Πρόσφατες κριτικές από τον PossiblePsycho

Sure, it's a decent enough adventure game, but you've likely already got it in you library anyway. I was foolish enough to purchase it, and, frankly, I don't know what I was expecting. It's literally the same game with some minor improvements, and it's a bit obscene to sell a patch as a semi-new title (just look at Disco Elysium, for instance; that's how a director's cut distribution should be handled). Frankly, I'm irritated, but mostly at myself. Basically, don't repeat my mistake and don't buy this version if you already own the original.

Disclaimer: once again, the game itself might be a bit overestimated, but it's a good game nontheless, and if you don't own the original, go for this version without doubt, you will enjoy it.

Дивная энтографическая RPG, как будто специально созданная для зануд типа меня, постоянно ноющих, что в отечественные игры невозможно играть из-за жуткого программерского русского (реально кровь из глаз от игр вроде Atom RPG с рандомно расставленными запятыми). Игра, соответственно, написана на прекрасном русском языке (частично литературном - от рассказчика, частично стилизованном под говор Пермской губернии конца ХIX века) и может похвастаться таким богатым лором, какой встретишь, мягко говоря, нечасто: вся благодаря коми-пермяцкой фольклорной традиции, с которой я, банальная современная москвичка, как выясняется, не знакома от слова "совсем". Собственно, подозреваю, что я не одна такая: спасибо большевикам, вытравившим из доступного населению фольклорного контента православную составляющую, а с ней и значительную часть языческой (а там исходно ведь прелесть что за коктейль был), и оставившим нам кастрированные сказочки для самых маленьких. В общем, не забываем заглядывать в увлекательнейший Именослов, не зря же разрабы перелопатили больше источников, чем я для диплома))

Про геймплей полноценно сказать ничего не могу, играла на самом легком уровне сложности и даже пропустила часть паззловых боев (исторически не люблю карточные бои), получала огромное удовольствие от истории и атмосферы игрушечки в полуадвенчурном режиме - но даже на изи некоторые боссы заставили-таки попотеть, "в лоб" можно взять не всех. Посмотрела хорошую концовку (разрабы не подвели, концовка очень уместная и оставляющая приятный такой осадок), потом надо будет перепройти на сложности повыше за злую Василису с толпой бесов в услужении и кучей грехов за душой :) Ну и еще одна приятная деталь: значительную часть боев можно пропустить, заболтав нечистую силу (с помощью информации из местной энциклопедии, да) или обыграв их в колдовского Дурака (Дурак становится гораздо интереснее при возможности жульничать, подменяя обычные карты на козырные)).

В общем, я довольная прямо чрезвычайно. Пожалуй, в этом году еще ни от одной игры такого удовольствия не получала, всем очень рекомендую.

Have you ever wanted to play as a real villain? Not your basic Tyranny compromise, but someone truly evil? Well, Train Station Renovation will allow you to be that guy everyone hates: we get to destroy a playground (washing kids drawings off walls and dismantling a swing included), and more than that, we even remove some really decent graffiti because rules and stuff. Fun!
Also, that's probably the first game ever made where we can create train station bathrooms of our dreams.

Cat and Ghostly Road is an incredibly cozy, yet very short adventure game. Then again, you get to play as a kitty, and everyone loves kitties, right? This little guy looks so fluffy, and that's kinda compulsory for a quality cat. So fluffy... Now where was I?

Gameplay-wise Cat and Ghosly Road is your traditional point-and-click adventure based on inventory puzzles. Nothing too complicated (at least I was never stuck for more than several minutes), but not too easy as well: it's just the right level of difficulty to make your playthrough both fluid and satisfying. As a pleasant bonus we've even got a Fran Bow-like ability to turn cat vision on and off and a metamorphic ability; I only wish these features (especially the latter) were used a bit more.

While the game is visually pleasing, I'm not so sure about developers' intentions about the setting: it looks like a generic Asian one (at least there are obvious elements of Chinese and Japanese cultures here). Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to criticize the developers for this (especially considering that they are not exactly Asian): while the game might seem a bit eclectic, this couple of dudes (according to the credits the game was made by only two people) have succeeded at making it very relaxing and, well, cozy (yes, I've used this word again). Basically, it's a game to be played wrapped in your favourite plaid and with a cup of tea.


Our Curator Page

Frankly, I approached this game without expecting too much. I mean, the promise by a tiny indie developer looked way too ambitious: a mixture of seemingly incompatible elements (Gothic setting plus Lovecraftian traditional horror plus Slavic mythology plus Polish history and culture) looked overly pretentious on paper. I'll just go ahead and say that weirdly enough all this eclectic collection of approaches clicks together just fine without leaving a feeling of awkwardness.

The game takes part in the XIX century Kuyavia, a historical region of Poland. Jan Bonawentura Jablonowski, an overly romantic and naive young Polish nobleman, arrives to a tiny village of Krukowo at his friend's request only to find out that the said friend has been gruesomely murdered. Was it brigands that've managed to avoid attention of Russian and Prussian occupants? Maybe it's somehow connected to numerous creatures that inhabit forests and marshes according to the local beliefes? Or maybe that weird old lady that always ends a conversation with mentioning a certain Yog-Sothoth is onto something when she talks about creatures from other planes? It's up to us to find out.

A bit of warning: the game respects its player and assumes that they don't mind reading. Not only there's quite a lot of optional reading in The Land of Crows (these bookcases are here not just for decoration), but basically the larger (and probably the better) part of the game consists of lengthy and superbly written dialogues. They are not voiced, but personally I don't see it as an issue.

I'd actually go as far as recommend to support the developer and get the game right now. It's cheap, its length is decent, and it reminds me of such representatives of the adventure genre as The Last Door, Gabriel Knight 2 and The Lost Crown (it's obviously weaker than these examples, but it has a lot of similarities when it comes to mood and visual approach).

Our Curator Page

I'm totally subjective here, but in my case Detective Di has managed to scratch several itches at once. It's a classic point-and-click adventure, a rare modern case of following the canons of the genre to the letter, but without those quirks the games from the 90's suffered from (you don't even get an option to highlight active objects, but you won't really need to, pixel hunting is not an issue in Detective Di; as for puzzles, they are very much here, and they are logical and satisfying).

Are you in search of a quality detective, an exciting story with grim murders, political intrigues and a brilliant protagonist on the trail? Check! True detective, magistrate Di feels very much Holmes-esque, and that's totally a compliment; he is always able to find a right approach to a witness or a suspect (be that a nice cat-loving soup trader or a mighty general, head of opposition to the empress herself), he never misses a clue or a connection, and, of course, he's absolutely unstoppable on his way to delivering justice (an important notion: laws written by possibly corrupt men don't necessary equal justice for Di Renjie). My only small disappointment in this department was the so-called deduction board: it's not an actual puzzle (like in Frogwares games), just a way to track your progress.

Another aspect I can never get enough of is a skillfully recreated historical setting; while not everything is smooth in this ancient China being actually ancient (the way characters speak is often immersion-breaking, and I've got a strong suspicion that justice departments in the seventh century China didn't look exactly like modern police stations in Hollywood movies), the attention to details in this tiny indie game is quite impressive (not to mention its visual perfection). I like dystopian or Viking setting as much as the next guy, but to tell the truth, we are rarely spoiled by something truly exotic, and that's exactly the case here.

Overall, Detective Di is an easy recommendation not only to classic point-and-click fans, but to everyone who appreciates a well-written story.

Our Curator Page

This is definitely one of these cases where I wish that Steam allowed neutral reviews - especially considering that oldschool point-and-click adventures are such a rare sight nowadays. While the game looks a bit sloppy, I've got a feeling that a lot of love was put into creating The Antidote. I'm totally subjective here, but if you've grown up playing these classic point-click adventure games from the 90's, The Antidote is worth paying attention to for the sheer nostalgia.

Problem is, the main issue here also dates back to the 90's. While The Antidote in no way follows the golden classics in the terms of narrative (don't expect any kind of coherent story), it revives that ancient moon logic old adventure games are infamous for. There are some sections here done right (occasionaly you'll find puzzles that hit the sweet spot), but unfortunately most of the time you'll be just randomly applying numerous items from your inventory on everything in the environment hoping that something will work. There's also that awful foil room puzzle that can be used as an example of how an adventure game puzzle should never look like. While I dig the visual style, apparently I wasn't missing this appproach to gameplay.

And now to some more personal stuff. Namely, the humour. I'm not a fan of vulgar jokes at all, but I'm always eager to turn a blind eye to the specifics if they make me smile. Sadly, that's not the case here. But yeah, maybe that's just me; other reviewers seem to have enjoyed local humour, so there's a good chance that you will as well.

Despite the fact that I've given The Antidote thumbs down (it just wasn't enjoyable for me), I do hope that the first game made by Innovative Underdogs is not going to be their last. While the first pancake may have turned out to be a bit of a lump, there's a lot of potential here.

Basically, considering this totally moronic situation I feel obliged to post a positive review today, however short it might be. Detention is a brilliant adventure game and a must-have for the Harvester Games fans - for any horror games fan who likes their narrative meaningful, really.
But this episode isn't actually about Detention, is it? Living in Russia I'm unfortunately aware of how troll factories function, but I've never seen organized government trolls attack a game developer before, especially with such a success. I regret not buying Devotion on release, and I do hope I'll be able to correct this mistake and support these guys as soon as possible, hope they'll find a way to return the game to the store in the nearest future. If Devotion is at least half as good as Detention, it's not a game to miss.

This is a weird one. For some reason at the beginning Arkhangel chooses to pretend to be your generic lazy indie game: we've got pretty basic visuals, simplistic dialogs, clunky controls (it's not even actually point-and-click, you'll have to use either keyboard or controller for movement) and no voiceovers at all. Don't believe it. Don't fall into this unintentional trap (like I almost did).

The game starts slowly: the setting is very familiar, we've been to this eerie little town and conversed with these suspiciously friendly neightbours many times before. We'd be surprised if ancient evil were not creeping just two steps away. That's the law of genre. The narrative shoud be foreboding right from the start. And it is so.

When the unspeakable happens maybe 30 minutes into the story, the game drops it's half-lulling tone, and the real fun begins. You know, that chilling kind of fun. You will not find banal screamers here; most likely you won't die in Arkhangel at all (unless you decide to jump into an abyss below or enter murky waters of the drowned town - I can see the appeal of these actions). It's a more sophisticated, dream-like kind of horror: it engulfs you gradually and send your drifting through a dense claustrophobic nightmare, and you can't even influence the unfolding events for almost all of the story. By the way, don't disregard all these letters and journals you'll be finding, you'll miss half of the narrative.

Our Curator Page

Да, игра коротенькая, да, загадки простенькие, да, интерфейс заточен под мобильные платформы. Но черт возьми, настолько атмосферные маленькие игрушечки попадаются, мягко говоря, не каждый день. Нехитрый сюжетец аккуратно построен на скандинавской мифологии без ухода в глубины, но и без неуместной отсебятины; аутентичности The Frostrune придает озвучка, выполненная на древнескандинавском языке. Игровых экранов здесь совсем мало - но почти на каждый из них хочется любоваться бесконечно; медитативный саундтрек очень удачно дополняет визуальную составляющую игры. Пожалуй, с формальной точки зрения The Frostrune можно было бы назвать казуалкой, но язык как-то не поворачивается: игра гипнотизирует, и низкий уровень сложности (в маловероятном случае затыка, кстати, можно воспользоваться встроенной системой подсказок) работает на предотвращение возможной фрустрации - гармоничность здесь важнее абстрактного челленджа.