Derblington
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Did you know I have a girlfriend
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Post by Derblington on Sept 22, 2024 14:41:24 GMT
Yeah, I played Chants at the start of the year and was very impressed.
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Post by dfunked on Sept 22, 2024 20:11:31 GMT
Unicorn Overlord - 7/10
Well that went swiftly from a 9/10 to me just wanting it to all be over with. The story is passable at first, but just becomes a convoluted mess with uninteresting new side characters constantly getting thrown into the mix. The game itself is bloody ace though, and kept me coming back for more.
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Tuffty
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Post by Tuffty on Sept 22, 2024 21:59:01 GMT
Kunitsu-Gami : Path of the Goddess - 9/10
When first revealed, this was something that seemed perhaps a little too out there for me. Not enough was shown and then once 'tower defence' got mentioned, I just lost interest. But thanks to a demo I gave it a try and found out that I actually got completely invested into the gameplay. It's a unique blend of tower defense and an action game, in the day you make your preparations for the oncoming night by guiding the maiden to the destination while also acquiring resources, setting up defenses and assigning roles to villagers that you use to fight. You essentially command a 'hero' unit of sorts while directing units to counteract a demon onslaught once night falls. Villagers can have different roles which you earn as you progress such as the Woodcutter, a pure melee class, the Archer, the Sumo Wrestler which acts as the tank etc. The game does a decent job of easing you into the loop and soon the ramping difficulty will be testing your reaction speed and your strategies as even the best laid out plans get tested forcing you to adapt. I wanna say half of the stages have their own boss encounters too, providing some interesting challenge.
In the down time, you do a spot of building up your bases in each level, assigning villagers to repair shrines, houses etc which will give you collectibles and rewards such as upgrade resources. You can also upgrade your combat roles to become stronger and make changes to your own combat abilities for the next stage. Tsuba Guards are big powerful moves with different properties like a giant flame strike that does a lot of damage or buffing your villageers attack and movement speed for a time while Mazo Talismans also provide passive upgrades in interesting ways. Clearing stages will also open up sub objectives to strive for as these are the primary way of obtaining upgrade resources, talismans and guards. A lot of these are intersting ways to approach the level again for replayability, tho one aspect that isn't fun is failing one mid mission requires you to restart from the beginning, it's not enough to load an earlier checkpoint in the mission. Perhaps my biggest gripe as progression could be lost due to a simple mistake requiring you to replay the whole level.
The game is backed up by looking visually stunning thanks to it's strong art direction and animations in the enemies and characters. A lot of the environments were actually hand crafted first and then modelled into the game and it has this really interesting look. The enemies are twisted designs of hands and fingers as a motif, all of them looking pretty creepy. It all is reminiscent of a twisted Kabuki theater play. I also liked the soundtrack as well, builds up an unsetlling ambiance during the day stages leading into night which then kicks off to intense battle music with some tracks also showing off more modernity with electric guitar. The base stages are soft piano pieces that was reminiscent of Resident Evil save room themes, adding to the security and serenity of the locations. Overwall the sountrack does wonders to combine well with the overall aesthetic.
This has been the biggest example I can recall of a shift from initial disinterst to absolutely loving the game and considering it a GOTY contender, easily. This really does have the air of an obscure PS2 game that's now revered as a cult classic. Capcom have been doing pretty well recently, perhaps the best devs in modern times and I'm glad they took the success to fund a smaller game that's a clear passion project from those working on it.
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Post by dangerousdave on Sept 23, 2024 20:27:24 GMT
The MessengerThis game has really taken me by surprise! It’s not just a modern Ninja Gaiden clone, but a celebration of so many platformers of the 80s and 90s, such as Sonic CD, Super Mario Bros 2 (specifically), Castlevania, Kid Icarus, Contra, Ghouls and Ghosts, Super Metroid and Shinobi, to name a few. The game is literally choc full of subtle nods to so many games, none of which are ever overstated. It’s just enough that if you played any of those games, you’ll know it when you see it. And beyond that it’s a very well crafted game in its own right. Arguably better than its peers in a number of ways. Its never unfair. It’s never overly difficult. The level design is maticulously crafted to teach the player, build confidence and even make sense when played backwards. Best of all, however, is the dialogue. There are so many funny moments with the supporting cast, friend or foe (the shopkeeper being one of my new favourite video game characters ever). I won’t spoil it, but it’s genuinely been a long time since I’ve played a game in which I’ve pushed the dialogue so hard and not skipped through any of it. The multiple cabinet conversations throughout the game are a particular highlight. It’s easily the best bargain I’ve ever picked up on Switch and I am very much tempted by the new game+ mode already. RadicalRex Thanks for the recommendation! 5/5
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Tuffty
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Post by Tuffty on Sept 24, 2024 0:22:26 GMT
Emio - The Smiling Man : Famicom Detective Club - 8/10
Nintendo brings back an old IP with a mystery thriller visual novel. This is very much a classic visual novel gameplay wise, think of Phoenix Wright where you have exhaust all your actions and dialogue choices in order to find progression. Sometimes it is intuitive enough, like a sentence will trail off mentioning a character's name which you then ask about, but other times it's not and it can be a little annoyance for me clicking all the options in order to find the right one. Otherwise, this is very much tried and true gameplay. Other VN's like Paranormasight does clever things that it's gameplay but there's none of that here and that's fine.
Like any VN the strength is in the story and well, it's very good! You play the role of a member of a detective club investigating the murder of a 15 year old boy with all the signs pointing to an historic case of serial murders some 18 years ago. In order to sell this I have to say upfront, 95% of this game is very slow. This is investigating clues, questioning suspects, building up the case. There are no action chase scenes or shootouts to break things up, you're talking with a granny in a retirement home or discussing the case with a witness over milk tea and tiramisu (yes, actually). It's the slowest burn of any of these kinds of games. But, I was into it, a lot. The case is interesting and there were some nice characters. The payoff and what makes it worthwhile playing, I think, is the end of the game, particularly the epilogue chapter. It wraps up pretty succinctly, is very rewarding and answers all the important questions built up over the course of the game that is satisfying. It bills itself as a horror game, but I'll say upfront, all that stuff gets left towards the tail end of the game and yes, for a Nintendo published game, it's quite dark, it deserves the mature rating.
In addition to that, the soundtrack is pretty good and the artwork is absolutely gorgeous, Nintendo put some budget into this game and it shows, one of the best looking VN's I've seen. I'd recommend for sure, just go in knowing it's a slow burn and you might appreciate it. The first 3 chapters are available as a free demo, with progress that can be carried into the main game. It'll provide a decent hook into it if you're curious.
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Post by rhaegyr on Sept 24, 2024 8:39:55 GMT
The MessengerThis game has really taken me by surprise! It’s not just a modern Ninja Gaiden clone, but a celebration of so many platformers of the 80s and 90s, such as Sonic CD, Super Mario Bros 2 (specifically), Castlevania, Kid Icarus, Contra, Ghouls and Ghosts, Super Metroid and Shinobi, to name a few. The game is literally choc full of subtle nods to so many games, none of which are ever overstated. It’s just enough that if you played any of those games, you’ll know it when you see it. And beyond that it’s a very well crafted game in its own right. Arguably better than its peers in a number of ways. Its never unfair. It’s never overly difficult. The level design is maticulously crafted to teach the player, build confidence and even make sense when played backwards. Best of all, however, is the dialogue. There are so many funny moments with the supporting cast, friend or foe (the shopkeeper being one of my new favourite video game characters ever). I won’t spoil it, but it’s genuinely been a long time since I’ve played a game in which I’ve pushed the dialogue so hard and not skipped through any of it. The multiple cabinet conversations throughout the game are a particular highlight. It’s easily the best bargain I’ve ever picked up on Switch and I am very much tempted by the new game+ mode already. RadicalRex Thanks for the recommendation! 5/5 You forgot the excellent music too!
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Post by Phattso on Sept 24, 2024 9:12:26 GMT
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
This was an entirely predictable, but thoroughly enjoyable, adventure game. Doesn't hit anywhere near the replayability and highs of something like Unavowed, and didn't present a particularly tough challenge vs. something like Thimbleweed Park, but the atmosphere was excellent and I certainly wasn't bored at any point.
The town the adventure plays out in is large enough to feel varied but small enough to navigate from memory, and did I mention the atmosphere was excellent?
Its relatively short play time and lack of challenge possibly hurt it a little, but since it can be had for buttons nowadays any genre fan should definitely give it a play.
7 / Creepy Folklore
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MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Sept 24, 2024 9:26:38 GMT
Yeah, I really liked Hob's Barrow. I didn't care for the ending so much, but the atmosphere throughout was excellent.
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wunty
Full Member
Pastry Forward
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Post by wunty on Sept 24, 2024 9:46:23 GMT
I've started Hob's barrow. Should get back to it. Really like it so far.
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Post by dangerousdave on Sept 24, 2024 11:24:40 GMT
You forgot the excellent music too! Too true! The music is consistently excellent, in both 8-bit and 16-bit renditions. I love that they went for a more Amiga/Mega Drive sound for the 16-bit stuff. Such a nostalgia hit.
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Tomo
Junior Member
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Post by Tomo on Sept 24, 2024 13:09:48 GMT
I just loved it as a simple, funny, spooky little tale. Thought it nailed what it set out to do. Short playtime was perfect.
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Tomo
Junior Member
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Post by Tomo on Sept 24, 2024 13:10:36 GMT
Also the lead actor is _Karlach_!!!
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Post by Saul1138 on Sept 24, 2024 18:53:41 GMT
Star Wars : Outlaws (PS5) - Firstly an apology to the PIGWHIPPERS, I caved and preordered this. Though as my second game purchase this year, I think I am not doing too bad. I have preordered the new Zelda game as well. But there isn’t another planned purchase this year.
Now, for the game, I went into this with an impossible standard. I want an IP to deliver on the goods, and this doesn’t. Even at the point of no return, it felt like a generic sci fi game, set in any hod damn universe offering less of the same. Mass Effect One offered more varied gameplay, a more complex narrative, and have a very similar visual theme. And that was an X Box 360 game, probably one of the best, so maybe an impossible standard.
The games biggest issue, for me, is it rarely feels like Star Wars. There is enough visual fan service, and various characters turn up. For the most part they feel organic in being there. So that is a plus point. It offers ground and space missions, that vary in difficulty. But they are fucking tedious or repetitive.
Then you have the graphics, it looks cool, but at times I was taken back to God or War. And I missed that game. And I think this leads into my biggest issue. If any of you have played the Song Spider-Man games, or the first two Batman Arkham titles, you’ll know how immersive those games are. But this has none of this, well occasionally it comes close, but the gameplay choices do not suit the IP. And the music is shite. The other audio is fine, but getting that rousing moment isn’t there.
It doesn’t help that it is an UbiSoft game that would have benefited from following their template more rigorously. I didn’t learn the maps, felt it was not good enough.
4.5/10
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Post by steifybobbins on Sept 24, 2024 18:56:17 GMT
The Excavation of Hob's BarrowThis was an entirely predictable, but thoroughly enjoyable, adventure game. Doesn't hit anywhere near the replayability and highs of something like Unavowed, and didn't present a particularly tough challenge vs. something like Thimbleweed Park, but the atmosphere was excellent and I certainly wasn't bored at any point. The town the adventure plays out in is large enough to feel varied but small enough to navigate from memory, and did I mention the atmosphere was excellent? Its relatively short play time and lack of challenge possibly hurt it a little, but since it can be had for buttons nowadays any genre fan should definitely give it a play. 7 / Creepy Folklore I actually preferred this to Unavowed. I did enjoy both though and I second you on the great atmosphere
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Aunty Treats
New Member
Delivering tasty treats to the townsfolk
Posts: 735
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Post by Aunty Treats on Sept 24, 2024 22:19:25 GMT
Unicorn Overlord - 7/10 Well that went swiftly from a 9/10 to me just wanting it to all be over with. The story is passable at first, but just becomes a convoluted mess with uninteresting new side characters constantly getting thrown into the mix. The game itself is bloody ace though, and kept me coming back for more. How long did it take you to finish (and on what difficulty)?
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MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Sept 24, 2024 22:22:51 GMT
I know you didn't ask me, but it took me 50ish hours. Second-highest difficulty.
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Post by dfunked on Sept 24, 2024 22:25:26 GMT
50ish hours on normal.
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Aunty Treats
New Member
Delivering tasty treats to the townsfolk
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Post by Aunty Treats on Sept 24, 2024 22:44:26 GMT
I'm still interested in playing it (that's a lie, I've already bought it). Funnily enough, I watched some more gameplay and the stuff I saw before (with the bad animations) was actually all sped up which made it look weird. Probably an option you can enable
50 is decent for this kind of game. I'm at about that in Fire Emblem Engage now and only up to chapter 16. God knows how much of that has been spent at Somniel (and they're still adding new activities). It's not something I mind too much but would definitely mean having a serious break before any future playthroughs. It absolutely should feature a plus game to maintain your region levels, bond rings, resources, etc
Just started getting on with promoting. It's pretty cool that the character art changes based on what class people are. Should start getting some forward momentum now everyone is well hard
Imagine it's the Currently Playing thread
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zagibu
Junior Member
Posts: 1,852
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Post by zagibu on Sept 25, 2024 21:43:45 GMT
Finished Citizen Sleeper. Took me a bit less than 16 hours to go through the whole game plus Flotilla expansion. Really good game, can only recommend it for anyone who likes story-driven games. It's very text-heavy, though. But 10 hours shorter than Roadwarden, and just as good. Be aware that it has survival and random chance elements that are quite limiting in the beginning. But they can be made a lot less consequential with character progression.
One minor criticism is that sometimes you are incentivized by the story to progress some things that would actually be more beneficial to wait out gameplay-wise. Especially in the beginning I fell for that a few times and felt unfairly punished, but it never lead to a game stopper and I was still able to complete everything.
Another thing is that it's basically iron man mode. There is one save and it's automatically overwritten with every action you take. There seem to be multiple endings, but it was always clear to me from the context which option would go to an ending scene, and I managed to avoid all premature endings and ride it out to the very end. I never died, but I never let the survival systems run low anyway, so I'm not sure if you can even die or not.
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Post by pierrepressure on Sept 26, 2024 9:45:28 GMT
The Plucky Squire- 6/10
Just finished it on on PS5. Gotta say, the game is packed with some really neat ideas that I bet other developers will want to borrow. The dimension-hopping and wordplay puzzles are really creative. My main gripe though, is that it keeps throwing new stuff at you before you can really get into what you're doing. It kind of messes with the flow. I'd still say it's worth a look if you have PS+ but for me it's a missed opportunity.
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Post by dangerousdave on Sept 26, 2024 16:38:02 GMT
Astro’s Playroom
Although I’ve had a PS5 for around 3 months now, I’ve not really to it to any good use. It’s nothing against the console itself. I am just very fortunate to own a Switch and two Xbox Series consoles already, so it’s difficult to make time for all of them.
Astro’s Playroom is the first PS5 game proper that I’ve actually played on this thing, having been excited by the footage of the more recent Astro Bot game that’s just come out. Weirdly, I was already aware of the similarities between Astro Bot and Super Mario, but I didn’t appreciate just how similar they are.
Even Astro’s Playroom feels like it has lifted the entire blueprint of a 3D Mario game, right down to the shape and flow of its stages, its controls, its mechanics and its enemies. It’s as if Sony told Asobi to just go and make a Mario game. I’m surprised I haven’t heard or read more about just how similar these games are. Even the character proportions are alike.
And that’s not to say it’s entirely a bad thing, but Playroom doesn’t really expand on its ideas very much. Concepts are introduced and demonstrated much in the same way as a Mario game, but they fizzle out before anything remotely challenging is put before you. And as a Mario veteran, I have seen all of these ideas before. There’s nothing new here.
I don’t want to sound too critical. It’s only meant to be a tech demo for the controller, and to be fair, it is a bloody good demonstration of that. Gyro aiming, motion control gliding, touch pad rolling, blowing into the mic. Honestly, it’s nice to see somebody other than Nintendo do this!
But as a game, rather than experience, it’s quite lacking. I can see the appeal if you don’t play Nintendo games, but if you do, all that’s left to savour is the rather touching tribute to PlayStation and its history.
3/5
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Post by Nanocrystal on Sept 27, 2024 5:01:29 GMT
PowerWash Simulator (PS5)
Got addicted to this and ended up sinking around 55 h into it to get the platinum trophy. It came along at just the right time for me, things have been stressful and this is perfect for switching your brain off and unwinding. What pleasantly surprised me was the surreal humour running through the whole thing. You get sent text messages from various characters as you work, and a weird and outlandish plot unfolds as you clean your way through various vehicles, buildings and strange objects that themselves become part of the story. The humour has a very British feel to it, and after checking online I wasn't surprised to learn that the devs are based in Brighton. The end credits have a wonderful original song and replay timelapse videos of all of your cleaning exploits, what a cute way to end the game. Not sure I'll play the DLCs but will look forward to playing a sequel for sure.
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Post by dangerousdave on Sept 27, 2024 7:14:08 GMT
The DLCs, at least the paid ones are very good. The Spongebob one in particular has you cleaning an invisible car, which was good fun.
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mrpon
Junior Member
Posts: 3,543
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Post by mrpon on Sept 27, 2024 9:18:35 GMT
The Messenger (PS4)
Absolute steal at £3 and got my moneys worth at around 40hrs! (which can't be right, maybe pause menu counts?) Though I did collect all the seals and the last one was an absolute fuck. Thoroughly enjoyable 2D metroidvania ninja romp! Great chiptunes, 8bit/16bit mode, funny writing, skill tree, maps, collectibles etc..
Free DLC awaits!
9/10
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Post by kilters on Sept 27, 2024 10:19:36 GMT
Still Wakes the Deep 6.5/10
Loved EGTTR, their previous game. This didn't hit those high notes. The oil rig is a well realised setting and the voice acting is very good. I was compelled to finish it and am glad I did.
However, it's just not scary. The peril comes from the janky movement and mechanics than anything else. Pacing didn't feel right either and the emotional notes, although very well acted, didn't land with me.
Hard to recommend but the setting and acting is worth some time.
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wunty
Full Member
Pastry Forward
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Post by wunty on Sept 27, 2024 11:06:00 GMT
I loved Still Wakes the Deep as it reminded me of walking back to my flat from a night out in Glasgow in my early twenties, having to avoid thing-esque monstrosies screaming at me in a broad accent.
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Post by dangerousdave on Sept 27, 2024 11:50:18 GMT
mrpon That last one being the climbing up fireballs one? I think I lost about 50 lives to that, or nearly half of all my deaths. It was good fun though. Felt like an idiot not figuring it out sooner.
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mrpon
Junior Member
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Post by mrpon on Sept 27, 2024 12:05:31 GMT
You got it! As you say once you figure it out, piece of piss really!
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Post by killerbee on Sept 27, 2024 12:44:23 GMT
Age of Empires IV (Campaigns)
I’ve had this on the go for a while but finally finished off the last campaign (Mongols) yesterday.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. It was great to return to that classic Age of… RTS gameplay, but with some great modern production values.
The four campaigns - English from the Norman Conquest in 1066, French 100 years war, Mongols with Genghis Khan and Rus from the founding of Moscow - were all wonderfully presented like interactive history lessons, using high quality video footage of present day locations, overlaid with animated armies and structure to give you a feel for how things were. If - like me - your history is like a patchy GCSE level smattering of knowledge, this was a great way of making the period in time come to life.
Play wise, the rock/paper/scissors of the units works just as well as it always did, and it’s never less than fun to build up your settlements, research technologies, advance ages and then build an army to go and whack whichever opponent you’re faced with.
There’s plenty of variety too in the campaign missions, from slow building up your armies and advancing through the ages, to some (much more enjoyable in my book) missions that start you with an army and let you roam the map liberating villages and laying siege to cities.
I will probably never touch the MP side of the game, which some might say is missing the point, but I’m pretty happy that it still justifies itself as a solo RTS experience and was a lot of fun.
8/10
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Post by muddyfunster on Sept 27, 2024 15:09:38 GMT
Thanks Goodness You're Here
First game I've finished in quite a while. Short but sweet, a fun few hours. Really nice art style and audio design. Have to admit I was slightly disappointed by the humour purely because the reviews had said it was one of the funniest games ever. It isn't, but neither is unfunny.
Personally there were many smiles, and a couple of genuine lols but it's got nothing on Portal 2 or Stick or Truth in that regard. I guess I was hoping for Vic & Bob style absurdism or Harry Hill silliness and some of that is certainly in there, but a fair few of the lines didn't quite land, for me at least. Matt Berry is hugely underused.
Actual gameplay is about as basic as it gets, which is fine for a game of this length and style but there's really nothing to do beyond wander around the environments and watch the narrative play out. It feels a little like a LucasArts point and click with all the puzzles removed.
It's well worth a tenner or so, and for a small team it feels like they nailed their vision, and it's nicely polished.
7/10
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