" started refering to any adventure game with that style of interaction and puzzle solving, regardless of whether you were actually "escaping" anything. Funnily enough, If you read Japanese reviews of western adventures on steam you can see a number of the reviewers call games like Grim Fandango or The Longest Journey "escape adventures."

The history in that paragraph is missing about a boat load of nuance, but anyway, thats basically why Japanese adventure games that are similar to the traditional western style are sometimes called "escape" adventures. Despite titles, like this one, not actually being room escape games.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Really well made video/retrospective/mini doc about the Japanese version of Mystery House. A very influential game in the 80s microcomputer scene. This is about the Micro Cabin version, not the Starcraft version that was adapted later on and officially sanctioned by Sierra. The video also goes into the adventure game boom of the early 80s in Japan, it's all really interesting and well produced. I highly recommend giving it a watch.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Recent blog post detailing the first bits of information on the Amazon Queen sequel:

Pete and I have been busy over the holidays working on the start of the game and we’d like to share some art from the first location in the game – the Rio de la Meurte Cantina in Mexico.

Rio de la Muerte Cantina
Joe King has run into some trouble with the locals and it’s your job to make sure he gets out of Mexico in one piece.

Pete and I are currently building the first location to a high level of polish before tackling the rest of the game. This gives us a chance to test out the art style and animation, implement a bunch of different puzzles, try out different ways to interact with the game world, and to experiment with writing styles for Joe and the rest of the cast.

Pete and I discuss the rough idea for a location and the rooms involved. I then wire up some crude programmer art of the rooms in Unity. This helps us rapidly test the feel for the location – does it all connect together okay?

John’s bad programmer art of the Cantina
Pete then does a pencil sketch of the room.

Pete’s blue line art for the cantina
Next Pete produces a cleaned up version of the pencil sketch and gives it to me as a 1920×1080 image so I can drop it into the game to replace my programmer art.

Cleaned up pencil sketch at proper game resolution
During this process we get a better understanding of where the props and characters should be.
Once we’re happy with the layout, Pete then builds the room in 3D using Blender. He produces a white box version of the room.

Pete uses Blender to create the rooms
Once this is done we drop the white box render into the game to replace the pencil sketch.

The 3D version built to match the 2D sketch
Then Pete starts to texture the background. He uses pencil sketches as placeholders for the characters.

Pete textures the backgrounds
I keep testing the game, adjusting the dialogs and testing out puzzles while Pete draws and animates the characters.
Here is a near final version of the room with more detail and a finished version of Rosa, the cantina proprietor.

The cantina with more detail and lighting effects
It may seem like a lot of steps, but Pete works very fast – and because it’s 3D we can move stuff around easily. For example, moving Rosa from the bar to the table in the middle was a lot faster than if the background had been hand drawn.

Well, that’s a sneak peek at the game. Let us know what you think!

Until next time!

-Johnno and Pete

They're doing some early prototyping stuff, nailing down the workflow and seeing what works. But even from just this early look I think it's going in a promising direction. At first I thought they were going for an identical pixel-art style to the first game but I commend the decision to go with a high res hand-drawn style. Hopefully they go all the way with it. Nice fluid animation full of personality would really suit the vibe of Amazon Queen.

 

[Fuz]

I really hope that's not the art style they're going for.

 

[rkofan87]

I really hope that's not the art style they're going for.

this looks like mobile trash.

 

[The Cockatrice]

For something thats a work in progress, it looks fine to me. As long as its 2.5D classic point and click the way I like it, I'm down. Hell, despite some hate around here, I personally enjoyed the last 2 larry games quite a lot so I'm down for more like that.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

lol, damn guys.

I will say the character art for the girl in particular could use some work. More natural pose, less angular, better linework in general. I'm assuming that it was hastily done just to put the prototype together, though, since the blue pencil sketch characters look a lot better and it's the same artist.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Played through the first episode of the Life is Strange remaster. Having fun playing through the game again but really not much at all has changed. There's better lip sync and expressions in certain scenes and the models are touched up modestly. It's nice enough but it also has the draw-back of making the animation they didn't improve stand out a bit more, plus some of the expressions can be overdone. Since the game description boasted "improved gameplay puzzles" what I was worried most for this remaster was that they would dumb-down or streamline certain parts needlessly. So far they didn't change anything on that front, but episode 1 is the most puzzle-light so we'll see.

Overall it's not really worth buying if you already have the original game or can get it for cheaper. My conspiracy is that Square Enix only commissioned this remaster because they've more or less severed ties with DontNod and wanted to cut them out on the long tail sales of Life is Strange. Of course, that's just a guess and I could be totally wrong about it. Either way it seems like a kind of pointless release but Life is Strange is one of my favorite adventure games of the past 10 years so I don't mind playing it again.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Played through the first episode of the Life is Strange remaster

Even if it was an amazing game to me this release is the most scummy cash grab I can think of. Fuck Square Enix.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

I won the ultimate edition of Life is Strange True Colors in a giveaway so I have the remasters for free anyway. I wouldn't have payed for this.

Played through episode 2 and my general comments remain except a bit worse because the subtitles keep breaking. Every time it transitions to a new scene it shows the filename for the subtitle it's trying to grab instead of the actual text. Quitting to the menu and resuming fixes them but it's pretty annoying.

 

[The Cockatrice]

That reminds me I have yet to play True Colors. So many stuff to play so little time.

 

[kingpotato]

Xbox games with Gold Feb 22 includes Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse. I'm going to check it out, haven't played the series, though I've heard of it.


Looks like it's also on sale on steam right now:

REVIEWS
“... immediately charming, Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is easy to recommend based on its strong narrative, memorable characters, and artistic merit”
8/10 – Gamespot

“The best Broken Sword game since the original.”
9/10 – Games TM

“Eminently playable, cheekily characterised and delectably artistic, The Serpent’s Curse rekindles the romance of the much-loved Broken Sword series.”
4/5 – Adventure Gamers

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Broken Sword 1 & 2 are both classics IMO, some of the best adventures of the 90s golden era. 5 is the next best one and I'd imagine even more fun if you play it first since some of the series' tropes wont be so well worn at that point. Really beautiful game too, some of the environments are amazing. There's one or two puzzles I found unfair IIRC but the game's got a multi-tiered hint system so you don't have to worry about actually getting stuck.

Good luck with the game, curious to know how you'll enjoy it.

 

[Fuz]

So, Kapia.

First of all: if you're interested in it, try the demo. It's extremely honest in presenting the game. Which is commendable.

I can confirm my first impressions. Except the part about the crashes - it ran silky smooth and I had zero crashes nor bugs from start to finish.
But I have some issues.
This game is the definition of "rough around the edges".

Dialogues and exposition can be VERY disjointed, and concepts can feel to fall out of nowhere, going to conclusions before making a case for it. Story as well, it can be a little preposterous at times (serving in the bar? Really? And why is Zim such an ass and doesn't help open a door to not leave Stephan to freeze?). A good example is how the big reveal is given in a very quick, non-poignant way in just a few lines, a "Ah yes and also there's that" kind of thing, with the main character not showing the expected surprise and interest in it. I actually had to go to youtube and read it again. But again, the explanation is disjointed and making sense of everything is not immediate, almost as they had to cut short for voice actors' budgets or they just wrote important parts of the plot for themselves only, assuming things and giving for granted certain concepts not fully thinking about their players. Writing would have needed more breadth to be cohesive. Rough around the edges.

Camera sometimes can be a bit of an annoyance and you'll have to fight it. Nothing major or gamebreaking, but quite annoying, and if we could also bind some keys to movement, that would have alleviated the issue. Rough around the edges.

There's a single puzzle that's stumped me for a while because, imho, it's badly designed: You have to put a fish on a plate, then the plate on a tray and serve it. Ok. I tried to combine the fish with the plate in my inventory: nothing. Then I tried to first put the plate on the tray: nothing. After a bit of aimless wandering I realized that I had to EXAMINE the plate (examining items put you in first person perspective - which is actually quite a nice touch) and THEN you could drag the fish on the plate. Makes no sense to me, and this is the only inventory combination puzzle in the game.

Minigames are awful. Sorry, but they just are. They're interesting in theory but they're too... rough around the edges to be fun. Boxing is just "spam your mouse button until it breaks or you win". And darts is even worse. You will hate darts: twitching camera, twitching cursor, unreadable cursor strengh indicator, annoying rules. They COULD have been good, given more development and refining, but they're not.

It's also a bit on the short side, I personally don't mind (I prefer short and focused games to watered down, unnaturally stretched ones), but be warned.

There are a few grammar mistakes that bothered my grammar nazi heart; Guys, question marks have a definite use and "it's" is different from "its" - only noticed this once toh.

Only a single autosave. You guys know how much I hate that. Although completing the game gives you an option to replay the different scenes, like a movie scene selection. Also hated not being able to rebind the hotspot key (tab) on my mouse: this is a game that it's best enjoyed in your pajamas, with a blanket and a cup of a hot beverage - I got annoyed at having to drop my cup of coffee every time I needed to check the hotspots.

Ah, I have to get this off my chest: Mother's voice actor is really bad, she's completely out of context and ruins the character with her uninspired, dull acting. It's like she's reading the script for the first time without knowing anything at all about the part.

Now onward to some positives.
I really like the setting and the world is very interesting. I think it really deserves a prequel. The art direction is great (which doesn't necessarily mean the on-screen result always is), especially for some of the robots. I really like it. There's a focused vision behind it. The characters are all quite likeable, and Reny is adorable. They gesticulate more than italians, which is another example of "rough around the edges" (the animation) but... it is kinda funny. The story is good, but it NEEDED to be reorganized and rewrote for a better exposition. The whole game has some sort of heartwarming quality, it's cozy and relaxing, which is absolutely fantastic for a P&C game. Puzzles are ok, maybe someone would find them too easy but I think they merge really well with the flow of the game.

All things considered, it's pretty impressive what two people were able to create. It's undoubtedly a work of love, and it shows. I liked it, maybe not for everyone, but I think it deserves a demo test.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I tried the demo a bit and just said nah. I understand we as human beings have different ways of thinking and doing things and I get that the art style was based on the pictures the kids backers made but it just did not click.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

So, Kapia.

First of all: if you're interested in it, try the demo. It's extremely honest in presenting the game. Which is commendable.

I can confirm my first impressions. Except the part about the crashes - it ran silky smooth and I had zero crashes nor bugs from start to finish.
But I have some issues.
This game is the definition of "rough around the edges".

Dialogues and exposition can be VERY disjointed, and concepts can feel to fall out of nowhere, going to conclusions before making a case for it. Story as well, it can be a little preposterous at times (serving in the bar? Really? And why is Zim such an ass and doesn't help open a door to not leave Stephan to freeze?). A good example is how the big reveal is given in a very quick, non-poignant way in just a few lines, a "Ah yes and also there's that" kind of thing, with the main character not showing the expected surprise and interest in it. I actually had to go to youtube and read it again. But again, the explanation is disjointed and making sense of everything is not immediate, almost as they had to cut short for voice actors' budgets or they just wrote important parts of the plot for themselves only, assuming things and giving for granted certain concepts not fully thinking about their players. Writing would have needed more breadth to be cohesive. Rough around the edges.

Camera sometimes can be a bit of an annoyance and you'll have to fight it. Nothing major or gamebreaking, but quite annoying, and if we could also bind some keys to movement, that would have alleviated the issue. Rough around the edges.

There's a single puzzle that's stumped me for a while because, imho, it's badly designed: You have to put a fish on a plate, then the plate on a tray and serve it. Ok. I tried to combine the fish with the plate in my inventory: nothing. Then I tried to first put the plate on the tray: nothing. After a bit of aimless wandering I realized that I had to EXAMINE the plate (examining items put you in first person perspective - which is actually quite a nice touch) and THEN you could drag the fish on the plate. Makes no sense to me, and this is the only inventory combination puzzle in the game.

Minigames are awful. Sorry, but they just are. They're interesting in theory but they're too... rough around the edges to be fun. Boxing is just "spam your mouse button until it breaks or you win". And darts is even worse. You will hate darts: twitching camera, twitching cursor, unreadable cursor strengh indicator, annoying rules. They COULD have been good, given more development and refining, but they're not.

It's also a bit on the short side, I personally don't mind (I prefer short and focused games to watered down, unnaturally stretched ones), but be warned.

There are a few grammar mistakes that bothered my grammar nazi heart; Guys, question marks have a definite use and "it's" is different from "its" - only noticed this once toh.

Only a single autosave. You guys know how much I hate that. Although completing the game gives you an option to replay the different scenes, like a movie scene selection. Also hated not being able to rebind the hotspot key (tab) on my mouse: this is a game that it's best enjoyed in your pajamas, with a blanket and a cup of a hot beverage - I got annoyed at having to drop my cup of coffee every time I needed to check the hotspots.

Ah, I have to get this off my chest: Mother's voice actor is really bad, she's completely out of context and ruins the character with her uninspired, dull acting. It's like she's reading the script for the first time without knowing anything at all about the part.

Now onward to some positives.
I really like the setting and the world is very interesting. I think it really deserves a prequel. The art direction is great (which doesn't necessarily mean the on-screen result always is), especially for some of the robots. I really like it. There's a focused vision behind it. The characters are all quite likeable, and Reny is adorable. They gesticulate more than italians, which is another example of "rough around the edges" (the animation) but... it is kinda funny. The story is good, but it NEEDED to be reorganized and rewrote for a better exposition. The whole game has some sort of heartwarming quality, it's cozy and relaxing, which is absolutely fantastic for a P&C game. Puzzles are ok, maybe someone would find them too easy but I think they merge really well with the flow of the game.

All things considered, it's pretty impressive what two people were able to create. It's undoubtedly a work of love, and it shows. I liked it, maybe not for everyone, but I think it deserves a demo test.

Thanks for this review, I will try the demo out and most likely get to the game eventually. I do like the wacky, off-beat style of the game, some of the unwieldly mocapped animations are a drawback for me though. But I share you're opinion that it's a commendable amount of work for a studio and there is something to a game that's personal, where you can feel the love an care put into it by a small team.

That puzzle logic you spoiled is unfortunate, stuff like that tends to frustrate the most. Thankfully it seems like that's the only case of the issue.

 

[rkofan87]

Played through the first episode of the Life is Strange remaster. Having fun playing through the game again but really not much at all has changed. There's better lip sync and expressions in certain scenes and the models are touched up modestly. It's nice enough but it also has the draw-back of making the animation they didn't improve stand out a bit more, plus some of the expressions can be overdone. Since the game description boasted "improved gameplay puzzles" what I was worried most for this remaster was that they would dumb-down or streamline certain parts needlessly. So far they didn't change anything on that front, but episode 1 is the most puzzle-light so we'll see.

Overall it's not really worth buying if you already have the original game or can get it for cheaper. My conspiracy is that Square Enix only commissioned this remaster because they've more or less severed ties with DontNod and wanted to cut them out on the long tail sales of Life is Strange. Of course, that's just a guess and I could be totally wrong about it. Either way it seems like a kind of pointless release but Life is Strange is one of my favorite adventure games of the past 10 years so I don't mind playing it again.

this its not even on ps5 just ps4 bc sad love the og games so will give it a go thank god i got them with 3.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

More info on the Wolf Among Us 2 come this Wednesday. "Behind the scenes" look gives me minidoc/dev diary vibes but I'm hoping we get some actual gameplay. Lord knows it's about time for it since they've been radio silent since the announcement in late 2019 at the Game Awards. Looks like neo-TTG is putting a decent budget into advertising since this is a whole "live event" with Geoff Keighley.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

New trailer for the Wolf Among Us 2. Just finished watching the live stream, for the most part it reiterated the information from the recent Game Informer piece. Here's the key points incase you missed it/don't care to watch the whole stream:
- Trailer is completely in engine, they're now using Unreal.
- Wolf 2 takes place 6 months after the first game, it's set in the winter.
- Snow is now deputy mayor, tension between her & Bigby over how to change things for Fabletown
- Bigby stumbles upon a new case that has him split between the Fable & Mundane world.
- Characters from the Wizard of OZ make appearance in the trailer (scare crow & tin man), more in the final game.
- Still episodic but the 5 episode season will be complete upon release. TTG wants to retain staggered release for "water cooler" moments.
- Vague allusions to revamped gameplay/formula. Don't really know what this means.
- 2023 release date confirmed.

They also just dropped some new Key Art showing off Bigby's new mundy partner:

I think seeing how the Fables interact with normal humans, or specifically how Bigby tries to interact with that world could be a cool aspect to the game. As always with these kinds of trailers, I wish we could have seen more of the actual game, but everything seems cool so far.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I honestly dont get what the hell you guys liked about AI Insomnium... the gameplay is absolute shit and the branching story thing is pointless at least where I am now..because for some stupid reason the game decided that in order to continue from what I decided aka not to believe her story, I have to go back and replay that stupid minecraft minigame again and pick the side that I believe her. Why let me choose if you force me to go back? Why the fuck would the investigation stop or be over just like that? I swear up until this point I was tolerable, it made me laugh and it was starting to grow on me but this thing just annoyed me that I prolly wont bother to continue. YOu see your mother brutally murdered with a fucking ice pick in the head and then the next scene you're super dandy and joking about it. Cmon... I know animes have this tendency but this was way too abrupt. The plot is just too stupid.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

New FMV adventure game announced at the recent Square Enix direct. The trailer shows off different phases of the game and the concept behind actors playing different roles between cases. For instance an actor may be the victim in one case and the perpetrator in another. Looks pretty cool from what's shown, always get a kick out of a modern FMV game. Due to release this may.