Recent reviews by Tohonas

Technobabylon is a point and click adventure that isn’t afraid to get deep into some complicated themes while remaining well written, consistent and above all fun to play.

The sheer number of ideas running through game is amazing, and the fact that everything gets pulled back together to give a satisfying conclusion with no loose ends is nothing short of a masterstroke from Technocrat Games. Characters are deep, with real personalities, secrets, desires and resentments. Even the ‘synthetic’ characters are better written than many supposedly human characters in other games. The forces of good in the game have dark sides to them, and the antagonists are not simply evil for the sake of it; there’s no moustache twirling and maniacal laughter here. Everything happens for a reason, and the reasons are damn good ones!

The art is really nice (it's Ben Chandler), and the voice acting is better than average too, with some great personalities in there. Definitely worth it if you're a point and click enthusiast!

Full review here: http://www.goplaythat.com/2015/05/22/technobabylon/

A hard-hitting interactive story about the choices we make and the consequences of those actions. Driving home in a storm, Kelly has an extended chat with her family. That's more or less it. The imagery is beautiful, the music is really nice (somewhere between quieter NIN and Mono) and there are some interesting extras to check out (including the whole soundtrack to listen to as a radio station).

It is wonderfully well written, and the story will stay with you long after you finish. If you like Actual Sunlight, Gone Home or Kentucky Route Zero, this is one for you.

Disclosure: I received a press copy of the game.

The Charnel house Trilogy is a creepy 3 part point and click adventure. In terms of atmosphere, it's right up there with the best of them, and the writing is really well done too. It is psychologically harrowing but presented in such a way that nothing feels cheaply done. All the characters are fully voiced (Jim Sterling is in it!), and the art is really cool.

It should be mentioned that it's a very short game and the puzzles are simple to solve, so the onus is really on enjoying the story and getting caught up in the atmosphere. If you like interactive novels or Wadjet Eye's point and click games, this is definitely worth a look.

I wrote a more comlete review here: http://www.goplaythat.com/2015/04/20/quickplay-the-charnel-house-trilogy/

A very solid first adventure game from Fictiorama studios. The subject matter (the eventual temporal death of everything) gives this game a much darker storyline than is common in this genre and in fact I was genuinely shocked by one or two set pieces.

I played through a press copy of the game, and found the puzzles to be generally on point, except for one part where the solution was really subtle and I missed i completely for about an hour. The logic of the puzzles make sense for the most part.

Voice acting is present throughout, there are a few characters which are 'misses' but in general it is very well done, and breathes life into the surroundings, and makes you care about the characters a lot more than if it was just text. The music is pretty cool too, a prog rock style that just about meshes with the surroundings, and the art style is very fresh, and unlike anything I've seen before.

If you're looking for a new, dark point and click that has obviously been made with a lot of love, you couldn't do much better than checking out Dead Synchronicity.

If you are interested, I made an interview with the devs about the process of making the game: http://www.goplaythat.com/2015/04/03/13-more-questions-with-fictiorama-studios/

Friendship Club is a superb local multiplayer game; a colourful top-down arena shooter, where 4 players control one of young Timmy Bibble’s best imaginary friends as they vie for his affection by shooting the crap out of each other.

Full (pre-release) 4-player gameplay video here: http://goplaythat.com/2015/03/24/friendship-club-mp-gameplay/

The key gameplay mechanic is that inside each single-screen level, bullets fired will bounce off of every surface they hit until lodged into the head of one of the protagonists. Each starts with 3 bullets and other than that, have a dash move which acts as a shield, which if activated at the right time, will absorb oncoming fire to be used again.

The four playable characters are lovingly animated, vibrant and memorable, down to their fantastic names. Canardinal is the best character ever, and I love him/it!

The game is easily enough to be sold as a full product as it is, so don't be scared about the Early Access tag, there's more than enough to keep you entertained! There are only two levels at the moment, but they are procedurally generated, and the 7 modes available makes sure that every game is different.

Friends, beer and Friendship Club. Sorted!

The Novelist is an interesting take on the interactive novel genre. You play a ghostly presence that lives in a summer getaway house, inhabited by a struggling novelist, his wife and young son. Gameplay is minimal, limited to spooking around the a house by possessing lightbulbs, taking care not to be seen by the family.

As you flit around the house, you investigate clues left by the various members of the family, which you can use to influence the novelist's decisions and the future of the family.

The game lasts about 2.5 hours if you dig into everyone's stories, but that's not counting replays to get the various endings. It is well written and the characters feel believable (even if the fact that they hang around the house all day doesn't feel particularly realistic!). Worth a look for fans of interactive stories or quiet games that don't involve a lot of stress!

www.goplaythat.com

Beautifully melancholic story telling from the creator of To The Moon. A bridge episode between TTM and his next game, A Bird Story is short (around an hour) but wonderful, wordlessly telling a tale of a young boy and an injured bird. It seems to play with memory and imagination, and as such nothing seems real.

Definitely one for fans of To the Moon or similar interactive stories. Gameplay is minimal, so people looking for traditional game experience may be turned off by it. As a work of fiction however, it is sublime.

You can read my full review here: http://goplaythat.com/2015/01/11/quickplay-a-bird-story/

The Next Penelope is a challenging hybrid of F-Zero, Mashed and Micro Machines with some uber boss battles thrown in for good measure. Penelope must master an arsenal of weapons and abilities such as mines, teleports and speed boosts to defeat her enemies in races, and destroy the massive bosses waiting at the end of each section.

The game is tough but fair. If you fail, it's probably your own fault, and when you win it gives a great sense of achievement. the single player here is enough for 3-5 hours of gameplay, with Hard mode and 4-Player local co-op to come soon. I enjoyed it a lot, depsite the difficulty!

You can read my full review (and listen to a podcast about the game) here: http://goplaythat.com/2015/01/21/state-of-play-the-next-penelope/

A side-scrolling shoot-em-up with a twist. Your ship has a very limited amount of ammunition, but luckily you have the power to teleport and take over enemy ships and turn their weapons against them. Choosing the right moment to switch is as important as having good reflexes and a keen eye. The multiplayer version is also amazing and with up to four players jumping ships things can quickly descend into hilarious chaos if you aren't communicating. Cool music, nice art and the aforementioned twist keep me coming back to it.

I still love this game by the way. I am going to try to finish it soon!

Watch our playthrough here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12m2YaqdMOE&index=1&list=PLEfFDmrzWzfRgsWej3dvK8Pa8YAVSSc4F

A complete change of pace for 11bit Studios, This War of Mine focuses on the desperate struggle of a group of survivors in a war-torn town. Part resource management sim, part exploration game, TWOM is a deeply affecting look at the sacrifices made in times of hardship. Every decision is a struggle and keeping your morality is as important as keeping yourself alive. A unique gem of a game, I think it is one of the most important games of the year.

Read more: http://goplaythat.com/2014/11/18/quickplay-this-war-of-mine/