I picked up a few more titles that were on sale this weekend on the PSN. Two I've been eying, and two were just random discoveries scrolling through the list. I believe these were up to 70% off indie titles through the end of the month if anyone is interested.
Typoman
I posted a video of this before asking if anyone had played it. I saw that it was on sale so pulled the trigger. Cute game. The little character is adorable and the level designs are clean and mostly easy enough to get the hang of. It is a side scroller that will automatically zoom in and out depending on the context of the level. It's dark. I mean in mood. From time to time you come across floating quotation marks that, when touched, reveal a narrative line. I'm not sure if that's story related or just poetic blurbs the writer scattered about the game world, but whatever their purpose, those quotes are sad. Or have been so far. I get the vibe the writer has recovered from drug addiction.
The game has had a few unexpected scares as there are these weird demon bird word things that appear from nowhere to chase you through areas of a level. I've died a lot. A lot more than I would expect from the charming presentation. But then there's that whole dark business.
I'm only maybe twenty minutes into the game and have experienced a few places where I have to puzzle out a word to affect the environment in a way to move past some roadblock. That works, but doesn't seem to account for all the possible words you could actually use in the given situation. Apparently only the "one" word will work. So while I can totally credit the creativity of design, if this is the norm then I MIGHT be disappointed knowing that three possible words may do nothing. That probably makes no sense without having played the game.
All that said, it so far seems to be a very nice hybrid action puzzler with a unique style.
Linelight
So this one is pretty minimal, but that totally works here. You are a bar of light running along a faded line. That's about it. The design is overhead 2D and you can move up, down, left and right, all depending of course on if there is a line for you to follow. There are puzzle obstacles along the path that you must solve and they are presented to you in incremental levels of difficulty. So far I've not felt that any one puzzle was too much of a leap compared to what I'd experienced before. The staging is nice and there's something calming and therapeutic about sliding about. I imagine a speed run would be exhilarating as there doesn't seem to be a loading pause between puzzle screens. It just kind of flows with you as you move around.
I only have two issues. First is the soundtrack. It's a somewhat generic piano theme that gets frustrating over time. It's just a bit too distracting. It has a specific personality to it, which is not bad at all, but does not at all fit the minimal, futuristic design of the game, in my opinion. Second, some of these puzzles are timing-based. Hm. I don't mean time restrictions or a countdown timer. I mean that you must time your movements against other moving obstacles that can kill you, if kill is appropriate for a bar of light. That's good for a challenge, but even if you can visually solve the path through, there are at times other obstacles that require specific timing to get past/around without "de-rezzing," to reference Tron light bike style gameplay. I'm going to dismiss my second issue to my lack of real puzzle gaming experience, but I would much rather solve something and not at the same time be required to exercise timed coordination.
Very interesting game. I only stopped playing out of frustration. Otherwise, I might still be clinging to my controller now instead of writing this.
In Rays of Light
OK, for you world explorer types? This game is for you. I know very little about it other than what is shown in the trailer. That was enough though to prompt a purchase. As far as I can tell, you're in the world alone free to wander and explorer anything and everything. Based on the trailer, I assume some major world war has occurred and my character is alone. I'm not sure why I start where I do or what the character's history was before I entered the game, but I feel some of that may be explained during playthrough.
There are basic interactions with world objects. I was presented with a flashlight and soon later had to figure a way to pry open a doorway to exit the room. There are lockers that are openable, but so far there has been very minimal collectable items. Three maybe? I have noticed that some posters and photos along the walls and shelves provide the option to look closer, but that's also not often. This will be a slow game of meticulous exploration, I believe, but the atmosphere of it all all but demand that I look around just one more corner before logging out.
There is something ominous about game. Like I'm being watched. Who taped up the flashlight for me to find? Who scribbled these short messages along the walls for me to read? How did anyone know I would be here? It all reads very cult-like and spiritual but I can't tell if that's for good or bad. Perhaps that's a clue to what happened to humanity? There was a noise, just outside of a window and out of visual range that appeared as I was exploring one office space. I could see a strange white glow outside as well. Then it was gone. Strange, interesting stuff. Given a few scenes from the trailer, I'm excited to see where this goes. I think this is more of an experience narrative than a game to play. The closest that I can compare it to would be The Long Dark. Pacing is similar, though I haven't found the need to eat, sleep, drink, or be concerned by anything except for getting to the next room to explore, nor have I found controls for anything other than walk, run, interact, jump, and squat. Both games are equally isolating, so if The Long Dark was your game, take a look at this one. I've not died from starvation or freezing and the graphics are 1,000 times better.
Agony
OK, follow me for a bit on this one. I saw this trailer a few months back and, though I rarely play any type of horror game, the visuals of this game world just got my attention. I've been waiting for this to drop in price again and found it this weekend at a reasonable price.
I spent about 10-20 minutes in this one and honestly, that may be all I give to it. I am still curious, but the gameplay is just too cryptic and unrefined. The feelings I've gotten so far are similar to those received from playing Dark Souls (both is atmosphere, speed, and that constant dark, wet, and reflective texture mapping), Dead Space (for the completely random environmental deaths), and maybe a touch of the old Soul Reaver mythical underworld grandeur.
This game is dark. Both literally and figuratively. It's difficult to see when wandering through closed spaces due to the complete lack of light. Don't get me wrong. This game world is Hell, and the introductory narration explains that even a little bit of light is painful, so that's to be expected. It's just somewhat generic design (by design here, I mean the layout of the game path. hallways and access) and everything in this world, so far, has the same high-gloss reflection map thing going. I understand this is to imply that everything is wet (likely with the blood of the damned), but it's difficult to judge depth when everything has the same approximate texture AND that there's so little light to help distinguish objects from others. I've died twice now and have no idea why or how. As to the figuratively description, well, you ARE in Hell so there's that. Tortured bodies are everywhere. Within the first level, one of the first steps you must take is to sacrifice a damned soul by taking its heart and placing it on a scale as offering to pass through the first level gateway. Creepy stuff!
Did I mention that blood is everywhere? There are shallow gutters full of the blood from previous sacrifices. Body parts literally rain down from above when outside. The title screen shows several clusters of burnt bodies writhing in pain while in the background, past a small mound of what I cannot even begin to imagine, stands the the lower leg of a giant demon. Scale is epic. Now, regarding actual creative design, this game is impressive. The world environments and visuals are terrifying and feel as if they were ripped out of the nightmares of the rock band Tool's Adam Jones. Watch ANY of that band's music videos for a sense of perspective into what I'm talking about.
I SO want to explore this world just to see everything, but dang if I'm not a wimp when it comes to game horror. If the controls were less clunky, I might be up for it. So far I just can't tell what I'm supposed to do or where I'm walking when I try to do it---whatever it is that I'm supposed to do. And I don't want nightmares. Yeah. Nightmares.
WARNING: Do NOT watch this trailer if you areeasily even moderately offended by blood, gore, nudity, and demonic horror. I mean, this would make Pinhead of Hellraiser blush. I am not kidding there. Most of this trailer is black and white. My guess, that's either marketing or due to some standards and practices regulation. I wouldn't be surprised either way. I feel weird just sharing this link.... This game is rated Mature (17+) for context. Enter at your own risk!
Typoman
I posted a video of this before asking if anyone had played it. I saw that it was on sale so pulled the trigger. Cute game. The little character is adorable and the level designs are clean and mostly easy enough to get the hang of. It is a side scroller that will automatically zoom in and out depending on the context of the level. It's dark. I mean in mood. From time to time you come across floating quotation marks that, when touched, reveal a narrative line. I'm not sure if that's story related or just poetic blurbs the writer scattered about the game world, but whatever their purpose, those quotes are sad. Or have been so far. I get the vibe the writer has recovered from drug addiction.
The game has had a few unexpected scares as there are these weird demon bird word things that appear from nowhere to chase you through areas of a level. I've died a lot. A lot more than I would expect from the charming presentation. But then there's that whole dark business.
I'm only maybe twenty minutes into the game and have experienced a few places where I have to puzzle out a word to affect the environment in a way to move past some roadblock. That works, but doesn't seem to account for all the possible words you could actually use in the given situation. Apparently only the "one" word will work. So while I can totally credit the creativity of design, if this is the norm then I MIGHT be disappointed knowing that three possible words may do nothing. That probably makes no sense without having played the game.
All that said, it so far seems to be a very nice hybrid action puzzler with a unique style.
Linelight
So this one is pretty minimal, but that totally works here. You are a bar of light running along a faded line. That's about it. The design is overhead 2D and you can move up, down, left and right, all depending of course on if there is a line for you to follow. There are puzzle obstacles along the path that you must solve and they are presented to you in incremental levels of difficulty. So far I've not felt that any one puzzle was too much of a leap compared to what I'd experienced before. The staging is nice and there's something calming and therapeutic about sliding about. I imagine a speed run would be exhilarating as there doesn't seem to be a loading pause between puzzle screens. It just kind of flows with you as you move around.
I only have two issues. First is the soundtrack. It's a somewhat generic piano theme that gets frustrating over time. It's just a bit too distracting. It has a specific personality to it, which is not bad at all, but does not at all fit the minimal, futuristic design of the game, in my opinion. Second, some of these puzzles are timing-based. Hm. I don't mean time restrictions or a countdown timer. I mean that you must time your movements against other moving obstacles that can kill you, if kill is appropriate for a bar of light. That's good for a challenge, but even if you can visually solve the path through, there are at times other obstacles that require specific timing to get past/around without "de-rezzing," to reference Tron light bike style gameplay. I'm going to dismiss my second issue to my lack of real puzzle gaming experience, but I would much rather solve something and not at the same time be required to exercise timed coordination.
Very interesting game. I only stopped playing out of frustration. Otherwise, I might still be clinging to my controller now instead of writing this.
In Rays of Light
OK, for you world explorer types? This game is for you. I know very little about it other than what is shown in the trailer. That was enough though to prompt a purchase. As far as I can tell, you're in the world alone free to wander and explorer anything and everything. Based on the trailer, I assume some major world war has occurred and my character is alone. I'm not sure why I start where I do or what the character's history was before I entered the game, but I feel some of that may be explained during playthrough.
There are basic interactions with world objects. I was presented with a flashlight and soon later had to figure a way to pry open a doorway to exit the room. There are lockers that are openable, but so far there has been very minimal collectable items. Three maybe? I have noticed that some posters and photos along the walls and shelves provide the option to look closer, but that's also not often. This will be a slow game of meticulous exploration, I believe, but the atmosphere of it all all but demand that I look around just one more corner before logging out.
There is something ominous about game. Like I'm being watched. Who taped up the flashlight for me to find? Who scribbled these short messages along the walls for me to read? How did anyone know I would be here? It all reads very cult-like and spiritual but I can't tell if that's for good or bad. Perhaps that's a clue to what happened to humanity? There was a noise, just outside of a window and out of visual range that appeared as I was exploring one office space. I could see a strange white glow outside as well. Then it was gone. Strange, interesting stuff. Given a few scenes from the trailer, I'm excited to see where this goes. I think this is more of an experience narrative than a game to play. The closest that I can compare it to would be The Long Dark. Pacing is similar, though I haven't found the need to eat, sleep, drink, or be concerned by anything except for getting to the next room to explore, nor have I found controls for anything other than walk, run, interact, jump, and squat. Both games are equally isolating, so if The Long Dark was your game, take a look at this one. I've not died from starvation or freezing and the graphics are 1,000 times better.
Agony
OK, follow me for a bit on this one. I saw this trailer a few months back and, though I rarely play any type of horror game, the visuals of this game world just got my attention. I've been waiting for this to drop in price again and found it this weekend at a reasonable price.
I spent about 10-20 minutes in this one and honestly, that may be all I give to it. I am still curious, but the gameplay is just too cryptic and unrefined. The feelings I've gotten so far are similar to those received from playing Dark Souls (both is atmosphere, speed, and that constant dark, wet, and reflective texture mapping), Dead Space (for the completely random environmental deaths), and maybe a touch of the old Soul Reaver mythical underworld grandeur.
This game is dark. Both literally and figuratively. It's difficult to see when wandering through closed spaces due to the complete lack of light. Don't get me wrong. This game world is Hell, and the introductory narration explains that even a little bit of light is painful, so that's to be expected. It's just somewhat generic design (by design here, I mean the layout of the game path. hallways and access) and everything in this world, so far, has the same high-gloss reflection map thing going. I understand this is to imply that everything is wet (likely with the blood of the damned), but it's difficult to judge depth when everything has the same approximate texture AND that there's so little light to help distinguish objects from others. I've died twice now and have no idea why or how. As to the figuratively description, well, you ARE in Hell so there's that. Tortured bodies are everywhere. Within the first level, one of the first steps you must take is to sacrifice a damned soul by taking its heart and placing it on a scale as offering to pass through the first level gateway. Creepy stuff!
Did I mention that blood is everywhere? There are shallow gutters full of the blood from previous sacrifices. Body parts literally rain down from above when outside. The title screen shows several clusters of burnt bodies writhing in pain while in the background, past a small mound of what I cannot even begin to imagine, stands the the lower leg of a giant demon. Scale is epic. Now, regarding actual creative design, this game is impressive. The world environments and visuals are terrifying and feel as if they were ripped out of the nightmares of the rock band Tool's Adam Jones. Watch ANY of that band's music videos for a sense of perspective into what I'm talking about.
I SO want to explore this world just to see everything, but dang if I'm not a wimp when it comes to game horror. If the controls were less clunky, I might be up for it. So far I just can't tell what I'm supposed to do or where I'm walking when I try to do it---whatever it is that I'm supposed to do. And I don't want nightmares. Yeah. Nightmares.
WARNING: Do NOT watch this trailer if you are
__________________
"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel
"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel
"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear
"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel
"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel
"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear