Zombasite Preview

Zombasite, currently in beta from Soldak Entertainment, is the most fun you will have not knowing what it is you're doing. 

And before that sounds too much like faint praise, allow me to explain, it is a lot of fun. 

Zombasite is an isometric action RPG similar to Soldak's earlier game, Depths of Peril. In it, you control a clan in a small settlement. You and other clans are fighting for control of a world on the brink of total collapse, thanks to a twisted necrotic parasite known as the "Zombasite." While you attempt to keep control of your clan and stop the various members from killing each other whenever they get bored or angry enough, a bar at the bottom slowly rises, showing the growth and infection rate of the parasites.

And so, a desperate struggle emerges between you and the various forces. While clans will try to raid you and your enemies below and above ground will send gruesome monsters to attack you, you also have to protect your clan from zombies and research ways to slow down or stop the parasite. You will find yourself focusing on a billion different systems and subsystems in an attempt to keep your clan from collapsing. Even at the lower difficulty levels, I can tell you it is going to be an uphill battle to keep that from happening. I have put several hours into the game, and trying to do everything at once is going to leave you wandering the wasteland and wondering just how your illustrious clan wound up being two people in a fort with no doors. 

But that isn't to say the barrier of entry is all that high. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Zombasite provides its players with many more ways to win than to lose: simply killing all the opposing clans (military victory), having an alliance with the remaining clans left on the map (diplomacy), to completing all the quests on the map. The game also tracks your knowledge and lore about the parasite, making the zombies and infection more manageable as you discover more things about the world. Most enemies are fairly easy to kill early on provided you know what you're doing, while giving you a game experience with a very slow difficulty curve, to its benefit. 

The world is also dynamic and persistent. You can start a new game in an already-generated world, with all that would entail, and as you go along, the world will change. Sometimes people will kill your targets before you can get to them. Clans are constantly shifting in alliance and loyalty between each other, and will go out on raids. Your own clanmates have specific weapon and armor preferences, all of which impact how well they'll be able to fend off invasion and join you on raids. Clans may leave you alone, or they might rush full-on towards you, or spawn demon gates, or any number of things. When  you pop someone into a new instance of the world, they take up a new region, but use the same lore and other features of the older space.

But while the game is in good form currently, it still has a long way to go before it's out of early access. The systems are a little obtuse, and while the help system is helpful, it's also a row of icons along the bottom of the screen that are easy to miss and don't always contain the most useful of information. The sound design also sometimes borders on oppressive, especially in larger battles. When coupled with a skill system that's obtuse even at the best of times, this can make things incredibly frustrating as enemies skill upward. 

Overall, though, I'm looking forward to seeing what Zombasite gets with a full version. It's original, unique, and very complex in spite of its basic trappings, and with a few kinks worked out, should be a new classic. 

The Reviewer was given a copy of the game in exchange for this review. The game is still in early access and is subject to change.

SUPERHOT Review: Maximum Effort!

Okay, so let me lay it on the line right here: If you have recently seen an action movie and said, "I would like a game that lets me do that," then SUPERHOT is the game for you. If you have ever seen a gunfight and wondered why first-person shooters don't give you the same ability to be a badass, this is the game for you. And, well, if you have recently seen Deadpool and want to turn literally everything within range into an instrument of murder, chances are SUPERHOT is your kind of game, too. 

But allow me to explain.

SUPERHOT is a bizarre abstract shooter that showed up first as a prototype for the 7-day FPS challenge way back in 2014.  The central concept is that time only moves when you do, allowing you to plot a couple of moves in advance and actually think about how to maneuver through the scene. This, combined with its incredibly simple controls (left click shoot, right click throw things, WSAD moves, space jumps. And that is literally all you need to know. And even then, jumping can be optional) puts me in mind of a slightly less difficult Hotline Miami, another game that involved incredibly simple controls and a byzantine plot to combine for an orgy of mad violence. 

The word "byzantine" is pretty much exactly the word to describe the plot. Without giving too much away, you (as yourself) are sent a cracked .exe file for a game called SUPERHOT. The game you are currently playing. As you enter each new level and mow down red guy after red guy, messages on screen appear, telling you essentially "MORE MORE FASTER FASTER" and encouraging you to waste guys. But then, around the time you get the first message of "YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE," things get...weird. The game takes an abrupt shift into a genre I wouldn't dare give away, and then plumbs its bizarre depths from there. Exactly what is going on or how much the game is aware of the fourth wall is in doubt, but it's clear that the creators are trying to make it so the usual sense of detachment no longer applies. 

The game's commitment to immersion is really cool. The menu screen is set up like an older-model CRT with text, offering you a variety of apps and programs, including a chat program where characters discuss their experiences with SUPERHOT, an old-school arcade game or two, older applications like Sand Simulator and Water Simulator, and even Conway's Game of Life. It really helps drive home the atmosphere of the game, that you've somehow stumbled upon this odd virtual reality interface and been drawn into a cyberpunk world full of bizarre concepts that are mostly spoilers I can't give away. 

The plot actually gives the game an odd contrast, a game that makes it seem bad to do this cool thing, while at the same time reinforcing how cool doing this thing is. The game is addictive, especially when it plays back an entire kill streak and you see yourself rush through a kinetic action movie-style setpiece, leaving a trail of red polygons and glass-shattering noises in your wake. SUPERHOT also contains several "challenge" modes and an "endless" mode that will basically satisfy your craving for wasting a ton of trichromatic polygons from now until doomsday. 

In terms of the plot doing that, I'm actually reminded of Harvester, another game that involved a game supporting violence, while at the same time being a game that took an anti-violence stance. I'm not sure how much SUPERHOT played it tongue-in-cheek, since the plot deliberately plays against the nature of the game or frames the actions of the player as being enthralled and controlled by the game, but either way, it's just interesting enough for me to keep going. 

In the end, this is the most innovative shooter I've played in a few years, and I thoroughly recommend buying it. I also recommend watching Killstagram if you have any further doubts about playing the game. It's well worth it, and is by far the most satisfying burst of violence since Hotline Miami.

5/5

Full disclosure: The reviewer received a copy of the full game in exchange for this review. 

Windward Review

So disclosure time: I loved Sid Meier's Pirates. 

I bring this up because Windward is similar in a lot of respects to Pirates. Both are games where you and your crew sail around a large chain of islands and mainlands representing your chosen faction, attacking other ships, trading goods, fighting in wars, and gaining standing and reputation. 

Where Windward differs, is in that it's a procedurally-generated game, and unlike Pirates, you never leave the ship. You sail from port to port, taking missions and leveling up your ship and equipment as you go. Occasionally, you can also get hot tips about commodities from different ports and various other rumors. 

The experience of Windward is actually very meditative in a lot of places. There are a lot of moments where you don't have to go anywhere, just spend your time swanning around the immense map to a soundtrack of soothing flutes and occasionally getting into pirate battles. It actually reminds me a little of what a single-player game of Merchants and Marauders would be like. Which brings me to the multiplayer.

The multiplayer in Windward seems to be what the single player bulks everyone up for. The general structure is the same (go around doing missions, getting in fights with other factions, etc) but the game opens up a lot more when you're pitted against human opponents. It also gets a lot more into the base building/base defense part of the game, where you can build guard towers along the edges of settlements to better protect them. And the decision to strike colors and go pirate.

Yes, in Windward, you can strike your colors and go rogue, hunting down your former faction mates and plundering towns to your heart's content. You have a time limit before you're able to, of course, but it creates interesting new political moves, as you can plunder opposing factions' settlements to destroy their influence and then raise colors and claim them for your own faction. There's an interesting bit of strategy to controlling the regions that I really appreciated for the most part, as it made a game about moving a ship from place to place a lot bigger and more interesting. 

Granted, the multiplayer also includes the same jackasses in every multiplayer game, including those who spend their time posturing about how they can "change this whole region pirate", but it's a lot of fun to drift along for a while, constructing guard towers and occasionally butting heads with rival factions.

While it may not be the best game of its type, I fully recommend you give Windward a try. At the very least, it allows for a lot of very deep, but easy to learn, gameplay. At the most, you'll find yourself drawn in to a surprisingly relaxing game of pillaging. While it may not be as deep as others on the market (see also: Pirates), it's well worth looking at.

Final Score: 4/5

Full Disclosure: I received a Steam key to do this review.

0rbitalis Review

0rbitalis is the most obtuse game I've ever played, and I love it. 

Perhaps I should explain: 0rbitalis is an abstract gravity-puzzle game. The object is to keep your tiny red dot orbiting on screen as long as possible, arcing it around planets and stars (represented by larger and smaller abstract shapes) as it swirls and whirls around the screen. While you only have to do so for a very short set amount of time, there are online leaderboards that encourage players to keep their orbits going for as long as possible, with some frankly unbelievable times in places. 

But what really makes the game shine is that there are no tutorials, no hand-holding, just you and the simplistic interface you have to manipulate. Everything is learned by intuition. The later levels require you to send your orbit through a geometric shape multiple times, but since it doesn't state that, then you can only figure it out through repeated trial and error. It lets you explore on your own, with just you, the dots, the planets, and the stars. 

It's got an interesting sense of accomplishment to it, too. There's just something really satisfying about figuring out the correct arc for your projectile, then following through and watching it curve and loop around the screen. There's something equally relaxing about watching that small red dot arc around until finally it's orbit decays and it drops offscreen or crashes into something on the screen. It's even more satisfying when you cause the dot to loop around for what seems like forever, it's lazy orbit winding down into nothing as you wonder how much longer it can hold out. 

A doomed orbit

And then there's the sound design. The sound is mostly ambient tracks, with the most dramatic sounds in the range being the "ignition" sound when you start the orbit (and I love the way the music grows in intensity as your little projectile orbits around) and the sound when you either crash or complete the level. It's especially satisfying when played through headphones, which only enhance the small sounds used in the piece.  Also, the sound designer, Doseone, is actually a really good musical artist, so getting to listen to more of his work is awesome. 

I think 0rbitalis is a rarity in the modern indie gaming scene-- a game that actually functions as art and an enjoyable game experience. It's interesting to look at, and even if you aren't particularly adept at the mechanics, you can get drawn into it. There's a lot to discover, and that to me is what makes art art. Not that it conveys a message or can be interpreted in some greater way, but that it evokes a personal experience. Everyone is going to come at 0rbitalis from a different angle, and all of them are going to find their own way through the game. Art connects with people on a personal level. It's what makes art what it is. 

So give 0rbitalis a shot. It's simple, elegant, and surprisingly deep. And you may find something new and interesting in the world it presents. 

Score: 5 out of 5

Thanks to the publisher for providing a code for review.

A Review of The Charnel House Trilogy

Well, whatever you do, don't play The Charnel House Trilogy. You don't need more incoherent weirdness in your life.

I want to like The Charnel House Trilogy, really, I do.

It's an atmosphere-heavy point-and-click adventure game by a small indie company. It's got a strange plot like nothing else I've really played, except maybe for Downfall. The art has a handmade feel to it that reminds me of older adventure games, so it has the nostalgia factor going for it. And let's be honest, as someone who enjoys Jacob's Ladder and horror games a little more than anyone would ever admit, there is really no reason that I shouldn't have had an amazing time with The Charnel House Trilogy.

But as much as I'd love to trumpet Charnel House to the heavens, I found that the game falls a little short of what it could possibly deliver. While there are some great ideas overall in The Charnel House Trilogy, there's too much here for me to suggest giving this anything but a miss. 

---

The Charnel House Trilogy is three linked adventure games in one: "Inhale", the first chapter, introduces the character of Alex, a young woman living in New York City who is about to take a train voyage to a place known as Augur Peak. Before her big trip, a series of mysterious events occurs in her apartment, including a blackout, a strange apparition, and sudden panic attacks. 

"Sepulchre", which can be downloaded for free from Owl Cave's website, picks up sort of where the first game left off, with Professor Harold Lang, Alex's fellow passenger on the late train to Augur Peak, as he wakes up after a nap to find the train completely empty save two members of the staff. From there, he is drawn into a surreal investigation that hinges on his past, and the massive black bags present on every room of the train but his. 

And "Exhale" concludes both the story of the train and Alex's story, revealing some (but not all) of the truth of what is actually going on. In this segment, Alex awakes on the train to discover that while it isn't deserted, there is something strangely familiar about all the denizens of the train and its compartments...

So first, this is a game that gets what a lot more horror games should get about horror: Horror trades on atmosphere. Entirely on atmosphere. Horror is the hardest-working genre out there because it has to unsettle you from the norm. It has to get into your head. It has to disturb you. And The Charnel House Trilogy gets that. The game starts out with an oddly subdued feeling that everything is slightly off. The feeling only grows as the story progresses, beginning with a few gently surreal quirks and then building to full-on disturbance by the final scenes. In terms of mood and setting, the story is fantastic. 

The setting is great, too. The three chapters take place in very confined spaces-- the first in Alex's apartment, and the second two on the train. Because there isn't a huge diversity of setting, the places in the game begin to feel familiar. Like you've been there for a while. When the plot really kicks into high gear, it affected me because these were places and people I remembered. It also made backtracking a little easier. But even with a lack of people, the train had a great sense of place. 

But there are some serious issues that have to be addressed.

The least of this game's worries is Alex's out-of-nowhere poetry about New York City

First, I strongly suggest that you go into the advanced settings menu for the game and disable the voice pack. I wouldn't disable the music, because in spite of the annoying radio (and the even more annoying DJ) during "Inhale", the music is actually pretty good. But the voice acting ranges from "Pretty decent for an indie game" to "a script read for the first time in the recording booth at knifepoint", with all but maybe three roles congregating near the bottom end of the spectrum. And the few roles where they got someone who did sound good aren't worth the ones where they didn't. It got so bad that the voice acting actually started to pull me from the narrative, rather than draw me in, and I made a neat metagame of guessing whether the characters weren't supposed to be reacting to the things going on around them, or whether the actors were just doing a bad job of conveying emotion. 

Second, speaking of things that break immersion, there were a a few in-jokes that, even knowing what they were talking about, felt forced and took me out of the experience. The big one is a scene near the beginning that talks about drama involving a game reviewer giving a game a low score. I'd be fine with this if it were something optional, something you could click through, something you could find as you go through the game.

GET IT? GET IT? IT'S TOPICAL! Now only if it had, um, ANY BEARING ON THE GAME

But making it something you have to see to progress through the game, forcing me to read your comment on modern game criticism and drama, isn't going to start me out on your side. I also thought the Phantasmagoria references in the later segments were a little forced. 

Finally, while repeated play-throughs did clear up some of the less coherent story elements, the plot winds up going...nowhere. The story picks up speed as it goes along, and there's no way I'd want everything tied up in a nice neat little bow, but the pacing is way off. Most of Alex's character arc is resolved by a single villain's monologue, a lot of the story threads are left dangling, and then the story ends on a cliffhanger that sets up the sequel...a year from now. I'd like to stress, I'm fine with the central mysteries being somewhat open to speculation or unsolved. But even the most feverish droppings from Suda51's brain-anus are going somewhere. They're saying something.

Hope you like a lot of rants and monologues basically saying this. 

They're doing something other than shrugging. There's obscuring, and there's having to play a game multiple times to figure out something where the plot points tend to obfuscate for no reason, come out of nowhere at times, and wind up ending on a big question mark and the words "to be continued". The second one shouldn't be done.

Another issue with this is that "Sepulchre", arguably the strongest chapter of the three by virtue of its self-containment, is kind of orphaned amidst Alex's story. It feels like a side-plot while "Inhale" and "Exhale" are going on, something that reveals more of the train's nature, but ultimately doesn't matter when taking the story holistically. Doctor Lang is barely introduced as a side-character to Alex's plot in "Inhale", and is only seen sleeping at the end of "Exhale", while "Sepulchre" focuses on him. I'd have liked to see him interact more in the plot during the "Exhale" chapter, which, while it might have diminished Alex's story a little, would have made the connections between the two characters seem a little stronger. 

In the end, it's a good game weighted down by its own self-indulgence, and I can't in good conscience give it a positive review when that's the case.  But, since it's not entirely a bad game, I have a solution. If you really feel like playing this, either download Sepulchre from the link above, or simply play the "Sepulchre" and "Exhale" chapters with the voices turned off. You miss nothing by skipping "Inhale", there's a chapter-select screen on the main menu, so there are ways to make it work.

But as a whole package, this is one train I'm glad left me at the station.

Score: 3 out of 5

Full Disclosure: The writer of this review received a review copy of this game.