7
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885
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Recent reviews by Steels12

Showing 1-7 of 7 entries
No one has rated this review as helpful yet
38.8 hrs on record (26.8 hrs at review time)
He really do rip and tear until it's done
Posted 29 March, 2020.
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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
3.0 hrs on record
3 hours worth of game and it's got better storytelling than most games with over a hundred million dollar budget. One of the best implementations of analogous themes and surrealism that I've ever seen. Absolutely every element of this game is meaningful in some way, but not a single one is thrown in your face like it needs to preach to you how meaningful they are.
Posted 20 November, 2017.
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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
10.9 hrs on record (9.1 hrs at review time)
It's a trip. And it's worth every second.
Posted 23 November, 2016.
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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
3.4 hrs on record
Early Access Review
With a bit of time and polish this could very well become one of the best 3D platformers on the market. If you've played Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine dozens of times over like I have you'll pick up this game and immediately feel a very refreshing and nostalgic sense of familiarity. Not something you can achieve with a cheap cash in on a genre, no, this is a game born out of love, and it shows in almost every aspect.
Posted 9 August, 2016.
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3 people found this review helpful
6.6 hrs on record (3.9 hrs at review time)
Life is Strange is very curious and relatable narrative adventure that I would recommend to anyone looking to discover why games deserve to be regarded as a true artform, and that's only after having played Episode 1 of 5.

On the face of it, Life is Strange is your average small-town suburban drama elements of mystery and supernatural events mixed in. To say that's all the game provides would be to horribly misinform your audience though. Life is Strange feels very warm and homely with deep underlaying tones of desperation and darkness. It doesn't try to be deep and engaging, it just simply is. So many times I found myself rolling my eyes or scoffing at just how pitifully teenage everyone was acting, how pretentious and selfish every character was being, and it was only then that I realized that I was reacting to scripted characters the same way I would any other teenager I passed in the halls.

I have high hopes for Life is Strange, and I warmly invite anyone and everyone who cares about interesting narratives to purchase this game.

8/10 - Definitely a buy
Posted 30 January, 2015.
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1 person found this review helpful
9.2 hrs on record
Once again it seems as though the indie genre picks up where triple A gaming fails. Always Sometimes Monsters is a compelling and enthralling game brought to us by the aptly named Vagabond Dog. To surmise Always Sometimes Monsters as eloquently (and with as little spoilers) as possible, it would begin with a small anecdote, much as life and this game does.

Emotions are a fickle thing indeed. Our lives are so dictated by facts, set on rails since the time we begin to the time it ends, and that railcar called life never stops moving no matter how bad the road gets, picking up and losing speed wherever it feels it wants to. We can choose to leave that railcar and act as we see fit, essentially moving with our emotions, but we must keep in mind that we're shackled to it, and if we let it get too far ahead of us it will drag us into the ground. That doesn't mean that life hates us or has any preference, just that it always keeps moving and we neeed to keep that in mind. Always Sometimes Monsters is an amazing portrayal of such a concept.

Storytelling as a medium is relatively new to anything outside of literature, especially in most western culture. Things are very action oriented, and it's easy to do so in a field such as video games, because all that is required is to present a moving story and hope your audience accepts it. It's when we are given control of situations that storytelling becomes complicated. You can say that you ultimately want to write a sad story or a happy story, but is it really simple to portray a story as just that? As something that has ups and downs depending on your own choices, forcing you to keep in mind that things move on and everything has its own time and pace? Always Sometimes Monsters would make it seem as simple as breathing.

Throughout the course of this game I was given situations and choices that had me constantly reflecting on myself and my own life as much as my character's, and those choices did eventually catch up to me in some way or another. I felt happy, I felt sad, and by the end of it I felt empty. I stood at the edge of the game and could only look back, regretting what I had done and thinking that perhaps I could have done better. There was, however, a small spart within me that kept me looking forward. I had realized that this game had never pushed me ahead, in fact it had given me the option to give up and turn back many times, and I as an individual chose to press on.

There was no fate that kept me moving constantly forward, there was just life. Very few times did the game make me question myself, it instead provided me with the opportunity to reflect in a manner that touched my heart in pleasant and disturbing ways. Ultimately this game made me feel something that I had grown accustom to, but it instead let me see it from the outside looking in: depression and desperation. I didn't feel happy just because the story said I was happy, nor did I feel broken just because the story said it was so. I felt human living within the world presented to me, and that is a truly beautiful and complicated thing to be able to create.

Vagabond Dog has successfully created what I would say is one of the most beautiful and realistic portrayal of a single fragment of life that I've ever seen, regardless of the medium used. I would recommend this game to anyone at all who has any interest in storytelling via the video game medium. This wonderful game stands as a reminder that video games can be so much more than just pointing and shooting, and I hope that Vagabond Dog continues making such wonderful games in the future.

GO BUY THIS GAME NOW.
Posted 22 November, 2014.
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2 people found this review helpful
53.7 hrs on record (28.7 hrs at review time)
Without a doubt one of the best games I have ever played. So few games these days can make you feel the conflicting emotions that this game does, how you know that every decision you make can potentially define the fate of those under your care.

Get this game, no question.

10/10
Posted 23 November, 2012.
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Showing 1-7 of 7 entries