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[Vampire On Titus]

Finished playing through Guard Duty and overall I think it's a cool game. The ending credits really confirmed how stretched thin that one VA was lol. He made a valiant effort considering, but yeah, it ends up not being the best at times. Consistently gorgeous throughout and there's a lot of care and detail put into the cut-scenes which I really appreciate. I thought the puzzles were good overall. Even the simpler ones in the sci-fi setting were alright.

My biggest gripe with the game is that too much of the plot is conveyed in exposition. Especially in the second half which feels straight-up rushed. There's a lot of stuff that you really should get to see. Stuff that easily could have worked as a cut-scene or playable segment that ends up being conveyed through long dialogue exchanges. Like Tondbert -- for years on end -- battling the demon that cloaked dude unwittingly summoned. Even the story that the mage at the bar tells you about how his apprentice turned evil. We should have gotten more from the villain(s) in general.

The ending was strong and the narrative concluded on a feel good note that satisfied. I feel like with more time and resources this game could have been top tier. As it stands I think it's pretty cool. I enjoyed my time with it and I'm looking forward to the next Sick Chicken game.

Edit:

Oh yeah... chill out with that back to back maze puzzle action. The first one was cool, to be fair. But two maze sections within minutes of each other is a little crazy guys. Chill out.

 

[Fuz]

But two maze sections

Wait, one is the dead forest. Which is the other one?

Edit: Ah, the frozen lands one? But that's super easy and not really a maze... you just rotate then follow the compass.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Yeah the second one isn't hard Im just taking the piss because mazes are so cliche in adventure games.

 

[Fuz]

I usually hate them. Wasn't annoyed by the ones in GD, though. They were both pretty understandable.

If I think back to Kyrandia...

 

[dok1or]

Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka with Love supports 21:9!

 

[TripleSun]

That's pretty damn cool

 

[ThatStupidLion]

just saw the thread for the new LSL on ps4/switch - any impressions?

 

[Vampire On Titus]

just saw the thread for the new LSL on ps4/switch - any impressions?

From what I could gather it seems generally well liked among fans of the series and adventure fans generally. From looking at it myself it looks very "solid." like in the high 6 to low 7 range. Which is coincidentally where it landed on MC. I've considered playing it but if I'm gonna sit down and play a Larry game (considering I've never touched the series) I'd probably go for LSL6. That seems like the one that people regard the best.

 

[Fuz]

I'm a long time Larry fan and I think it's a piece of shit.

but if I'm gonna sit down and play a Larry game (considering I've never touched the series) I'd probably go for LSL6.

LSL4 is considered the best by ANY fan.

Play the LSL1 remake then LSL7. Imho, those are the best. Then 6 and 5.

(But 7 kinda loses a bit without the silly scratchable sniff thing )

 

[protonion]

Toonstruck is free on gog!

 

[Vampire On Titus]

I'm a long time Larry fan and I think it's a piece of shit.


LSL4 is considered the best by ANY fan.

Play the LSL1 remake then LSL7. Imho, those are the best. Then 6 and 5.

(But 7 kinda loses a bit without the silly scratchable sniff thing )

I actually meant to say 7. Love For Sail is the one I always see coming up whenever someone discusses the series. How high would you rate it along with other classic AGs?

Toonstruck is free on gog!

Good lookin out, bro. Now I have literally no excuse to deny frogmeetsdog 's request to play the game. I own it now in any case

 

[Fuz]

How high would you rate it along with other classic AGs?

Pretty high. I really like Larry and Al Lowe's basic humour.
Not as great as the best classic Luscasfilm games, but just a step after them.

 

[Fuz]

Actually, thinking of it, I like it more than Sam & Max, Grim Fandango or The Dig.

 

[Scopa]

Toonstruck is free on gog!

Thanks man.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Chook & Soosig: Walk The Plank out today! Very nicely done art style that may even satisfy Fuz 's traditional animation desires. Reminds me of a cross between Adventure Time and Curse of Monkey Island. With a pretty dope soundtrack if the trailer theme is any indication. Adventure Gamers seemed to like it with a rare day 1 review and 4/5 score.

I'll probably be picking this up soonish cause I really do like the way it looks. I did post a trailer earlier but this kinda flew under my radar so I'll probably add it to the OP.

 

[Fuz]

Very nicely done art style that may even satisfy @Fuz 's traditional animation desires

Uh... this is exactly what I don't like. Flash style art and animation.
Maybe it's a good game apart from that, but it's really offputting for me.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Uh... this is exactly what I don't like. Flash style art and animation.
Maybe it's a good game apart from that, but it's really offputting for me.

A lot of the animation is hand drawn frame by frame in the trailer. The walk cycle, the talk cycles, those animals dancing, etc. There are some motion tweened background elements (cogs & the windmill) but a lot of it looks hand animated. Also the lines have texture to them and don't remind me of that super clean default flash brush.

Do you just mean the overall style of it? How it looks like a modern kids show?

 

[Fuz]

Really doesn't look had drawn, but it's super flat and it's got the usual "compartmentalized" animation style that make all those games look like they have cardboard figures over a plain background. I don't know how to explain better what I mean with "flash style", sorry

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Dave Gilbert's Adventure Jam 2019 hoax:


TLDR; Dave was familiarizing himself with Unity and 3D development in general for the production of Technobabylon: Birthright. He wanted to make a game to solidify his learning but was lacking inspiration. So he turned to the strict deadline of Adventure Jam 2019 for motivation but submitted his game under a psuedonym so as not to effect the judging.

Funnily enough I had just played the game last night completely unaware of it's connection to Wadjet Eye Games. It's an interesting, small, story with impressive world building considering the short run-time (like 45 minutes). You can play the game here. It's called "Old Skies." I wouldn't mind seeing Dave take this time travel detective concept and make a full game of it tbh.

The voting for Adventure Jam 2019 just finished today so the games are now ordered by their scores. I've only played a few but so far my favorites are "An Eternity, Reflecting" and "Tea For Two: A Detective Logan Case."

You can check out all the games for Adventure Jam 2019 here.

 

[Airola]

I've now finally played the Blackwell games. I've had them on GOG forever and even bought them on Steam too, but I never tried any of them. One of the reasons was that I had lost interest in the idea of controlling a talking ghost. I love supernatural themes in adventure games but I don't necessarily like the idea of controlling something else than a living human who doesn't have supernatural powers. And then for some reason I was afraid that the ghost would be a "funny" character in a wrong way.

I played the first and loved it. When the ghost character was introduced I had this small moment of thinking "ugh, he's this stupidly unfunny joke character", but that thought was gone pretty quickly as the game continued being really awesome. Played the second and the third games, both really good too.

Then the fourth game took a step from great to fantastic and the fifth game was even better and it even managed to make me cry a bit.

They really are among the best point and click adventures ever made. I'm thinking of buying more Wadjet Eye games while Steam sale is still on.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

I've now finally played the Blackwell games. I've had them on GOG forever and even bought them on Steam too, but I never tried any of them. One of the reasons was that I had lost interest in the idea of controlling a talking ghost. I love supernatural themes in adventure games but I don't necessarily like the idea of controlling something else than a living human who doesn't have supernatural powers. And then for some reason I was afraid that the ghost would be a "funny" character in a wrong way.

I played the first and loved it. When the ghost character was introduced I had this small moment of thinking "ugh, he's this stupidly unfunny joke character", but that thought was gone pretty quickly as the game continued being really awesome. Played the second and the third games, both really good too.

Then the fourth game took a step from great to fantastic and the fifth game was even better and it even managed to make me cry a bit.

They really are among the best point and click adventures ever made. I'm thinking of buying more Wadjet Eye games while Steam sale is still on.

The Blackwell series is fantastic. One of my favorites, if that's not already obvious from my avatar. I go back and forth between Unbound and Epiphany as my favorite entry into the series. Epiphany has the edge in terms of poingance and the best visuals in the series hands down. But I really love that look into Joey and Lauren's relationship in the second game. It helps that Lauren Blackwell is just a great character. Also, the Isaac Brown / Ghost on the promenade "mission" might be my favorite individual ghost story in the series. The final puzzle where you record his sister's part of their duet was such a satisfying conclusion. It really stuck with me.

It's funny going back to the first game and remembering how harsh Joey is at first. Obviously there's plot reasons for that but it makes sense that originally you could have taken him for a jokey 50's "rat pack" stereotype. But like you said he shows more depth pretty quickly.

Also, you absolutely should check out more Wadjet Eye games. They're pretty much all good to great. My favorites outside of the Blackwell series are Technobabylon, Resonance, Primordia, Unavowed and Shardlight.

 

[frogmeetsdog]

Good lookin out, bro. Now I have literally no excuse to deny frogmeetsdog 's request to play the game. I own it now in any case

Haha finally —I‘m sure you‘ll enjoy it

—

Gibbous got an amazing update last week. The guys are done, beta testing should have already started. We‘re finally nearing the release. Followed quite a few adventure kickstarters over the last few years and Gibbous is definitely one of the best. The Stuck in the Attic guys really have outdone themselves - They‘ve added a lot more than initially promised (14 languages, full animated cutscenes despite the stretch goal not being reached etc) and the game looks absolutely gorgeous. Can‘t wait to get my hands on it.

—

And have any of you guys played Smile For Me yet? The game has great reviews and seems to be pretty much on the weird side (gibberish "bawl and bellow" voice acting, reacting to dialogues with nodding/shaking your head by by either moving the mouse sideways or up and down) but that difference to more traditional adventure games is also what makes it look interesting. I’d still prefer spoken dialogue and not sure if the puzzles are complex enough - But if anybody has tried it yet would love to hear some impressions. For everybody else, check out their launch trailer:

 

[frogmeetsdog]

Oh and also Drawn Down (mentioned in the OP of the 2018 adventure thread) has been released for PC.

Have been in contact with the dev a bit on Toucharcade (mobile games site, mainly iOS) and he‘s a very sympathic guy. The game isn‘t all too long (I think I needed about 2 1/2 - 3 hours for my playthrough) but the puzzles are neatly balanced and for just $ 2.99 you can‘t really go too wrong. Played it on iOS and Studio Hazy has done a great job, especially considering that this was a one man project and its first foray into the adventure genre. Definitely recommending it, small price, smooth game and the dev certainly deserves every sale he can get:

 

[frogmeetsdog]

Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka with Love supports 21:9!

This looks so cool. I mainly know Artifex Mundi from ever the same mobile Hidden Object adventure games and the screenshot here alone looks so much different than their usual work. Would’ve preferred to buy it for mobile but looking at the artwork and the good reviews the game got I gotta check it out for PC soon. Thanks for mentioning.

—

Finished playing through Guard Duty and overall I think it's a cool game. The ending credits really confirmed how stretched thin that one VA was lol.
(...)
My biggest gripe with the game is that too much of the plot is conveyed in exposition. (...)

After Gibbous, Guard Duty had been the game I was looking forward to the most. But wasn‘t too thrilled by the reviews I read. Puzzles apparently very easy, story making the impression that it had to be rushed by the end and is missing a few pieces ... You‘d still recommend it though? On a scale from 1 to 10, how much would you (and Fuz ?) rate it?

 

[Fuz]

After Gibbous, Guard Duty had been the game I was looking forward to the most. But wasn‘t too thrilled by the reviews I read. Puzzles apparently very easy, story making the impression that it had to be rushed by the end and is missing a few pieces ... You‘d still recommend it though? On a scale from 1 to 10, how much would you (and Fuz ?) rate it?

I might not be the best person to ask for a rating on it because
1. it reminds me a lot of Discworld and Simon (bonus nostalgia points)
2. I really like the overall style
3. I have a soft spot for those love-driven, small project, adventure games
so I don't think I'm very objective, but for me it's a solid 7.5

 

[Vampire On Titus]

This looks so cool. I mainly know Artifex Mundi from ever the same mobile Hidden Object adventure games and the screenshot here alone looks so much different than their usual work. Would’ve preferred to buy it for mobile but looking at the artwork and the good reviews the game got I gotta check it out for PC soon. Thanks for mentioning.

—


After Gibbous, Guard Duty had been the game I was looking forward to the most. But wasn‘t too thrilled by the reviews I read. Puzzles apparently very easy, story making the impression that it had to be rushed by the end and is missing a few pieces ... You‘d still recommend it though? On a scale from 1 to 10, how much would you (and Fuz ?) rate it?

Irony Curtain was my favorite adventure of the year, so far. So I'd recommend that over Guard Duty. Having said that I do think Guard Duty is still worth playing. The puzzles in the first half of the game aren't mind melting or anything but they're not dumbed down either. The second Sci-Fi half does streamline things but there's still a degree of thought involved. Guard Duty is a good game that could have been great with more resources, but a good game nonetheless.

I'd give it a 6.5 to 7/10. On a full 10 pt scale where 5 is average and 6 is good. Not the typical game review scale where anything under a 7 isn't worth a glance.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Hey guys! Thanks for your all your support and interest.
We have a new trailer, and a release date: August 7th.

Cthulhu Rises!

 

[Fuz]

Finally!

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Hey guys! Thanks for your all your support and interest.
We have a new trailer, and a release date: August 7th.

Cthulhu Rises!

Very, very nice! Great trailer. Looking forward to that date. I'll update the OP (and begin working on an OT for the game as well, Gibbous certainly deserves one)

Gibbous in August and Blacksad the following month in September. Cant wait to play these games.

 

[ULTROS!]

I just finished Zeus Quest on PS4 (on sale for $2.49). It’s probably the cheapest looking game I’ve played on the PS4 and the puzzles are a bit obtuse, not to mention the game is buggy. Easy plat tho. I wouldn’t really recommend this to PnC enthusiasts.

Also hopefully I can get Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dream Don’t Dry soon. I hear it plays a lot like the older LSL games. Any feedback on this?

 

[Fuz]

Also hopefully I can get Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dream Don’t Dry soon. I hear it plays a lot like the older LSL games. Any feedback on this?

Excuse my french, but it's a piece of shit.

Le piece de la poo, as they say.

 

[bravoguy]

Looking for some new info about The Mystery of Oak Island.

Also expected release date.

 

[frogmeetsdog]

Also hopefully I can get Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dream Don’t Dry soon. I hear it plays a lot like the older LSL games. Any feedback on this?

It‘s certainly no piece of shit like Fuz said. Some hardcore fans of Al Lowe seem to reject the game right away because Larry is a little bit taller than before or they don‘t like the new visual style.

For me it took most of the annoying things out of the older Larry titles - like dead ends or perma deaths - while still keeping an engaging story and challenging puzzles. Plus it‘s a pretty long game, especially for a PnC - Definitely give it a try.

 

[Fuz]

It‘s certainly no piece of shit like Fuz said. Some hardcore fans of Al Lowe seem to reject the game right away because Larry is a little bit taller than before or they don‘t like the new visual style.

It's not just that. The tone is completely wrong.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Playing through Sam & Max: Beyond time and space. I think that the Sam & Max series is the closest that comedy adventures have gotten to a laugh line on every read. Seriously, almost every bit of observational dialogue gets at least a chuckle from me and theres more than a few belly laughs.

The writing is only barely just shy of HtR imo. Especially in the better moments of S2. I know a lot of adventure game fans have mixed feelings about Telltale for many reasons but can we all come together and agree that those Sam & Max games pretty much ruled?

Probably not. But I'll always love em no matter what.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Stylish and atmospheric indie adventure Roki quietly announced for 2019 on the publisher, United Label's, website. A little while back, around E3 time, Polygon Treehouse (Roki's developer) put out a teaser trailer showing off several of the game's wintery vistas.

This is a game I've been keeping tabs on for a little while now. Polygon Treehouse was showing of a brief demo at E3 so we've finally started to get a few impressions. They're mostly positive as previews tend to be but the game has also made it to a few "indie spotlight" type lists as well so it seems Roki has managed to stand out, somewhat. Here are two of the better previews I've come across:

Adventure Gamers 2019 E3 Roundup:

For a change of pace, I sat down with Tom and Alex from UK-based developer Polygon Treehouse to take a look at their lovely fairy tale-esque homage to point-and-click adventures. Röki is a game intended to work for seasoned genre veterans as well as younger players, so really it is aimed at the whole family. It’s heavily inspired by Scandinavian folklore, which is immediately evident in its namesake antagonist, the large furry behemoth Röki. I didn’t get to see any of the lumbering giant, unfortunately, as my gameplay demo focused more on the everyday heroine, Tove.

The older sister of Lars is described as a bookworm and reluctant adventurer. The children’s family has gone through some hard times, and Tove has taken it upon herself to watch out for her younger brother. It’s all the more shocking then when Lars is taken by Röki, for reasons unknown. Tove now sets out on a fantastical quest to track down the giant monster and return her sibling home.

Armed with this knowledge, I set out on my quest through a quiet stretch of woods. Players handle Tove’s movement directly with the controller, while an on-screen cursor can be moved to drag objects from the inventory pane to interact with others in the environment. Puzzles in the game come in several varieties, some inventory-based but also others that require careful exploration and manipulation of your surroundings.

Picking up my first couple of objects, I came across two possible roadblocks to overcome. A locked gate barred the way to a large church beyond, while elsewhere a bridge troll begged my assistance with a pesky dagger stuck in his back that was bothering him. I was starting to draw parallels to other games: the bridge troll, the fairy tale forest – the classic King’s Quest vibes became hard to ignore.

Then a third interesting location, a house buried up to its eaves in snow, beckoned me to explore it via a hole in its exposed roof to collect another useful item. I now had enough objects to make some headway in solving a puzzle or two, and a click of the left control stick to highlight all hotspots on the screen confirmed that I hadn’t missed any of them. Although the puzzles I saw had some fairly straightforward solutions rather than requiring multiple convoluted steps, they weren’t easy to the point of being immediately evident, and fooling around with objects in various ways was a joy in and of itself.

The team expressed their pleasure at letting players figure out what works and what doesn’t, and the serene hand-drawn forest setting combined with a relaxing, atmospheric ambiance honestly put me in no rush whatsoever to get there. In fact, for those who want to delve a bit deeper and spend a bit longer within the game’s world, collectible items are scattered throughout and Wilderness Scout Badges can be earned by performing certain non-vital tasks, while an in-game journal fills with some colorful lore as you discover new things.

While all of that sounded like music to my ears (in addition to the game’s literal music soothing my senses), when both the bridge troll and the church gate had been bypassed, the way forward opened, my time with Röki was coming to an end. The full estimated eight-hour experience still isn’t quite ready, and the team isn’t yet prepared to announce final release dates and platform availability, but if my short time with this bit of Scandinavian folk tale is anything to go by, this is one to keep an eye out for.

Roki might look sweet, but it's a point and click adventure that proves folktales aren't as whimsy as they may seem (GamesRadar+ E3 Preview).

I'm watching a girl walk through the snow from behind some trees, and I don't feel good about it. Yeah, the camera is probably placed far enough away from this girl – named Tove – just to give the impression of depth, with silhouettes of trees or carved wooden figures flanking either side of the screen. But I can't help but feel I'm looking through the eyes of some woodland creature, one that's not entirely familiar. But this is what Röki is all about. The point-and-click adventure game from Polygon Treehouse has ex-Guerrilla developers behind it, telling the tale of Tove and the search for her younger brother after he's kidnapped by a mysterious monster named Röki (the one with the big, toothy, definitely-creepy grin in the picture above). And let me tell you, after playing it at E3 2019 it may look sweet, but there's something hiding just below the surface that's giving me chills.

The creepy is in the details
In Röki, Tove explores woods, underground caverns, and mountain tops that have a mythical quality about them: there might be a troll underneath a bridge, a giant white wolf sleeping on top of a mountain's peak, or strange torches illuminating an underground pathway. Playing it gave me some strong Pan's Labyrinth vibes, as these monsters Tove meets aren't typical. Like Ofelia's tale, each creature has its own foibles and are about as varied as humankind, so even though Röki is almost definitely evil, the troll I stumble across is chill but clearly bothered by the sword (or 'thorn' as he called it) stuck in his shoulder. The rules aren't clear as to who's good and who's evil in Röki. Everything I encounter is met with a suspicious look, and because I'm not sure whether it's on my side or not I felt perpetually on edge.

Playing Röki is pleasantly simple. I had to help get the sword out of my troll buddy's shoulder, so it was time to explore Tove's surroundings. Tapping a button helpfully illuminates all the objects you can interact with, so you can always tell which objects can be used or investigated, meaning that you don't have to waste time trying to click on everything within arm's reach. As someone who's not particularly gifted when it comes to point-and-click games (I'm way too impatient) that feature is a gift. There's also the usual business of combining items in your inventory, so point-and-click veterans will feel comfortably familiar in its Scandinavian world, but really the stuff that's not useful matters most. Tiny bits of story emerge with every object you click on, meaning that you're not stuck trying to get exposition from wordy NPCs; instead the world hints at what happened before Tove arriving. Take the time, and you'll find that Röki has more depth to it than you'd assume from a first glance.

The troll hiding underneath the bridge might have been friendly, but other small details are unnerving enough to make me feel like I'm being watched. A stone marker lists all the children that have gone missing from this part of the world, only it's found in a small shed right next to a snowed-in church, as if the people who built it wanted to hide this reminder of the past away. Mushrooms disappear into the ground whenever I get close, and strange metal symbols sway in the breeze. Although the gameplay was pretty simple, Röki already looks like one of those comfy Sunday afternoon games you can play to while away the time… and might even make you keep an extra-tight hold on your baby brother.

I really dig the style of Roki, the design of the monsters in particular. Some of which the devs have been showing off in behind the scenes snippets on Twitter. The plot seems cool enough, although they haven't shown off too much of that. Character-wise Trove already has a lot of personality from her design and expressions. Polygon Treehouse seems to be letting the aesthetics do a lot of the talking and I'm on board so far.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Playing through more of Sam & Max: Beyond Space and Time. I'm up to the actual time travel episode and it's hilarious to think about how this episode would go over today. Bosco's mom is a militant feminist parody and Max even makes a joke about beating up annoying college students. I kept laughing while simultaneously thinking to myself how much flack this would get from certain outlets in 2019.

 

[Fuz]

Roki looks really nice, very cool art style, but

Röki is a game intended to work for seasoned genre veterans as well as younger players, so really it is aimed at the whole family.

Eeeehhh... probably not for me.

Playing through more of Sam & Max: Beyond Space and Time. I'm up to the actual time travel episode and it's hilarious to think about how this episode would go over today. Bosco's mom is a militant feminist parody and Max even makes a joke about beating up annoying college students. I kept laughing while simultaneously thinking to myself how much flack this would get from certain outlets in 2019.

This wave of excessive PC culture destroyed artistical expression worse than censorship could have ever done.

 

[hariseldon]

Playing through Sam & Max: Beyond time and space. I think that the Sam & Max series is the closest that comedy adventures have gotten to a laugh line on every read. Seriously, almost every bit of observational dialogue gets at least a chuckle from me and theres more than a few belly laughs.

The writing is only barely just shy of HtR imo. Especially in the better moments of S2. I know a lot of adventure game fans have mixed feelings about Telltale for many reasons but can we all come together and agree that those Sam & Max games pretty much ruled?

Probably not. But I'll always love em no matter what.

I enjoyed the first couple of seasons but the final one for some reason didn't work for me. It probably didn't help at the time it chugged like a bastard on my machine where previous versions had performed ok.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

So Microids has recently given out a 2 hour preview/demo of Blacksad: Under The Skin to select outlets and youtubbers. So far all the footage available is on Spanish YT channels but we do finally have some gameplay footage & updated impressions of the game.

Blacksad: Under The Skin Is All About Corruption, A New Theme For The Mystery Series - Gamespot Preview

In Under the Skin, you shape Blacksad's decisions as he unravels a new mystery: a missing persons case. Sonia Dunn hires Blacksad to find boxing star Robert Yale, who disappeared several days before the most important fight of his career. Yale disappeared the same day that Joe Dunn, who's Sonia's father and Yale's trainer, was found hanging from the rafters of his gym in what appears to be an obvious suicide. Joe's death leaves the gym to his daughter, along with the heavy amount of debt it had accrued. To get the necessary publicity to keep the gym from closing, Sonia needs to find Yale and get him to fight.

As Blacksad, you're free to explore a series of connected hub areas in New York in order to interview witnesses and suspects. If the preview demo is any indication, the game does not hold your hand for most of the story, forcing you to piece together where to go next and who to talk to without any sort of waypoint, only relenting by giving you a nudge with a notification that you've gathered enough clues to make a deduction. It's at this point that you can arrange collected evidence in a way that you believe makes sense. Some of what you learn is useless though, so you'll have to figure out what clues connect to what. And although certain deductions are necessary for advancing the plot, some seem to be optional.

You don't necessarily need to tell the black boxer at Sonia's gym which of his fellow gym mates wrote the very explicit racist slurs all over the locker room, for example. That small side story isn't a part of the overarching mystery and choosing to ignore it doesn't prevent you from moving on in the main narrative. That said, choosing to reveal the racist's identity most likely alters the overall fate of the boxer, who angrily says he's going to kill the scumbag next time they meet. The demo ended before we could discover whether he does follow through on that murderous intent, though, so there's currently no way to know for sure. Revealing the racist's identity might be one of those good intentions that backfire in the worst way, a common occurrence in the Blacksad comic.

This theme of corruption begins to bleed through the game's story in its very first scene. The preview demo covers the first two hours or so of Under the Skin's story, and the game opens with a confrontation with an angry rhinoceros whose wife believes he's cheating on her. Through Blacksad's internal monologue, we discover he already knows the rhino has been unfaithful and that there's photographic proof. After the husband finishes pleading his side though, the game presents you with your first moral choice: tell the wife the truth, take a bribe and lie to the wife, or refuse the bribe but still lie to the wife. Your decision doesn't have immediate consequences, though the effects of your choice begin revealing themselves about an hour later and continue to snowball.

"Depending on your choices, [Blacksad] can be a tough guy or a sensitive guy," Saad said. "At the very beginning of the game, a rhino tries to give you some money. You can take it or not. You have moral choices." Choosing to refuse the money, but also lie to the wife causes her to be grateful that her marriage, and thus her family, is secure, and when you run into her husband again later in the story, he thanks you for covering for him. However, Blacksad's friend and sidekick who took the pictures, Weekly, will be miffed on losing out on some bribe money (if you decide to tell him about it, that is, as you can also hide the truth) and Blacksad himself will continue to wrestle with both the morality of what he's done and his dwindling finances. Given how important the rhino, Weekly, and Blacksad's financial situation appear to be to the overall plot, the consequences of that initial decision will seemingly continue to pop up as the narrative continues. And that's just the first choice. The demo proves it is not the last.

No OTS camera, which is good news for Fuz . Mechanically speaking it seems like it has a lot in common with Frogwares later Sherlock adventure games. Crimes and Punishments & Devils Daughter. Gathering information and making deductions to progress and the detective observations are all present. Although in Blacksad you have several different feline senses to use. Another notable mention is the 6+ endings/ending permutations. That bodes well for choices actually mattering but we'll have to see how big a difference it really makes.

Microids & Pendulo have also put out part one of this behind the scenes series on the making of the game:

Roki looks really nice, very cool art style, but


Eeeehhh... probably not for me.

Lmao, it's just that easy folks...
IMO it looks like they're going for a Studio Ghibli-esque all ages quality. No knowing if they'll pull it off or not but if they do I'm down.

I enjoyed the first couple of seasons but the final one for some reason didn't work for me. It probably didn't help at the time it chugged like a bastard on my machine where previous versions had performed ok.

Well, I haven't gotten to the third season yet so I'll be finding out fairly soon. One episode to go in S2.

 

[bravoguy]

Anyone please help me assessing brand new sealed copy of Dracula's Secret big box version.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Playing through Sam & Max: Beyond time and space. I think that the Sam & Max series is the closest that comedy adventures have gotten to a laugh line on every read. Seriously, almost every bit of observational dialogue gets at least a chuckle from me and theres more than a few belly laughs.

The writing is only barely just shy of HtR imo. Especially in the better moments of S2. I know a lot of adventure game fans have mixed feelings about Telltale for many reasons but can we all come together and agree that those Sam & Max games pretty much ruled?

Probably not. But I'll always love em no matter what.

YES.

My wife and I enjoy playing point-n-click games together, but she only enjoys clever dialogue / writing (silent puzzle worlds like Myst / Obduction etc won't work with her, even though I enjoy them). And Sam & Max is our absolute favorite franchise out of all PnC history, including the Telltale entries. As you said, the writing is so good that every line is somehow entertaining, so that you are always engaged and amused by the lead characters.

And yeah, the 3rd season (Time / Space) was the standout by far. Some of the chapters had brilliant uses of plot devices, like the one where you trade cinema reels to solve a story in different times, or the various uses of Max's powers, etc. Truly a joy to play, with creativity everywhere.

(The main problem my wife & I face now is that we've been spoiled by those games, and nothing else works. Every time we try a new-indie-era PnC, it falls terribly flat. Tim Schafer's writing in Broken Age was worth it, even if the puzzles / environments could have been better--but the genre is just filled now with bad dialogue that is a no-go regardless of any other game qualities).

 

[frogmeetsdog]

Anyone please help me assessing brand new sealed copy of Dracula's Secret big box version.

If you mean assessing price wise, it's probably no fortune because the game isn't all too well known. I tried to sell a rather unknown RPG in it's original box once. Couldn't even find any buyer for a few bucks though. On the other hand, even though Dracula's Secret is no popular title, most PnCs have an ardent fan base and there are always people on the search for their favorite childhood/teenage game. Also there probably aren't many unopened original boxes of your game left.

Toonstruck in the original box (used) is about 50 - 80$ on eBay right now. For an original, unopened version of it you could probably get double to triple that price range or even more. Toonstruck is considered an overlooked classic by a lot of people today though.

I found one Dracula's Secret CD on eBay for 35 bucks. This is an asking price of course and it's uncertain if anybody will pay it but considering that yours is unopened and in its original box I'd at least triple that price - At least. You can always lower the price if nobody is interested after all.

P. S.: Considering Dracula's Secret isn't even available for sale on Steam or any other gaming platform this might further help finding a potential buyer (if you're even interested in selling it).

 

[Vampire On Titus]

YES.

My wife and I enjoy playing point-n-click games together, but she only enjoys clever dialogue / writing (silent puzzle worlds like Myst / Obduction etc won't work with her, even though I enjoy them). And Sam & Max is our absolute favorite franchise out of all PnC history, including the Telltale entries. As you said, the writing is so good that every line is somehow entertaining, so that you are always engaged and amused by the lead characters.

And yeah, the 3rd season (Time / Space) was the standout by far. Some of the chapters had brilliant uses of plot devices, like the one where you trade cinema reels to solve a story in different times, or the various uses of Max's powers, etc. Truly a joy to play, with creativity everywhere.

(The main problem my wife & I face now is that we've been spoiled by those games, and nothing else works. Every time we try a new-indie-era PnC, it falls terribly flat. Tim Schafer's writing in Broken Age was worth it, even if the puzzles / environments could have been better--but the genre is just filled now with bad dialogue that is a no-go regardless of any other game qualities).

It's cool that you and your wife enjoy adventure games together. I tried to play some together with a girlfriend in the past and she hated it lol. That experiment lasted about 10 minutes.

I'm trying to think of some recent comedy adventures with high quality writing. A lot of the notable indie titles are more on the serious side of things. The more mid-tier to mainstream stuff is pretty much 100% that. With the exception of King's Quest (2015) and Tales From The Borderlands (kind of). I'd certainly struggle to think of a comedy game with that particular style of sardonic, witty quipping & pop culture satire.

There are a few games that might be worth a once over, though. The Book of Unwritten Tales 1 & 2 (comedy/fantasy & RPG satire), Paradigm (adult swim-ish, unorthodox comedy), Thimbleweed Park (sort of a dramedy but it's definitely got that oldschool LucasArts humor). I'd say all of these games have good writing for their respective comedy styles. I dont think the hit to miss ratio is as good as Sam & Max but definitely still good.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

It's cool that you and your wife enjoy adventure games together. I tried to play some together with a girlfriend in the past and she hated it lol. That experiment lasted about 10 minutes.

It was a pleasant surprise years ago in our marriage, to be sure--because she's not even remotely a "gamer" of any identifiable stripe, and mostly a tech-phobe in general, but as an accident of history her computer had The Neverhood installed on it growing up, and she became obsessed with it (and beat it) despite never even having heard of the genre or of LucasArts and others, nor ever playing another game like it. So, way out in adulthood, reintroducing her to that genre was like lighting an old forgotten spark.

There are a few games that might be worth a once over, though. The Book of Unwritten Tales 1 & 2 (comedy/fantasy & RPG satire), Paradigm (adult swim-ish, unorthodox comedy), Thimbleweed Park (sort of a dramedy but it's definitely got that oldschool LucasArts humor). I'd say all of these games have good writing for their respective comedy styles. I dont think the hit to miss ratio is as good as Sam & Max but definitely still good.

We did try Thimbleweed Park, and lost interest about an hour or two in; we might try it again one day.

Other adventure games that we did enjoy, outside of Sam & Max:

- Sherlock (Frogware) recent entries; which are flawed but investigation a is fun semi-adventure genre;

- Everything by Amanita Design, easily our favorite company; these are the exception since there is no dialogue, but the sheer visual and auditory inventiveness and expressiveness is more than enough; it's too bad that their last game (Chuchel) felt like a tiny side project rather than a real followup;

- Some other art-oriented games like Lumino City, which stand out for their beauty and don't contain dialogue but still aren't empty and cold the way Myst games seem to her; Or art games with a cinematic feel occasionally, like What Remains of Edith Finch, or The Last Day in June (another sentimental favorite);

- Some of Tim Schafer's work: Day of the Tentacle; Grim Fandango (a favorite for both of us); Broken Age, to a lesser extent;

- She actually loved watching me play through LA Noire, again for the investigation and characters

But lately we've come up blank finding anything that has good enough art or dialogue to feel truly worth investing in.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Alright, so Microids recently announced that Blacksad: Under The Skin will be pushed back from September 26th to November 5th. Slightly bummed since I was really excited to play it but this is ultimately a good thing. Some of the previews have been mentioning performances issues and some playability concerns (blacksad getting caught on scenery, walking speed, etc) and now with 4 months and change they've got a decent amount of time to polish this thing up and make it great. A little extra love for the lip sync and the animations could do wonders too.

Detective Thriller Blacksad: Under The Skin Delayed To November - Push Square

Also some more previews, including this (mostly) favorable IGN first reactions video:


Pros:
+Immersive Story
+Period appropriate social issues
+Investigation Mechanics
+Deductions are satisfying
+Moral choices w/ shades of gray
+Strong & appropriately gritty visuals
+Enjoyed Blacksad's VA overall

Cons:
-Some flat VA, Blacksad included
-QTEs can be hard to decipher
-Slow walking speed
-Blacksad gets stuck on corners and edges
-Frame rate and performance issues

Summary:
"Despite the technical hiccups, I found myself wanting more of the game after two hours of playing it, and I'm really excited to see what Pendulo Studios does with the full release of Blacksad."

Also this more somewhat more critical preview from PCGamer:
Blacksad is an offbeat adventure game where you play as a cat solving mysteries.

This game is impressively faithful to the tone of those books, and it'll probably remind most people of Telltale's The Wolf Among Us, given that you're solving a mystery while interacting with talking animals. But while Blacksad: Under the Skin uses a similar cinematic presentation to recent Telltale games, it also contains the kind of puzzles you'd expect from a traditional point-and-click adventure, for better or worse. You play as John Blacksad (yes, the cat is called John) in this strange animal-dominated version of '50s New York, and you're trying to solve the mystery of why a boxing ring owner has (seemingly) killed himself, and why in a related matter, a boxer has gone missing right before a fight.

Better.

The demo I played started in John's office as a rhino entered spoiling for a scrap. John got hold of photos of the rhino cheating on his wife (what a sentence this is turning out to be), and he's not happy about it. The ensuing brawl plays out in the form of a QTE, which is fairly rote, but the action is fun: headbutting a rhino in close quarters combat when you're a cat probably isn't a good idea. I really should've punched him instead.

A few different bars measure how you've shaped Blacksad with your choices. I don't get much of a sense of how much they affect the overall story, but one bar tells you how profitable the case in question will be, and another tells you how 'hardboiled' you are or aren't as a detective, which I assume tracks how empathetic you are towards the characters you encounter. When it comes to profitability of the case, the game throws up instances where you can choose how to approach the subject of money: you can be upfront about the price of John's services, or take a softer angle.

Outside of the choices in conversations, the game feels more like a traditional adventure game, as you explore small-ish environments looking for clues to advance the story. You can then piece these clues together in a menu screen that represents Blacksad's detective brain at work (see above). I didn't do a whole lot of that, though, because despite finding plenty of interesting things around the environments in this demo, none of them quite added up to a solution that pushed the game forward. Instead, there was a lot of retreading the same places looking for clues I might've missed.

The pace seems fairly languid. I actually wouldn't mind Blacksad being a bit firmer in telegraphing what you're supposed to do next, since I'm more interested in the dialogue choice and story side of the game, rather than listlessly picking through environments. Blacksad can also uncover clues in the middle of conversations, hovering the cursor details on characters to figure out more about them, like who they work for.

Biased ranting: I low-key really hate this preview. It actually offers some new information regarding the status bars that track elements of the case. But the writer is actively campaigning for the puzzle solving to be dumbed down, which I can't stand. One of the most annoying possible things I could think to put in this game is Blacksad telegraphing every deduction. Blocking me from the satisfaction of solving the problem myself. But this writer just wants to get all the thinking over with so he can coast to the next cut-scene, ugh.

I just hope Pendulo sticks to their guns and doesn't take advice like this to heart.

The developers have just delayed the game to November from its original September date, and I think that was a wise move. Blacksad: Under the Skin could use a bit of polish. As well as clues being a bit easier to find, I wouldn't mind some clearer QTE prompts for certain actions, and better lip-syncing in cutscenes. The offbeat charm of the graphic novels feels like it's carried over, though, and there's a lot to enjoy about the characters and story. I just hope the more traditional point-and-click elements add up to an exciting detective game—this demo didn't convince me of that.

More biased ranting: I probably wouldn't hate this so much if he came at it from the angle of describing a flaw with the deductions and suggesting a viable solution to make them stronger. But it seems his gripe is that the puzzle mechanics exist at all. He just wants Blacksad to give him the solution so it can be over with. But for me that's one of the big draws of a mystery game, especially. I want to feel like I'm (at least) part of solving the mystery. It makes me more invested in the next cut-scene/story beat/moral choice if I'm hardcore paying attention for clues or hidden motives and trying to piece things together. Suggesting they dumb that down is just so... dumb.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

But lately we've come up blank finding anything that has good enough art or dialogue to feel truly worth investing in.

Well, outside of attempting to match the comedic quality of Sam & Max this becomes much easier. Play Technobabylon. Barring some hard-line aversion to science fiction, Technobabylon is a safe bet for an immersive story with fantastic character writing. Awesome puzzles too, basically awesome everything. I personally consider it the strongest offering the indie adventure scene has produced. With some other Wadjet Eye titles nipping at its heels.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Just finished whipping up the Gibbous OT. Can't wait to play this game in the next few days.

 

[frogmeetsdog]

Just finished whipping up the Gibbous OT. Can't wait to play this game in the next few days.

Same here. Quite a few reviews are already in. Scores from 6 to 9.2. Consensus seems to be:
- Amazing visuals (no surprise there)
- Very funny
- Voice acting a bit shaky sometimes
- Puzzles pretty easy with one or two exceptions

Will judge for myself of course but was hoping for a bit meatier puzzles with this title. Still, people who didn‘t mind or even preferred easier puzzle difficulty rated Gibbous very high, the others at least above average. Hope it‘ll release soon.

 

[hariseldon]

Alright, so Microids recently announced that Blacksad: Under The Skin will be pushed back from September 26th to November 5th. Slightly bummed since I was really excited to play it but this is ultimately a good thing. Some of the previews have been mentioning performances issues and some playability concerns (blacksad getting caught on scenery, walking speed, etc) and now with 4 months and change they've got a decent amount of time to polish this thing up and make it great. A little extra love for the lip sync and the animations could do wonders too.

Detective Thriller Blacksad: Under The Skin Delayed To November - Push Square

Also some more previews, including this (mostly) favorable IGN first reactions video:


Pros:
+Immersive Story
+Period appropriate social issues
+Investigation Mechanics
+Deductions are satisfying
+Moral choices w/ shades of gray
+Strong & appropriately gritty visuals
+Enjoyed Blacksad's VA overall

Cons:
-Some flat VA, Blacksad included
-QTEs can be hard to decipher
-Slow walking speed
-Blacksad gets stuck on corners and edges
-Frame rate and performance issues

Summary:
"Despite the technical hiccups, I found myself wanting more of the game after two hours of playing it, and I'm really excited to see what Pendulo Studios does with the full release of Blacksad."

Also this more somewhat more critical preview from PCGamer:
Blacksad is an offbeat adventure game where you play as a cat solving mysteries.


Better.







Biased ranting: I low-key really hate this preview. It actually offers some new information regarding the status bars that track elements of the case. But the writer is actively campaigning for the puzzle solving to be dumbed down, which I can't stand. One of the most annoying possible things I could think to put in this game is Blacksad telegraphing every deduction. Blocking me from the satisfaction of solving the problem myself. But this writer just wants to get all the thinking over with so he can coast to the next cut-scene, ugh.

I just hope Pendulo sticks to their guns and doesn't take advice like this to heart.



More biased ranting: I probably wouldn't hate this so much if he came at it from the angle of describing a flaw with the deductions and suggesting a viable solution to make them stronger. But it seems his gripe is that the puzzle mechanics exist at all. He just wants Blacksad to give him the solution so it can be over with. But for me that's one of the big draws of a mystery game, especially. I want to feel like I'm (at least) part of solving the mystery. It makes me more invested in the next cut-scene/story beat/moral choice if I'm hardcore paying attention for clues or hidden motives and trying to piece things together. Suggesting they dumb that down is just so... dumb.

Ironically their complaints have sold the game to me.