Neue Rezensionen von avalinda

Scrapping is my new addiction.

P.S. Probably the best Bethesda game I've played yet, even though I'll always have a special love for Skyrim, bugs and all. A+ storyline, beautiful and bleak dystopian landscapes, and even though managing settlements took a bit getting used to at first, I grew to love setting up home bases everywhere (and scrapping EVERYTHING! If only recycling was truly that easy).

The one thing that's (almost) a deal-breaker is the persistent white screen when jumping off stairs. It got to the point where it'd happen about 3x an hour, and the exitsave would be useless since the graphics wouldn't load, so I'd have to go back to my last save, whenever that was. Turning off Wetness in the launcher's Advanced Settings helped a lot, but it still happens once every few hours and I'm not sure why. At least I have another 50+ games in my arsenal if it ever gets to the point where I quit, but I still plan on sticking around to see how the story ends.

A little short for a VN and mildly creepy rather than horrifying, but the graphics were awesome and I liked the interactive bits along with the first-person perspective. I haven't read the actual short story yet, or anything of H.P. Lovecraft, but it's a cool glimpse into his horror / sci-fi world and I'll definitely be checking out his work sometime soon.

"Why, I do believe I am addicted to simulator games!"

-- Me, an intellectual, filling dumpsters with 50-year-old trash for the 3rd day in a row, while unread emails pile up on the PC and passing drivers wonder if they can make the switch to electric before I'm done

10/10 literal and figurative sandbox, in which you can spend hours doing random crap, my favorite pastime. Totally didn't just throw an old car door at lil boy Dennis who keeps showing up to ruin my beautiful paint jobs. Kudos to the devs for turning me into a environmentally conscious bully with a knack for house cleaning.

Absolutely love this game!! Top-notch graphics and combat effects, easy mechanics (much better controls than on mobile, to be sure), and addictive gacha/upgrade system. I'm probably slightly biased because I never got really far on the mobile version, the screen being too small and cluttered to enjoy it properly, so I didn't mind starting over at all on Steam. I also have a soft spot for anime gacha-type games, even though the voices grate on my nerves and I'm not exactly here for the well-endowed female aesthetics; both of which I can overlook as long as the gameplay is fun. I also really like the home setup and customization options that come up later in the game. Hoping some of the other Mihoyo games will eventually make it onto Steam as well!

A great study aid that's similar to Virtual Cottage but with more features! I love the room and pet customization options, being able to send and receive uplifting notes, and having access to more songs than VC, though some are still locked behind a paid DLC which isn't a dealbreaker for me. I would like the option to link a playlist from Youtube, Spotify, or a saved one from my laptop; hopefully this becomes available later on! Overall, a very thoughtfully designed and cute app.

Edit: Please make it possible to rotate items when placing them in custom rooms! Since there's only 1 of each in some cases, such as with the laptop and TV, it really limits the available arrangements. For instance, I wouldn't want to place a TV screen facing away from the couch on a table since I can't rotate either one, lol.

tl;dr version:

Pros:

• Cute to scary storyline
  
• Pretty retro graphics and cute MC
  
• Multiple endings

Cons:

• Can be glitchy
  
• Poor translation = awkward dialogue
  
• Very simple menu - no manual save points or restart options

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Long version:

A cute little anime game that transitions quickly to horror, like other games in the same genre, and doesn't mislead you for too long. Good graphics, slightly scary music, and mechanics that are pretty straightforward. I also really liked the settings in general - they were very well-designed and I like how the unsettling animations creep up slowly on you as you progress through the story.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish it because I kept getting stuck on the maze portion. I'd complete it, move on to the next scene with the phantom dude, he freaks out when he can't get where he's going... and then I'm back at the maze again. Did this 3 times before I finally gave up, since I couldn't reload to an earlier scene or anything like that. Worth noting that I uninstalled this game a while back to free up disk space, and finally re-downloaded it yesterday, so I'm not sure if anything got corrupted during the process. It's just a shame that I can't even start over to get any of the other endings/achievements.

My other big gripe was the translations. It's really hard to be scared by a horror game when everyone talks so awkwardly that it makes you want to laugh, especially when it comes to matters of life and death. I didn't think comedy was listed among the genres of this game, so that's all I can say about that.

Long story short, the cons kind of outweigh the pros on this one, and it feels like a knockoff version of what I've heard of Omori, so I'll probably give that one a shot instead. I'm normally one to stick it out just to get all the achievements, but since it's impossible here, I'm not even going to bother. Glad it was free anyway.

Really well-made game, just wish it was complete!! I love the medieval village setting where humans coexist with their companion fairies - the idyllic scenery here was just top-notch, and the characters themselves are extremely well-drawn though there aren't many of them. The background mystery was also well-done, and I enjoyed piecing together clues about Beatrice's missing friend Agnes, while conversing with everyone and learning snippets about Fayburrow's history from the fairy. All-around great worldbuilding + music to match.

The prologue-ish nature of the story and the mechanics were the only complaints I had - the game abruptly cuts off and leaves you hanging, and it doesn't seem like there's another installment coming out anytime soon. Also, the movements could have been done just a bit more smoothly. Beatrice unfortunately walks and "runs" like an old woman, which, granted, I also do after an extremely long work week lol. Just felt like I was constantly waiting on her to get from one place to another, because her running speed is only 0.01% faster than her walk speed. Anyways, it's just a shame this game hasn't been updated or finished, since it's clear a lot of love was put into it, but I'll still be on the lookout for any changes.

A simple game with a vibe that I can best describe as a "calm" sort of creepy. The main character appears to be the only one left, in his own apartment as well as in his own mind, and you follow him through the short meaningless routines of days that blend into each other. Lambshank the dog pops up about halfway through, though the role he played is unclear - I can't tell whether he really saved the MC or if he just wanted the two of them to stay together... forever.

Since the game's not really plot-heavy (and I played it in a sluggish, half-asleep state) it seemed I could feel the atmospheric nature of it that much more. The game does touch on the everyday aspects of mental illness - the invisible heaviness you have to fight just to get out of bed in the morning, the seeming pointlessness of maintaining your physical environment and your body, the constant undercurrent of having nothing to live for. The dream-world providing some comfort from harsh reality until the two begin to blend.

The ending was as I expected, and though the game was pretty short, I still found it worth experiencing. But if the developers decide to update this or create another in the same universe, I'd like to know more about what exactly took over the city, what happened to those who were "marked" and if anyone ever found a way out. Really loved the graphics as well - I think the retro pixel art format helped a lot to develop the atmosphere.

Probably the best VN I've stumbled across so far on Steam. I didn't think I'd like a story that took place after the main characters had faced down a terrifying parallel universe, but this was so well done. You play as a young man getting ready to leave the small town of Siren's Call for college, but saying goodbye is never easy, and perhaps there was never any option to leave in the first place...

So far these are my favorite aspects of the game, though I haven't completely finished it yet:

• Coming-of-age story - friendships, love, loss, and confronting your own flaws
  
• Meditation on morality (and the problems that arise from playing God)
  
• Hidden dark secrets - not even the people closest to you are as they seem
  
• Recovering hidden memories in the form of a journal
  
• Strange supernatural sequences haunting some of your waking moments
  
• (Possibly) Breaking the 4th wall

Will post a more complete review when I finish playing, but so far I'm addicted! A deceptively simple, but utterly amazing game.

Side Note: Having heard some comparisons to DDLC, which I've also played before, I think the resemblance is more structural/superficial than anything. They're both interactive with different outcomes/endings, both have a yandere-ish character who reveals herself partway into the story, and there's a bit of 4th-wall breaking in each, but I prefer Siren's Call a little more for the plot. I wasn't a huge fan of the dorky/cringy interactions between the MC and his girl squad in DDLC, though the ending was its redeeming quality. Siren's Call, however, is largely more platonic, which I don't see as much of in these types of games, and therefore found refreshing.

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50% progress note:

I simply have no words for how deeply this game has pulled at my heartstrings, and how it's broken my heart a few times. This is what I think I've been looking for all along when it comes to a visual novel - it doesn't have to be beautiful backstory, action-packed sequences or any of that. Just give me a time and place, and people dealing with real problems who put in real effort and say real things to each other. Friendship is such an underrated topic, I think, in many VNs, and it needs to be done more, because it's one of the main cornerstones of our lives. Over the years, I've started to lose my faith in humanity as a whole, but this story reminds me that life is hard for everyone; that everyone's going through some manner of sh*t; and that if we honestly reached out to each other every once in a while, we could get through it together. This is an absolute treasure for reminding me of that.

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100% progress note:

(spoilers below)

Wow, just wow. All I can say is, this ending, and the various artistic touches leading up to it, feels so much like "A Dream Within a Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe. It broke my heart to learn what actually happened to Violet, and that many of the dark things Oliver encountered in his dream were a reflection of his everyday battles. It now makes sense why no one could remember what a Siren actually looked like, why there was an Underworld in the first place, and why each of his friends left one by one, except for Judith. Unfortunately, Judith was the one character I couldn't warm up to by the end of the story - though I'm guessing she wasn't a creepy psychopath in real life, she was overwhelmingly so for so much of the dream-story that I wasn't ready to support her and Oliver being together. That, and learning abruptly that Violet had died, though retrospectively there were a lot of hints leading up to that point.

And I can't end without making further comments on the art and writing. Everything was so beautifully rendered, and hindsight being 20/20, the symbolism was top-notch.

(Major spoilers below)

• The watercolor paintings make up the majority of the dream world, vs the more photorealistic scenery of the waking world. I also felt like the watercolor aspect was a nod to Violet, and all the places she wanted to live in normally but never got the chance to.
  
  
• The journal and the little truths you uncover from the entries. The 2 different fonts attributed to Oliver's POV I felt were a reference to the two main sides of his personality - the "need" and the "want," constantly fighting. The journal also serves as Oliver's attempt to make sense of his pain, which I can truly relate to.
  
  
• Rockets and escape velocity - it was always heartrending hearing Oliver's take on how he's meant to help people take off and escape their fetters, while he's destined to be stuck on the ground. This was made worse by Violet's death during the rocket-viewing (the opening scene now carries so much more weight than it did before, in this respect).
  
  
• Hurricane symbolism - each chapter was named Category 1-5, which I thought might do with the danger that each friend posed to Oliver in the dream-world; as well as how turbulent things could get as he drew closer to the truth. And then, of course, there's the hurricane icon rotating at the end of each line, like an omen of its own.
  
  
• The Underworld as a metaphor for the collective unconscious, and the Sirens representing the various (mostly destructive) impulses governing this unconscious. The Siren battles, then, seemed to reflect Oliver working through his negativity - perhaps he initially believed he'd be happy again if he pushed everything negative out of his life. But in his dream Violet clearly warns him of the results of such actions, mentioning how everyone acted "lobotomized" after the Sirens were killed. And she'd be right: what's the good in being completely one-dimensional, with no darkness to help us appreciate the light by contrast? We lose our originality, our power, and our capacity for reflection, when every day is exactly the same and all our thoughts funnel in a single direction.
  
  
• Little questionnaires from Judith punctuating the dream-story. Never realized until the end that these were snippets from the waking world, and later learning the significance of the final question broke my heart. I love that the game bent our perceptions of dream and reality by keeping us in Oliver's mind for the duration of this journey.

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Will definitely replay this again just to catch all the little details I missed. I can't say I was 100% a fan of the ending, but I loved everything else the story had to offer too much for that to be a deal-breaker. This game pushes the boundaries of what I thought a VN could accomplish, and sheds some real light on the challenges that young people face, approaching each struggle with delicacy and grace. Utterly well done.

Cutesy dice game which can get surprisingly hard, since I started out playing against 3 AIs. It can suck when you finally get to a good place in any given game and then suddenly end up losing all your stars/HP because you rolled a bad number. However, it's strangely addictive. Only minor complaint is the super high-pitched anime girl voices which don't agree too well with my ears, lol.