Senaste recensioner av genkicoll

NOTE: Don't be fooled by the in-game time Steam is showing for me -- I played my first two times through on my DRM-free copy :)

Disclaimer: The game does require some hand-eye coordination and patience. If you have neither, you probably won't get very far ;)

Basic options include choice of seven languages and separate sliders for Music, Sound, and Voice, plus mono or stereo sound and mouse sensitivity. The game automatically adjusted itself to my widescreen, and graphic options include choice of screen resolution, Enhanced color effects, HD textures, VSync, or Automatic settings (which was my preference)

As with most games of this type, you don't just save at any time -- there are save points. Just touch the globe -- the small lights (aka checkpoints) that will "forgive your mistakes" -- to save your progress. These are nicely spaced, so don't worry!

Unlike most of these games is that we have multiple profiles to choose from (three of them,) so we can switch profiles if more than one person wants to play the game at once.

If you hit Esc. during gameplay, you'll see a button that says "Resume Game" and three symbols: A compass, a swirl, and some gears. Clicking on the gears will take you to the game settings, the middle button (the swirl) will take you back to your last checkpoint (you can cancel if you didn't mean to hit that button!) and the compass will take you back to the maps page, and from there you can get back to the main menu by clicking on the arrow at the bottom right of the page.

Where to start? Well, I guess at the beginning would be best!

The game very clearly shows us how to play, without being annoying in any way. The instructions are seamlessly introduced by our narrator, who stays with us throughout our journey, giving us new information and telling us the story. What a wonderful voice they chose, and such an interesting way to progress the story!

The controls are basic to start with -- the arrow keys or W-A-S-D and space bar to jump. I recommend using W-A-S-D, as later in the game it's nearly impossible to continue to use the arrow keys whilst managing your colors! As we progress, we discover colors which allow us to affect the world around us. The game teaches us to use these colors very clearly, so don't worry! Each color has a different effect, and I don't want to ruin any surprises, so I'll just mention the first two: The only color we have at the very beginning is purple, which is unusable until we discover other colors, for it allows us to erase any colors we place or find. Soon we will learn how to use blue, which creates an icy surface where it is placed. NOW we can use the purple, if we so desire. ;) Each world area we visit teaches a new color ability, and all told, we have five worlds and five colors: Blue, brown, green, yellow, and red (though not in that order.)

So how do we use our colors? It's really very easy. In the top right corner is an orb showing your current color. Click on it to open up your color palette (see the first picture in post #1 for a visual.) Choose whatever color you need for the current situation you're facing. To place the color, simply hold down your mouse button and swipe the cursor over the surface you want to coat.

You have a limited amount of color to use, and sometimes it's necessary to remove the color you've placed to complete the current puzzle. To do so you COULD click on the color palette, choose purple, and click-and-drag the areas where you want to remove it... OR, you can do it the easy way and simply right-click-and-drag. :D

During my second time through the main story I discovered that we can easily and quickly change our color by simply using the scroll wheel on the mouse! Whee~! Happy day!

The experience is really the driving force of the game. It's one thing to watch someone play it, and something else to actually sit back and do it for yourself. Take your time. Discover. Learn. Let yourself be immersed in this beautiful and deadly world. You could power through all the scenes and ignore all of that, but you'd really be missing out.

The primary focus of the game is discovery. Find your way through the worlds without being damaged or reclaimed by the Void. Nihilumbra is very story-driven, and for the most part, we have plenty of time explore and figure out how to solve the puzzles. Towards the end of each world, the Void will advance, leaving us with only a certain amount of time to get through the final screens. The use of the scroll wheel to change colors makes a big difference in the difficulty level, but even if you're doing the point-and-click method (which I was the first time through!) it's still doable.

Five colors, five worlds... Before I knew it, I came to 'The End' and was watching the credits. *cry* I felt so wistful, wishing that it hadn't ended so soon, wishing that there was more... Two hours is all it took (the second time 'round,) yet I felt that it was still worth the asking price.

. . . except that it wasn't 'The End' at all! It turned out that this was only the beginning of my journey in Nihilumbra, and the true challenge still lay before me. Now the 'Void Mode' was unlocked, and the focus of the game changes. We've finished with the main story, but still have much to do! Every single save point from the main game is now a complex puzzle that needs to be solved, and all puzzles must be completed to have true closure for the story. There are no save points during these puzzles, and I can tell you for certain that you will die -- over and over again -- before you're able to figure things out. The story-driven, take-your-time adventure is over, and is now filled with one complex, mind-bending puzzle after another. Though I had a couple of "how the heck am I supposed to get past that?" moments, I was able to get through the main story without even thinking about about looking at a walkthrough. The Void gameplay, though? I couldn't figure out the very first screen! Mahaha~ I admit that I've had to look a couple of times, but I've been finding great joy in figuring things out on my own whenever I can.

Am I finished with the game? Not even close, but I'm enjoying every moment I spend playing. I can't even begin to tell you how beautifully-done this game is. The combination of story with narration are poignant and thought-provoking, leaving us with a lot to consider, and I found it equally moving my second time through (the main story -- still working on the Void section!) The music is beautiful, though I found it better to have the music and sound effects half the volume of the narration. For me, it was the perfect balance. I really loved everything about the game, and I can't recommend it highly enough! Two thumbs up!

Whispering Willows is a side-scrolling adventure. It does have its horror elements (and a few "EEK!" moments) but overall this is a game of exploration and story-discovery.

Options include choice of Controls (I used the default), separate sliders for Sound Effects and Music, a slider for brightness (so we can choose how environmentally dark we want it!), Language, Fullscreen/Windowed, Screen Resolution, and Graphics Quality.

All of the controls are given to you as you play but I'll list them here for you, anyway. ;) The default controls are as follows: Arrow keys or W-A-S-D for movement, E for Inventory, Q to switch to your astral form, Esc. for Menu or Cancel, and Space or Enter to interact with things.

Since the gameplay is exploration-based, the devs chose not to add a running ability... but they changed their minds after getting feedback from the fans. You can run when you are OUTSIDE ONLY by holding down the Shift key.

You CAN miss things if you don't take the time to explore everywhere -- don't make assumptions that what looks like a dead-end is *actually* a dead-end! For the most part, you won't be able to miss things, however. Any time your character touches something important, you'll get a pop-up at the top of the screen telling you to hit the Space key to pick it up, possess it, move it, or whatever interaction is necessary at the time. You can look at your inventory at any time, but you don't actually need to -- all inventory items are automatically used when you need them.

The story is told via notes and letters that you find as you explore. I recommend reading them immediately, and you can do so by hitting the Esc key when you find them (the game will tell you that every time you find one of them :p ) If you're not sure which character wrote the letter, just hit the Esc key -- you'll see the newest note's name highlighted. ie. William Wortham 3/15.

As you explore you will discover and -- in your spectral form -- be able to talk to the many ghosts that populate the grounds, as well as "possess" items for a short time and squeeze through small openings. Although these openings have little sparkles around them, I *still* managed to miss a couple. Another way to notice those small areas is to switch to your spirit form. When you get near one, you'll switch from your full-form to a little bluish flame.

So how do you know when to switch forms? You are wearing an amulet, and when it starts to glow, you know that you are getting near a ghost. Otherwise, you just need to keep an eye out for small spaces, and things that don't quite look right.

You might think that being a side-scroller, there would not be much depth to your environment, and you'd be wrong. ;) There are multiple layers to every area you visit, not just "front" and "behind". My preferred method of play is to fully explore an area before going through any doors or going up/down stairs, but that's not necessarily what works best in this case. 'Nuff said.

You CAN die in a few spots, but luckily you won't have to re-do much, as the automatic saves are well-spaced. Survival is not dependent on reflexes, it's all about patience and/or moving your character to the right place.

Overall, I enjoyed the game, and think it was definitely worth playing.

Runespell Overture (Battle Poker-Solitaire)

This is a game that I originally tried and reviewed back in 2014, but have just finished my first playthrough, and wanted to write a fresh review, so here we go~!

Besides the usual options for graphics and sound, we also can choose between Drag-and-drop or Click-and-click for moving cards around. Remember that SAVES are manual.

So how does battle poker-solitaire work? I'm glad you asked!

Two solitaire hands are laid out on the screen - one of you and one for your opponent. You have three moves each turn, and you can use not only your own cards, but any single cards from your enemy's stacks as well. Create combos of five cards in order to have an attack available. Each poker hand is worth a certain number of points, and in addition to the usual pairs, full house, straights, etc, you can also have five-of-a-kind.

Don't know poker? No problem! There's a Poker Help button at the bottom of the screen that will tell you the name of the hand, a description and number of points each hand will do in damage. Very nice!

The game starts with a very helpful tutorial that I recommend using, even if you know your poker well, as it will explain some of the nuances of the gameplay.

As we progress the story and defeat enemies, we'll find Powercards that will help us along the way. We can equip up to eight cards at a time, although we can only have one Secret (to increase our hit points), one Blessing (to increase our "Rage" points) equipped at any given time.

In addition to the Secret and Blessing cards, there are also cards for various kinds of attacks and defenses, and you will need to build up your "Rage" in order to use them. When you're hit or make an attack of your own, your rage meter will increase, giving you the ability to use those special cards.

There is one additional kind of card, and these represent your allies. Each ally has their own special attack or defense, and are equipped and used (with rage points) just like the other cards.

Inventory can be adjusted before each battle, or if you can see you're really going to need a certain kind of defense/offense, you can "Flee" (bottom left of the screen), regroup, and go back in.

Have I mentioned that these special cards have a finite number of uses? That is where the merchants come in. Winning battles will net you new cards to use, as well as Hacksilver to spend. Use your hacksilver to add uses to your favorite cards, and you'll be good to go. The silver is not easy to come by in quantity, so keep that in mind!

There are 35 Steam Achievements, and while they are not impossible, you'll definitely need to work towards some of them. I found out the hard way that when you fight the final battle, you lose all of your progress. If you choose Continue+ from the main menu you'll find that you still have all of your Powercards (except the allies), but if you were looking for the Obtain All Powercards achievements, you need to be sure to do so BEFORE you fight that final battle!

I enjoyed both the music and the sound effects, and despite the age of the game, some of the cutscene art is quite lovely. The storyline is interesting, and you'll generally have a choice between two responses. In the end you'll have the same result, but it's cool that the choice is there. All cutscenes and interactions are skippable by using the Esc button.

I feel that Runespell Overture deserves a lot more attention than it has received. This is an incredibly addictive and fun title which I absolutely recommended for anyone who is looking for something a little different out there in the world of card games.

EDIT: This review was written before I owned a controller for the PC

So much to say, the first of which is that THIS REVIEW CONTAINS NO SPOILERS! If I mention anything specific, it is only a fabricated example. That being said, let's start with the technical stuff, which is based off of the keyboard/mouse PC gameplay.

I should also mention that I've never seen the TV series, nor read the comic series that this game is based upon. I have read that this game follows a different set of characters, so you don't have to worry about spoilers via crossovers.

MOVEMENT: W-A-S-D or Arrow keys.

FIGHTING: Q and E keys

SAVING/PAUSING/LOADING:

There is no option to save -- it's automatic. Watch for a swirl of lines in the top right corner. This is the game saving your progress. If you exit the game or go back to the main menu, you will lose anything you've done since the last auto-save.

To PAUSE the game, just hit the Escape key... Better yet, try hitting the space bar! You'll get extra time to make those crucial decisions~!

THE ZOMBIES:

These are not the running, jumping, climbing, can-almost-think-type of zombie that you see in the movies as of late. What we have in The Walking Dead are the more classic-style of the undead. They shamble and barely have the coordination to stand upright. They're slow because their bodies are rotting away. They will never stop coming.

There seem to be three things they react to: Sight, sound, and a ravenous hunger for living flesh.

To fight off the undead, rapidly hit the Q key when you see the prompt on the screen, and be ready to hit the E key to attack as soon as the prompt pops up. Sometimes you'll have to use the mouse to aim an attack, and that's not as easy as you may think! During fighting scenes the cursor can be hard to move around. Make no mistake, this is definitely intentional, and a brilliant decision by the development crew. It really adds to the reality and intensity of the situation, further immersing you in the story.

YOUR CHOICES WILL AFFECT THE WAY THE GAME PLAYS OUT. You're told this each time you start a new chapter of the game, and it's absolutely true. Not only do your choices carry over from one chapter to another, but also to new seasons. We play as a man named Lee, and WE choose what his personality is like. Is he angry and defiant? Calm and caring? Some combination of the two? That's entirely up to YOU, and it will affect how the other characters interact with you.

There is not a lot of fighting, as one might expect from a title about zombigeddon. Yes, of course we struggle, we shoot, we flee, and sometimes we die... but the primary thrust of the game is the story. This is like no adventure game I've ever seen, seeming more like we're part of a movie, rather than playing a game.

In tense situations, as in real life, we don't have an unlimited amount of time to decide what to say or do. We have to make some snap decisions, and it heightens the immersiveness, wrapping around our psyche, taunting, calling, making us unable to stop thinking about what's happened, and what WILL happen because of our choices.

The way interactions and inventory are handled are much different than I'm used to. You can see small icons that show your inventory on the left-hand side of the screen, but you don't do the usual "click on inventory item, then click on the scene" routine. Instead, when you mouse-over a hotspot on the scene, you will see options that you can choose from (assuming that there's more than one action available.) If it's possible to try an inventory item on that spot, you'll see it in the options. Just use your mouse wheel or arrow keys on your keyboard to highlight your desired choice; same as you do when you're having a conversation or choosing an action to take.

This is not the kind of game where you can speed up the dialogue or skip cutscenes. The Walking Dead is all about experiencing the story, and what a story it is! Intense, gripping, distressing, touching. Through all of the turmoil and strife, there are still moments that made me smile; even laugh out loud! The only other game I've seen that evoked so much emotion was Cognition, though of course for entirely different reasons.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS:

You can see from the screenshots that the characters are done graphic art-style. Not surprising since this is based off a comic book series. And yet... deep within the gameplay, there are startling moments when the characters look real. I would swear that they had live actors doing the modelling. The mannerisms are so well done, the nuances of expression so poignant. A slight softening of the eyes, the ghost of a smile... Beautifully done!

There is some gore, but it's tolerable... and to be expected! This IS a game featuring the dead, after all! I have one friend who is not into zombies at all, and another who really can't stand gore, and both were so completely sucked in by the story that they couldn't stop playing!

The music is so perfectly melded with the situations you encounter that they're well-nigh unnoticeable. There is nothing to jar you out of the the environment, nothing to distract you from the situation you're in.

The voice acting is absolutely superb. Of course there are some exceptions, but very few.

THE VERDICT:

If you haven't figured out how I feel about the game by now, you must have skipped over the rest of the review! There's been a lot of hype about the game, and it's all -- in my opinion -- very well-deserved.

If you're looking for complex gameplay, this isn't for you. Likewise if you're looking for a lot of combat or a shoot 'em up. The Walking Dead isn't a game; it's an experience like no other, and one I highly recommend to anyone who loves a good story.

I am dying to play Season 2 -- No, not literally! Leave my brains intact, please! -- but for now, will have to settle for playing the game through for the third time :D