GOG.com has some promising titles on sale, including Trine 3 and Shadowrun: Hong Kong. Shadowrun Returns and Shadowrun: Dragonfall are both excellent, polished RPGs with tactical combat, and Shadowrun: Hong Kong looks to improve on them in every respect.
You can check out the titles on sale here.
Thursday, 16 July 2015
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
Walking A Mile In Another's Shoes
It is rare that I come across a game that actually encourages me to examine my own beliefs and principles, and challenges me with multiple perspectives on situations that I would probably never experience in real life. Unrest is one such game.
From the start, I was put into the shoes of someone in a difficult situation - a peasant girl whose parents had arranged a marriage for her. There were various ways of dealing with the expectations and attitudes of her parents, relatives and friends - violent, accepting, defiant or even sometimes light-hearted. No single choice or approach was ever really pushed over the others, although violence carried more risks than the other approaches.
One thing that kept sticking out in certain dialogues and situations was the difficulty of deciding which approach or choice was the most appropriate. Was it better to defiantly assert her individual rights and risk alienating her friends and/or family in the process? Or was it wiser to simply accept her lot in life and sacrifice some of her individual freedoms and happiness?
Other characters, with equally challenging circumstances, were presented: a priest working at a local temple in the city to feed his family, a Naga (snake-like mythical creature) diplomat sent to negotiate on behalf of their empire, a princess whose parents are murdered in a brutal coup, a mercenary working for the perpetrators of the coup.
Questions of faith, loyalty, economic status and racism/speciesism are raised. The priest is faced with the challenge of whether to keep working at the temple even as uncomfortable questions regarding his superiors and their activities arise. The Naga must deal with near-constant racism/speciesism and xenophobia directed at their species and empire. The princess is forced to flee for her life and must decide how she will deal with the people who murdered her parents, as well as how to take back power. The mercenary has to grapple with the knowledge of what he supported and what his employers have perpetrated in order to gain power.
There was no "perfect", neat, happy ending. No triumphant fanfare or celebrations. Only more uncertainty and unrest.
You can get Unrest from GOG.com here.
Friday, 3 July 2015
Screen Recording Suite Is Great For Recording Gameplay
Screen Recording Suite is a great program for recording PC gameplay. It has a simple, clean interface and plenty of options for audio and video input and output, as well as things like screen resolution. http://www.screenrecord.net
Dreamfall Chapters Book Three Playthrough
I've uploaded some snippets of Dreamfall Chapters Book Three footage.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series – Review-in-Progress
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
Platform: Microsoft Windows
Introduction
You probably saw this game coming if you are a GoT and/or Telltale Games fan – an episodic fantasy adventure based on the bestselling books and TV adaptation, developed by one of the most well-known, and perhaps most popular, adventure game developers. This review will cover all of the episodes released to date, and will be updated as new episodes are released.
Visuals
The characters and their animations are on par for a Telltale game, particularly Cersei and Tyrion, who are impeccably rendered and animated. Sadly, the environments and backgrounds are somewhat marred by a sort of weird, blurry filter which makes it look as though you’re viewing them through a warped mirror. The opening sequence is cleverly and slickly done.
Audio
The music is nothing particularly memorable, but is always thematically appropriate to the environments and on-screen events. All of the voice acting is excellently done, especially that of Cersei, Tyrion and Margaery.
Plot
The game’s plot follows the path of House Forrester and their interactions with some of the major players in the Game of Thrones world. It does a good job of providing the intrigue and shocking moments that Game of Thrones is known for, although choices made don’t always seem to result in any significant plot changes. Some of the game’s original characters seem to mirror those in the show in and the books, perhaps too blatantly, e.g. Lady Elissa Forrester and Catelyn Stark. This makes the game sometimes seem as though it is copycatting the show and book’s characters and plot, rather than attempting to present more unique character archetypes and plot developments. The plot’s pacing does pick up by the time Episode 4 rolls around, though, and new insights on existing characters and events from the books and show reveal themselves through the course of the later episodes.
Gameplay
The gameplay and interface are pretty Telltale standard fare: simple environmental interaction and dialogue sprinkled with Quick Time Events. I would have liked to have seen more nuance, even if it was just in the form of using your in-game inventory for puzzles. It doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of seeing where the story leads, though.
WAIT FOR A SALE - even if you're a diehard Game of Thrones fan.
Publisher: Telltale Games
Platform: Microsoft Windows
Introduction
You probably saw this game coming if you are a GoT and/or Telltale Games fan – an episodic fantasy adventure based on the bestselling books and TV adaptation, developed by one of the most well-known, and perhaps most popular, adventure game developers. This review will cover all of the episodes released to date, and will be updated as new episodes are released.
Visuals
The characters and their animations are on par for a Telltale game, particularly Cersei and Tyrion, who are impeccably rendered and animated. Sadly, the environments and backgrounds are somewhat marred by a sort of weird, blurry filter which makes it look as though you’re viewing them through a warped mirror. The opening sequence is cleverly and slickly done.
Audio
The music is nothing particularly memorable, but is always thematically appropriate to the environments and on-screen events. All of the voice acting is excellently done, especially that of Cersei, Tyrion and Margaery.
Plot
The game’s plot follows the path of House Forrester and their interactions with some of the major players in the Game of Thrones world. It does a good job of providing the intrigue and shocking moments that Game of Thrones is known for, although choices made don’t always seem to result in any significant plot changes. Some of the game’s original characters seem to mirror those in the show in and the books, perhaps too blatantly, e.g. Lady Elissa Forrester and Catelyn Stark. This makes the game sometimes seem as though it is copycatting the show and book’s characters and plot, rather than attempting to present more unique character archetypes and plot developments. The plot’s pacing does pick up by the time Episode 4 rolls around, though, and new insights on existing characters and events from the books and show reveal themselves through the course of the later episodes.
Gameplay
The gameplay and interface are pretty Telltale standard fare: simple environmental interaction and dialogue sprinkled with Quick Time Events. I would have liked to have seen more nuance, even if it was just in the form of using your in-game inventory for puzzles. It doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of seeing where the story leads, though.
WAIT FOR A SALE - even if you're a diehard Game of Thrones fan.
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