Posts Tagged ‘2018’

October 17th, 2018 Featured, PC, Reviews 2 Comments »

Neighbor Review

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Developer: OTUSUN LAND
Publisher: OTUSUN LAND
Platform: PC – Steam

Despite being a pretty longtime visual novel fan, the Neighbor remake was a surprise to me – I’d never even heard of the original! Players enter the story alongside protagonist Yuuki Kae as she moves into a new apartment. Unfortunately, the place is clearly horribly haunted.

The haunted nature of the apartment is incredibly apparent right from the get go. There are entities banging on the walls at all hours, hand prints that suddenly appear on glass, and far worse. Yuuki can’t deal with it and ends up rooming with a college student in the same building. The two of them end up working to unravel the mystery behind the haunted apartment.

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It’s a surprisingly effective horror story, with excellent sound to go along with it. The scares won’t make you jump out of your seat – instead they’ll creep into your mind late at night. Neighbor is more akin to a creepy but safe campfire tale. Don’t expect to spend too much time playing, though. The whole thing took me just under three hours to complete. As a kinetic novel, there are no choices or multiple endings to explore.

Though the game might not be long, it’s still a fun little jaunt through a scary story. It’s especially refreshing to see Yuuki as a protagonist because she’s an adult in her 30s rather than a high schooler. Check out Neighbor if you’re looking to curl up with a spooky visual novel for a few hours.

Score: 4

4 out of 5 alpacas

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October 9th, 2018 PC, Reviews No Comments »

Sisterly Bliss Review

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Developer: eyephon
Publisher: MangaGamer
Platform: PC

I didn’t go into Sisterly Bliss expecting anything special. It looked like yet another short, frivolous yuri nukige. As it turns out, there’s more lurking beyond the sweet exterior. In some sense it might not even be fair to classify the title as nukige. There is a real attempt to bring life to the characters alongside a decent storyline over the course of approximately four hours.

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August 21st, 2018 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

Your Dry Delight Review

yourdrydelightlogo

Developer: Argent Games
Publisher: Argent Games
Platform: PC – Windows/Mac/Linux

Why are there so few video games set in 1920’s America? It’s such a storied, unique time. Your Dry Delight brings players right into the era of Prohibition. In particular, the visual novel centers on two detectives trying to take down bootlegging operations in Chicago.

Detective Richter only needs to visit his first speakeasy to meet with an incredibly handsome, enigmatic mob boss named Meyer. From there the story proceeds into a brief, dramatic romance between them. Alternately, the other path lets players finally become closer to their boss at the bureau.

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There are only two paths in Your Dry Delight based on a small handful of dialogue choices. Interestingly, after forking, the two converge back into a single ending. It’s a cute ending – and one that fits with the history of Prohibition. The game’s quite short, though. Expect to spend an hour and a half with it at most.

I would’ve liked to see more in Your Dry Delight. There’s not enough time to learn about the characters. They’re also not super stressed about shielding their sexuality, which seems inaccurate to the time. With all that said, Argent Games released the title for free, so there’s only so much room for complaints.

Score: 3

3 out of 5 alpacas

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June 26th, 2018 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

$1 Ride Review

$1RideIcon

Developer: BeHappy Studios
Publisher: Back To Basics Gaming
Platform: PC – Steam

There was once a time before Steam Greenlight and Steam Direct. Back then, getting your game on Steam was a real achievement based on Valve deeming your game worth being on the store (yes, somehow Bad Rats was “good enough”, but that’s beside the point). $1 Ride, shown on promotional materials incorrectly as 1$ Ride, comes from an era where Greenlight was a pretty safe ticket to publication on Steam – and it shows.

$1 Ride is incredibly simple. It’s a 2D vertically scrolling arcade-style game where your goal is to never let the space ship stop moving. This is accomplished by hitting boost icons when passing through a strip of various icons. Other icons include mud that slows you down, rockets that automatically fire if there are any in your possession, and some health.

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As the ship goes faster and faster, the camera zooms out further and the strips of icons grow wider. The hardest part is that it takes a lot of skill to ever be able to collect multiple icons at once. Ever choosing something like the health means you’re giving up on another speed boost. Without speed, the game ends, so it’s best to always try to hit the speed boosts.

That’s all there is to it. After unlocking some in-game achievements, another ship becomes available. There is an in-game leaderboard. None of this correlates to Steam achievements or leaderboards. $1 Ride also grows stale quickly due to the slightly entertaining concept being marred by less than stellar execution. At least the name is fairly accurate as the game only costs $0.99, and is often discounted further.

Score: 1

1 out of 5 alpacas

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