Ninjas Cutting Onions – To The Moon

“Why do you want to go to the Moon?”

“I don’t remember.”

This was one of the most touching games I’ve ever played. I am actually having trouble right now finding the right words to express what an amazing experience this was for me. Some might think how silly it is that a simple pixel graphic based game can evoke such emotions. Well, those people are wrong.

Nowadays it seems graphics are the only thing people care about, which of course is understandeable, then again this results ever so often in poor to none storytelling. Not to mention, since people are so focused on visuals alone, they tend to miss out on gems like this one.

The game was made Freebird Games and was so far the only one I have had the chance to play. They are going to release a new game this summer though and after finishing To The Moon, I am quite enthusiastic about that one.

As I mentioned already, this is a pixel graphics based game with some drawn “cutscenes” from time to time. The story is about and old man on his deathbed who hires a company which can grant wishes. Not exactly how we imagine this though. What they do is they implant a thought into your past memories which changes the entire process and basically you end up “living” a different life in your head right before you die. So in some way, you wish was fulfilled.

In this scenario our client wishes to go to the moon. Problem is not just that this whish is a bit far-fetched but he also cannot remember why he wants to go there. So our protagonists, the two scientists who deal with this kind of work, start digging deeper and deeper into the old man’s past so that in the end they can grant him his dying wish.

I am not going to go into the story any further, since I hate spoilers and this game is definitely one that people should experience on their own, not read about it. Just make sure you keep a pack of tissues close, you will need it!

Oh and just a sidenote: The music is amazingly beautiful! I rarely speak about soundtracks, because most of them are just there to… Well, to have something in the background. Many times I just turn them off and listen to my own songs. But not this time. Sometimes I just stood there and did nothing, just listened to the dazzling songs playing over and over again. The music set the mood perfectly, switching from happy times to sad ones, making you feel anxious and scared, making you reach for tissues (told ya they will come in handy!).

To sum it up in one sentence: BUY THIS GAME! It is a work of art indeed, a real masterpiece. Of course, if you are the type who needs 4k graphics and whatnot, then this game is not for you. But if you don’t mind, or can look past pixel graphics (which I think are actually pretty well done and look good), then get it. You will not regret it!

Playtime: ca. 4 hours

Steam page

 

Pixel Adventure – Bit Dungeon II

I have to say, this game was lots of fun! Nothing like a good old pixel game to raise your spirit after a dissapointing AAA title – looking at you there Mass Effect: Andromeda. Now that my term at university started, I will have less time to complete that game and review it, but I will get there sometime. Oh, we will definitely get there. In the meantime, here is this cute little game called Bit Dungeon II.

This game was developed by KintoGames who made this game for android as well. Mind you, I’ve played it on PC, so I can only talk about my experiences there. It had a prequel which was supposidly flash based and it came out as a PC version as well on steam, but according to reviewers, it failed tragically. This game however, is incredibly fun!

Don’t expect anything too complex tho. I can sum up the story in one sentence: You are in a world of monsters and will take your loved one’s soul back to her grave which was desecrated apparently. You get one life, which if you lose, have one chance retrieving. If you fail, you die and have to start again. This can get a bit frustrating at times, since you cannot save at all and lose all progress in case that happens. But anyone who has played Mario on SNES can relate to that and trust me, starting from scratch here is not nearly as frustrating. Besides, you get to keep you money at least if you had any.

During the game, you have to beat six dungeons to get to the “underworld” or what and then one last dungeon there and all in all if you map everything out at the very beginning, the game can be completed in a few hours, maybe 2-3 at most. I’ve played a bit more random, but in the end, ended up drawing a map for myself as well. Loot is totally random and you level up according to the stats your weapon prefers. Also, you cannot heal yourself, unless you find a little fireplace or you kill the purple puppies in the dungeons, those drop some healing items. Otherwise, nope, no healing.

The game leaves a lot to imagination as I saw myself as the brave adventurer who is fighting all kinds of terrors on his noble quest. There are also nice bosses, so you also got that going for you. Not to mention the weapons and armor all make you look really cool – or really silly. My dude ended up wearing a purple pointy hat, had a massive purple shield and axe while wearing green armor and yellow shoes. Oh and a purple cape, don’t forget that. But once I even had a yellow ox helmet. I think this was the part in the game I enjoyed the most.

My only problem was that the “battle” system is a bit… Well, you just basically throw yourself at the enemy, depending on what kind of weapon you have. And you also press “space”. A lot. Which can get you into unpleasant situations, since “space” is also used to pick up weapons. Not once did it happen to me that while running around in a wild craze, instead of the epic weapon I had, I picked up some crap on the way and there is no way you can go back for what you’ve lost. So yeah. That part sucks.

Also you need to grind a lot if you want to be strong enough to finish of the bosses and not die repeatedly. Then again, if you want to see all that there is, then leveling won’t be an issue at all.

In any case, I would recommend this game to fans of indie and old school games. It’s not much but for the price it sells for, it is definitely worth buying.

Playtime: ca.  6 hours

Steam page

The Elephant in the Room – Distraint

Now, this was an interesting experience. I got this game on a BundleStars give-away and finally got around to finishing it. I think this was one of the shortest games I’ve ever played, only reaching about 2 hours of playtime. Still, the story itself was quite amazing and also pretty disturbing.

The game is developed by a guy named Jesse Makkonen who as far as I can tell only made one more game besides this one, so he is quite new in the field of indie game developement.

The game is described as sort of an indie-drama-horror type which follows down a linear path. Don’t hope to change the course of the events, this time you just go with the flow. I have to admit, this did make me angry a few times, since I am an avid RPG played and most of the times used to the freedom (or at least pretended freedom) of choices I have. Well, in this game, you have none, zero, nada, null, *insert other words meaning zero* choices, even if you disagree with what’s happening, there is nothing you can do about it. Luckily the story flows well and I could sort of become one with the main character, even if once or twice his annoying decisions made crawl up a wall (was that too Hunglish?).

There are also some puzzles to solve which made the game quite interesting, since (most of the time) they made sense, but were not too obvious. For me, the perfect puzzle experience.

The music gave the whole game a really nice atmosphere, sometimes scaring the living crap outta me. And about the horror part, well, I think it was not that scary, rather disturbing, which is fine by me. I hate these jump-scares, this is why I also avoid most horror titles like the plague. But this one was pleasant, or as pleasant as a horror game can be. Made my stomach turn a tiny bit a few times though.

All-in-all, I would recommend this game to anyone who is not too hung up on AAA titles and 4k graphics, since the story is pretty damn amazing (though not the best I have ever played, but still better than most games nowadays). The game itself is 5 Euros on steam when it sells for full price, if you find it to be too much, wait for a sale and buy it for cheaper, like for example the current sale price for 0,69 EUR is more than worth it. And since I was lucky enough to get it for free, I feel like the Gods have smiled upon me and blessed me with this small gem of modern game developement.

Oh and I’ve heard it is also available on Android for all them mobile players. Not sure how it plays on that though, only finished it on PC.

Playtime: ca. 2 hours

Steam page

Google play page

I’ve Raised a Psychopath – Edna & Harvey: Harvey’s New Eyes

This was a rather bizarre adventure. Or should I say, point and click adventure? It is made by the German company called Daedalic Entertainment who are responsible for other titles like Deponia and The Whispered World (and those are in my library too). I would guess since this is not the only title I have from these guys, I might have gotten a bundle of these games at some point, still this was the 1st one I have played through so far. The perfect start for my little project.

The game was kinda entertaining. The beginning shocked me like crazy, since I was expecting a light hearted, cartoonish, kiddy flick while I got a pretty gruesome piece filled with the darkest humor known to humankind. This gave a really big boost for me in the beginning, but my interest slowly faded as it just simply got… well, boring after a while. The puzzles stopped being interesting and the only thing I still kept looking forward were the minigames.

I do have to mention that I am not the greatest living fan of point and click games, but I did play a lot of them and even if this is not my nr. 1 genre of choice, a good game will be a good game, no matter the type. And this one, I felt it fell flat after a while.

I have to add, that this was the 2nd episode of the game and I have not played the 1st one. Go figure, for some reason that was not in the bundle. This might be while I felt a bit unimpressed when some characters turned up during the game, expecting an applaus and the usual “oooh” from a fan. The game relied quite often on that, especially in the end, which again, didn’t do it for me.

So who would I recommend this to? Definitely people who have played the previous installment and loved it. I think you guys would have way more fun with this than I had.

Playtime: ca. 7 hours

Steam page