These reviews have actually been on Steam backburner for quite some time now as I waited for the right time to upload them here. That translates to “finally finishing a novel that took me quite a while to get through as it kept giving me migraines” so take that for what it's worth, btw. In any case here's another offering of FIVE (5) short reviews because sometimes there's really no need to go hog wild with the word count... or so I hear.
A Short Hike ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2019 ) + TRAILER
If there ever was proper time to use “comfy” to describe a game it would be right now with A Short Hike. With games becoming bigger in scale and scope it felt comfortable to play something designed for bite-size experience rooted in humble indie origins.
Exploring Hawk Peak Provincial Park and climbing the summit to get that phone reception, as game smartly obfuscates why when you're supposed to be away from all that business to enjoy hiking the same way your mom and aunt did, is the main course here. Game never really gives you further directions beyond this drive and leaves you to your own devices. While you ARE gated at one point by required jump/glide/climb ability level how you go about it is up to you as long as you get the golden feathers necessary. What can you do here? Well, there's talking to other anthropomorphized animals who are simply doing their hiking or who may have a favor to ask, like finding her bandanna so a rabbit runner gets her confidence back, as well as finding various items you can use to get coins or progress further. There aren't any notable underlying RPG systems here to keep track of, though. If anything A Short Hike really does play like a throwback to older adventure days and lack of combat turns it into a mellow experience where enjoyment comes from world exploration itself. You are a bird and park quickly opens up to you as upgrade your gliding ability. This somehow doesn't end up invalidating game's terrific world design that had me memorizing the entire place by the finale, though. Really good job there.
I may be letting my bias seep through here, but these early 3D visuals appeal to me on some personal level. You'd call it low polygon today and well chosen art style brings the aesthetic together. If there's one negative it would be very limited control over camera which usually works except in few instances where it actively got in the way as I was “breaking” the intended route. Add a fitting soundtrack and you have a tiny, but impactful package.
The Darkside Detective ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2017 ) + TRAILER
As far as traditional adventure offerings are concerned I'd say The Darkside Detective definitely falls to somewhat middling side of things, but that's not to say game is bad or anything.
We assume control of Francis McQueen in a world filled with endless homages and references to familiar works not limited to the likes of Twin Peaks, entire game even taking place in Twin Lakes City, as our detective operates under the Darkside Division dealing with spooky and creepy unexplained phenomena. With no one except charmingly dimwitted officer Dooley to help him pair tackles 6+3 cases of mysterious events unfolding while presenting it in witty and cheeky style. I would say The Darkside Detective's strength and weakness are one and the same – there's no REAL coherent narrative because six initial cases can be played in any order you wish even if they do callback to certain bits that may leave you confused unless played in order as you're gradually shown rather than told about the urban fantasy setting. What is Darkside and what does their own police do? How is it handled when they crossover with Brightsiders? Neat ideas.
It's the gameplay department that didn't exactly blow me away. You may be wondering why because you know exactly what the deal is in a P&C adventure, but we have a case of rather stark unevenness. Cases were not created equal and bonus ones unlocked at the end air too much on wasting your time with simple moving back and forth to collect items or making Francis figure out how to advance... even though you figured it out ten minutes ago. Due to fragmented structure of the game this never becomes a huge overarching problem, though. If you have even rudimentary puzzle experience this is a very easy game as well with only couple of logic-based, connect the dots ones requiring some thought. I found myself playing for game's humor more than anything with 4th wall breaking present and accounted for. Pixel art is pixel art and comes in pretty barebone variety here so if that's a deal breaker you may have a problem with The Darkside Detective.
NAIRI: Tower of Shirin ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2018 ) + TRAILER
My initial plan was to have a longer review for NAIRI: Tower of Shirin, but not far into the process I realized padding was taking over because at its core game is more-or-less a straightforward Visual Novel meets P&C adventure deal that accomplishes what it set out to do marvelously with aplomb.
Early on in her adventure Nairi ends up separated from her wealthy family and even their fallback extraction plan fails as she gets taken by a roving gang of cats. Turns out they're not so tough and friendship is soon formed as they help our girl return to the capital where she'll attempt to re-unite with her missing family. Hovering over this tale of cutesy characters and childish adventure is an underlying threat of unstable political and religious order, old prophecy foretelling of an unavoidable danger and another major player up to no good who ends up crossing paths with Nairi as she unwittingly gets involved in all of it struggling to overcome her trials. I just wish story didn't end on such unfinished note as sequel is in the works, though.
But what's gameplay like? For what starts out as a VN with very light puzzles from first-person perspective with some dodgy hotspot placement at times, like having to poinpoint positions for holes when game fails to telegraph where to EXACTLY do so, this turns into quite the puzzle machine in the finale. To such a degree you absolutely need to consult your journal where clues get saved in the very last “dungeon” and puzzles galore present there. It's a point where game shifts from “hey, a kid could play this” to radical cipher translations and lateral thinking.
If you ask me presentation is a huge seller here. I'd hesitate to call it purely watercolor, but art style has identity and charm that elevates it beyond that sterile modern digital look. Package is akin to a highly produced kid's playbook at times even if it comes at the expense of mostly absent animation, mouths flapping and slideshow “cutscenes” notwithstanding.
11-11 Memories Retold ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2018 ) + TRAILER
Occasionally you play a game where objectively nothing has gone wrong on a design level, but you don't like it for whatever reason. That's 11-11 Memories Retold in this case and I can't really say I outright liked anything it does.
We follow both Kurt and Harry, German engineer and Canadian photographer respectively, as two find themselves enlisting in WW1 for reasons of their own, and while you will experience both perspectives you get to choose who to play as first in each chapter. Not long into this very light adventure I quickly found myself leaning toward one of these people simply because his involvement had a much more profound cause compared to the other one's. They embark on an emotional roller coaster across Vimy to Somme and beyond as game constantly reminds you how long until the Armistice. You can tell this won't end well, but that's not to say I'm excusing any of it. In fact, I'd argue not a single out of six endings included was up to snuff for me. There was obviously intentional effort put into not painting any of said conclusions as good or evil yet and still what we have instead are tones of gray for their own sake. Veering briefly into gameplay department, where there really isn't much to say other than “modern 3rd person adventure”, Harry and Kurt are different enough as former is a photographer and his efforts get used for narrative points which surprised me while latter with his communication repairs are primary source of puzzles. Which isn't saying much.
Soundtrack amazed me by how well it fit with character's narration and evocative wallpapers breaking up gameplay sections. What is most striking are the visuals as closest approximation would be to call them “oil painting in motion”. I positively could not stand it. Not only does it actively hinder finding collectibles at a glance if that's your thing, but looks like just a poorly handled cost cutting measure for art assets. Which makes it odd when art style hits its stride with more surreal visuals later on.
Paratopic ( PC (Steam) – Horror, Adventure, FPS – 2018 ) + TRAILER
I just played through this very brief game, which cannot be saved and has to be completed in a single sitting, and I still have no idea what Paratopic is about. From what I've read after the fact it's meant to be replayed, dug for meaning and what you missed out on because you played it like a typical game.
It all begins in a seedy hotel as your character is seemingly hired in a roundabout fashion to perform a hit on someone, but it's not long until you start playing as two other unrelated characters. One dealing in forbidden VHS tapes and lastly a totally random bird watcher. Either that or our hitman has odd hobbies. From that point it's very convoluted with a narrative that jumps heads, places and time without ever telling you about it yet still remains strangely compelling. Maybe because of how obfuscated and alien everything shown to you is? People speak in this weird kinda reverse speech, but also “I can almost understand what they're saying” English that just creeps you out the more you play. Not to mention weird stuff begins to happen, first at the fringes and then in your face as Paratopic thrusts you in the finale. I don't think pacing as such really applies to this first-person horror experiment because never letting you get comfortable seems to be the idea. Except those strangely long driving sections while you listen to garbled radio host.
There's no way around saying the visuals look like they came straight out of early 3D period very few remember fondly, but clever use of color scheme and filters brings the aesthetic together. It's ugly looking. Which may be on purpose to portray this grimy almost-our-world it's aiming for. Sound is definitely the star of the show, though. From already mentioned voice work to quality tracks ranging from synth stings to atmospheric pieces when you're just, well, bird watching. Set aside an hour and try this one out. If nothing else it managed to unsettle me and leave wanting for more... which might defeat the purpose of this peculiar exercise.
Riddley Walker ( Science Fiction, Adventure – 1980 – 256 pages ) + QUOTE
Part of me dreads talking about Riddley Walker, but six months after on and off reading I almost feel like I owe it to both the novel and myself.
Premise is pretty straightforward by itself - we follow the eponymous Riddley Walker after his old man has an accident and Riddley is poised to inherit his role of the "connexion man" aka someone who interprets prophecies and meanings as seen in traveling puppet shows' performances whenever they visit settlements. That sounds kinda silly until you factor in this is roughly two thousands years following a world ending event that more or less destroyed everything and society has slowly rebuilt itself to something akin to Iron Age technology except they don't really mine ore but rather remnants of now ancient material that they then deconstruct and re-purpose. This Inland territory with illustrious names for places like Arse Dead Town is seemingly organized and ruled by some weird amalgam of politics and religion riding in the same cart drawn by half-remembered science, folklore, whatever rolled into one with their influence propagated by already mentioned, you guessed it, traveling puppet shows adhering strictly to accepted stories and even puppets themselves are regulated. It's a world where creative thinking is called "clevverness" and highly discouraged because it could bring back whatever vague recollection people have of that which destroyed the world in the first place. But as our boy Riddley will soon discover there are plans afoot that could forever alter what Eusa Story preaches and warnings of Littl Shyning Man are all about it.
So that may even sound compelling, right? Let me just quote a brief paragraph from the book for you:
Belnot Phist wer stopping on at Widders Dump. That same day he put a crew to cutting timber for a new projeck of his. It wer going to be some kynd of a working. Where they gone for the timber it ben a special place of myn. Where the old track sydls the hy groun sholder. It wer woodit with oak there. Hy groun on 1 side of the track and on the other it sloaps off sharp tords Widders Dump. The track runs pas that holler they call Mr Clevvers Roaling Place it wer the track we all ways took going to and from the form. It wer the shape of the groun I liket and the feal of it. That fealing you get on hy groun over looking the low. Some times sydling that sholder youwd see crows be low you cruising. Looking down from there at Widders Dump it seamt so low and littl it lookit easy ternt a way from. Back then I never Ice ben on that hy groun sholder oansome. Never ben any where at all oansome. Never in my woal life put foot outside a fents without at leas 5 mor for dog safe. I ben saving up that hy groun in my mynd tho. Thinking may be some time there myt come a time Iwd chance it oansome. I dint want no woodlings cleart there I jus wantit that place lef the way it ben. I tol my self never mynd but I myndit.
Entire novel is written like this as it replicates a language that re-invented itself from nothing following civilization's collapse. Being an ESL individual I felt a migraine coming on after periods of extended reading and that's probably the reason why finishing this took so long. Eventually I realized reading out loud helped because I phonetically connected the dots, but it was continual effort regardless. That's without mentioning parts that come from earlier in history and were carried over orally EXACTLY as uttered back then and are barely understandable so you get a guessing game until the very last act. On the flip-side, I don't think I've been more engrossed in a work than I have with Riddley Walker. Glossing over lines will get you nowhere and paying attention is actually required which results in high retention. When you add that little HAPPENS in the story and it's more focused on twelve year Riddley surviving in this world you end having to sift through musings and opinions more than actual plot. Needles to say there are lessons here on everything from morality to history and how some things are doomed to repeat, but does it have to be that way if we can change it?
Yay or nay? Single most obstacle present is really the Riddleyspeak itself Hoban chose to write the novel in. Everything else is solid and even intriguing once you piece together what's going and understand it was mainly terminology that hobbled you getting there sooner rather than later, but you're so actively engaged taking in this foreign world told through the eyes of a twelve year old kid figuring out a large part of it for himself.
Wow, you managed to write reviews for 3 games I’m interested in at once. It’s really neat to hear your elaborate opinion on A Short Hike, Darkside Detective and 11-11. Judging from your reviews all 3 games have their merit and unfortunately (jk) I’ll have to keep them on my imaginary list of games to add for some later point in time.
Yeah, review length is a weird topic…Sometimes I play a really long game and still struggle to come up with points to talk about and sometimes it’s the other way around. And, more often that I like to admit, I struggle to express the more nuanced points about a game in english – or am not satisfied with the english version of what I have in mind in my native language…(btw, I’m always impressed with your wide-ranged vocabulary). Coming back to your reviews: I really enjoy them, the long ones as well as the shorter ones, but of course with the longer ones I’m less inclined to read them, if the game’s of no interest to me at all.
Riddley Walker sounds more like an art project than a casual novel to read…which is fascinating, but I think I can understand, why it took you so long to finish!
Glad I can be of service. ;)
That’s in part why I added a short TL;DR summary at the end of my full-fledged reviews. I’m aware they may be too long for most people no matter how much I try to break them up with screenshots or cover art so I’ve taken after shorter pieces here and there. If there’s a primary suspect for my passable English it would have to be old CRPGs because I pretty much learned the language as I played those.
There’s a foreword in Riddley Walker where author talks how much he enjoys talking in made up language when he’s on his own. Kinda puts things into perspective.
Yeah, that definitely puts things into perspective! If you’re used to it, it’s much easier to practice talking in a made up language while writing a book.
Well, I like the long reviews when it’s about a game I’m interested in. Then it’s even fascinating to see someone go into that much detail about a game, especially one I have played myself. Each person always sees something slightly different in a game and values some things more than oneself and some aspects less.
Exactly. I like reading reviews for stuff I myself have played not really for the confirmation bias, but precisely to see what other angles people may have on the same topic. Video games seem to be great for that because they’re so complex and full of moving parts. I know explaining mechanics isn’t my strong suit so that’s one aspect I check out others’ takes on, for example.