Recent reviews by Grawl

Played in local co-op. Not too hard, but still makes you think.

26/26 achievements.

The game starts much in the same was as Under a Killing Moon, slowly investigating your case. But very soon, your inventory is filled to the brim with items, you have a dictionary worth of conversation topics and a lot of places to visit without knowing if you are done with whatever you're suppose to do.

Then during day 7 (out of 10), the game decides to just ♥♥♥♥ the player over. There's a very strict time limit to explore a pretty huge place and do quite a few things in order to survive. It takes all the wind out of the sails and it's just not fun. The game never really recovers from this. And this is all on the “entertainment mode”. The true gamer mode has harder puzzles and more timed puzzles.

There are 7 endings, which all depends on choices you start making early in the adventure. It's not a case of just replaying the last part of the game, you have to replay the entire game to see a different ending. But it's not like the rest of the game plays out much different. It's the same game you played through the other time(s). It's all too much, too ambitious and it cripples the game.

I've played this game using tex3-mouselook, which enabled mouselook and modern controls. I highly recommend it.

I thought I beat this game before, but it turns out I stopped on day 4 (not too far from the end, actually). This explains why the book I read didn't feel too familiar near the end.

It's a great FMV adventure game, with real 3D environments, and the game really makes you work for some items. They can be on top of things, hidden under desks or just in plain sight but very small and easy to miss. It was never too bad though.

There were some annoying sections in the game, mainly a part with a security robot that was just there to make the game more annoying. Conversations where you just guess what to pick and hope it doesn't kill you weren't my favorite either. However, these were minor grievances. Now I need to decide to move forward (Pandora Detective) or check out the early games (Mean Streets).

Obtuse puzzles with the ultimate goal of seeing pixelated boobs. A weird mix of modern point & click, mixed with a text parser that's mandatory to use. Every lady you end up having sex with, gives you a new wallpaper to use. Who played this back in the day?

A mix of a real character with cartoons, like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but reversed (you are a real character in a cartoon world). The game starts out pretty normal, but soon falls back on the cartoon logic for puzzles. Act 2 introduces some pixel hunting to prolong the game, and then it all ends with a big cliffhanger. Obviously Toonstruck 2 was never made, so we're stuck with this. It's still a fun adventure game to play through.

A rotoscoped adventure game that takes place in semi real-time. It's quite an achievement, but it means you can only be at one place at a time, while so much is going on at the same time. I really disliked this, so I just took the easy way and used the Broderbund's Official Strategy Guide.

But even with the strategy guide, you still can't do everything. You're just bound to miss things, which I don't like. I guess it increases replayability, but still.

Even though this is a remaster, or at least a modern porn, there's still bugs. I've had my right arrow (to go to your right) change to a corpse. Many, many times I only wanted to go forward once and the character just sprints to the other end of the train.

Still, the game is worth a shot. Maybe your fomo won't be triggered as much.

15/15 achievements.

I was expecting something horrible after Myst IV, but it turned out to be pretty well made. There's a new feature where you draw on a tablet. You'd think it would work horribly, but it works for the most part.

The worlds tell their own story and the puzzles all make sense. I guess it's time for Obduction.

There are essentially two versions of Uru: the offline one, and the fan-made officially endorsed online one. The latter has custom worlds and many QoL features, but it also is completely open (you can go where you want, meaning there's no real way to know what to do next) and has puzzles that require multiple people to solve it. That is a problem, because it's not very activate. Sure there's a Discord server, but in the end I opted for the offline version. One that at least has some guidance on where to go and something I can solve on my own. Maybe I'll try the online one some day.

This is the first truly 3D Myst game, built in an era where people were still experimenting with controls and engines. As a result it feels very clunky and janky to move around, both in first and third person. It also has that 2000's kind of 3D look to it where things are certainly getting a lot more detailed, but we're not quite there yet. I love that era of games, it's what I grew up with and it brings me back to the days of 3DFX powered video cards.

The worlds are big and fun to explore, but the puzzles are very hit or miss. Some are perfectly fine, some are once again (continuing the Myst 4 trend) horrible. There's a puzzle where you have to collect some fireflies around your body, which hate water (it rains in that world), running and jumping. Puzzles that require platforming (which isn't too bad, to be honest).

Base game: 3.5/5

The first expansion is just horrible. There's a big area for you to explore (the old D'ni city), but there's very little to do in terms of both puzzles and lore. It's a giant easter egg hunt that has you walking back and forth through the city. There's so much lost potential here. The only reward for reaching the end is something for your home island.

Expansion 1 (to D'ni): 2/5

The second expansion is more fun. It consists of two big eras to explore, with puzzles that aren't too complicated. The overlapping puzzles are a lot harder though. It's more hunting for stuff, but not as bad as in the first expansion, because you can see what you have to collect from the start.

There's a puzzle where you have to stand still for 15 minutes. Maybe the Riven achievement for watching a machine for 15 minutes is a reference to that. There's more puzzles where you just have to stand still for about 10 minutes. WHY? At least when you alt+tab away the sound continues, so you can hear when the waiting is done.

Expansion 2 (Path of the Shell): 3.5/5

Myst was amazing.
Riven was great.
Exile was alright.
Revelation is horrible. Puzzles tied to your framerate, that are frustrating enough already and just horrible design all around. The story is interesting, but the rest of the game really drags it down. I'm very reluctant to play the remaining two games.

A fun Metroidvania that's not too long and not particularly hard. Getting the good ending requires some extra work though.

22/30 achievements.