Recent reviews by Nicodemous52

This is pretty good actually. It's basically like a choose your own adventure graphic novel that has good music, great voice acting, and supreme art. This comic style is very cool. Story so far, it's good enough, interesting enough.

Where this game is probably going to lose some folks is the long bits of panel to panel story are broken up with combat sections. It takes some getting used to because it's real time, but it's not fluid at all. It's about timing more than anything. It's a kind of rock, paper, scissors... But there are more elements to it. But at the end of the day, that's what it boils down to.

I picked this up a long time ago as part of some bundle on Fanatical. Getting it that way or on sale is for sure worth it.

STOP EEFFING CALLING THIS POKEMON WITH GUNS! Other than the look and monster catching mechanic, they have absolutely noting in common. Other than perhaps this. Pokemon is like baby's first RPG. Pal World is like Baby's first survival game.

That said however, I'm not usually into survival games, but I'm digging this. Whatever it is, I like it a lot more than Pokemon.

So it turns out this is a mobile port. I have since gotten the game on my phone and played it a fair amount. It's not the deepest and most engaging card battler ever, but it's not half bad. I more or less steam rolled everything until I got to this pirate. It took me several tries before I realized he had a buff that said the first two damage cards I played every round were reflected back at me. Once I realized that, I progressed through a few more fights and have been stuck at the wolf.

He's actually an early character somewhat. I've come close to beating him a few times, but because it's on my phone, I usually play it when I have time constraints. An hour was not enough time. I may start over and make different card choices and see if I can get past him. Or just play it from home when time is not a factor. But that's the thing, it's not always time that kills me. It's not easy.

It's not bad, but nothing to get too excited about. Probably worth playing, especially because you get a good chunk for free and there is optional DLC.

As of the moment of me writing this, I have not finished this game yet. I know I’m in the latter half I’m on level (read that as chapter) six or seven out of eight. I’m not going to say this is the greatest game ever. I’m not going to say it’s best story, or the best art, or the best music. I will tell you I think all those things are in fact good here, and I personally love it. I’ve noticed this game is also on itch io and GameJolt as well.

Another positive for the game and the developer. I discovered the demo back in 2020 I think it was. I played that, which was a slice taken right out of the game, an early part, but not the very beginning. It didn’t exactly blow me away, but it charmed me enough that I was intrigued and wanted to see more. Now, I did post on the forums how I was not a big fan of the character being so androgynist. I said I was fine with it being an option for people, but personally it’s harder for me to get into and be down with that. I don’t want ambiguity, I want to play a clear man or woman, just my personal preference. But that other than that, I thought the game was great. They actually responded to me. And, it was a great response that I respected them for. There was no defensiveness, no name calling, no blame shifting. Just cool reason. They told me they get that, but the game as mostly made by a two-person team (or something like that, whatever the number, the point was they are tiny) and while they would have loved to and considered giving people more customization options, it was too much work for them. It would have required tons more assets to pull off and they didn’t have the manpower or will to make that happen. Ok, fair enough.

The story is one I know I very much resonate with, and I’m sure countless others would too. Ultimately, it’s about someone that is basically on the brink, just about all out of hope for anything, and walking them back to a place where they can find happiness and fulfilment. Through the and of a rouge AI assistance program you end up finding something you believe in and love when you get a job at the FunPlex arcade. That’s about all I want to say, I feel like more is getting into the plot beats themselves, and thus spoilers. But that’s the basic set up for the rest of the story.

The game play is virtually non-existent, for this is a visual novel. You do make choices, and I’m sure they have some effect on the story, but for the most part, I doubt it’s major most of the time. I guess I don’t know for sure. But in some of those choices there is a bit of a mini game where you are building up favor with the other characters. That’s part of the romance aspect of the game. You can build up a relationship with several of the characters and it can become romantic. You don’t have to ever romance anyone. And you can’t romance everyone, but you do get a lot of options both men and women, and none of them are ever cut off from you if you whether chose “He” “She” or “They” for yourself.

Is the game “woke”? I would say naw. I would say the game treads lightly and aims to not smack anyone in the face. Now like I said, you can have, gasp, gay romances and you get to pick your pronouns and worst of all, the man character is androgynist. This is all true. But does that make the work, woke? To me, the mere existence of these things is not the issue. That’s not the problem. So I’d say no, the game is not “woke”. Is there elements of it, things about it people in the cult of woke would cheer? Yeah, there is. If their being even present at all is enough to ruin something for you. Then this one is not for you. But if you are a reactionary of the less kneejerk variety, or anyone else. It’s fine. It’s not exactly trying to smack you in the face with any particular messages or ideology. I don’t feel like they were trying to advance any causes at all, there were there just because they were there. Seasoning, flavor, variety… life.

The music is they kind of smooth jazz influenced synth wave that perfectly captures the feeling it’s going for. I find it to be pretty great The art I do mostly like. But they do reuse the same models most of the time. I’m sure that was in part to make it easier to keep all the characters straight because there are a fair amount of moving parts. But I’m also sure part of that was budget and manpower (as in the species of the human creature aka man) constraints. But what is there is pretty good. The artists that worked on and helped out on this project obviously have a lot of talent. Plenty of room to grow from here, sure, but I enjoy it as it.

I have not played the sequel yet, but I will eventually get it and get around to it.

So I just finished the game and I have thoughts.

I will flat out say I liked it. It’s not without flaws, it’s certainly not for everyone, but I liked it. The music was mostly good and mostly worked which for a thing of this nature that came together in this way is commendable. The art is just gorgeous. I’m something of a comic geek and this is like top tier comic art for the most part. Is it all the very best? No, like all comics, it’s going to have a wanky panel here or there. But overall, the art is the strongest part. My biggest critique is that it does get a little samy by the end. Starts to lose it’s luster by the end. And with music, that could be a project to really get value for money out of this game, you could try to work out all the combinations of paths in the songs and come up with the best version of every song. Have fun with that.

Moving along though, one knock against it, I feel like it should have been longer. For the price point, I kind of feel like there should have been a bit more to it. Don’t get me wrong, I understand, they had a lot of moving parts. I get it already had to be a pretty tight budget to get full voice acting and to pay them to sing as well. And the artists and the people working on in the background and with the coding. Yeah, I get that every big is an expensive ask. And yet, I still feel like it should have been a little longer, flushed everything out just a bit more a bit better. As enjoyable as it was, it did feel a little rushed in parts. My playthrough was 6 and a half hours, for $30, I want a few more hours out of it. Which to be fair there are many more if you want to unlock all the achievements, but I mean in a campaign.

Now what for many will be kind of a deal breaker. This game is essentially an interactive movie. It is not wrong to think of it that way. In my own mind, it has just enough elements of game play that to me it is actually a game. You do make choices that do affect the outcome. You are on a timer to make those choices. Though, you can remove the timer if you want to, but I’d see it as a mistake just for the flow of the songs, but it’s cool it’s there. I’m also unsure if there are actually any fail states or not. But I’m not 100% sure I agree a game needs fail states. Either way, that’s going to be the biggest draw back for some, but it’s not for us all, and certainly not for me.

I was put on the wrong foot because of the notice of stolen land stuff and I was looking for woke nonsense in the game because of it, well… Looking for it is not correct. I was expecting it. However, if I’m totally fair, naw, not really. Oh sure, there are plenty of things that are there that woke culture rallies around, but they are not really focused on or pointed out. Not in a way that screamed to me they were letting agenda get in the way of good story and art. I mean, if the mere existence of things the cult of woke would love is something that would turn you off and make you hate the experience, then sure it’s there this one is not for you. But I try not to be Mr. Reactionary guy. At least not kneejerk reactionary. None of the characters are totally defined by any woke quotient they may fill. I don’t know, I just never felt like anything here was there to pander or to “educate” people. It all felt like it was just there, flavor for the story, seasonings they chose to use. Is there a cringe line here or there? Absolutely. But nothing about it bothered me and In went in on high alert. So, take that for what it’s worth.

EDIT: For the record, I was basically done with the game when I wrote this, I just didn't know it at the time. When I came back to record the last episode, there was only 5 or so min left, basically the equivalent of an epilogue/////////////

As far as what's uploaded I'm only on part 6 of my playthrough of, The Detail. But I just recorded part 10, and holy crap... It gets intense, I did not see that coming. I don't suspect there will be many more videos. I don't know, it's my first time playing through it. But I imagine it's got to be nearing the end.

The game started off really good, but not going to lie, it starts to lull through much of it, but I think it was to kind of dump all this on you and shock the senses. I had a high opinion of the game. Then I started to think it was getting a little boring, but I was committed to seeing it through. And now it has me again.

It's an over looked little gem from 2016. $3 dollars per episode, for three episodes at full retail price. But it goes on sale from time to time. Truly worth checking out. It's like a comic book style visual novel with adventure game elements. But really it's about the characters and the story. if you are curious, you can find my videos on BitChute, Rumble, and Odysee. User name: Nicodemous52 - Channel Name: The Last Paladin

I've not finished the game, but I'm not sure why this got so much hate. For an indie title this is fairly impressive. Now, I'm not trying to over sell it, this isn't going to blow your mind. But it's fairly well put together and interesting. For a free title, it's not even a little bad. I have paid for far, far worse games than this.

It doesn't carry the survival tag, but when you come in the game, there is indications that perhaps it once did or perhaps someone somewhere reviewed it or showcased it as such. Anyone that got more than 10 min in and still thought this was a survival game, is kind of an idiot. I don't even play survival games, and I can tell this is not even remotely close to one. This shares more DNA with an adventure game than anything else. If there was a tag I thought it deserves that it does have, I'd say it's horror. If not horror, then suspense.

I didn't finish it, I may come back to it later, or I may not. But it's not a bad game. I think one could ALMOST fairly call it a walking simulator, I say almost because this is actively a game. It's not JUST an experience. And don't take what I'm about to say wrong. I don't think free games are above criticism, even harsh criticism. But I do think they should have a different threshold and scale. Me personally, I'm not going to negatively a free game unless it was just egregious in either how bad it was, how poorly it performed, how hamfisted it was with the wrong messaging. If it's not just utterly broken or disgustingly offensive to me, I'm probably going to just not review it if I don't like it.

This game was none of those things, not for the portion I played anyway.

It's a cute little 3D platformer with decent music (that kind of reminds me of, The Sore Feet Song, by Ally Ker. I might have gotten the name wrong). I mean, was the greatest most engrossing game I've ever played? No, but I didn't expect it to be. Let me put it this way, as a 40 year old man that has mild aversion to 3D platformers, I didn't hate it. It was cute and I could have found worse ways to spend an hour (a playthrough will realistically take you 30 to 45 min, I played a bit over an hour because for a couple of reason that don't really matter).

For kids of a certain age, I'm sure this will be a real treat and it's free. Now for kids also of a certain but different age, this is a no go non starter. They are obliged to hate it because it's cute and they see themselves above it. Either way, it's free so you can't really go wrong.

Here is a link to my full written review here, but I'll give you the TL/DR
https://odysee.com/@Nicodemous52:c/HereticsForkDemoReview:2

The "action" tag is a bit of a misnomer, this game is actually fairly passive. This game is almost akin to an auto battler that plays out more like a tower defense game. The deck builder tag is accurate though. You use and build up a deck to improve your defenses during your turn. Then you mostly passively watch as the enemy tries to get to your "garrisons" (towers) during their turn. I could say there is a building phase and an attacking phase. You don't have to remain totally idle during their turn or the attack phase, however you want to think of it. Some of the cards you get will give you something that is akin to spells or traps that you can activate and manage during that phase.

Overall, I think it's a pretty cool little time waster, but it's not going to be for everyone. However it's free, so stop reading reviews like some nerd and just try it out for yourself

Yeah, of the two other English reviews, I have to agree with the one that says the first puzzle is bugged. I'm not great at these kind of puzzles, but I'm not terrible at them either. I spent over 15 mins trying to work it out and I just don't think it can be done. It's a damn shame too because it was some very nice art work too.