Recent reviews by Gunbrose

Playing a Fallout game with my boyfriend at the end of a long day has been very special to me, a guy whose special interest is fallout. this is a biased opinion but the ability to share in that joy with someone i love make this game worth the bugs and the frustrating writing. its certainly more fun than replaying fallout 3.

This game infested me like termites infest rotting wood. Playing it is the only way to fill in the gaps it has left behind.

This 'game' is mostly an excuse to vibe hard and write some sad folks about their melancholy thoughts to help them see a different, hopefully brighter, perspective, and to one day maybe achieve that same level of comfort for yourself.

Also, it's a good way to ask for books/movie/tv/games/anime recommendations.

The puzzles were sometimes extremely obtuse, but most of them were fun and well crafted with a few sticking with me post-game. The soundtrack is phenomenal. The story is great, creepy and engaging if a bit surreal. If you enjoy puzzle games, then this is worth it at the base price. This is the first Rusty Lake game I've played, but it was enough to get me hooked on the series. Ended up playing all the free titles in an afternoon, and am looking forward to playing the other premium games.

First off, this game is horribly unfriendly to the player, which is something you have to know going in and that I am pretty sure is a feature of the game, billed or not. The UI is chaotic, the key elements of the 'plot' and actions require an incredible attention to detail, there is no innate sense of direction (experimentation is one of the many aspects of this game that a player must be comfortable with to enjoy the experience), and most of the midgame is a complete bog of grinding that you can't look away from, due to the numerous timers and constraints on the player (coupled with the aforementioned need to pay attention to detail). You have to be willing to do a lot of reading and train yourself against skipping snippets of text. Guides are discouraged and there is no real tutorial (Although the beginning does take things rather slow). This is certainly not a game for everyone, and I can appreciate that.

For people who are okay with at least some of the above aspects, though, I would vehemently recommend the game, and I only wish I personally had more time to play it. The game is an experiment, and while most of the experimentation fails, when you do stumble upon something that enlightens you-- helps you to develop your motive/cult/game, etc-- that thursts you forward down the path to your end-- it feels that much more rewarding, and when you do die at the end of this experiment, you know more going into your next attempt. It's certainly a game about learning, but I would argue that the learning curve is more about what you take from each experience and not innate to the game. I have spent a good deal of time on Sunless Seas (another of Kennedy's games), where this concept is similarly implemented, although I always feel as if I am loosing less in this game when I die, which is a plus for me. (In an effort to differentiate this game from Sunless Sea and Fallen London, however, I will refrain from mentioning it further).

Kennedy is reportedly not a fan of world building (or at least the word of it, in any case), but he does a remarkable job of creating a sense of atmosphere and dread within the game with hints at what lies beyond the text. It leaves a player wanting in perhaps the best way one could, and I mean that as a compliment. I always feel like I'm being rewarded for actions with bite-sized mentions of the world, lore, characters, or moments of action.

Furthermore, the soundtrack is an absolute delight and, although I'm sure there are some who disagree with this, only helps me to concentrate on the content I'm sorting through.

It may take you a while to meet a win condition, but when you do, you'll feel like you've earned it, and hopefully learned a lot about the world and the game along the way.

Overall solid game, maybe a 7/10. Tries too hard to be Bastion, but brings a similarly beautiful art style to the table and an interesting (if somewhat repetitive) gameplay mechanic. Suffers from a vague and predictable story coupled with an unsatisfying ending. I paid about $5 for this game and I wouldn't have bought it again for $10. For $5 though, I got a about 10 hours of content (including a few hours in the arena), some very beautiful levels, a great soundtracks to play along to, some solid voice acting, and a lot of time with one of the cutest foxes in gaming. A nice little gem to pick up on sale if you get the chance.