Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra

GOG summer sale acquisitions by Mischief Maker 06/02/2019, 7:15am PDT Surviving Mars and Aven Colony *sigh* When am I gonna get it through my thick skull that I don't like management games? Aven colony is the much simpler of the two, but I find its aesthetics and gameplay more enjoyable, it's very Sim City-esque. Surviving Mars feels the more like a toybox than anything. The main thing rival colonies do is put you under a time pressure to reach milestones (first person on mars, first colony to discover water, etc.) and grab the reward before they do. I can already see the "aimlessness factor" some reviews talk about. The 50s aesthetic does nothing for me. Shadows: Awakening Apparently the enhanced edition of Heretic Kingdoms: Shadows with improved graphics and a story that doesn't end partway through. It's like Torchlight meets Soul Reaver meets Lost Vikings/Trine. The premise is you're a soul-eating demon who's been summoned to the mortal plane and set loose for unknown reasons by a wizard who speaks in cryptic riddles. You have the power to devour the souls of enemies, and the most powerful souls you devour can become your "puppets" who can manifest physically in the mortal plane and interact with the world. You are able to switch between puppets instantly, and any active buffs from one puppet transfer to another. The demon, however, only exists in the spirit plane (ala. Soul Reaver), which is home to a whole different array of monsters, but it can have some limited interaction with enemies in the mortal plane. Once you get your roster of puppets filled up, the game effectively becomes a party-based action RPG played single-player, as you're constantly switching between characters Lost Vikings-style. So you can summon a pet and nuke a group of enemies from afar as a wizard, switch to a ranger and lock them in place as you whittle them down with arrows, then when the survivors get in melee range you turn into a tanky warrior and finish them off, and if it's still too much for you, you can retreat to the spirit realm as the demon and return to a healing/respawn point. Hell, some of the puppets even have suicide powers. Note that like the original divinity games, it's a linear CRPG that just happens to play like an ARPG. Enemies do not respawn and there is no unlimited grinding. It's clearly a game designed for multiple playthroughs as you have 3 "main character" puppets with different stories, and up to 13 additional puppets (with DLCs) to back them up. Note that XP is a singular resource and all puppets level up simultaneously, and you do have the option to respec characters for a price. It's also has gorgeous graphics and top-notch voice talent. The narrator is Tom Baker, aka. Dr. Who with the scarf. The main two gripes I have are one, the inventory system sucks ass and was designed (poorly) with consoles in mind. The second problem is despite the console focus of the game, PC players can't use WASD movement controls, just click to a spot and one force move button. Gonna be a hard time going back to these kinds of controls after Victor Vran. Echo I dismissed this as an art game walking simulator when it first came out, but now that I've bought it on deep discount I stand corrected. It's an experimental puzzle game that's... it's hard to describe, kinda like Heat Signature meets Warning Forever? The premise is you're a young woman in a suit of protective/restrictive power armor exploring an ancient planet-sized palace run by technology that's indistinguishable from magic. As you investigate the palace comes to life and spawns hostile humanoids that seek to kill you. The twist is these humanoids are clones of you, and as the palace observes your actions (indicated by a visual cue), the clones become smarter. So the loop is usually you finding yourself in a large room full of clones who haven't necessarily spotted you yet, and there are several switches scattered around the level that you need to activate to move on to the next room. Clones start out as basically zombies who are only capable of walking toward you and trying to kill you with their hands. But as you perform certain moves, they learn. If you drop from high balconies enough times, the clones start jumping off balconies to pursue you. If you crouch and use stealth behind cover, the clones will start becoming sneaky. And if you shoot tons of them with your gun... I'm still early in the game so I'm not certain if the gameplay will hold up. But in the meantime this game is absolutely gorgeous. This stands next to Everspace as the Unreal Engine 4 at its very best. And as a big fan of Rendezvous with Rama and Solaris this game is nerd catnip. What a great palate-cleanser after the disappointment of Katana Zero, THIS is an art game done right.

GOG summer sale acquisitions by Mischief Maker 06/02/2019, 7:15am PDT