Another year of reviews!!!

Time flies when having fun! This week marks the two year anniversary of my first review being published on the Adventure Game Hotspot website!

I'm currently working on my 58th review for AGH, with 56 already published on their site and linked to my very own author page and one scheduled to be released soon!

In case you missed them, here's the list of the 29 games I played and reviewed these past twelve months (in alphabetical order):

 

Arsène Lupin: Once A Thief

The Beekeeper's Picnic 

Bent Oak Island

Brassheart 

The Brilliant Coup

Closer The Distance

Copycat

Devil's Hideout

Echoes

The End of the Sun

Farewell North

The Haunting of Joni Evers 

It's Grim Up North: Chapter 1

Just A To The Moon Series Beach Episode

Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer 

Midnight Margo 

Murder on Space Station 52

Neon Hearts City 

Nosebound

The Operator 

Ramas' Call: Twisted Timing

Rosewater 

PRIM

Slender Threads

Tachyon Dreams Anthology

Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss

Tourist Trap

Without A Dawn 

"Without a Dawn", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

Read the full review on Adventure Game Hotspot!

Excerpt: "Based on the developer’s previous games, I was disappointed that there wasn’t much else to do in Without a Dawn than clicking through dialogue choices. Especially when these don’t prove to be real choices to begin with. This is a pure visual novel that wants to tell a chilling story while dazzling you with its unique graphics. In that it definitely succeeds, as it almost made me afraid to go to bed, nervous that someone could be standing outside my own window or the man with the gas mask might appear in my dreams too. But I do wish there had been at least a bit more interactivity, more direct control of the main character, to pull you in further instead of making you feel like nothing more than a spectator. And perhaps be a little longer so I could admire the impressive art style and haunting soundscape. It may not be much of a game, but nobody can argue that Jesse Makkonen isn’t a storytelling artist."

New game: "Life is Strange: True Colors"

New game!

I started playing Life is Strange: True Colors and I'm one hour into it! You play as Alex, a young woman who grew up in foster homes and is suddenly contacted by her long lost brother. She goes to meet him in the town of Haven Springs. But of course, Life wouldn't be Strange if there wasn't something peculiar with Alex, which first shows itself when she sees what appears to be a blue aura surrounding her brother Gabe when she meets him.

Meet Alex. "Hi, Alex!" "Hi, gamer..."

I'm not far into this game yet, but immediately Haven Springs is a place I want to travel to myself and spend some time there. When it comes to graphics, I can't think of any other games that have such a high quality and level of realism. A perfect game for me would be this style of graphics coupled with a point 'n click interface, since that genre of adventure games still has my preference (but of course that's a bit hard to combine with a 3D open world).

Welcome to Haven Springs!

True Colors is best played with a controller. As you walk around the scenes, hotspots will highlight automatically and you can interact with them with a click of a button. Which leads me to the story and worldbuilding. These games are so detailed, it's like you're actually transported into a novel or a movie. There's lots to explore, lots of little things to see. Not everything is linked to the main story, and most of the exploration is optional.

Cool music in this game, and not-so cool cats...

The first hour of gameplay ended with a bang: my brother was suddenly assaulted by a jealous boyfriend of someone he'd been helping out. A red aura flared up and Alex seemed to take over his aggression and went She-Hulk on him, like an extreme case of mirror-touch synesthesia (I've learned that from the TV-show Brilliant Minds!)

Usually the "good" choice comes back to bite you...

After that episode, I now find myself on my own in my brother's apartment, and I can finally unpack. No idea what this all will lead to, but I do expect some backlash from a choice I made a bit earlier, about keeping a little boy's secret or not...

You can find Life is Strange: True Colors on Steam!

"The Operator", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

Read my full review on Adventure Game Hotspot!

Excerpt: "While the artsy cutscenes might seem like nothing but filler, this desktop investigation game kept me thoroughly entertained. Not only is the story thrilling, if predictable in its major beats, but it’s complemented by different gameplay elements with which you, as the person in the chair, become crucial to your team's success. It’s a shame you can’t spend more time with all your tech toys in extra cases that aren’t linked to the main story. I would definitely welcome a more sandboxy type of sequel or DLC, without a big conspiracy to uncover but just a bunch of standalone cases you as The Operator help solve. As it is, the emphasis lies on delivering a taut, intriguing cyberthriller that is highly linear but very well put together, and is sure to leave lots of gamers wanting more."

I finished my replay of "Police Quest III: The Kindred"!

I wasn't even tailing him so close...

Police Quest III: The Kindred was a replay for me, so I remembered most of the game, which is the only reason I could finish it in three hours time. And even then I had to restore several times, because I got killed or because I forgot to take along essential items.

What an ominous shadow...

After that first day on the job, things picked up pretty fast, resulting in a couple of very short days. I thought it very peculiar that Sonny leaves for work when it's already 1 pm, reaches the office in 6 minutes, then quits again around 4 or 5 pm only to get back home at 10! I really wonder what the guy is doing in those missing hours...

There goes my evidence...

As far as the case is concerned, turns out there are some pentagram-loving serial killers on the loose. I was able to locate a witness of the mall attempt, found my suspect in a bar but then the following chase went awry. Then suddenly a ghost from the past popped up, leading to a final showdown with lots of driving back and forth, followed by some treachery as well though luckily I came prepared for that (though I did get shot down for not paying enough attention first).

Incoming!

I finished the game with 447 out of 460 points. It's so easy to miss stuff in this game! It's not always obvious where to go and what to do, the clues are very subtle, and it's all very procedural. Before playing you really should read through the entire manual and study the police procedures described there, and then when you encounter something hopefully you realize how you have to act. I don't recall how long this game took me when I played it for the first time in my teens, but I can imagine it was quite a while before I figured out every little aspect.

You can find the Police Quest Collection on Steam!
It's also available on GOG!

Classic time: "Police Quest III: The Kindred"

New game!

It's been ages since I played Police Quest III: Kindred. I used to love this series, and I kinda still do, even though growing older I've learned about all the discrimination, prejudices, stereotypes and racism that hangs above it like the sword of Damocles. You just don't see those things as a kid... I know it's not the most popular series Sierra ever released, but I've always preferred games in more realistic settings and characters above fantasy and sci-fi games.

The struggles of leadership diplomacy...

In this third title in the series, Sonny Bonds has been promoted to Sergeant and thus has to take on a leadership role. The game starts with you giving that day's briefing, then interviewing one of the officers about a complaint against her. Said officer also needs help later on when a chauffeur she pulled over refuses to sign her citation, and procedure calls for a superior on the scene.

Never heard of this field sobriety test before...

This first day in Lytton you need to take care of an almost naked man upsetting some people in the park, and then patrol the highway. You need to pull over a couple of speeders, one guy driving too slow and holding up traffic, and another swerving from one lane to the other and back. Nothing truly exciting happens until at the end of the day you get called to the scene of an assault on the mall's parking lot. 

Uh-oh...

After one hour of playing, I reached day two. It's a replay for me, but I was a bit rusty and I had to restore my game a couple of times. First I forgot to pick up my nightstick in the changing room. Then I forgot to retrieve my gun after leaving it in the locker outside the prison. Finally I got run over on the highway.

A cop's salary seems to do you okay...

At the start of day two, I'm assigned back to homicide to investigate the previous night's murder attempt. So bye bye uniform, we're ready to hit to street plainsclothed! I found some evidence on the crime scene, so let's see if we can figure this case out again!

New game: "Intruder in Antiquonia"

New game!

Amnesia stories are usually good entertainment. Movies like Memento and The Long Kiss Goodnight. I've put off playing Intruder in Antiquonia for so long because the graphic style and character designs weren't really up my alley, but in the end I have to admit it was a really cool conspiracy story, albeit a bit on the cozy side. I finished it in a little under two hours, though I did have to do some digging regarding some puzzle solutions. Eventually I figured it all out and even though I'm still not a big fan of how it is all presented, I definitely had fun with it.

But I didn't do anything wrong, officer, I swear!

I'm Sarah Campillo. Or at least that's the name on the ID I'm carrying. Until the local police figure out it's actually fake. So who am I, and where did I come from, and what exactly am I doing in this small town called Antiquonia where people seem to hate everything that has to do with computers and the internet?

No quaint town without some old guys on a bench...

It's a mystery ready to be unraveled by resourceful adventure gamers. Probably too easy for most, but it will probably challenge newcomers to the genre. There are plenty of inventory puzzles and even one cool mechanical puzzle where you have to redirect wires in a breaker box. 

I'd probably die if I had to do this in real life...

There aren't any voice-overs, but you can click through the dialogue manually if you don't want to wait for it to automatically progress. There's an autosave feature but you can also save manually (yay!). And you can double click on exits for fast travel. There's also a handy, though very basic map if you really want to jump between locations, but not all locations are on the map. For instance, you need to jump to the town centre and then enter the guesthouse or the store the regular way.

Now THAT's a subtle modern reference!

Aruma Studios, developer of Intruder in Antiquonia, is currently working on a more old-school style, pixel art point 'n click adventure, Shadows in the Afterland, which looks amazing and which I hope to play one day, too!

You can find Intruder in Antiquonia on Steam!

You can find Shadows in the Afterland on Steam as well!