Recent reviews by abi

Machinarium is one of the most beautiful point-and-click games I've ever come across. I wasn't too impressed with the puzzles at the beginning, but after you get the hang of the gameplay, it gets more and more fun to play. The characters are really charming and the world building is just absolutely remarkable. I'd love to see more of this world come to life, I really do appreciate the mechanism designs and everything.

There are a few puzzles that I did not like playing- it's like trying to solve a Rubik's cube in the middle of wanting to play a point-and-click game. I am looking to replay this just to appreciate the environment and experience better, but the prospect of having to deal with these puzzles all over again is making me hesitate. (I'd rather not use a guide for the puzzles themselves too.)

The music is gorgeous. It truly brings the artwork to another level, something I don't see to this extent in many pieces of media. Actually I don't even mind just staying in one spot just to listen to those robot musicians play their song.

Also, Josef is a really cute character, I especially loved his tiny dances and adorable noises. I was actively rooting for him the entire way.

I think everyone who's a fan of point-and-click games should get this. Definitely not regretting any of it on my part. Might be one of my top favorite point-and-click games.

The game is short and sweet, although I'd have to say this got me pretty frustrated by the end. It relies on a lot of pixel hunting, sometimes you just have to click on the whole screen just to find what's interactive or not. (And if it's interactive, it's the tiniest thing/detail too). There are also places where the puzzles don't make a lot of logical sense either. You just click on everything and hope for the best.

I really do love the art and music of the game, it's what hugely sold it to me, Amanita Design doesn't fail on this regard with their games.

For the end stage,the gas puzzle I finished, but there was not much indication that the gas did anything, save for the taxi light on the ship coming on. I actually kept repumping the ship with gas, (including pumping the balloon with air from the creatures all over again every time, the most annoying thing in the whole game. (I realized it was useless only when I finally looked up a walkthrough.)

The coffee puzzle also got a little bit frustrating, I might have done the boiling wrong at first with the coffee and water being interchanged. It's probably the feeling of knowing you have the right pieces and not being able to fit them together.

Having played Machinarium, I can see how this was a precursor to all the best traits of that game. I'm happy that they improved on the gameplay so much, I can't wait to play Creaks to further see what they have in store.

Bottom line is, Samorost 2 is great if you have a lot of patience.

It's a bizarre masterpiece of a game aesthetically, I loved seeing the puppet-like animation using classical paintings. The renaissance music is wonderful, and the combination of modern dialogue made me laugh. It's a short, fun point-and-click game, and I don't regret getting it.

I did however, get stuck several times, definitely with the riddle, with the answer in the paintings. I thought that was a little meta. I don't think I'd ever have gotten that. The other puzzles weren't as direct as you'd expect either, there's a little bit of twists and turns which make it a more fun experience.

I loved it and though I know all the answers, I think I'll play it another round.

I was only meaning to test the game the first time I played it, but I got immediately engrossed in the atmosphere, I ended up playing for hours straight. The gameplay is really chill, like everyone says. I usually play games to relax, and this was perfect for me. The graphics and the music (and the rain) really make this game, I couldn't stop taking screenshots every now and then because of how gorgeous the cityscapes were.

Rania is a refreshing protagonist, her bluntness towards everyone especially those who do wrong, makes her a character I would root for. Her decisions do shape her character as a whole though, as few as those are.

The main story itself though is flimsy, I was more invested in the Pashta storyline than in the supposedly bigger, CORA one . There's not much to expect in that area, but for me, it's not super important. Sometimes you just want to drive in a rainy dystopian city above the clouds delivering packages.

The item hunt is also an alright mechanic, though I must admit I get more focused on that than actually stopping to enjoy the beautiful environment when I keep looking at the radar. The side quests are fun, I like solving some of the NPC's problems, though some of them have tragic or melancholy outcomes.

I've also noticed the comments about the voice acting in this game, and I must agree with it being terrible. I like the main characters' voices, but for the NPCs, some of them can get really cringey and grating. Plus the butchered pronunciation of Japanese words take me out of the experience, it feels fake when the characters can't pronounce commonplace words in their world.

I'm usually after getting as many achievements as I can in a game, but actually I don't know if I'll be playing this a second time to get all of the missable ones, especially the time-sensitive achievements. Apparently I really am /that/ bad at driving the HOVA, it's impossible for me to actually do those successfully.

Anyway bottom line is I do recommend this game, definitely.

Just to be clear, I've only done one round of the game, so I (probably) didn't get a lot of the story and the incoming context. But honestly the dialogue coupled by my awkward attempts at trying to do the job kept me from fully understanding what was going on.

The serenity when there's no dialogue though does allow room to contemplate things outside of the narrative. Like I would if doing a repetitive task without having to think. I'm very detached from the actual character of the game, which is saying something given I did spend around 30 minutes just trying to make sure I cleared everything, zamboni-wise.

Reading the other reviews make me realize that maybe this isn't a game for me. I might get back to this later, but for now I've become bored and unsure whether I do want to finish it.

I'm not sure what that throbbing fleshy pink adventure was, but I think it was an experience? It's a world that's definitely straight-up sexual, but the strange, loopy look of it just takes it all to be downright surreal.

I did love the voice acting and calming music that just makes it even more delightfully weird, so I'd say I enjoyed this overall.

A choice-based game, branching into new routes and actions to pick. It's pretty straightforward.

It really does carry the feeling of routine in depression, along with the numbing feeling of aloofness despite the efforts to find new ways to be happy. It's expressed well in this game, though the writing can get a bit too preachy for me by the end. (And that's subjective anyway.)

I did, however, tried to replay this a lot of times just to get all achievements. So far I'm more than an hour into replaying and I still have one more left. It's frustrating to not have the option to click through each screen animation, having to wait a bit before the 'Next day' screen comes up. It takes a lot of time in total.

It gets the message the first play of it, so going for achievements gets really repetitive fast, despite the newer routes.

If you're only into playing a game once, for the experience, this is fine to play. If you're also after achievements after the first playthrough, get ready to be a little impatient if you don't get them right away.

Jumped into this without the background of the Life is Strange games, but I thought it did alright enough without that context. (I would love, however, to know the entire story surrounding the characters).

Chris and his father's dynamic is set up right from the beginning- the slightly uncomfortable but trying relationship between them, and the slow unfolding of the story behind that strain. Chris' innocence as a kid playing hero is accompanied by the painful reality of dealing with his mother's passing, and his father's attempts at coping. The darker undertones of the story lie beneath his superhero mask, hiding the looming issues of grief, neglect, and abuse.

Game-wise, it did take me a bit longer than most to finish it, since I usually spend a lot of careful time clicking on every single interactive thing, haha. I also took time trying to figure out the number codes- the phone code was crazy difficult, that I had to look it up. I don't think it was a very fair code to set in this game. (Searched the documents a lot, only to learn that it wasn't there.) I took 3 hours to finish the game.

The graphics are beautiful, I love the cut scenes setting the mood, and the lighting just adds to the serenity of the environment.

For a free game, it's definitely worth playing and watching his story unfold.

Interesting prologue, I like how it ended, and I would like to know what happens next. The dialogue options make me wonder how many things or info I'm missing though- especially when the conversations seem to abruptly end when saying the wrong thing. The puzzles were pretty easy to solve though the ones that involved sneaking did get me caught a lot of times. :))

I do wish there was a bit more music to fill in some of the areas/scenes- some of the areas without ambiance remove me from feeling immersed enough in the game.

Beautiful pixel art graphics, coupled with the animation and the mysterious mood it evokes, I'd like to see more of it in the future.

I'm actually not sure if I would recommend this game- I think because I approached it wrong during my first play, like I wasn't as immersed as I was supposed to be? I was eager for the gameplay from what I've seen of the number of positive reviews, but it ended up being more about the experience than actually playing it. Also got too excited to get the achievement too, haha.

I did however, enjoy it on some level. It did leave me confused most of time, afraid of what will come out of the shadows, thinking that this was a classic game of attacking and defeating. So whenever the music swelled, I had goosebumps, with both the feeling of impending danger, and also beautiful appreciation for the world around the fly.

I don't know if I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to have a memorable time playing, as this can either be taken as surface-level boring, or as a deeply felt experience.