Quick Review: Idling To Rule The Gods

Idle/clicker games are a complete waste of time and I am an idiot for getting hooked on them.

A game that wants to bother with something
else than meters would provide something
better than costant static screens.

Idling to Rule the Gods, a creation of Shugasu GmbH released on May 27th, 2016, is a clicker where you gain attack, physical, mystic and creation power, and use them to take down Gods until you’re the greatest who ever lived. Like all other idle games, you look at meters go up, you watch numbers rise to ridiculous heights, and then you start over with multipliers to see everything go even higher than before.

And don’t forget the free-to-play model that will speed things up as long as you spend some real money! Don’t worry, though, we’ll give you a free taste of that power every now and then to further encourage you to shill out…

I created how many monuments?? O.O

The problem with this idle game in particular (some would call it an advantage) is that there’s so much to keep track of; the game really keeps you busy. You make creations, and every complex creation requires smaller creations, all made from the two base elements of Stone and Light. And you go all the way up to a Universe, which requires 5 Galaxies, each of which requires 100 Planets, 1 Earthlike Planet and 10 Suns, and each Sun requires 10 Trillion Light... Then, you increase your physical and mystic stats by training them, and increase your Battle stat by defeating enemies that get all the way to a Monster Queen. Your Attack, which is used to kill Gods, is a calculation based off of your Physical, Mystic, Battle and Creation stats. A fifth stat, your Divinity, is more like a currency that can be used to buy creations quickly instead of having to make them.

It gets crazier: When you battle Gods, your stats improve and you unlock more things to do. Early on, you are introduced to the concept of Pets, which seems pointless until you realize how insane of a boost they can give, especially after you send them on missions. Or into dungeons, with a cheap RPG-like idea. Then you can use creations to build monuments that will further increase the multipliers to your stats. Eventually you can make a divinity generator, then a planet (which can be upgraded), use Light Clones to improve particular effects, or use your regular Shadow Clones to upgrade your might, which makes you last longer in fights against Gods and the Baals, the beyond-godly creatures that come afterwards. And then, once you have access to a planet of your own, you can go kill Ultimate Beasts as well... God damn, it just keeps going.

It even has mini-games about... yep, you
guessed it, meters going up.

And of course, every time you choose to Rebirth, you have a higher starting multiplier, but you also need to bring your stats back to where they were before you Rebirthed, and then boost them some more to actually improve. See what it is? Like all clickers, it’s a never-ending quest. Zero risk, nothing but rewards. No wonder it’s addictive.

Some ideas are cool, but since it’s a clicker, you get very little of interest in return. Don’t waste your money on this… actually, don’t waste your precious, limited time on this. No, not even as background when you’re doing other stuff. Load of good that did me.

….Fuck me.

Quick Review: Hylics

I keep saying I want to review more RPG Maker games… well, this may be the weirdest of them all. One word: Claymation.

This already looks different from all the RPG
Maker games I've ever played.

Hylics, made by Mason Lindroth and released on October 2nd, 2015, is a surreal acid trip of a game that describes itself as a “recreational program” first and a JRPG second. It’s notable for featuring very peculiar graphics for a game, let alone for one made on RPG Maker, as you will rather quickly notice that most items, sprites and landmasses were made through stop-motion, clay-built animation. Just in case this description wasn’t a weird enough idea on its own, just wait till you play through the game’s absurd story.

The gist of it is that you’re Wayne, some sort of horned creature (his head resembles a moon crescent laying on its round side) in leather gear. He is exploring his world after the awakening of Gibby, King of the Moon (sensing a theme yet?), and… that’s all I guess I can say. And don’t worry; death is a slap on the wrist, actually the “Afterlife” is where you can use items to boost your stats.

This is what the overworld looks like.

That's how you defeat enemies in this world?
Oh, snap!

….I…. I found a warm burrito in the frickin’ toilet! And it’s all downhill from there. Many times, there are strange sentences that come right out of a random text generator. You learn new skills from finding television sets around this world. The real challenge here is to try to make a minimal amount of sense of this world. 

The game is fairly short (the store page claims it can be finished in two hours), but it’s got more to do with the atmosphere and ambiance that its universe instills. It’s a bit of a struggle to figure out what to do at first; there are useful sentences scattered among the randomly-generated lines, but you often need to look for them. To compensate, traveling is actually rather simple. You can even use the Afterlife to travel around the checkpoints you’ve discovered.

Remember this, kids: You can learn things
from watching TV!

The art style also helps with the bizarre a lot, in part due to the unique Claymation style. That goes for the overworld, the character sprites (protagonist, wandering enemies and so on) and, during battles, the sprites of the enemies and the attack animations. I can barely imagine the amount of work that went into building every single item with clay, every stop-motion frame, and animating it all into a game.

There are details that I don’t recall seeing in an RPG before. As mentioned, the concept of the Afterlife, which ironically helps you get stronger after you’ve died, since you can use the processing machine there to transform the Meat (???) you obtain from killing enemies into extra HP for your character(s). Also, you never earn EXP from fights; only money (Bucks) and items, including the aforementioned Meat.

That thing is actually not a threat.
You'd think, though, with how creepy it is...

You do get party members after a bit.
No one should face this weirdness alone!

Unfortunately, while I do love that the game tries something fresh with its artstyle and its concept of randomly-generated text, one thing sort of bugs me. Putting aside the weirdness, the RPG elements themselves are fairly conventional. Get money from beating enemies, use the money to buy items and equipment, explore the world and see how the story goes. The fights against enemies, in particular, follow the patterns of a regular RPG with status effects and special moves. The names of stats and special effects may differ (Meat for HP, Mightiness for attack, gestures for special moves, etc.), but it’s pretty standard RPG fare otherwise… if only with a very weird coat of paint all over. But, as far as I can tell, I haven’t run into glitches or non-functional mechanics; everything works perfectly, which is what I want to see from an RPG Maker game.

You should try this one out, it’s… a peculiar experience to have. Hylics is available on Steam for 3.00$ US. Note that there is also a much larger sequel, released last year, which expands on that world; I don’t own it yet, but by the looks of it, it’s promising! Maybe even better than this one? Who knows… Well, those who played it know; I’ll probably get it eventually and see if it’s also good.

Quick Review: Gunpoint

I’ve made it clear last year that I wasn’t a master spy. Looks like I’ve improved… a smidge.

The main character is the guy who jumped, like,
two floors high. Up there, just above the ROOKE logo.

Gunpoint, a game by Suspicious Developments released on June 3rd, 2013, is about Richard Conway, a freelance spy who gets embroiled in a battle between two weapons manufacturers. He has recently acquired a special pair of paints that lets him jump very high, at high speeds as well – even allowing him to crash through windows if he wants. He is soon hired in regards to a murder that took place in the Rooke Firearms offices, for which he is a suspect as he wound up on the crime scene inadvertently while trying his new pants. (Yes, I had to write it that way.)

Who designs buildings with trapdoors anyway?

At the start, you’re shown the basics with levels that show how to use your tools: The jump pants, of course, but also the Crosslink, which is actually the main draw of this puzzle/stealth game. With the Crosslink, you can rewire things on a network in order to achieve special things – as an example, you can rewire a security camera so it’ll open a door when you pass into the camera’s range. Or make various light switches open doors, buzz electrical sockets, and so on. It’s easy early on, but later you need to play around with two or more different systems – several of which have routers you’ll first need to reach in the buildings you’re told to infiltrate.

Also, the number of things to take into account (the guards'
vision range, which network every item is connected
to, how to go up each floor, etc.) gets high fast.

You can, of course, use violence, although your means are limited at first. Dropping onto guards and punching them unconscious is the best option, but they wise up fast. Once you become good enough with the Crosslink, you can make them fall down floors, smack them with doors, or trick them into shooting at each other. It helps that, as the story progresses, Conway gets enough money to buy other gadgets, as well as a proper firearm.

At the end of a level, you get a grade based on how well you did: Your level of violence (lower is better); how many people saw you (includes people you knocked out); your level of noise (how likely you were to be spotted by sound); how long you took (the shortest known time gives the best score); and a bonus for any side-quests completed. How deep does the rabbit hole go in this story of murder and industrial espionage? If you’ve got enough brains to figure these puzzles out, you might see!

Everything on the screen is so small, I need to show
bigger pictures so you can see some of the things.

Don't mind me, I'm just chilling out on the first floor of
this building in which I'm not authorized to be.

I really like the concept for this one. You have to carefully plan your steps by taking everything into account; the guards’ line of sight, the different networks, etc. Whereas Master Spy, which I name-dropped earlier, was a lot more platforming-based and very cruel, Gunpoint is far more puzzle- and stealth-based. It’s also a lot more lenient, as it will autosave your progress on a level and allow you to start from one of three different autosaves from previous points if Conway gets killed. There’s variety in the missions, and a lot is up to the player’s experimentation. Some achievements for the game highlight that feature; as an example, you can create a loop using items on the same network that will eventually short them out. There’s even a bit of comedy to the cutscenes, which are text messages, where you can make Conway be as much of an asshole as you want.

Putting aside that the game may feel too short for its 10$ price tag, it’s a pretty fun experience if you like puzzles that try something new, and quite rewarding once you get the hang of it.

Quick Review: GRIS

That’s “grey” in French… and in Spanish, the origin of the studio that made this game.

No artistic game is complete without a dose of symbolism.

GRIS, developed by Nomada Studios, published by Devolver Digital and released on December 13th, 2018, is about a girl in her own “mental world” as she deals with personal trauma, and it manifesting around her in that world. Everything starts out grey and lifeless. Shattered buildings, broken places. As she explores, Gris will be forced to meet with elements of her life, elements of her traumatic experience, and learn to accept them. And as she explores, she will restore the colors of her world, one by one. Depression is always watching, however, and may strike when she least expects it, in any form that this grand mass of darkness may choose to manifest itself as…

This rock looks... eerily familiar.

Even early on, when it's all black and white
and grey, the setpieces are jaw-dropping.

The gameplay here is nothing we haven’t seen before: As a puzzle platformer, Gris explores the levels and finds her way around. WASD to move, Space to jump, with other features added as she regains her will and colors return to her world. She will eventually gain abilities: The first lets her turn into a solid block, which can be used to ground pound, and is heavy enough to prevent her from being blown away by strong winds. The second is a double jump which she can glide from. Later, she learns to go underwater. The last ability… is a spoiler.

But really, the best reason to play this game is for the visuals. This game has all the marks of a game that tries to be an artistic experience first, a game second. But I don’t mean this to call GRIS pretentious, as it isn’t. There is great thought put into every puzzle, every sector, and the whole marries itself to its beautiful imagery. There is as much attention put into the exploration than into the spectacle. And that spectacle is breathtaking.

The camera also zooms in and out depending on
what needs to be shown on the screen, like this
gigantic walking rock. (Gris is here, climbing
the first set of stairs within the rock.)

There’s little here that can be considered “new”; the puzzles and power-ups, while interesting, are things I recall seeing before. They also don’t tend to be very difficult; the game is, overall, on the easy side. Although, the large worlds Gris explores may be confusing at times and this may make exploration trickier than expected - but, again, everything works and the combination of good gameplay and gorgeous visuals remains constant throughout.

"This form is anything but flattering to my
figure, but it's either that or the wind blows
me away. Again."

The return of the color green to the world.

Speaking of, the visual style of the game even includes the “montage”, per se; the game gives the impression that it is one uninterrupted sequence of events (also known as a Oner, for film enthusiasts) through a clever use of transitions and loading screens. It feels like a single, humongous world that is visited, even if it changes over time and gains color as Gris’ mental state improves. It is, as a result, impossible to go back and revisit older areas during a first playthrough, making it difficult if not impossible to gather all the Mementos (pieces of Gris’ memory, hidden throughout) that can be gathered. After beating the game once, it does become possible to replay the game’s chapters to pick up any skipped Mementos. Picking them all up expands on the story and clarifies some details, by the way.

Things are starting to look better...
But Depression, that monster, is still lurking...

It’s really a game to try out, if you like games that go for an impressive visual style without ditching substance as a result. GRIS discusses rather heavy topics, but presents them in a gorgeous art style through an adventure through a metaphorical world. It’s worth playing.

GRIS can be purchased on Steam for 16.99$ USD.

Quick Review: The Fall

The lengths a robot will go to in order to save a human…

Currently scanning: Nothing of importance.
Walk around, you'll find stuff.

The Fall is a creation of Over The Moon and was released on May 30th, 2014. It was originally a project successfully funded on Kickstarter. The plot: A.R.I.D. is an artificial intelligence controlling a space suit currently worn by someone. For an unknown reason, it was sent through space, and crash-landed on an unknown (and potentially hostile) planet. A.R.I.D. managed to prevent most of the damage to itself and its wearer thanks to antimatter shields, but detects that the body within is unresponsive, probably in critical condition from the fall (ayy, title drop). Thankfully, the A.I. is capable of functioning on its own, carrying the body within to the nearest medical facilities to rescue it. Unfortunately, things aren’t quite as easy as they appear, and A.R.I.D.’s quest might take some unexpected turns.

It doesn't matter how often you say that.
Protocols keep blocking your way.

The game describes itself as an adventure puzzle side-scroller, but it reminds me most of point-and-click; the puzzles generally involve inspecting the surrounding world (A.R.I.D. has a neat function that allows it to investigate points of interest), remember the important areas, and pick up whatever may seem to be important. As an example, early on A.R.I.D. picks up a micro wrench, which is then used to remove an arm off an old robot, and then use that arm to reach through a gate to steal a key card. So yes, I had big “point-and-click” vibes here. And puzzles like these abound throughout, especially later on when you have to find "creative" solutions for puzzles where the more logical answer doesn't work, for any reason.

Only problem is, purple flowers are "Winter
Colors" and this place thinks we're in the
middle of summer.

That said, there is a little bit of action/adventure and platforming, as you eventually recover a gun, which becomes necessary to shoot rogue robots that may pop up. There’s also quite a bit of a horror feel to the whole thing, with the dimmed lighting and the ominous, uncomfortable, chilling ambiance throughout. There are traces of a human civilization – something happened here.

Engaging Insult Mode:
You son of a malformed toaster.

Just in case we meet... um... very shocking
opponents, we might need some way to
shoot much faster than we do now.

I originally had some issues with the controls: WASD to move, E to interact with something or make a decision, F to switch between A.R.I.D.’s detector and her weapon (once you obtain it). What annoyed me more was that you don’t just select something with E. First you select, then must choose the course of action: Network with it, take it, or try to use an item on it. The networking function isn’t used as often as it could have (most machinery here is outdated). I do understand why there are so many options, as they’re all necessary at some point. I did, however, like that A.R.I.D. starts with several functions not operational, and gains them as the plot progresses. Stuff like an invisibility mode or greater reaction speed. That was interesting. The plot also has good twists and a dose of comedy that helps alleviate the otherwise rather heavy atmosphere.

I must help an old cardboard woman cross the
street? The kind of crazy things an A.I.
had to do to rescue its wearer...

Overall, in spite of the moment it took me to adapt, I really enjoyed this one, especially because it gets very interesting once the plot picks up, and like I said, the game excels at creating its ambiance. I definitely recommend this one. It’s found on Steam for 9.99$ USD. The game has a sequel, The Fall Part 2: Unbound, released on February 13th, 2018, so if you try this one out and enjoy it, there’s another one, an even greater adventure for A.R.I.D., which is sold at a slightly higher price justified by the bigger game.

Quick Review: Face It - A game to fight inner demons

Someone has read too much Carl Jung.

I love games where I can barely
see anything. /s

A creation of Tlön Studios and Ilex Games, Face It – A game to fight inner demons (that’s how it’s capitalized) was published by Gamestorming on June 9th, 2017. You are a protagonist, selected among a couple of available skins, moving through the darkened maze of what appears to be their own mind. Everything is foggy, there are ghosts chasing the character around, there are fire pits and spikes all over the place.

The plot makes use of symbolism and concepts to represent the protagonist fighting against what ails them. Love, courage, fight, hope and other positive elements of the human psyche are power-ups letting them walk through fire, cross chasms with new platforms, and so on. And on each level, you have to find blue keys that will open the doors leading to the exit. If you collect all the letters of the word CURIOSITY in a level, you unlock that level’s bonus course, a much harder one located in what’s called the Darkest World.

I wonder what to do. I wonder: Should I jump?

The game is split over 4 worlds like this. I figure total completion of the game would involve beating all of the regular levels, but also unlocking and beating very Darkest World level. You can rotate the camera 90° with Q and E, if you need a different point of view to figure out where to go next – and that’s helpful, since with the ambient darkness it’s very hard to see the path at times. Hell, the only Darkest World level I tried, I couldn’t beat it; the path was blocked by instant-death yellow fire. Or, to quote Let’s Player Raocow, “Yellow hurts? Okay, yellow hurts.”

Also, there's a lot of text everywhere. Tell me, just who
writes this much text for no reason? ...Okay, that one hurts.

There is some idea here regarding level
design and puzzles. Not enough to keep
one invested.

Can’t say I really enjoyed this one. It really feels like it’s trying to shove a whole bunch of philosophical and metaphysical concepts into its narrative, with long pages to read that break the flow of the game. It does try to have a few neat ideas here and there, like attributing power-up effects to positive emotions. The level design relies on your ability to turn the camera around, as it’s often necessary to see where to go next, but it makes some levels needlessly labyrinthine. There are save points in places, but not always in safe spots; I distinctly remember dying right after respawning because a damn save point was located near the spawning place of several enemies, where the PC was stuck on a tight ledge with spikes on the path forward. That’s not good level design! But really, the cherry on the sundae is the attempt at giving this game depth by quoting psychiatrists and philosophers. It smells an awful lot like a “Trying too hard” attempt, the sort of thing that’s mocked about indie games that try to be “art”.

Mysticism is fun and all, but I think I'd
enjoy it more if it weren't so dark.

You can skip this one, believe me. But if you must, well, Face It – A game to fight inner demons is available for 3.99$.

Quick Review: Dot to Dot Puzzles

(Was also supposed to post this last Friday. Again, sorry!)

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved dot-to-dot puzzles. It was my favorite activity. Always seeking out bigger and tougher pages, going upwards in numbers… The biggest one I’ve ever solved on paper had more than 1700 dots. This game goes way beyond.

Yes, my version is in French.
Doesn't matter, dots are numbered.

Made by Online OciGrup SL and released on July 9th, 2018, Dot to Dot Puzzles has a self-explanatory title. You connect dots. That’s it, really. You pick a puzzle, then solve away. There are options to ease your experience, like a dark mode where the screen is a relaxing black with the dots and lines in white (which is the mode I use, as you can see in these screenshots). Then you can also pick other colors for your lines. It’s a relaxing, soothing activity. Now, these puzzles all have anywhere from 100 to over 7,000 dots, so it can be difficult to find the next dot, which is why you earn a lot of hints over time.

I use the dark version, it's easier on the eyes.

That enough dots for you?

And you’re gonna need those hints, because some dot-to-dot puzzles in this collection have so many dots jumbled together in small areas that it’s oftentimes difficult to see where the next dot is. Also, to prevent having numbers all over in those bunches, some numbers are hidden if they're several hundreds ahead – it does make solving a little easier overall. You also get a helpful little arrow from the last dot in the direction of the next, when you jump over to a new bunch.

Here’s the first thing that bugs me: For every dot connected, you earn a star. You need to use stars to unlock new puzzles… however, locked puzzles have a cost in stars that’s usually 10 times the amount of dots they contain. (So, a puzzle with 1,000 dots costs 10,000 stars to unlock, but there are exceptions). At one dot per star, it’s very slow. Actually, it’s quite likely that you’ll run out of free puzzles.

The picture is slowly revealing itself.

Yes, there are, thankfully, many free puzzles here – the game is free. However, it comes with purchasable extra content: One pack quintuples the number of stars received per dot (making gathering stars 5X faster) and gives an extra 100,000 stars. A second pack gives 50 more hints and makes gathering hints 6X quicker. The last pack, the most important, is the Lifetime Premium Pack. For 10$, you get to play all of the puzzles in the game that were originally locked behind a big “Premium” sticker. Which is… most puzzles. Kind of annoying, but I’m thankful that there are so many free puzzles to start with.

Connect the dots to make circles. You're done?
Make more circles. You're done? Make more
circles. You're done? Make more circles...

Also a minor point of criticism: Several dot-to-dot puzzles are just mandalas. Sure, the end result is pretty, but I don’t really see the point of dot-to-dot mandalas? Part of the appeal for me is to see a picture reveal itself as the dots are connected, something to recognize as the puzzle progresses, but mandalas don’t really give me that feeling. It’s little more than “here’s a fun circle pattern”. It’s not like mandala on paper that you could then color, either. The worst part is that most mandalas cost 25,000 dots to unlock, meaning you need to connect 5,000 dots to get access to one of them… but most of them do NOT have this many dots to recoup your loss.

Some of the pics can look pretty cool.

This one was pretty impressive. Just had to
connect 5,000+ dots for it and pay 50,000 stars.

It’s not… bad, but like a lot of free-to-play games, there’s only so much you can do until you have to take out your wallet. The game itself is fine, and might sate your desire to play some dot-to-dot puzzles, but it’s ultimately a very basic game with little else to do. It does bug me that, in an attempt to have gigantic puzzles to solve, so many dots are bundled in groups where it’s almost impossible to see all the numbers… but that’s pretty minor overall. Best I can say is, try it out for free, and only go for the paid packs if you’re really invested and want to get more.

Quick Review: Chainsaw Warrior

(I was supposed to post this last Wednesday, but work got the better of me. Sorry!)

Like Ash from Evil Dead? I’m in! Mowing down level after level of enemies… This is gonna be awesome. …wait, what’s that… Cards???

Chainsaw Warrior was created by Auroch Digital and released on October 7th, 2013.

"Sir, we'e offering you a Die Hard With Zombies."
"I'm in. No questions asked."

In the Warhammer universe (a world I know nothing about, for the record), in the year 2032, experiments in spatial warping have led to the creation of a Doom- or Mist-style portal that’s now spitting out zombies, mutants and demons into Manhattan. Science-fiction had warned us! The Army was unsuccessful in its attempts to stop the threat, so they go fetch an ex-soldier turned cyborg. He will go into the building where the portal was opened and make his way up the floors, killing everything on the way, and take down the Darkness.

Here's an idea: If you want to open portals to
worlds of monsters, maybe... just... don't, y'know.

Rolling for stats scares me in tabletop games.
I know my crummy luck will screw me over.

This is actually a virtual version of a single-player board game originally released in 1987. Dice, a Deck of equipment, two Decks for the game itself. You start off by choosing a difficulty level (Easy, Medium or Hard), then roll your stats. For the record, the only difference between difficulty settings is the leniency; you get better stats on Easy or Medium because you roll more dice and can thus use the best rolls you get, and receive extra points in other stats. On Hard, you get what you get, and that’s it (DnD 1st Edition purists ahoy). Roll for Endurance (Chainsaw Warrior’s resistance to radiation and venom), wounds (Max HP), ability in hand-to-hand combat and marksmanship, and then an extra skill. Then, roll for a number of points you can use to equip weapons and items.

It does capture the feel of a tabletop game.
Several pages of rules to figure out how the damn thing works.

From then on, the game is simple: You must defeat the Darkness, the boss monster hidden in the second deck, but you must first go through the first deck and its 54 cards. Flip a card, react. Is it a zombie? A chaos agent? A pack of rats? A mutant? Whatever. You can shoot first to kill from a distance, depending on your marksmanship skill. If that fails, you move on to hand-to-hand combat. Yet again, everything is done through die rolls, so if the Random Number God decide to spite you on that playthrough, there’s little you can do. On top of that, there are random traps in the decks as well, which you must defend against. Sometimes, you'll get empty hallways or equipment refills.

Roll over 3? I can do that.
My odds are pretty high.

Did I mention that you have exactly one hour to complete the mission and each turn takes 30 seconds in-universe? Have a reminder that a) you must beat the first deck and its 54 cards, and then b) kill the Darkness, located randomly within the second deck. Both times I played, I didn’t lose by dying to enemies; I lost because I timed out. Also, both times, I could deal with most threats, but beats me why, the fucking mutants just had luck pouring out of their asses with their die rolls and stalled me into long combats. Even when I had the right equipment to fight them. And that’s on Easy!

Augh, I HATE those fucking things!

At least you have a lot of options
for equipment.

I guess having the virtual version is a little more practical than the original tabletop one, for plebs like me who’ve never played tabletop RPGs at least – the game explains everything and does all of the calculations. However, it’s all there is to do here, so the replayability feels limited. Sure, you can experiment with different sets of equipment or try the harder difficulties, but that’s about it. Although, to be fair, the game does hook you in with a cool comic book-styled intro explaining the story.

I don’t think it’s worth the 4.99$ price tag (I’d be more inclined to pay that or more for the tabletop version), but it’s out there if you want to give it a try...