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Adventure Games Thread 2019 - The Liveliest Dead Genre There Ever Was

frogmeetsdog frogmeetsdog From the gameplay videos it looks like the main puzzle mechanic is very similar to Sherlock Holmes Crimes & Punishments or the Ace Investigations adventures. You're going to be going around looking for clues and then combining evidence in a menu to make deductions. There may be some other one off logic puzzles here and there (as in C&P) but I'm assuming that's the bulk of the puzzling in Blacksad. So yeah, more exploring and thinking than you're typical post-2012 TellTale adventure.

BTW Here is Microids' statement on the leak and what the day 1 patch is supposed to fix:

EIna0pSXkAIGI7Q


So despite the use of the word "musics" not boding extremely well for this games translation (mostly joking), I'll temper my expectations until I get my hands on the game. The list of improvements covers a lot of my complaints at face value. Hopefully the polish is better at launch than that gameplay video suggests.

Wasn‘t the walking speed pretty slow/clunky as well? Hope they addressed this as well, despite not having mentioned anything in the patch notes. Wouldn‘t mind a walking speed slider, just to be safe.
 
Wasn‘t the walking speed pretty slow/clunky as well? Hope they addressed this as well, despite not having mentioned anything in the patch notes. Wouldn‘t mind a walking speed slider, just to be safe.

Good point but I'm gonna need a hard acknowledgement on my Toonstruck posts or we're gonna have some problems, son.

I PLAYED IT FOR YOU, FROG!!!

Actually, I played it for myself and it was an awesome game.
 
Good point but I'm gonna need a hard acknowledgement on my Toonstruck posts or we're gonna have some problems, son.

I PLAYED IT FOR YOU, FROG!!!

Actually, I played it for myself and it was an awesome game.
Hahaha - Son? Thought I‘m an old geezer compared to you :)

Oh man, since Neogaf updated I hardly ever get any notifications when somebody mentions my name or liked anything I posted - Nonetheless, I usually always read the older posts too when I was gone for a few weeks but exactly when you finally play Toonstruck I‘ve been too lazy to catch up.

Yesss, really glad you enjoyed it - Completely agree with your assessments (tbh, I always enjoy when you "review" a game you finished, you usually play through the games environment much more observant than I do and thus often point out stuff I‘d never have thought of or even realised :) )

Great that my nagging wasn‘t for nothing, you‘re welcome ;)

I agree that the ending was pretty self contained, especially considering this was initially only part 1/half of the fully planned game. I‘d have loved to see that second part and if some production people and online articles are to be believed it is/was very advanced or even nearly done (which would be especially important for Lloyd‘s scenes anyway, after all he‘s already about 25 years older now). Alas, due to the - unfortunate - commercial flop of part 1 the second was never released.

And as you say, sequel won‘t happen. Just too little fan interest when it was a possibility (especially back in 2010) - I mean, a lot of us guys consider ourselves Point‘n‘Click enthusiasts. I’ve played DotT, MI etc when they were released in the 90s but haven’t heard of Toonstruck back then. Later I barely knew it existed and without Fuz Fuz recommendation (who - if I‘m not mistaken - also just kind of stumbled over it ~20 years after release himself) I probably would never have played it. Which is a real shame, cause the game is definitely at the very least on par with a lot of 90s classics, yet it‘s nearly forgotten.

Pity it never got the success it deserved but what can you do. Good example of having a good game alone not necessarily translating into sales. At least one can replay "part 1" once every few years.

Edit: Looks as if part 2 would‘ve been a lot of fun though
 
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Wow there are a few sites reviewing the accidentally leaked version of Blacksad and judging the technical issues that the day 1 patch is supposed to fix. Kind of a dick move there. So far I've only seen 3 small websites but that still really sucks. It's gonna hurt their review averages.
 
Wow there are a few sites reviewing the accidentally leaked version of Blacksad and judging the technical issues that the day 1 patch is supposed to fix. Kind of a dick move there. So far I've only seen 3 small websites but that still really sucks. It's gonna hurt their review averages.
Yeah I saw that there was a PS4 YouTube review video myself but thought maybe the patch had been released already ... But ofc these m0r0ns reviewed the accidental release. Either these reviewers are too far behind on their gaming news to realize that they review an unfinished version or they are just impatient, unprofessional and even vicious ... Both alternatives wouldn‘t bide very well for them.

Probably they just want to be first though, not caring about the dev, thinking even though the game‘s unfinished they‘ll get a few clicks/views more when they review it before the majority of the mainstream press. Total dick move, completely agreed ...

I‘m really hating this ... Pendulo is such a great and passionate dev who never betrayed their roots. They’re still standing and loyal to the PnC genre after so many of their competition have left. And I think if this game won‘t be a success it‘ll very probably be their last (PnC) game ever ... After all they‘ve been struggling for quite a while to find a new publisher after their Runaway success had worn off.

As if I‘d needed another reason to detest certain gaming reviewers.
 
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dottme

Member
Yeah I saw that there was a PS4 YouTube review video myself but thought maybe the patch had been released already ... But ofc these m0r0ns reviewed the accidental release. Either these reviewers are too far behind on their gaming news to realize that they review an unfinished version or they are just impatient, unprofessional and even vicious ... Both alternatives wouldn‘t bide very well for them. Probably they just want to be first though, not caring about the dev, thinking even though the game‘s unfinished they‘ll get a few clicks/views more when they review it before the mainstream press. Total dick move, completely agreed ...

I‘m really hating this ... Pendulo is such a great and passionate dev who never betrayed their roots - And I think if this game won‘t be a success it‘ll very probably be their last (PnC) game ever ... After all they‘ve been struggling for quite a while to find a new publisher after their Runaway success had worn off.

As if I‘d needed another reason to detest certain gaming reviewers.
Hum, that looks bad. I’m waiting to see Blacksad and it looks great. I hope the day one patch is fixing everything.
 
H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
True, but only because it was very hard to find and even if you'd find it, it was very hard to make it work on modern PCs. Until GOG.
I actually wanted to play it for a very long time.

And this, among many other reasons, is why I love gog. Making great old games accessible to people, without having to rely on shady sites that may or may not give you something malicious is brilliant.
 


Launch trailer for Blacksad. Today's the day, peeps! Time to find out of Pendulo came through.


Game doesn't seem to have top reviews so far but looks as if (y-)our concern unfortunately may have been right: The three worst reviews the game got on Metacritic were from 10th - 12th of November = Days before release = They'd reviewed the incomplete PS4 version selling it as review for PC. Real joke when these reviewers put the game down because of glitches when they review an unfinished version ... Oh man, stupidity ...

Anyway, you were right this will decrease the scoring average by quite a bit (looks like - so far, for now - from low 70s to low 60s) ... Even though the newer reviews aren't overly enthusiastic as well they sound much better than the pieces talking about the accidentally leaked version.

So, I really hope this won't negatively affect sales. I'm probably still going to buy the title soon, I loved most if Pendulos titley so far, including puzzles and stories ... Plus, the 50s animals just look so cool B-) ... Really hope this won't be Pendulo's last game ... Back to the roots!
 
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So I've started playing it and I am rather enjoying my time with the game. There is a whole lot of investigating and putting things together to solve puzzles. Honestly in some cases the way it works is only a half step removed from traditional inventory puzzles. Like when you piece together who has the right birthday to unlock Dunn's safe. It's a lot like the note combining in Blackwell Legacy you're constantly getting way more clues. There's been no crazy stumpers but you definitely have to think and work the case out for yourself and that's a lot of fun.

The choices are good too, so far I've been sufficiently conflicted and actually had to give a good think about what I wanted to do. You can also tell a character you're going to do one thing then later betray their trust. So it's actually (at least in appearance) more dynamic than you're average TTG game. Some have already come back at me in interesting ways so that's a really good sign.

Unfortunately the game does have some problems. The voice acting is rather hit & miss and there are spots of clunky dialogue. The sound design, animation and lip sync has certainly been improved over that gameplay demo but it's still not all the way "there." The facial animation is less choppy than we've seen in the pre-release material but it rarely fully matches up with what the characters say.

I have also experienced a few glitches. One where the game suddenly skipped to the end of a conversation and kinda fucked me on the choice I wanted to make. Not during a big moment but my options disappeared as the timer kept counting down and the game counted it as "silence." Also, not quite a glitch, but I was walking around for like 15 minutes wondering what I had missed and couldn't figure it out for the life of me. I tried calling Smirnov, your cop buddy, to see if he had any leads and there was nothing to say. Wondered around for another 10~15 minutes and called Smirnov again out of desperation. This time there was an updated list of dialogue options relevant to the deductions I made. But I had those deductions way before the first call. So it was just some BS where the game thought I hadn't made progress that I did or I just needed to burn through a call for it to "catch up" to where I was.

So yeah, the core of the game is really good. I'm actually having a very good time playing it but it's clear this game needed more time. Pendulo has already said they're going to be continuously patching the game post release. So it's kinda weird. It is worth playing imo but If you wait half a year or so you'll probably get a significantly better game.
 
So I've started playing it and I am rather enjoying my time with the game. There is a whole lot of investigating and putting things together to solve puzzles. Honestly in some cases the way it works is only a half step removed from traditional inventory puzzles. Like when you piece together who has the right birthday to unlock Dunn's safe. It's a lot like the note combining in Blackwell Legacy you're constantly getting way more clues. There's been no crazy stumpers but you definitely have to think and work the case out for yourself and that's a lot of fun.

The choices are good too, so far I've been sufficiently conflicted and actually had to give a good think about what I wanted to do. You can also tell a character you're going to do one thing then later betray their trust. So it's actually (at least in appearance) more dynamic than you're average TTG game. Some have already come back at me in interesting ways so that's a really good sign.

Unfortunately the game does have some problems. The voice acting is rather hit & miss and there are spots of clunky dialogue. The sound design, animation and lip sync has certainly been improved over that gameplay demo but it's still not all the way "there." The facial animation is less choppy than we've seen in the pre-release material but it rarely fully matches up with what the characters say.

I have also experienced a few glitches. One where the game suddenly skipped to the end of a conversation and kinda fucked me on the choice I wanted to make. Not during a big moment but my options disappeared as the timer kept counting down and the game counted it as "silence." Also, not quite a glitch, but I was walking around for like 15 minutes wondering what I had missed and couldn't figure it out for the life of me. I tried calling Smirnov, your cop buddy, to see if he had any leads and there was nothing to say. Wondered around for another 10~15 minutes and called Smirnov again out of desperation. This time there was an updated list of dialogue options relevant to the deductions I made. But I had those deductions way before the first call. So it was just some BS where the game thought I hadn't made progress that I did or I just needed to burn through a call for it to "catch up" to where I was.

So yeah, the core of the game is really good. I'm actually having a very good time playing it but it's clear this game needed more time. Pendulo has already said they're going to be continuously patching the game post release. So it's kinda weird. It is worth playing imo but If you wait half a year or so you'll probably get a significantly better game.

Thanks for the insights. After reading the reviews and your take I also kinda wish that they had taken more time. No idea if it was pressure from the publisher or if they didn't want to postpone the game anymore themselves but they already knew about the glitches, bugs and other issues (hence the delays) and shot themselves in the knees with the premature release.

Most reviews are praising the game for its storytelling and decisions but criticize the buggy mechanics. Wish they'd taken a few more weeks to iron those out and the Metacritic average would probably be at least 4, 5 points higher. I guess they also extra-pressured themselves with the premature PS4 release but patches weeks after release definitely don't help with the day 1 review scores anymore (and even less with the unfair reviews of the pre-release version of course).

Afraid this won't sell very well after all this drama. Still hope Blacksad won't be the last we've heard from Pendulo.
 
Finished Blacksad and really enjoyed it. A lot of what I said in my impressions holds true throughout so I won't reiterate everything, but suffice it to say the ending was a satisfying one. Overall I'd give the game a strong 7 with the potential to be an 8 or even slightly higher if post release patches continue to improve it.

Pros - Strong plot. Mostly solid dialogue. Some surprising twists. Interesting characters. Thought provoking choices. Good graphics. Deductions are fun. Lots of exploration.
Cons - Inconsistent VA. Occasionally awkward dialogue. Technical issues. Stiff facial animations. No run button sucks for larger areas.

I do plan on going through it once or twice more. Checking out the other languages (apparently the French VA is very good) and trying to get some of the different endings after a few patches drop. I'm curious to see if they'll support this significantly post release. I've kept my eye on Du Lac & Fey: Dance of Death, which was released in a horrible state, and post release patches have gone a long way to improving that game by the looks of it. If Blacksad gets half the transformation Dance of Death got, it'll be fantastic.
 



Two episodes of a behind the scenes mini doc for Beyond a Steel Sky. Charles Cecil seems really confident in it and makes some bold claims. Particularly at the end of episode one where says he hopes this "redefines the adventure genre."

In any case they're interesting videos.



Also, this is pretty cool. Nintendo is bringing back their classic adventure series "Famicom Detective Club." They're remaking the first two games for the switch in 2020. It'd be cool for these games to come out in the west for the first time. Although I'm not sure it'll be translated, especially after Miyamoto's quotes about the high cost of localizing adventure games from a few months ago.
 

Kazza

Member
I thought that Broken Sword 5 was pretty decent, and Beyond a Steel Sky looks like it has a much bigger budget with some interesting new ideas, so I'm interested, if not exactly hyped.

By the way, if anyone is a Humble Bundle subscriber, then you can download a whole lot of adventure titles for free, including Broken Sword 1-5 and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Just go to the "trove" section of their website:

 

Fuz

Banned
Here's an interesting Sci-Fi adventure called Encodya. The promises to be something like Blade Runner by way of Studio Ghibli. Encodya is Italian film maker, Nicola Piovesan and Chaosmonger studio's (typically a film studio), first foray into game development. The visuals certainly reflect that. The game's got a lot of style. Encodya is also in the last leg of it's KickStarter campaign and fairly close to making it's final stretch goal, adding an additional hour of content into the game.


There's also a demo available and it's about 30 to 40 minutes long, give or take. I played it and enjoyed it quite a bit. The graphics were great and the puzzles were well done for the most part. There's a few too many 4th wall breaking meta jokes, though. Especially with a game that nails the atmosphere so well you sort of want it to take things a bit more seriously. Although, this is clearly an early demo for the KickStarter so I imagine some of that will change with the final product.

Alternatively you can watch a full playthrough of the demo on YouTube.

Finally got around and tried the demo.
Pretty good overall. Visually beautiful, the locations look fantastic and they really nailed the "cartoon Blade Runner" vibe... but some of the animations need a bit of work. I really like the setting and the main characters (they're adorable!), the others are a bit too much over the top. The writing is generally bad, though. It's often dumb, juvenile and there's too much fourth wall breaking, which IMHO doesn't really suit the tone of the game. Voice actors and sound design are quite good. The constant loading screens are annoying.
Puzzles are good enough. The interface isn't great. Apart the fact that I generally don't like those type of interfaces (SCUMM is still the best), there isn't a "higlight hotspot" key ( I've been stuck for a while because I didn't see an item and a loction entrance. Hope you guys like pixel hunting), you "lose" the item after you tried to use it on something and have to go back to the inventory and select it again, and - pet peeve, not too important here but I still find it quite annoying - you can't rebind the keys.
I hope they fix these issues, because it shows a lot of promises.
 


New adventure Feria d'Arles recently released a few days ago. I had seen the project a while back and honestly thought it was abandoned so I'm glad to see it's been released. Havent got a chance to play it but apparently there's some bull fighting going on. One thing I know for sure is the visuals have a ton of charm due to the nice colors and fluid animation. I heard it's just a few hours long but I picked it up impulsively since it's so cheap (under 4 bucks). I'll likely play through it sometime this week.

Also available in itch.io

Finally got around and tried the demo.
Pretty good overall. Visually beautiful, the locations look fantastic and they really nailed the "cartoon Blade Runner" vibe... but some of the animations need a bit of work. I really like the setting and the main characters (they're adorable!), the others are a bit too much over the top. The writing is generally bad, though. It's often dumb, juvenile and there's too much fourth wall breaking, which IMHO doesn't really suit the tone of the game. Voice actors and sound design are quite good. The constant loading screens are annoying.
Puzzles are good enough. The interface isn't great. Apart the fact that I generally don't like those type of interfaces (SCUMM is still the best), there isn't a "higlight hotspot" key ( I've been stuck for a while because I didn't see an item and a loction entrance. Hope you guys like pixel hunting), you "lose" the item after you tried to use it on something and have to go back to the inventory and select it again, and - pet peeve, not too important here but I still find it quite annoying - you can't rebind the keys.
I hope they fix these issues, because it shows a lot of promises.

Yeah, I'm hoping in the final game they dial down the references and fourth wall jokes because it definitely was too much. I'd like to think they're getting backer feedback to that effect so I guess we'll see once they put out some more material.
 

Fuz

Banned
Yeah, I'm hoping in the final game they dial down the references and fourth wall jokes because it definitely was too much. I'd like to think they're getting backer feedback to that effect so I guess we'll see once they put out some more material.
Yep, breaks the immersion too much and doesn't fit the tone of this game.
Thinking about the puzzles... I realized that the *only* difficulty I found on this game has been finding the object "hidden" in the screens. I really hope they give us an highlight button and make puzzles a bit harder going forward.
Talking about puzzles, does anyone know how to get past the final puzzle in Indy Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, its the puzzle with the spindles, which have to be aligned correctly...inside the lava temple? It is the last part before the main bad guys appear .....I've gone back through the tunnels, looked at the pic on the cupboard door, but still no idea as to how exactly they should all line up??
It's been too long and I don't remember, your best bet is to google a walkthrough.
 
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RAIDEN1

Member
Talking about puzzles, does anyone know how to get past the final puzzle in Indy Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, its the puzzle with the spindles, which have to be aligned correctly...inside the lava temple? It is the last part before the main bad guys appear .....I've gone back through the tunnels, looked at the pic on the cupboard door, but still no idea as to how exactly they should all line up??
 
H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member


New adventure Feria d'Arles recently released a few days ago. I had seen the project a while back and honestly thought it was abandoned so I'm glad to see it's been released. Havent got a chance to play it but apparently there's some bull fighting going on. One thing I know for sure is the visuals have a ton of charm due to the nice colors and fluid animation. I heard it's just a few hours long but I picked it up impulsively since it's so cheap (under 4 bucks). I'll likely play through it sometime this week.

Also available in itch.io


Absolutely love the art style - it reminds me of Gobliiins for some reason.
 
Talking about puzzles, does anyone know how to get past the final puzzle in Indy Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, its the puzzle with the spindles, which have to be aligned correctly...inside the lava temple? It is the last part before the main bad guys appear .....I've gone back through the tunnels, looked at the pic on the cupboard door, but still no idea as to how exactly they should all line up??

If you go through the maze just before that lava temple one of the places you can end up is this bridge that's cut off half way. If you look at the wall behind you while you're at the bridge the symbols should help you out.
 
So, evidently during the game awards there will be a number of 48 hour timed demos available on steam. Sort of like a home show floor experience I suppose. If the game awards even have a "show floor" (I almost never watch them) but regardless one of the demos on offer will be Roki:


Another adventure that'll have a demo for the promotion is The Drifter by Powerhoof. Which is pretty surprising considering the game was only first revealed a month ago accompanied with a release deate of "when it's ready." I wouldn't have expected to get a chance to play it so soon. Pretty neat.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
Talking about Indy and the Fate of Atlantis, there is a "spiritual sequel" currently in development, and unlike the fountain of youth, it looks like it will actually see the light of day! There is a demo which will be released on the 24th of December, its being created not for profit, but by a small team who loved the Fate of Atlantis, and also the fact that LucasArts/Disney will never give that game the sequel it deserves..but its good to see the fans being able to do what the actual developers aren't interested in bringing back from the dead...would be awesome if the other classic adventure from LucasArts - ie Full Throttle also got a similar treatment, as I think Tim Schafer took the easy route out by saying: ...."naa, Full Throttle is ok as it is as a one-off story....there is nothing else left to explore..." when there clearly is soo much they could do with the world of Full Throttle and the Polecats...

Anyway here is the site to the new Indy adventure: http://www.raidersofthesevencities.com/
 

Fuz

Banned
Talking about Indy and the Fate of Atlantis, there is a "spiritual sequel" currently in development, and unlike the fountain of youth, it looks like it will actually see the light of day! There is a demo which will be released on the 24th of December, its being created not for profit, but by a small team who loved the Fate of Atlantis, and also the fact that LucasArts/Disney will never give that game the sequel it deserves..but its good to see the fans being able to do what the actual developers aren't interested in bringing back from the dead...would be awesome if the other classic adventure from LucasArts - ie Full Throttle also got a similar treatment, as I think Tim Schafer took the easy route out by saying: ...."naa, Full Throttle is ok as it is as a one-off story....there is nothing else left to explore..." when there clearly is soo much they could do with the world of Full Throttle and the Polecats...

Anyway here is the site to the new Indy adventure: http://www.raidersofthesevencities.com/
Fan projects never work, for a reason or another. I wish I'm wrong this time.
 
H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
Fan projects never work, for a reason or another. I wish I'm wrong this time.

Let's hope they get it out before the inevitable lawyers. These groups should really keep shit under wraps until it's ready to go out.
 

Fuz

Banned


New adventure Feria d'Arles recently released a few days ago. I had seen the project a while back and honestly thought it was abandoned so I'm glad to see it's been released. Havent got a chance to play it but apparently there's some bull fighting going on. One thing I know for sure is the visuals have a ton of charm due to the nice colors and fluid animation. I heard it's just a few hours long but I picked it up impulsively since it's so cheap (under 4 bucks). I'll likely play through it sometime this week.

Also available in itch.io


Startd playing this and... uh... I'm confused. It seems awesome. Why I never heard about it before? Love the art style - huge DoTT vibes (sorry hariseldon, can't really see any resemblance with Gobliiins), love the inventory system, the dialogues and humor are also in the style of DoTT and it's *really* well written, doesn't feel it tries too hard to be funny (like... 99% of comedy adventures out there), it's just is - as old Lucas adventure were. It's a little barebones here and there (the menu is non-existant) but who cares.

Keep in mind that I just played for about half an hour, so there's still time for it to become utterly disappointing (the price makes me think it will be super short, which would be a shame), but so far I'm really, really impressed.
 
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Startd playing this and... uh... I'm confused. It seems awesome. Why I never heard about it before?

There was really next to no marketing for it anywhere. I saw it a long time ago somewhere randomly and liked the look of the art so periodically I'd check back up on it. There were never any updates or new trailers or dev diaries or really anything to get it out there and keep it on people's minds.

Glad to hear that it's good, though (at least early on) because I'm looking forward to playing it when I've got some free time this weekend.
 
So, I just played through Feria d'Arles and it's a delightful small game. The visuals are phenomenal with the standout aspect being the buttery smooth, fluid animations. Dialogue, like Fuz Fuz said, is effortlessly funny. Especially considering it's a short game (around 3 hours long) the amount of great jokes they pack in is impressive. I just had a consistently pleasant feeling the entire time I played through it. I liked every character. It's a cliche to compare every pixel-art indie adventure to 90's LucasArts but Feria d'Arles really does evoke that era, visually, due to all the gesture & gesticulation you see from the characters. Puzzles are solid too. I was genuinely challenged but never frustrated and the final bull fighting puzzle is really clever. Without spoiling anything... It impressively introduced new mechanics in a way that's intuitive and just clicks.

The only real downside to the game is that it feels like the first part of a larger whole. Like playing SoMI up until you leave Melee island. It ends on a satisfying close but it's the close of a first chapter rather than a true finish. However, considering that the game is 4 dollars and is really fucking good, I whole-heartedly recommend it anyway. The game has like 5 reviews on steam and no hype whatsoever lol. Tom Simpson is now squarely on my radar because he made something really special with this one.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
So, I just played through Feria d'Arles and it's a delightful small game. The visuals are phenomenal with the standout aspect being the buttery smooth, fluid animations. Dialogue, like Fuz Fuz said, is effortlessly funny. Especially considering it's a short game (around 3 hours long) the amount of great jokes they pack in is impressive. I just had a consistently pleasant feeling the entire time I played through it. I liked every character. It's a cliche to compare every pixel-art indie adventure to 90's LucasArts but Feria d'Arles really does evoke that era, visually, due to all the gesture & gesticulation you see from the characters. Puzzles are solid too. I was genuinely challenged but never frustrated and the final bull fighting puzzle is really clever. Without spoiling anything... It impressively introduced new mechanics in a way that's intuitive and just clicks.

The only real downside to the game is that it feels like the first part of a larger whole. Like playing SoMI up until you leave Melee island. It ends on a satisfying close but it's the close of a first chapter rather than a true finish. However, considering that the game is 4 dollars and is really fucking good, I whole-heartedly recommend it anyway. The game has like 5 reviews on steam and no hype whatsoever lol. Tom Simpson is now squarely on my radar because he made something really special with this one.
It has an art style reminiscent of Day of the Tentacle in some respects... in terms of backgrounds, shame there is no voice acting...
 
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It has an art style reminiscent of Day of the Tentacle in some respects... in terms of backgrounds, shame there is no voice acting...

Yeah, voice acting would have been nice but being realistic about the likely outcome of micro budget indie VA; I'd rather read the lines than have bad acting kill those jokes. Hell, even if the VA was generally good like Wadjet Eye, the way most indie's record each character separately would be a nightmare for comedic timing.

If they could find a way to make it work at some point that would be awesome, though.
 
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New trailer for Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask. Which will be a playable preview/demo for the full version of Saint Kotar slated to accompany the newly re-branded Red Martyr Entertainment's crowdfunding campaign. Red Martyr, formerly Tanais Games, addresses their mostly silent 2019 in this recent blog post. There's also some new screenshots for Saint Kotar at the end of their blog.


17 December 2019
What happened to us?

Marko Tominić Founder, Director, Writer, Narrative Designer
@marko_tominic

If you’ve been following Tanais Games in the past, you’ll notice a rather big difference regarding our studio. The year of 2019 has been a year of change for us, and today marks a new, official beginning when we leave our old name behind and greet you with a new one – Red Martyr Entertainment. If this is your first time joining us on our journey to entertain – welcome aboard!
The decision to rebrand wasn’t an easy one but we felt it was needed and the right time to do it was now. It flourished from a desire to turn the page and start fresh, leaving behind our past mistakes while nourishing the knowledge and experience we gained by doing them. We didn’t choose our new name, rather it was the name that chose us because it perfectly reflects a trait that is at the heart of our studio’s culture: persistence, a characteristic that all martyrs have in common. The red color and the winged lion with a fountain pen are not a coincidence either. They mean we are serious about our mission to create engaging stories designed to kindle your emotions and imagination. These are not just some fancy looking words, it really is our mission.
At this point of the post some of you may start to wonder if all we did this past year was to rebrand our studio. After all, to have a new brand and a new website is great, but they don’t mean nothing if the studio doesn’t create anything meaningful. Under our old name PR activities were put to a halt and there were raising concerns within the community that Saint Kotar, our first creation in the making, might be dead. For a community that we kept in dark for so long it was completely normal to start thinking the worst, but the reality couldn’t be far from the truth.
As I mentioned before, we made mistakes in the past and mistakes are never harmless. A year ago, when we realized how big they are, we knew we were facing a massive giant that needs to be taken down. It is then that we decided to keep silent until we defeat him and that time has now come to an end - we can finally confirm that the playable demo of Saint Kotar, titled The Yellow Mask, is placed on solid grounds and is on its way to completion. These solid grounds were not only laid for the playable demo, not even only for the full game Saint Kotar, but for all the works that are yet to be started. We know that now, thanks to the mistakes we made in the past. They really are not harmless, but without them growth wouldn’t be possible.
I wanted this post to be just a brief update so you can get a better sense of what’s going on, but I abandoned that idea because I felt we owed you a detailed explanation of what was going on. Also, we owed you one more thing – an apology. I’m truly sorry we kept silent for so long, it is not how a community should be treated and rest assured we won’t repeat the same behavior ever again. To make it up to you, and to prove that we really made progress, below you can find a brand new trailer and a set of newly released screenshots from the upcoming demo Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask. We still don’t have a release date, as we want to be sure everything’s in its place before announcing it, but that day is fast approaching, so stay tuned. To remind you, the release of the demo will coincide with the launch of the Kickstarter campaign. The demo covers just the beginning of the whole story, and to be able to let you play the rest of it we’ll need additional funds. Only with the help of our community our dream will come to life.
So what really happened to us? We changed, we changed for the better.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
so FINALLY completed Indy Jones and Fate of Atlantis, after years of having it on Steam, and not really getting into it, I finally completed it, and it is definitely the most frustrating LucasArts adventure I have played! Needing the guides online to help with some of the puzzles, or one wrong dialogue choice can mean curtains or prevent you from completing the game....awkward controls of the submarine and the very last puzzle took me an age to get through......all that aside it is a great use of the Indy franchise....shame it never got the sequel that is teased in the credits... but for me I wouldn't rate it above Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, or the Monkey Island games...certainly better than Grim Fandango, and it won't be a game I would come back to anytime soon, despite the multiple endings...too frustrating for its own good..
 
Shame about your frustrations w/ FOA RAIDEN1 RAIDEN1 . I actually found it to be among the better designed LucasArts adventures, puzzle-wise. But I know some of them are randomized and depend on the path you choose so it's possible we didn't even experience all of the same stuff.

Btw, I'm working on the 2020 thread broskis. Should be done in a week or less.

Edit: Had less free time last week than I thought. But I'm still mostly done, thread will be up over the weekend.
 
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RAIDEN1

Member
I am soon about to embark on a Beneath a Steel Sky....had it on the Amiga, but never completed when it first released...I may look at Simon the Sorcerer, or Gabriel Knights (1993 edition) before that...
 
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Guess most of you know about the release of Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice about two weeks ago (Sorry Fuz :lollipop_smirking:)

Got some positive reviews, 80 from Screenrant ("rare gem") or Ragequit ("One of the best point 'n' click adventures of recent years") and a Very Positive Rating on Steam. Definitely one to check out.

Also, just saw it‘s -20% on Steam for the next 28 hours.

Release Trailer:

 
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frogmeetsdog frogmeetsdog you're bumping the 2019 thread by accident instead of posting in the 2020 thread.
Hahaha lol. Oh man got a new iPad and that one just sends me to my iCloud bookmarks when I type in the first few letters of neogaf.com instead of the thread I visited most. Lol, I‘m really getting old and blind.

Anyway thanks for pointing it out, was already wondering why there are no other new postings here 🤦‍♂️
 
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