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New Pendulo Adventure Game "Yesterday"

The site for Pendulo's next adventure game just launched : "Yesterday". I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle a more serious, dark story/ looking forward to playing anything they make. I really enjoyed their previous game "The Next BIG Thing", criminally under-appreciated. The site has a fair amount of info right now (no videos, though) , looks interesting. Especially the screenshots.

Website Description said:
In New York City, beggars are disappearing one after another, only to be found burnt alive. Meanwhile, a Y-shaped scar forms in the palm of the hands of seemingly unrelated people. With the police and the media giving little attention to these events, Henry White, a young and rich heir dedicated to a charitable organization, and his friend Cooper, are the first to investigate these disappearances. They are two of the three playable characters in Yesterday, the third being none other than the enigmatic John Yesterday, who is dragged into this incredible story after his memory is completely wiped.

This is the starting point of a brand new adventure from Pendulo Studios, which will drive you into a dark story full of twists and turning points, and give you the chance to choose between 4 different endings! Choose who you want to control: Henry, Cooper or John in the game’s grand finale and leave the closing at your will! Do you want justice to win? Would you prefer a crooked ending? Or rather an unexpected, jaw-dropping one?
It’s up to you!

After having left its mark in adventure gaming with its million-selling trilogy Runaway and more recently with The Next BIG Thing, Pendulo Studios delivers its newest adventure: Yesterday. Though its unique graphic style, trademark of the Spanish developer, has not been left behind, Pendulo has now given up comedy for once and is offering an original and dark adventure.
There’s only one thing that you can expect in Yesterday: the unexpected. There’s a surprise behind every corner and the most insignificant action can trigger a chain of events that will make you fall off your chair!

This amazing adventure, with a unique, dark sense of humor, will take you from New York to Paris to the Scottish landscape and even to the snowy peaks of Tibet, as tension grows. Solve dozens of mysteries and riddles through the dark story line full of twists and surprises.
Meet and interact with a cast of colorful characters…
Now, sit down and enjoy Yesterday!

Screens:

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Hopefully they pull off the new style and tone, anyone else excited?
 
Were the Runaway games any good?

I've only played their most recent game "The Next Big Thing". However, they've also made Hollywood Monsters and "the million selling" Runaway Trilogy. Which I'll be playing soon, hope it's good, got it recently in the Steam Pendulo pack sale.

Edit: nice stealth edit lol :)
 
So were those you played good? I kinda hate their art style. Maybe the animation does it more than anything.
 
Were the Runaway games any good?
In my personal opinion, no. I'm pretty tolerant of most middling point and click adventures, but Runaway did not click with me at all. It's a comedy that isn't funny. I also find the art style off putting.

I'll keep my eye out for this anyway, not enough developers making these games and hopefully they're getting better at it.
 
So were those you played good? I kinda hate their art style. Maybe the animation does it more than anything.

Yeah, The Next BIG Thing was great, along with Gemini Rue the best adventure game I played last year. I can't speak for the Runaway games, from what I've seen the art looks kinda cheesy in those, but somewhat intentionally so.

The art in "The Next Big Thing" was great, some personal screens:

51C712C4F37C50EE706B920DAC641445BE9F08DC


32C2322F09F172105A155AD47F23D27E4946B4A1
 
So were those you played good? I kinda hate their art style. Maybe the animation does it more than anything.

the first runaway game was good... not mind blowing but i enjoyed it.

the second one i thought was horrible...
also because at the end of the game the story is just half way through... plus i didn't find the puzzles interesting...

the beginning of the second game is interesting, but i thing it gets progressively worse as you reach the end of the game...

i didn't have time to try the third one yet, nor the next big thing
 
Unfortunately I'll grab it on the cheap and hope that Europe invests enough money for another title out of them.
 
Yeah, The Next BIG Thing was great, along with Gemini Rue the best adventure game I played last year. I can't speak for the Runaway games, from what I've seen the art looks kinda cheesy in those, but somewhat intentionally so.

The art in "The Next Big Thing" was great, some personal screens:

51C712C4F37C50EE706B920DAC641445BE9F08DC


32C2322F09F172105A155AD47F23D27E4946B4A1

i played the demo of The Next BIG Thing... i liked the story and the characters but i found the puzzles extremely easy... do they get any harder?
 
Were the Runaway games any good?

I enjoyed the first two Runaway games - they weren't amazing but they kept me amused while I played them and were well worth the price of admission. I wouldn't put them on the same level as the Lucasarts adventures like DOTT/SamnMax; but above the Telltale offerings.
 
Runaway games take a ton of flack but I enjoyed every one of them. The first one was very tough and long (maybe because it was hard, I don't remember now as it was so long ago), the next two were veeery easy (Broken Sword 1/2 levels of difficulty) and have a story arc independent of the first game (but it's pointless to play R3 without having played R2). They're both rather short, too, probably 6-8 hours each. The setting and story is a generic Broken Sword knockoff, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I think R3 is much better than R2 story wise.
 
i played the demo of The Next BIG Thing... i liked the story and the characters but i found the puzzles extremely easy... do they get any harder?

Yeah, they get harder, they never get terribly difficult
except for one, the "hieroglyphics puzzle which is terrible, but the only bad puzzle in the game
. I never played the demo, but I'm assuming it's just the first "set" of puzzles (the game is structured into sets), then yeah it does get a fair amount harder.

A lot of great running gags too.
 
Runaway games take a ton of flack but I enjoyed every one of them. The first one was very tough and long (maybe because it was hard, I don't remember now as it was so long ago), the next two were veeery easy (Broken Sword 1/2 levels of difficulty) and have a story arc independent of the first game (but it's pointless to play R3 without having played R2). They're both rather short, too, probably 6-8 hours each. The setting and story is a generic Broken Sword knockoff, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

i liked the first one because it was harder and longer...
now that you told me that the third one is as easy and short as the second one i'm not sure if i really want to play it
unless i find it at a very low price
 
I enjoyed the first two Runaway games - they weren't amazing but they kept me amused while I played them and were well worth the price of admission. I wouldn't put them on the same level as the Lucasarts adventures like DOTT/SamnMax; but above the Telltale offerings.

I consider that high praise, especially regarding the Monkey Island Telltale offerings.
 
I consider that high praise, especially regarding the Monkey Island Telltale offerings.

You may want to temper your expectations a little then; I wasn't very impressed by the Tales of Monkey Island episodes. The puzzles didn't grab me and I thoroughly disliked the art style - I also felt the characters weren't as likeable as in the original games and the environments didn't have much life to them.
 
Were the Runaway games any good?

No. Great art style, but the writing and voice acting are god awful, the main characters are insufferable, and the puzzles are largely stupid. For as much flack as, oh, Gabriel Knight 3 gets for its cat mustache, the "time fork" in the second game was impossibly stupid. Granted, the series gets better as it goes along, but it's still not particularly good by any stretch of the imagination.

I skipped The Next BIG Thing, but given this isn't supposed to be a comedy, which their other games failed at, it might actually be not terrible.
 
No. Great art style, but the writing and voice acting are god awful, the main characters are insufferable, and the puzzles are largely stupid. For as much flack as, oh, Gabriel Knight 3 gets for its cat mustache, the "time fork" in the second game was impossibly stupid. Granted, the series gets better as it goes along, but it's still not particularly good by any stretch of the imagination.

I skipped The Next BIG Thing, but given this isn't supposed to be a comedy, which their other games failed at, it might actually be not terrible.

I'd give The Next BIG Thing a try, when it goes on sale again, can't say for sure, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Or give the demo on steam a shot, the characters and writing are really fun, especially the female lead "Liz Allaire" (not sure if I spelled her name right).
 
I enjoyed the first two Runaway games - they weren't amazing but they kept me amused while I played them and were well worth the price of admission. I wouldn't put them on the same level as the Lucasarts adventures like DOTT/SamnMax; but above the Telltale offerings.

That is a high bar to beat, lol.

There's something...off about Pendulo's Games. I don't know. Maybe the writing style, or the storytelling, or the comedy or just the voice acting, or maybe I just played Lucasarts and modern Telltale's game too much. It just never clicks with me.

I agree that TNBT is good, though.
 
I agree with Echos... the female lead is actually funny and over the top... and just like you i didn't find any funny any of the runaway games.

give it a try... the demo is good, besides the puzzles being extremely easy.

That is a high bar to beat, lol.

you are being too generous my friend... it's not high, it's unreachable...

if you think that a modern days comedy adventure can be up to par with lucas arts classics you are being delusional...

just like no one will take myst crown for first person adventures nor gabriel knight's
 
No. Great art style, but the writing and voice acting are god awful, the main characters are insufferable, and the puzzles are largely stupid. For as much flack as, oh, Gabriel Knight 3 gets for its cat mustache, the "time fork" in the second game was impossibly stupid. Granted, the series gets better as it goes along, but it's still not particularly good by any stretch of the imagination.

I feel that the biggest problems comes from localization more than anything else. It probably costs too much money for these companies to try and get a stellar outfit running, especially since many games these days from the Adventure genre hail from non-English countries. I know that Pendulo are based in Spain so things might be a bit different there and no doubt they may lack the localization monetary values that the big publishers have in their spades.

On another but still related topic of dialogue, I've been so pleasantly surprised with the humour and writing in The Book of Unwritten Tales. It's somewhat a double edged sword in this regard; I can only begin to imagine how much more joy German speakers might be receiving from playing the game in their native language. And yet I continue to ask for more and more and more in regards to the genre.
 
I feel that the biggest problems comes from localization more than anything else. It probably costs too much money for these companies to try and get a stellar outfit running, especially since many games these days from the Adventure genre hail from non-English countries. I know that Pendulo are based in Spain so things might be a bit different there and they no doubt they lack the localization monetary values that the big publishers have in their spades.

I've been so pleasantly surprised with the humour and writing in The Book of Unwritten Tales. It's somewhat a double edged sword in this regard; I can only begin to imagine how much more joy German speakers might be receiving from playing the game in their native language. And yet I continue to ask for more and more and more in regards to the genre.

never heard of this one... what's the plot?

and since we are talking about adventures, did anyone try the second A Vampire Story?
is it any good?
 
Haven't tried Vampyre Story.

As for The Book of Unwritten Tales, it's easily one of the better adventure games I've played in such a long time. I don't want to talk it up too much but Kabouter practically forced me to buy it and I've been thankful ever since. Brilliant dialogue, hilarious moments, it kinda reminds me of LucasArts of old except set in a fantasy setting parody of itself.

Still surprised the game has not hit Steam yet because it would be stellar on there.


edit: quickly skimming over the Gamespot review and it seems they are pretty much spot on with the whole game. The only blemish I felt was that the puzzles felt a bit simple at various times, but that hardly detracted from the overall enjoyment of the game.
 
never heard of this one... what's the plot?

and since we are talking about adventures, did anyone try the second A Vampire Story?
is it any good?

Woah, the second A Vampyre Story is out? There needs to be some AdventureGAF thread so I can keep up with this stuff.

The first Vampyre Story was pretty good, I didn't love it, but I like to root for Autumn Moon Entertainment. They're like the underdog ex-Lucas Arts adventure dev.
 
Woah, the second A Vampyre Story is out? There needs to be some AdventureGAF thread so I can keep up with this stuff.

The first Vampyre Story was pretty good, I didn't love it, but I like to root for Autumn Moon Entertainment. They're like the underdog ex-Lucas Arts adventure dev.

nevermind, never been released... my mistake XD

and the devs website expired... not a good sign i think... btw we totally need a NeoGaf Adventures Thread
 
I feel that the biggest problems comes from localization more than anything else. It probably costs too much money for these companies to try and get a stellar outfit running, especially since many games these days from the Adventure genre hail from non-English countries. I know that Pendulo are based in Spain so things might be a bit different there and no doubt they may lack the localization monetary values that the big publishers have in their spades.

Yeah you're probably right - I've operated under the assumption that Pendulo's games are much better in their native language, but not so much in English. I feel the same way about Daedalic games - I probably should love stuff like Edna and Harvey because it seems like they'd be right up my alley, but they never feel right.

Then again I thought the same about A Vampyre Story, and that actually was natively written in English. Although even then it at least sounded natural, just rather bland.
 
This is probably my most anticipated game of this year right now. I've enjoyed all of their games and I'm sure this won't disappoint. Hope it's still on track for releasing next month.


I have beaten all three Runaway games and i enjoyed them quite much :)

Same here. It's a great series. The second game has become one of my all-time favorite point-and-click games. Third one was a let down after coming from the second game but it's still good.
 
This is probably my most anticipated game of this year right now. I've enjoyed all of their games and I'm sure this won't disappoint. Hope it's still on track for releasing next month.




Same here. It's a great series. The second game has become on of my all-time favorite point-and-click games. Third one was a let down after coming from the second game but it's still good.

and it keeps getting worse...

and i hope that the second one is your all-time favorite adventure game because you never played LucasArts/Sierra/Cyan games >.<
 
Man, opinions for the Runaway games are really all over the place. As far as critical reception goes the final installment seems to be the best, but in my experience good adventure game reviews are hard to come by.

TNBT seems to be more universally agreed upon at least as far as I've heard. But I just hope I enjoy those Runaway games, seeing as how I bought them already. :O
 
and it keeps getting worse...

and i hope that the second one is your all-time favorite adventure game because you never played LucasArts/Sierra/Cyan games >.<

It's not my all-time favorite but it's up there. Yeah, I've played almost all of the games from the three companies you mentioned and I'd still have the second Runaway game ranked in my top five, easily.
 
Can't believe I haven't played TNBT already.I should really get to it,but I have too many pc games on the back burner already.Loved the Runaway games too.


Edit: about the debate above, the French localization for the games was excellent, it's no surprise the games were a big success here. Did TNBT sell well?
 
I should probably pick up The Next BIG Thing. I quite liked the demo but it didn't cross my mind to get it when the last Steam sale was on.

As for this, I'm intrigued. I quite like the art style. Will check out a demo if they release one.
 
I feel like the first Runaway is their best game... the second one was also good, the third one I didn't really care for. I hated the writing and the characters in the next big thing.


Sometimes their art looks super cool, sometimes it looks like cheap CG.
 
I've only played their most recent game "The Next Big Thing". However, they've also made Hollywood Monsters and "the million selling" Runaway Trilogy. Which I'll be playing soon, hope it's good, got it recently in the Steam Pendulo pack sale.

Edit: nice stealth edit lol :)

The Next Big Thing is Hollywood Monsters 2.
International name is The Next Big Thing, the name in Spain, were Pendulo Studios is, is Hollywood Monsters 2.
BTW The Next Big Thing is basically a remake, with some characters and situations changed, of the first Hollywood Monsters, as the game really didnt sell outside Spain and France.

I feel like the first Runaway is their best game... the second one was also good, the third one I didn't really care for. I hated the writing and the characters in the next big thing.


Sometimes their art looks super cool, sometimes it looks like cheap CG.


I think Hollywood Monsters and the first Runaway are amazing, the rest of their games, not so much.
Hollywood Monsters is the really great one, so good, but also at times very difficult and non sensical. Lol the final boss.

I didnt really like the character style of the Runaway games, thats the one they are using always, but they are getting much better at it with their last games. The funny thing is that their boxarts usually look cooler.
 
In my personal opinion, no. I'm pretty tolerant of most middling point and click adventures, but Runaway did not click with me at all. It's a comedy that isn't funny. I also find the art style off putting.

I'll keep my eye out for this anyway, not enough developers making these games and hopefully they're getting better at it.

Yes. I think The Next Big Thing was mediocre, but the Runaway games have a better reputation among fans (or "fans," people who just want their 1993 comfort food) and are far, far worse. They're not funny, not well-designed, not attractive, and not fun. They're among the worst respected graphic adventures I've played.

I try to give the genre's big names infinite chances, though. I'm watching.
 
It's too bad that Pendulo's ability to write anything of quality is severely improbable. Every game they have made have had astonishing visual design, but their characters and plot are completely terrible.
 
yesterday i finally bought TNBT and so far i'm enjoying it...

is someone going to make an official gaf adventures thread?
 
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