Among the Sleep - Review (PlayStation 4, Windows/Linux/OS X game)

There are always things we’re going to be afraid of, that much is certain, but it’s the things we are most uncertain of that tend to terrify or aggravate us the most. As children we lacked the understanding that we have now and trying to cope in a world where we’re unable to reason away the existence of monsters or understand the steps to take when you find yourself alone. This helplessness and vulnerability is the very core of what makes survival horror games so terrifying and usually this vulnerability is due to a lack of weapons, an abundance of darkness and a big splash of threat that is often unseen. In ‘Among The Sleep’, you’re dropped right back into the footy pyjamas of a toddler soon after his 2nd birthday party where he received a bite of cake and a slightly odd looking, talking teddy bear. You awake in the middle of the night to a strange commotion in your bedroom and, after you’ve been flung from your crib, you venture out into the dark corridors to find your mother for some much needed comfort. Unfortunately, she’s nowhere to be found. 

Developer: Krillbite Studio
Release date: May 29th 2014
Genre: Survival horror
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4,
ESRB: Rating pending (likely to be a 16+/Teen rating)

Playing as a toddler is in itself a novel experience but what is particularly appreciable is the way in which tasks we would find simple as an adult become an instant challenge for a toddler such as the opening of doors. Although the mechanics can be a little clunky there’s a sort of realism to this as by dragging around say, a chair, you’re not only struggling to walk on two feet but you have to move a heavy object whilst you’re at it. In 'Among the Sleep' you have the ability to switch between walking, running and crawling and quite appropriately the crawling is a much faster way of getting around though, down there, you cannot interact with anything. This presents a problem in that you are significantly more vulnerable when you’re unable to see where you’re headed, interact with things or use your ‘flashlight’ which is actually a light emitted from hugging your teddy bear, awwh. ‘Among the Sleep’ has a fair few puzzles that are more about getting to your destination than solving anything too complex and the game itself is running off a ‘find three items’ objective that are obtained by going through very different areas. You start out in your house, naturally, and then move through increasingly more surreal areas that are wonderfully varied and consistently offer you new and interesting places to explore.

The places you tend to explore are, unsurprisingly, dark. By dark I mean, 'can barely see your hand in front of your face', kind of dark, so that teddy bear hugging I mentioned earlier is an extremely useful feature. As you can only hug your bear when you’re standing upright what tends to occur is a trade-off between being able to see where it is you’re going and getting there quickly enough. This is a surprisingly stressful situation to be placed in constantly as once you’re left alone in the darkness your over-active child’s imagination comes to life and things appear far much terrifying than they usually would do. Whilst the game isn’t necessarily full on horror there’s enough of an atmosphere that will drive you onwards and ensure you never want to linger too long for fear of what’s lurking in the shadows. The game tends to put you through phases of thinking there’s something there, to believing it’s just your imagination, to making you definitely think there’s something there and this rollercoaster of fear and paranoia will make you constantly question everything around you. 

What I’ve yet to mention is how fantastic the game actually looks and almost everything is interactive whether that’s a piece of fruit in the kitchen or a soft toy in your bedroom; everything can be picked up, carried and put wherever the hell you want it to go. All chairs can be dragged around whether you need to move them or not, drawers and cupboards can be opened and generally there’s a huge amount of detail. Even in places you’re not really supposed to explore you’ll still find a very respectable level of furnishings whilst the textures and detail have not been skimped on adding to a rather realistic, if slightly cartoony, feel. The game’s appearance also significantly contributes to the atmosphere of the game and little things like well-timed thunderclaps, partially lit corridors and the ability to hide under furniture at any given time with no prompting results in you questioning yourself about whether you need to be hiding or not. You’ll often second guess yourself in this game and there are some stupidly terrifying moments such as turning a corner and seeing a dark figure looming over you, just around the corner and out of sight, you turn to stumble away and then realise it’s, well, just a coat on a coat rack. You rarely get those experiences playing as an adult as you would almost immediately see its lack of a face but, as a toddler, all you get is the bottom of a coat and a pair of shoes and this whole new perspective puts you at a disadvantage even for seasoned survival horror gamers.

Don’t let me convince you that this game is all about running from your own shadow however as, trust me, there’s something out there to get you and though I won’t spoil it for you it’s definitely something that makes its presence known. Try as you might you cannot deny the tell-tale rattling of a door handle as you watch something unseen opening a previously looked door from the other side. Neither can you ignore turning around to see that, somehow, something you thought was inanimate has moved and now it’s standing right behind you, staring at you, still unmoving and leaving you very little choice but to slide around it, desperately hoping it doesn’t decide to wake up and do anything else whilst your back is turned. 

Overall

‘Among the Sleep’ is certainly a memorable game and a very unique experience that is well worth a look at, even if you don’t usually play horror games. Whilst the storyline tends to take a backseat during the main chunk of the game it is generally explained through the opening and closing cutscenes with some general illusions to what’s going on as you play. The game is by no means dull however and though it is in no way comparable to gore fests such as 'Amnesia' and 'Outlast' it’s deserving of its place as a horror game due to the undeniably spooky ambiance and the constant fear that something’s about to jump out at you. There are mechanical issues with the game, particularly when climbing on objects, but these can be generally excused as the rest of the game is very attractive with a strong, vibrant pallet and lashings of attention to detail. Occasionally I encountered some frustrating moments of not knowing where to go but generally the game is just about the right level of difficulty and it was probably just me struggling to put 2+2 together though, at times, the puzzles were somewhat lame. The game is unfavourably short at around 3 hours long and I would have definitely preferred a longer game with more build up and some more scares but, overall, the upcoming DLC should settle down the need to spend longer in this oversized world.

The Good: 

• Brilliant storyline, thought provoking ending
• Very atmospheric with a constant eerieness
• Interactive world and puzzle elements are a nice addition
• Looks very clean cut with bold, vibrant graphics
• Sounds fantastic with brilliant voice acting and high quality ambient sounds
• Original concept that was risky for developers but worked out great
• Few scare tactics used, instead more of an investigation into fear
• Playing as a toddler offered up some very interesting and new situations

The Bad: 

• Could have had 'more going on' in it
• Climbing mechanics need to be worked on
• Should have been longer with more build up
• The teddy bear is more creepy than comforting

The Score: 8/10

Final thoughts: "The ending is extremely poignant and made me glad I continued all the way through. I loved the concept of playing as a toddler and am extremely glad somebody took the initiative to put this into a game, now I want to watch everybody I know play it."

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Broken Age, Act 1 - Full Review (PC/Linux/Mac, Android and iOS Game)

'Broken Age' seemed like the perfect game for me to play but, upon completing Act 1 in its entirety, I was left with a confused, almost guilty, feeling of disappointment and frustration. What made it worse was that reputable, professional websites had glazed the game with sickly sweet praise and admiration, hailing it as a fantastic example of point and click adventure games. I rather strongly disagree, as you’re about to find out, and though I admit the storyline is fantastic there are far too many basic elements missed out for this game to be considered as ‘one of the greats’. That said, this game is certainly a steal at its low price and overall the game is very good value. 
 

Developer: Double Fine Productions 
Genre: Point and click adventure 
Release date: 26th January 2014
Platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS
ESRB: Not rated (some mild threat, no blood/gore)

The backstory behind the development of this game is far from ordinary. To begin with, 'Broken Age' is one of the most crowdfunded video game projects as it acquired a whopping $3.45 million from more than 87,000 backers. The project began in 2012 and the game marked Tim Schafer’s return to the point and click genre after his fantastic game, Grim Fandango which is being re-released for PS4 and Xbox One and which was originally released in 1998. Despite its extreme backing though it appeared that this may have actually lessened the quality of the game. The end result is, whilst visually polished, wrongly suited to the originally intentioned audience and, quite simply, an inadequate addition to Schafer’s portfolio. As a standalone indie game this would be fantastic but unfortunately it failed to live up to the hype.

Gameplay and storyline

'Broken Age' Act 1 is made up of two different stories, that of a girl named Vella and of a boy named Shay and each story has vastly different settings. Regardless of which character you start with you’ll likely find that the game comes across as very cutesy and perhaps even a little too sickly sweet but this is simply a façade. Without going too far into the storylines the characters have in common a desire to break traditions in their lives that have, up until now, gone unquestioned. The gruesome realities of what is actually occurring strips away that initial sweet demeanour and instead the cheerful nature of the characters and environments take on a whole new form, one that is much darker and much, much more unnerving. 
 

It’s here where 'Broken Age' truly excels as the storyline is quite fascinating and will draw you in with its twisting story and cheerfully disturbing atmosphere. The ever present, in your face, indication that something is wrong but nobody else seeming to notice it is a constant source of fascination and you will desperately want to find out what’s going in in the two strange realms that you’ll inhabit. The characters too are likeable though, admittedly, quite unemotional and rather bland despite the famous voice actors. Whilst the storyline is interesting enough and with brilliant twists there are some key issues with the game that are very difficult to ignore. To begin with, it feels as though it’s being aimed at a much younger audience and not at those who would have previously enjoyed classic graphic adventures such as Grim Fandango and the Monkey Island series, both of which Tim wrote for previously. The complex puzzles, standard ‘pick up everything you can find’ mentality, vast environments and wry sense of humour that typically lift a standard point and click to a successful one have all been stripped away leaving something quite superficial in its wake.

Overall there’s a genuine lack of content and substance as characters have very few dialogue options and the environments are very limiting so there’s simply not much to discover in what could have been sprawling worlds of characters, places and puzzles. The few characters that are present are quirky and interesting but you can never just chat to them and waste away a couple of hours getting to know their unique personalities so, in this sense, the game feels a little sparse. There’s this strange, unfinished feel about the game that’s reflected in not only the lack of character development but the small, limited environments. These rather simplistic environments quickly become a problem when you’re faced with one of the many puzzles in the game. Often, a point and click adventure game would have you picking up random bits of, seemingly pointless, tack with plenty of red herrings thrown in there just to screw you up. Large locations or, in the very least, a broad variety of areas where the solution to your puzzle may lurk is key to making a puzzle difficult as often you’ll be searching doggedly for more items, racking your brains to figure out what kind of obscure combination you need to come up with. Broken Age lacks this, entirely so. At one point I had to find a particular, very important, item that had been lost but I found it sitting out in plain sight on just the next screen. Another puzzle simply consisted of getting to end of a conversation. It’s almost as though the developers didn’t trust their players to continue playing if they found the puzzles too challenging and this lack of faith in players is evident in the huge amount of hand-holding that takes place

  
When important plot elements have been stripped away of challenge it’s not just frustrating, it’s disappointing. I find it hard to imagine this game ever becoming ‘one of the greats’ and instead it sits as something which is nice, different, but nothing special. The lack of puzzles and choices meant that the length of play was disastrously short and far too easy for seasoned graphic adventure gamers and, whilst some hail this as a return to the 'nostalgic' era of point and clicks, it feels painfully modern with a strong focus on visuals and not enough on actual, substantial, gameplay.

Graphics and audio

The artwork of the game may not be to everybody’s taste but it truly is quite beautiful with a strong hand painted, fantasy appeal. The style and design of the worlds and its inhabitants does nothing for its childish feel however and overall it’s all a little bit too cute and quaint. Despite this, the worlds are gorgeous with a stunning array of colours and details that make each and every area feel bursting with life. The contrast between the two storylines is very apparent, not only in its gameplay content but in the design of the environments. The differences between the smokey oranges and dreamy pinks of Vella’s world to the moody blues and vibrant preschool colours of Shay’s world simply add layers onto the, already distinctive, atmosphere. A curious feature present within the game is its ability to be played in a ‘retro’ graphical mode which makes the game appear in an slightly pixelated, pre-renovated 'Monkey Island' 1 and 2 type design. Whilst usually I would have been extremely interested in this it’s clear that the game was not designed to be played in this format so it comes across as a very low quality conversion. If anything, it looks as though you’re just squinting at the HD version. 

The audio is, overall, very good and I liked almost all of the voice acting except for several occasions where I found the protagonists to have a lack of emotion. Despite pushing the budget out and employing the talents of very talented actors including Elijah Wood as Shay I felt as though Shay’s emotion was completely out of context with what was occurring in the scene. When his dialogue was supposed to indicate frustration the voice came across as depressed, when he was supposed to be confused he sounded passive. Though this is partily intentional as Shay is fairly a depressed character this uninterested tone persists even in moments of great peril where what he is saying suggests he's feeling emotion. The voice of Vella too had some inconsistencies between script and the voice acting and overall I felt there to be a lack of emotion when faced with action packed, highly distressing scenes and this tended to ruin the scene’s atmosphere. Aside from this, the game sounded as good as it looked and there was plenty of general chit-chatter in the background and little comments from the protagonist which gave you a better insight into their character.

Overall

It would be easy to simply look at the game, its history and its origin and stamp it with the mark of ‘fantastic’, ‘ushering in a new era’ and things of the such but upon closer examination, Broken Age does none of these things. It’s boringly simplistic, painfully unemotional and with very, very little build up to anything that happens. I found the storyline enjoyable, gripping even. My attention was constantly drawn to what was going on on the screen and Shay's story in particular was a mixture of fascinating and hilarious. My desire to find out more about the strange world I’d been dropped into was what primarily kept me going however as the gameplay was rather simplistic and, generally, the more I progressed the more let down I felt. 

The game had a lack of depth, a lack of real challenge and, also, a lack of something else, something I can’t put my finger on, it’s as if it very much lacked the heart, soul and dedication you’d have expected from a game with so many backers, so much time poured into it and so many people working with it. I don’t know what happened to render this game so disappointing and it’s a great shame to say that about what could have been one of the greatest modern age point and clicks. I hope wherever Tim Schafer is now that he looks on this game and thinks to himself, ‘I could have done better’ because if he doesn’t then I’m not sure what happened to his creativity in that sixteen year hiatus. Whilst my disappointment is evident I’d like to finish by saying that I will play the upcoming Act 2 to 'Broken Age' but, truly, it’s only to find out what happens in the end. I can only hope it presents something more appealing to lovers of classic point and click adventure games.

The Good: 

• Different, original storyline
• Attention grabbing with its odd premise
• Beautiful, hand painted graphics
• Lovely animations
• Nice variation of environments
• Likeable, personality filled characters
• Great cliff hanger

The Bad:

• Far too easy, a lot of hand-holding
• Not enough puzzles
• Voice acting can be off in places
• Limited, small environments
• Not much to explore or discover
• Very little to no item combination
• Feels superficial and focused on its graphics

The Score: 6/10

Final thoughts: "I'm looking forward to playing the next part of this but only because of its storyline. The game is far too easy with limited environments and, generally, it just doesn't feel like a traditional point and click."

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Kill the Bad Guy - Full Review (PC game)

This monochrome game looks and feels as though it has more ambition than it can handle and, whilst it has some decent moments, tends to come across as pointless and repetitive. Unfortunately, a sleek look and some tongue-in-cheek humour is just simply not enough to elevate this game to the status it desires as an intelligent and imaginative slaughter fest. 

Developer: Exkee
Genre: Puzzle, murder simulation
Release date: May 28, 2014  
Platforms: PC, Mac and Linux
ESRB: T - Teen

‘Kill The Bad Guy’ is an indie puzzle game that revolves around assassinating targets using objects in the environment whilst remaining undiscovered and is generally depicted in a simple, understated artistic design with plenty of dark humour. Though the game suffers from some key issues you’ll still manage to squeeze a few hours of good old fashioned puzzling fun out of it even if it is an incredibly slow starting game. This is a puzzle game that puts you at the heart of revenge murdering individual targets who are more often than not based on real life offenders.

Gameplay

The objective of the game is rather self-explanatory; for each level you must kill a bad guy in various, unusual ways. The game comprises of 60 of these bone shattering, blood splattering levels and for every level there will be some way in which you can manipulate objects within the environment to bring about the doom of your target. At the start of every level you read a fairly amusing profile about your intended victim which tends to include details of their crime and a name that vaguely points towards somebody in real life like ‘KimDotKom’ in reference to Kim Dotcom or ‘Oscar’ in reference to Oscar Pistorius. After reading your target’s profile you’re then dropped into a white environment with black objects such as cars, ropes hanging on walls, steam vents and pianos that you can pick up, rotate and combine. You’re given very little guidance on what to do from here, except on the first few levels, so instead you have to work out what it is you can do that will result in your target’s death. By selecting dark coloured objects you’re shown a large array of arrows that point to where you can place objects, be that on the top of buildings or just simply anywhere on the ground. Objects that can be combined are coloured green after you pick up one of the constituent parts so, in this sense, it’s not particularly challenging to work out what goes with what. 

During gameplay there are very few controls other than picking up, rotating and combining but after you have managed to pull off your mission you can watch, cinematic style, as your target is killed over and over again in a replay mode. During replay you can switch the angle of the camera to get the best shot but, though not a particularly offensive element of the game, it does come across as a rather pointless. During actual gameplay you can, rather helpfully, pause the game and look around the area but you cannot manipulate anything whilst the game is paused meaning that, when you decide what you’re going to do, you need to do it quickly. This is fairly useful as in the later levels there are usually so many elements to contend with you need to give it a few moments before you figure out what it is you’re going to do. It’s not a simple matter of strapping a spear to a glorified slingshot and flinging it halfway across the map into the poor sod’s chest though, oh no, you have CCTV and the police to be concerned about. The real challenge of the game comes with doing everything undetected as these obstacles, and later on bodyguards, all have lines of sight. If you’re caught doing any of your dastardly assassinating then its mission failed and you need to try again but with less probability of your assignment being plastered all over YouTube.

As you progress through the levels you’re not just exposed to new challenges like the police and cameras, there is also a pretty significant increase in the variation of objects you’re given and thus the ways in which you can assassinate your targets. It must be said however that the first ten levels of this game are by far the worst of them all. Truthfully, I was amazed that I even progressed beyond them and discovered that the game did actually contain something challenging and interesting. Although these first few levels are intended to be tutorial levels that ease you into the mechanics of the game what you instead experience is something painfully dull and excessively lengthy. Never has a ‘tutorial’ chapter dragged on so slowly and so uneventfully and, worse still, it doesn’t even feel like a tutorial as there are very few instructions on what to do or how to do it. Instead you must trawl through what feels like a rite of passage before being allowed into the real game as you suffer through level after level of repetitive music that sounds as though it’s been put together by two thirteen year olds, deaths that all look the same bar one electrocution and one screaming guy on fire and an incredibly limited set of tools to experiment with. Now, whilst I’m of course glad that’s not all there is to this game I doubt many people enjoy the feeling of suffering for somebody else’s art.

Thankfully the game opens up after a couple of hours play and you’re exposed to more than one way to kill your target with these methods becoming gradually more complicated. The animations of your dying target do become a tad more varied in that they fall over when they are electrocuted but overall there’s not much difference between driving a spear through your target’s head, dropping a car on him and crushing him with a wrecking ball as, either way, he ends up as a bloody smear on the pavement. In a game where the method in which you kill your target is designed to be the be all and end all of the gameplay I would have expected more death animations such as a crushed, flattened body or some pierced limbs. 

The game has some degree of re-playability as within each level of the game there are ‘secondary objectives’ which include the same basic tasks; catch the tooth of your fallen victim, kill them on the first day and find a hidden passport. The only interesting additional objective is to kill your target in a specific manner as the rest are repetitive and restrictive. The passport tends to be in locations like beneath cars or objects and hidden within buildings that become transparent as you pan over them. By completing these unimaginative challenges you gain stars which count towards unlocking a bonus level at the end of each chapter. These bonus levels are, ironically, quite a bit more interesting than the main game as they tend to have more varied objectives like killing 30 zombies before they hobble over to the other side of the screen. Despite the fact that the bonus levels are pretty fun it’s still a shame about the ways in which you must unlock them as repeatedly clicking on a tooth that bounces away from your target after he dies is extremely dull. Searching for a passport in the environment is also very boring as, due to the unfurnished nature of the area, it’s very easy to spot them. Even though they are sometimes hid under an object this really adds in little to no depth and, frankly, I don’t know why they wouldn’t offer up different objectives. 

As a final note I found that the game’s humour often borders on the tasteless as there are sometimes very graphic descriptions of real life crimes such as those perpetrated the Columbine killers that some, if not many, may find uncomfortable. Generally the profiles of your targets are humorous covers of less invasive crimes such as fraud and embezzlement but when the game describes in graphic detail the crimes of the monstrous Albert Fish then the vibe of what is supposed to be a carefree, slaughter orientated romp is very quickly killed and is instead turned into something much darker and not at all light-hearted. Questionably dark humour aside the profiles still do offer good, immersive introductions to the start of every level and are relatively engaging. Besides, since all the targets look the same it’s good to offer up some way of distinguishing between them.

Appearance and sound

The game is decked out in a very simplistic design of pure white backdrops and solid black interactive objects. This professional feeling environment comes across as clean and crisp and, overall, it’s all very pleasant. The simply designed streets and parks never feel too plain however as, once your assassination attempts start, the landscapes are quickly cut through with bright red blood, fiery orange explosions and piercing blue water. Your targets also stand out vividly in comparison to their surroundings as they each support a yellow jacket and massive red bull’s eye target on their faces so there’s no chance that you’ll mistake a regular pedestrian for them. Unfortunately all of the targets look identical to one another and any kind of variation, even if it was just the colour of the jacket, would have done the trick but, regardless, I enjoyed how apparent they were in their surroundings.

I’ve already mentioned that I didn’t like the music and, whilst initially I enjoyed it, it quickly grates on you as essentially it’s just a sort of rap lyric of ‘kill the bad guy k-k-kill the bad guy’ over and over again to a beat. Thankfully the music only plays at the start and end of every level and not during gameplay as it would quickly become unbearable. Aside from the music the game has very good sound effects with plenty of appropriate noises for almost every action you can perform. There are

Overall

Whilst the game starts off slow and simplistic it quickly develops into a more robust murder simulation with some fairly imaginative solutions to the dilemma of how to discreetly kill your target. I particularly enjoyed the rather difficult task of luring your target to a particular spot or changing the path they were following by quickly putting obstacles in their way without them noticing. The level of difficulty scales as you play but even when the game becomes more complex there are moments where it comes across as pointless and repetitive. The secondary objectives are uninspiring but add in a reason to replay the previous levels and the bonus levels are a nice change of pace if you’re tired with the base game. Currently the game feels incredibly overpriced at $15 as it feels very much like a free, online game that’s been bulked out with additional levels and a couple of added in features. I would recommend waiting until the price has dropped but if you enjoy flippant murder simulation games with stark graphics and environmental manipulation then perhaps you’ll enjoy this more than I did.

The Good:

• A good concept
• Cool bonus levels
• Achievements are always fun 
• Nice looking map area
• Quite challening in later levels 
• Sometimes pretty amusing
• Nice use of CCTV and other obstacles to put more pressure on player

The Bad:

• Boring and uneventful
• Very under-developed
• Overpriced, feels like a free game
• Repetative and unexciting
• Lack of varation in death animations
• Pointless challenges

The Score: 4/10 

Last thoughts: "Thank god I don't have to play any more of that dreary rubbish..."

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Octodad: Dadliest Catch - Full Review (PC/Mac/Linux and PS4 game)

It doesn’t take much to appreciate that this is an exceptionally unusual game, though in all the right ways. 'Octodad: Dadliest Catch' puts you in control of an octopus who is pretending to be a regular, ordinary human citizen. Already I’m sure you can see just how much potential this game has. 'Octodad: Dadliest Catch' exists as a revamp of the freeware student game, ‘Octodad’ that you can download here, with many locations being identical only now in a much higher quality.

Developer: Young Horses Inc
Genre: Adventure
Release date: January 30th 2014
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux and the Playstation 4.
ESRB: E - Everyone

Story and gameplay

Octodad is a father to two children, somehow, and husband to a wife who’s beginning to suspect that something’s amiss with her burbling, sagging husband. Now, the problem about being an octopus on land is fairly apparent, apart from the whole breathing thing; you have eight legs, none of which have bones in them. Stuffing your tentacles into a pair of trousers and trying to parade around upright is just half the battle, the real problem comes with actually trying to manoeuvre around the place. Cursed with suckers that stick to everything they come in contact with and the need to coordinate yourself whilst not appearing unusual to people is incredibly awkward. Due to this, the game plays similar to other ragdoll physics games like ‘Qwop’ or the excellent ‘Surgeon Simulator’ series only in a more adventure game setting. 

 

It’s difficult not to laugh as you try and guide Octodad through one area and into another, desperately trying to remain undercover as a sentient sea creature whilst also trying to complete your domestic duties. Suddenly, simple tasks like turning off an alarm clock, shopping in the mall or taking your kids to an aquarium become something akin to gentle torture as you attempt to flail each individual limb in a vaguely appropriate manner. Each leg is controlled individually and you can switch control from your legs to your arms at the press of a button; you cannot control both at the same time. When you go to grab something you can move your tentacle arm in almost every single direction which makes aiming quite difficult although, helpfully, objects you are targeting acquire a subtle green glow so you know what you’re about to pick up. With this bizarre premise in mind you should now prepare yourself for what turns out to be a very entertaining but frustrating game as you frolic through ten levels and six different environments.

As if things weren’t hard enough already, a meter at the bottom of the screen indicates how much attention you’re drawing to yourself. Octodad gets nervous whenever he’s aware that he’s bumping into things, dropping things, flailing tentacles in people’s faces and climbing up and over children without meaning to. As his anxiety level rises Octodad produces ink that splurts everywhere and rapidly increases the detection meter, when the meter is full then it means he has been discovered and you must restart the level. It’s fair to say the game is by no means difficult, but there are areas that will trip you up because you can be instantly detected if you are seen just once. Due to this a large portion of the game is dedicated to stealth especially when it comes to pesky ‘Marine Biologists’ who know an octopus when they see one, which is fair enough I guess. Luckily these moments tend to come later on in the game when you’ve got a very good grasp of the controls and are able to do more ‘complex’ moves like actually walking in a straight line without tripping over yourself. 

The game has a small amount of re-playability after completing what turns out to be a fairly short main storyline, it won’t take you much longer than 4 or 5 hours, as it introduces collectible items, freeplay mode and local co-op play. In each individual level there are 3 collectible ties to find, usually pinned in hard to reach locations or hidden somewhere in the environment, by collecting all 3 of any given level you unlock a tie that Octodad can wear. Freeplay mode allows you to revisit any of the locations in the game and pick up any ties you missed or just mess about if you bombed through the storyline too quickly. The co-op play is particularly interesting and introduces something akin to a three-legged race as each player controls an individual limb with support for up to four players. This in itself is pretty funny but to make things even more haphazard you can enable ‘roulette mode’ where, each time an objective is completed, the limb or set of limbs you are in control of changes to something else entirely. There’s no indication of what you’ll be controlling and it is completely random so whilst a moment ago you were controlling the left leg, now you’re controlling the right arm. It seem as though the co-op in this game is designed to be as frustrating as possible and if you aren’t shouting orders, eye-rolling and cursing then collapsing into laughter then you’re not doing it right. Perfect co-ordination between you and your friends would be pretty boring and despite the arguments it’s a brilliant co-op game, requiring real teamwork and communication that’s oddly quite a rarity in multiplayer games.

Graphics and environments

Whilst there are not many levels in the base game, with many of them being variations of the same ‘theme’ the ones which are original from one another are fantastic. Each level is very well designed and with plenty of little Easter Eggs and references to indie games like ‘Minecraft’ and ‘Super MeatBoy’ which are a nice touch for gamers to appreciate. Whilst some may describe the graphics as simplistic and nothing particularly noteworthy I instead found them to be perfect for the tone and overall feel of the game. Cartoony, fun, vibrant and beautifully shaded the game is not so much about next-gen graphics and is more about bringing an aged student indie game into the modern era. Quite often there are some mechanical issues like getting stuck on the environment and very minimal clipping but it happened rarely and mostly occurred because of the complexity of Octodad’s limbs and your ability to move them in any which direction. With the additional levels, available for free for all platforms, my disappointment at how soon the game ended was quickly wiped away and instead replaced with an eager anticipation to play some more. 

Music and audio

First things first; the custom made theme song that is sung during this game is both tragic and hilarious. It’s so bad that it’s good and, in all fairness, it’s just there for a bit of fun. When I first realized that the deep male singer, Ian McKinney, was singing lyrics like ‘Octodaaaddd… Nobody suspects a thing, OCTODAAAAAD’ I almost died. I’m not totally surprised that the song is becoming something of a cult hit on the internet but, this aside, the general music and audio of the game is good. The voice acting, Octodad included, is brilliant and some of the things the children say are brilliant. There’s a great deal of wit in the dialogue and I found that the voice actors really rose to the occasion with plenty of personality and humour. Nothing is left out and nothing sounds particularly odd, as is often the case where you can manipulate objects. Unfortunately there can be a fair bit of repetitiveness in what the characters say, though only when you’re standing idle in one area for a long time. Often, particularly in the stealth levels, you’ll be forced to repeat an area over and over and it is here that the limited set of lines the characters will say becomes apparent, which is a great shame. 

Performance

When me and my partner played this I’ve got to say the only times we stopped laughing were when the game lagged out tremendously in a couple of specific areas. This led to a very frustrating hour of trying to play with an extremely low frame rate and the seemingly impossible goal of scaling a huge children’s playground. The lag returned for a couple of other levels as well, both of which required very accurate timing and movement, on the bright side this is an acknowledged problem and will likely be patched for all PC users. 

Overall

The great thing about this game is its potential to go really far as there is a huge amount of storyline that could be easily added along with levels and objectives. 'Octodad: Dadliest Catch' is a huge improvement on the original game and it’s a great way to spend an afternoon or two as it’s such a friendly and engaging game and very easy to get into. The humour is priceless, the objectives varied and the storyline endearing. Whilst I don’t usually play ragdoll physics games I found this one to be irresistible and apart from its teething issues its great fun and with a fair bit of re-playability due to the collectible ties found within each location and, of course, the freeplay mode where you can revisit all the levels. With the upcoming DLC the developers appear to also be aware of how much further this game can be taken and, whilst some may find that the gameplay loses its novelty, I personally cannot wait. 

The Good:

• Free DLC adds additional levels.
• Best theme song of the year.
• Great co-op play.
• Innovative, funny gameplay.
• Good storyline with great potential for more.
• Variety of objectives keeps things fresh.
• Nice, detailed environments.

The Bad:

• Some lag in certain areas.
• Occasional clipping. 
• Short length. 
• Too much stealth.

The Score: 8/10 

Last thoughts: "I cannot wait for the DLC! This game ended far too soon for my liking.It's a shame about all the lag as my system should have had no trouble with this game." 

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The Last Door: Collector's Edition - Full Review (Free game/Collector's Edition PC game)

‘The Last Door’ is a door worth opening as what you’ll find on the other side is a solid, spooky and extremely well crafted game that manages to be both horribly unsettling and wonderfully enthralling. 

Developer: The Game Kitchen
Genre: Horror adventure 
Release date: May 20th 2014
Platforms: PC, Mac and Linux
ESRB: Rating pending

Created by the indie company, The Game Kitchen, ‘The Last Door’ is a point and click horror game that borders somewhere between quietly creepy and in your face horrifying. This compelling game will have you intrigued from the start as the beautifully orchestrated music plays and the sharp graphics drop down into a pixelated art style that makes you wonder why the developers have opted for this low resolution feel. Discard any initial reservations you had about its appearances as this is an extremely well made, well-polished game that is more than worthy of worldwide recognition.

Story and gameplay

The game is set in Victorian England and, after an incredibly morbid prologue, your character receives a letter from an old friend with a rather cryptic message on it. Prompted by the potentially serious implications from the letter you set out to Sussex to the lavish manor house that your friend owns but upon arrival it appears empty and abandoned. As you search the estate for clues you’ll uncover dark secrets, skeletons in the closets and a mystery that will only be explained by travelling across the country in subsequent chapters. The four chapters of this game were initially released separately and they still feel like very short standalone games that all follow on from one another, though that’s not a bad thing. If anything the use of cliff-hangers is very appealing as it builds up your anticipation to continue playing and makes the game feel even more riveting. 

The use of episodes splits the game into nicely manageable segments as it will take several hours to complete the entire thing though the quality of the chapters does vary and, whilst each episode has its own strengths and weaknesses, the inconsistency makes the problems glaringly apparent. The first chapter for instance excels in atmosphere and emotion whilst being the shortest and easiest of all the chapters. In the second episode there is a greater depth of experience but some of the descriptions of items have been watered down to either simple statements or overly explanatory ones which, compared to those of the first chapter, hinders the feel of the environment. That said, these are very minor issues and as a whole  the game plays fantastically with a strong focus on suspense and anticipation rather than gore and violence. 

As is standard in point and click games your advancement is dependent on solving puzzles and, in this case, the puzzles are inventory based. This means that you’ll be frequently be searching for things you can pick up before using them on objects in the environment or combining them into something new. Often, things can be difficult to locate as the pixelated surroundings conceal things wonderfully but by scrolling over objects that can be examined a magnifying glass does appear so you’re not left helplessly confused at what something is. Overall the game gets harder as you progress which eases you very nicely into the game though there’s nothing agonizingly difficult about any of the puzzles. Though you’ll likely get stuck now and then the puzzles are all fairly logical and not in the least bit obscure so, once you figure it out, it becomes painfully clear what you had to do all along. That said, the puzzles are varied and interesting and usually revolve around trying to access some place or another as you’re generally being led on a journey to constantly discover a secret that is hidden. 

Something that is particularly appealing is the game’s tendency to change the perspective that you’re playing through by quick insights into other characters or, most importantly, dreams and flashbacks that Devitt experiences himself. This continual shifting results in a richer and deeper understanding of the storyline and also the chance to do something a little different. I imagine that a constant focus on Devitt in the present time could have easily become restrictive and monotonous so it’s a welcomed addition to an already captivating game. Breaking up the gameplay experience through the employment of these dreams, flashbacks and briefly controlling other characters is not the only trick that the developers have up their sleeve as each chapter brings something new to the table. Whilst the first game is just you on your own subsequent chapters add in other character to talk to and the introduction of conversations is surprisingly powerful. Every chapter beginning starts with something shocking or disturbing that’s entirely different to the start of the last chapter so, whilst the game is short, you do cover a lot of ground and are treated to some intimately haunting scenes. The characters are well introduced, have interesting dialogue and talk in a manner fitting of the era. There are a lot of letters and diaries present in the game that you read for backstory and they’re very manageable in length and not in the least bit dull. Often, letters contain clues for puzzles and I enjoy how they not only had an atmospheric purpose but a practical one too.

A final critic I have is to do with the controls as in order to pick up items you must first examine them using the magnifying glass. I’m still somewhat undecided about this but the constant need to examine an object with one click then pick it up with another does become fairly irksome and, at the start of the game, it tended to result in me skipping over items thinking I had already obtained them. Of course this error went away as I adjusted but I prefer the option to both examine and immediately pick up things to not necessarily make the game simpler but rather make it less irritating. Other than this the controls are very easy to operate, the camera is perfect and the inclusion of skipping to areas you have already visited by double clicking on the exit saves a few long and boring walks. In a game where you may be stomping up and down the same corridor numerous times, this can only be a good thing.

Graphics and environments

The most important aspect of a horror game is its ability to scare you, or at least make you feel uneasy and apprehensive, and ‘The Last Door’ manages this fantastically partially due to how well the environments are portrayed. Walking through a pitch black corridor with nothing but a tiny light is as terrifying as it would be in any well-made horror game and whilst it could have been easy for it to lag behind its competition it is far from doing so. The environments are extremely detailed, spooky in some places and quite lovely in others. There’s plenty to look at and interact with and great care has been taken to flesh each individual room or area with enough decorational items that simply exist to add to the overall feel of the place.

Though you are initially restricted to the manor and its grounds you’ll travel to different places throughout the subsequent episodes and not once will you feel boxed in by limiting environments. Despite the low res quality of the game there are some truly beautiful scenes that are perfectly detailed and perfectly executed. The views of distant rolling landscapes and the layered, overcast skies remind me in turn of an obscure Van Gogh painting in that there’s such little information but the balance of hues and shades still results in a near perfect representation of what it is depicting. History buffs will also appreciate the many nods to the typical Victorian lifestyle and everything from Devitt’s travelling gear to the adornments of the interiors is perfectly in tune with the era it is illustrating. 

Low resolution pixelated art styles are definitely taking more precedence in games and it goes to show that graphics simply aren’t everything. If anything I found the retro graphics to enhance the experience of this game as it played on the notion that there was something there, in the dark, something that you couldn’t quite see. The game manages to limit how much you can see, not only through actual darkness but by also removing that customary clearness and crispness of graphics that we’ve come to rely on so much. What this results in is your imagination running a little wild and the game is fully aware of this with as it applies very delicate, subtle graphical shifts that impact the atmosphere in huge ways. For a game to be able to produce a constant unsettling unease whilst not falling back on gore and high definition monsters is, for me, very impressive.

Music and audio

In a game that provides no spoken dialogue it was imperative that all remaining audio was done to perfection, and it has been. The music is strong and intense and, especially during the opening credits, it has this inexplicable ability to instil the feeling that you’re embarking on some dangerous and mysterious journey. During gameplay there are periods of complete and utter silence that may occur when entering a room or between music tracks and, when the music stops, a great sense of danger instantly washes over you. I remember one occasion where, standing in the back of an old school room the music stopped entirely leaving me alone in a silent, dead room. Then came a noise; a noise I’d not heard before in that room despite having visited there several times, it was muffled and distant but sounded distinctly like some trapped animal or cry for help. Without the ability to explore further I left immediately, even after returning to the same spot, never heard that noise again. It’s moments like this that build you up and make you feel like there’s something waiting for you in the dark, behind a corner, something that may jump out at you. It’s extremely atmospheric and these odd little sounds that come out of nowhere, like the tapping on a window, are profoundly powerful.

Overall

This is one of my favourite modern point and click game’s and I thoroughly enjoyed the care and attention that has been poured into it. The variety of environments and perspectives that the game gives you adds an additional layer of detail and stops the game from being repetitive and boring. The story itself is curious with a mixture of themes bordering strongly on the occult but mingled in with the subjects of insanity and madness which is very nineteenth century. You can tell the game is strongly inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s works not only from the presence of crows who consistently feature in his works but of little details like the bird tapping on the glass in a home owned by a man who’s descended into madness whereas, in ‘The Raven’ the tapping of the raven sent the narrator into insanity. Likewise, the presence of blind black cat in one part of the story is a direct reference to another of Poe’s work; the Black Cat and there are plenty of other bits and pieces in there too, considering Poe was active during the same century the game was set it feels even more appropriate. History aside, this is an indie game with a difference and is well worth a play as it is beautifully orchestrated, wonderfully written and very well designed. You may or may not find it easy and I imagine it depends entirely on how much of the genre you play and how intuitive you are. The Game Kitchen is currently fundraising so they can complete Season 2 of ‘The Last Door’ so there’s plenty more in the pipeline if you enjoyed this fantastic game. 

The Good:

• Very atmospheric with lots of suspense. 
• Beautiful music, flawless audio.
• Decent, logical puzzles.
• Appealing graphical style.
• Nice range of environments.
• Layered, interesting storyline.

The Bad:

• A little too easy in places.
• Some chapters are weaker than others.
• Controls can be annoying.

The Score: 9/10 

Last thoughts: I love, love love love, this game and cannot wait for the next season. It would be better had it been longer but they're bringing more out so it's all good.

‘The Last Door’ is currently available to be played free. If you want the game with additional scenes and achievements you should pick up the Collector’s Edition of the game instead for just £7 from Steam, here. More details, including where to play it, can be found on their website here.

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