Doctor Who: The Adventure Games

Doctor Who: The Adventure Games is no longer available on Steam, apparently their BBC license ran out in 2017 and it was pulled.

The game is a series of episodes with you playing both as the Doctor (Matt Smith version) and Amy Pond.  They do a great job in playing out mechanically very similar to an episode, but have attempted to gamify things - sending Amy off to collect a few parts that he needs to complete the electro-doohickie while dodging cybermen.   

There are 5 episodes total, I love the universe, I'm sure I will probably at some point play them all - but it did start to feel a little bland after the first few episodes.  Sneak around and fetch quests.

Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu is a puzzle/horror story game that has you playing as a detective in a seaside town investigating the murders of a family.   As it is a story-game, it is very linear in telling - and you are lead to an inevitable two endings with a possible additional two depending on your choices along the way.  

There weren't a lot of jump scares, it was more of a fever dream and a hunt for hot spots to reveal more of the story.  I'm not an Lovecraft-aficionado - but the story did seem well steeped in his universe.  The voice acting and animation are well done, it is an enjoyable storybook ride, though one "hunted" level almost made me quit playing because it didn't give you any clue which of the 12 display knives I should be using, so it became a trial and error, die and reload.

Two things that I really liked about it.  First, It did not allow you to consume every dialog option with an NPC, which makes you consider a little more carefully.  But second, and some of my favorite parts in the game, were when the main character was having an "episode" and going a bit crazy.   

Phasmophobia

Phasmophobia is an early access game that recently became the new hotness for everyone to play.  I don't typically enjoy scary games, especially ones where you can't turn around and club your pursuer in the head.  So knowing this, and the fact that it's a co-op game, I enlisted a couple friends to come help me through.

I confess it was both great and not so much -- great in that I had safety in the comraderie, dying is more fun amongst friends it seems.  Not so great in that it was hard to embrace the true character of the game and not try to "summon" the ghost to attack us.

This game plays like the middle of an amazing game.  If there was some motivation to the investigation, a body/a desecrated site/a trail of sparkly dust to set you on your path -- that is then paired with what you do at the end of the investigation.  Phasmophobia drops the ball at the end in that your goal is merely to discover the type of creature you are hunting.  I wanted to acknowledge that it was a banshee, but salt the gravesite to banish it or whatever.  Supernatural style.

 

The Bridge

The Bridge is a physics puzzle game that is probably more suited for playing on your phone in concept.  Each level introduces a new obstacle to overcome that you must navigate your way past being able to both walk and rotate the world.

The art style is actually pretty interesting, your character is a pencil sketch and you are able to run time backwards to do things a different way or start a rotation/move earlier, so it leaves an erased person ghost if you get somewhere you have to backup from.

This game seems to be about finding that Eureka-type moment.  Because before you see it - it is frustrating, after you see it - it's simple a matter of execution.  Could have probably held my interest if the levels were more interesting and reactive rather than just Escher'ish.  If that's a word.

Lord of the Rings: War in the North

Lord of the Rings: War in the North was a well made game, in a lot of aspects.  You play as one of a group of three adventurers, the archetypes you would expect: dwarf warrior, elven mage, dúnedain ranger.  You can also change between these characters if you quit to the main screen.

I kept with the dwarven warrior the entire time and just enjoyed the story playthrough, playing the whole thing.  Combat is simplistic and fairly repetitive button mashing as a warrior, but sprinkled in with bits of "critical hit" slow-mo to make you feel extra awesome.  

The voice acting and the story are top notch.  The way they interwove this story with events in the main story gave it a sense of urgency and a scope beyond the game which was arguably kind of short and very on rails.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl was one of those on my list that has a couple entries (Clear Sky, Shadow of Chernobyl, Call of Pripyat) -- so I had to do a little bit of research what I was even to play. Shadow of Chernobyl is the original, and the follow-ups are Call of Pripyat then Clear Sky, which although standalone should be considered DLC. 

It is a post-apocalyptic parallel world where there was a second disaster at Chernobyl that created dimensional rifts and "things from beyond".

It was in watching these video's that I stumbled across one made just recently entitled "Is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl worth playing today?". I think there are a lot of things going for this game that was made in 2007, but there is a healthy amount of mods you need to install to even make it playable, so with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 releasing soon, I'm going to put this one in the pass-for-now pile and just look forward to it's big brother later next year.

The Void

The Void might be a better game than I'm giving it credit for, I just can't bear to play it any longer.

An interesting concept, you have died and are in a limbo where the color is slowly draining from you, and are on a quest to gather and maintain a color garden through meeting a series of ladies who are are in control of their connected areas.

The areas are fairly sparse and ... lonely?, as is the atmosphere.  Even though graphically it looks like it should be played on a PS2, the main failing (and reason I wouldn't play further into the story) is the ... slow ... walking ... everywhere.   I'm not sure what the save game mechanics were, but after dying I was sent back to the starting area and the idea of spending another 15 minutes walking back was too much.

Apparently people rave about the story though.  Maybe I should watch a "let's play"...

Shelter

Shelter was an experience game.

You play as a mother badger with 5 cubs that you must escort through treacherous environments while keeping them well fed.

Cub #1 died in the second area when I didn't realize they all had to stay within the light circle I generated.

Cub #2 died to an eagle swoop

Cub #3 drowned when travelling upstream

Cub #4 eagle again after being forced to run from fire

Mama on last open stretch to the final shelter, leaving cub #5 to start the cycle anew.

Was not a bad game but not that fun.  I wasn't emotionally connected to the children the way I thought I would be.