Tag: Collectathon

Grunn – Demo Impressions

Who gardens at night anyway? ⁿᵒᵗ ᵐᵉ ᵃⁿʸᵐᵒʳᵉ

Grunn

Developer:
Sokpop Collective,
Tom van den Boogaart

Release Date:
4 October 2024

A gardener gets hired for maintenance work over the weekend. A simple task, but strangely some tools are missing…The owner of the garden isn’t around, and their house is off-limits. Perhaps new tools can be found in the mysterious town, or maybe some of the reserved townsfolk have seen them?

Grunn mixes together a type of game that I love with a type of game that I hate. Together, they become a genius concoction that I absolutely don’t want to play despite REALLY wanting to play. Let me explain.

I love a task simulator. Give me games like Powerwash Sim, House Flipper or similar and I can play them all day, getting myself into that hyper fixated state of ‘just one more task’. The entire idea of this genre – in my opinion – is to allow for a flow state, zoning out of your everyday life, keeping your hands busy and your dopamine bar full. No thinking, only doing. As soon as I begun cutting the grass in this slightly overgrown garden I instantly fell into this zone, my safe zone, forgetting any uncanny feelings I may have had prior. What a perfect zone to get someone in before intruding, pulling the rug and making their hair stand on edge.

In Grunn, we are hired to do some gardening. We are left some instructions, a deadline, and that is all you get as you are let loose into this sandbox of oddities. I am not going to spoil in which way this is a horror game, you will have to play yourself for that, but I will say that at one point I did squeal. Once you notice something strange, you may notice something else, until the things you are noticing are probably nothing at all. Or.. If you are like me you will just get on with the job you were hired to do, happily snip-snip-snipping away without a care in the world. Once you realise, however, that things don’t quite seem ordinary, the dread creeps in and the real game begins.

You have been placed into a playground and the world is yours to explore, experiment and tidy up.. or not. Every action you take, object you find or information you obtain will lead you to the next, adding to your knowledge banks ready to take action somewhere down the line. The game takes place with a running clock, which means you only have limited time to do what you need to do, and there is far more to do than you could achieve before the deadline. The time pressure looms as you make your choice on what you pursue. I recommend a notebook as you find yourself zipping around, following clues without context and discover leads that you may want to follow up on.

I found the games unique aesthetic to be a little jarring at first. The generally soft colour palette draws you into the initial ‘cozy’ atmosphere, but it never feels perfect as what can only be described as a surreal wobble obfuscates your environment. This can be turned off in the settings but I quickly got used to it, preferring to keep it on as a scapegoat for any potential peripheral movement that should not be, that I would rather deny happened.

The demo contains 5 endings, with the full game presumably adding many more. In my playtime I found 2, neither of which being the true ending of the demo. While I had ideas of more things to try, I decided to wait for the full game to puzzle it out. Maybe then, I will finally dare to stay out after dark.

If you enjoy weird and wonderful, subversions and curiosity, I recommend giving this one a go. Something is going on here, and it is NOT wholesome.

Demo Length – 1+ Hours
At a glance
+ All in on the surreal aesthetic that can so easily turn creepy.
+ Tasks feel good to do and complete.
+ Freedom/No handholding.
+ So weird.
+ Multiple endings feel achievable in a game this length and densely packed.
+ Non-traditional puzzle game.
+ Contrasts cozy ideas with less cozy moments.

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Spilled! – Demo Impressions

The waters are clear as we clear the waterways.

Spilled!

Developer: Lente

Release Date: Coming soon

Clean up ocean waste in this relaxing & satisfying cozy game! Recycle, earn coins, upgrade your boat, repeat! Explore and clean up new areas with more waste and new challenges!

Spilled! is a breezy 10-15 minute demo that I recommend checking out if you enjoy flow-state, meditative games.

Upon booting up the game I was greeted with a very wholesome screen with a small amount of information about the developer. They are creating this game after leaving school to follow their dream, living from their savings while living on a boat! I honestly would love if more indie games would do this as I immediatly felt more of a connection knowing the story behind the game. This isn’t the entire reason for the recommendation of course. The game is zen, therapeutic and ran smooth as can be.

In Spilled! we take control of a boat, driving around clearing spillages and plastics polluting the water around us. The more that we collect, we can cash it in to buy upgrades for our boat, allowing more efficiency in our cleansing operation. The more that we clear the waters of the litter, the clearer they get in colour, giving us the real time effect of the efforts we are making and we can collect wildlife along the way.

Lente the developer, is very transparent about the goals of her project. This isn’t going to be a long game, but it is clearly made with love and I hope that the game sells well when it gets a release, allowing her to move onto further projects!

Demo Length – 10-15 minutes
At a glance
+ A meditative experience.
+ Very pleasing on the eye.
+ Cleaning rather than fishing fits the wholesome feel.
+ A solo developer with an interesting story.
+/- It is going to be a short game.

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Goblin Cleanup – Early Impressions

This dungeon is closed for cleaning. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Goblin Cleanup

Developer: Crisalu Games

Release Date: To be announced

A co-op cleaning game where you have to clean and rearrange a dungeon before the next adventurers come to complete it again.

As evidenced by my Powerwash Sim and Crime Scene Cleaner love, I have a bit of a tendency towards a nice, cleaning, task simulator. I am always so grateful when another game pops up like this and they are good. The line between compulsive and boring is surprisingly thin, it would be so easy to misstep, but this demo – along with the other games I mentioned above – sits on the compulsive side.

The game is planned for an Early Access release (no date at the time of writing) and that makes Goblin Cleanup all the more exciting to me. This was a great, fully functional, polished demo that showcases the core concept of the game. Community feedback will inform the direction of the rest of the game and the functionality of the demo makes me have confidence in the developers to really deliver the content.

What I mean by that is everything just worked so well. Goblin Cleanup is a twist on the genre where your job is to clean away the blood and gore of heros and adventurers that have fallen in the clients dungeon. Through the grime you will be both avoiding and resetting traps, placing the furniture back where it belongs and wondering what the heck happened to make such a mess. It is user friendly, snappy and there was only one mechanic that I would have liked an upgrade for.

The traps add a new idea to a tried and tested core, adding a slight order of operations puzzle to ensure maximum efficiency. After all, you don’t want to trip the crossbow to shoot you point blank because you didn’t move a piece of furniture earlier, spilling your own blood and meat over your freshly mopped floor. Navigation is also part of the fun, finding the best way to get the furniture to where it belongs without stepping on a pressure plate because you couldn’t see in front of your feet, because you were carrying furniture. Each dungeon has a large amount of levels, allowing you to experience the journey that the unfortunate heros themselves would face, with interesting winding level design and no way of knowing how to navigate until you try it for yourself.

I can’t speak for the co-op experience as these types of game are a solo endeavour for me, but it is certainly going on my wishlist as a podcast/tv show companion game. I only played 2 levels but I am sold that this is a fun time, worthy of it’s place in the genre. Adding magic to cleaning is an angle I didn’t know that I needed.

Demo Length – 2+ hour
At a glance
+ Another fine example of the genre with its own twist.
+ A funny concept.
+ Plays smoothly.
+ User friendly.
+ Compulsive.
+ Stays on the right side of fun vs tedious (so far).
+/- I did not get as far as levels with enemies yet so I can’t comment on whether that adds a fun challenge or frustration.
– My one problem was walking backwards and forwards so much to get fresh water, I could have used some pockets for my slimes.

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Hauntii – Demo Impressions

A pleasant journey through Eternity.

Hauntii

Developer: Moonloop Games LLC

Release Date: 23 May 2024

A beguiling adventure in which you uncover the secrets of an expansive and mysterious world – haunting both the environment and its denizens to craft ingenious solutions to the many challenges that await.

When I read ‘twin-stick shooter’ and ‘action’ as tags on steam I was a little hesitant, but felt drawn in by the art style on display. Thankfully for me, there was a lot less action than I expected. The demo showed off a game of exploration, collection and puzzles where navigating the dangerous dark land of Eternity is our goal, guided by the welcoming lights around us and the friendly locals.

While our character moves quite slowly, shooting feels great and is used for many more purposes than just shooting enemies. We are Hauntii, a ghost that has the ability to posses objects and other things, influencing them to do as we please. This could be lighting up a previously unlit path, growing to allow us to reach other places, becoming a turret to shoot heavier objects or even allowing more traversal to find all of the secrets. Our goal is to collect fragments of our past, bringing them together to paint a clearer picture of who we were and how to free our self from the tether this land has on us.

Hauntii reminded me of some other indies that I have played or seen in the last couple of years, and while it isn’t exactly like any one of these games, I will mention why they prompted memories in me. My first touchpoint was Gris, a very artful, intentional experience promising emotions through imagery and sound. Chicory is the second game I was reminded of, due to the way that we can change the world as we interact with it, as well as having a sweet vibe underlined by a threat. Finally, The Wild at Heart was my third reference point, not at all through gameplay, just very vague aesthetics, exploration, an interesting forest family, a hub area and the use of the dark. If you like any of those games for any of those reasons then there is a potential that there will be something here for you too!

This feels like a one for the couch, to play on a cozy night in with the lights low, candles on, a blanket and a nice cup of hot chocolate in hand.

Demo Length – 1 hour
At a glance
+ Art.
+ Music.
+ The animation.
+ The use of colour.
+ The distortion in the dark.
+ Shooting feels very smooth.
+ Finding secrets.
+ The whimsy.
+/- The puzzles were quite simple, but I also didn’t feel like my hand was being held.
– Not sure why I was collecting things other than my memories.
– Movement speed is a little slow.

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Astronomics – Demo Impressions

We’re bringing the factory to you.

Astronomics

Developer: Numizmatic

Release Date: Coming Soon (Early Access)

Top-down action and space exploration meet asteroid mining automation! Command a faithful crew of bots and get to work in the asteroid belt. Impress your employer, upgrade your equipment, fight off pirates and save up for that ticket to Earth so you can finally come home… for the very first time.

Astronomics isn’t your typical automation game. Where often you would expect to build from a fixed base outwards, mining ores, constructing and optimising your structures, in Astronomics, we bring the factory to the asteroids.

This game is all about collection. The more resources that we collect, the more one time use machines we can build to speed up collection. The more that we then collect, the more we can bring back and sell. The more that we sell, the more we can upgrade our machines to speed up collection, and so on.

The overall goal is to buy a ticket to earth, which is gradually done by taking a percentage of our earning. These are earned through expeditions. As the player, we get to take a look at asteroids that are close to our base spaceship (space base? base ship?) and make our choice which ones to deplete based on how much time they will remain within the radius of our reach.

This game isn’t going to be for everyone, but I particularly wanted to highlight it as it has a satisfying loop. My favourite part of automation games tends to be the beginning, with the task of getting established. Once things progress, they can sometimes become too complex or too stagnant for me, both of which inevitably cause me to lose interest. Since in Astronomics you are always visiting new areas, you get to do the beginning part over and over, with the progression from manual labour, to commanding an entire workforce of robots.

In Astroneer I enjoyed driving around collecting scrap. In Sea of Thieves I enjoy sailing around collecting treasure. This is a game about collecting, but this time with tools, and I will be keeping an eye on the development through Early Access and beyond.

Demo Length – 50 mins
At a glance
+ Expedition based gameplay.
+ Growing your team feels satisfying.
+ Going to new spaces and making priorities on the fly.
+/- A slow start (for me this made upgrades feel very valuable but won’t be for everyone).
+/- I didn’t have many interactions with Pirates so I can’t say how balanced is feels.

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Été – Demo Impressions

Colour me in love.

Été

Developer: Impossible

Release Date: Q1 2024

Été is a relaxing painting game where you freely explore a city in the summer, collecting ideas in your album, creating artworks on canvas, and decorating your studio by selling your art to your neighbours.

The tagline for this post was going to be ‘Colour me impressed’, but some how that is not enough to do my feelings towards Été justice. This game is outstanding.

Été is an art game for both artists and none artists alike. If you love the idea of creating art but the idea of picking up a paintbrush fills you with dread, this game solves that in impressive ways.

Gameplay is split into two main parts. The first part is exploring the city, meeting the folks that inhabit it and seeking out opportunities as you go. The second part is creating your own art.

You are a watercolour artist that has just moved into the area. Everywhere you go starts off as, well, a blank canvas. But this isn’t your canvas, you have an easel for that. This is instead, your inspiration that will expand the more time you spend exploring it. As you take in your environment, colour enters the world, building a catalogue of references that you can use in your own art.

Not only is this effect striking on the eyes, the entire art direction of this game is a visual metaphor about inspiration, perspective and seeing the world in a different way. It encourages you to not only absorb the scene around you, but every little mundane object within, as it could be the subject of your next masterpiece.

In the second part of the gameplay, it is your turn to create some art. Using colours that you have unlocked and the objects from the world around you, it is time to add them to your canvas and create some magic. You can move them, scale them, re-order them, re-colour them and for live subjects, choose exactly which frame of their animation you would like to use. Commisions will give you a brief to fulfil, or you can make whatever your heart desires to fill the walls of your own apartment.

Through these modes of gameplay you are free to use your time as you see fit with no pressure other than the end of the day, and all that does is refreshes your energy, readying you for more collection and creating. The world is your oyster and the possibilities are endless.

The first time I saw the trailer I was reminded of The Unfinished Swan but after playing, they are barely comparable at all. Using colour to reveal the environment is the only similarity. Été is way more akin to Passpartout 2: The Lost Artist, but of course with its own look, feel and mechanics. I was completely blown away by this demo, this is a must play for me and I urge anyone to give it a go.

Demo Length – The demo lasts for 7 in-game days. I played for over 2 hours which was 5 in-game days. Progress will not transfer to the full game.

At a glance
+ The game is completely stunning.
+ You do not need to be good at art (particularly drawing or painting) to express yourself or get a lot out of this game.
+ Freedom to focus on commisions or take as much time as you like exploring, discovering new things, collecting subjects and decorating your apartment.
+ Optional collectathon.
+ The purpose of exploration may make you see the world differently.
+ Exploration is rewarded by expanding your creative options.
+ I didn’t encounter a single bug.
+ Never once felt limited by my options on the canvas (in fact kept being blown away).
+ It is fun to see your art fill the world as you hand in commisions.

More demo impressions here…
More from Steam Next Fest October 2023 here…

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A Noob’s [Mini] Review – Astro’s Playroom

Pure joy in a Video Game.

Astro’s Playroom may seem like a strange game to spotlight due to the nature of its release. This is a game that arrived with the PS5 and came pre-installed on all consoles. Because of this, anyone could be forgiven for thinking that it is just a tech demo or tutorial that isn’t worth the time. Thankfully, I would like to let everyone know with great enthusiasm that this couldn’t be further from the truth. While it does do a great job of showing off the features of the DualSense controller, it definitely manages to stand on its own two feet as a full fledged – albeit short – game.

At first glance the game may seem like it is for children due to its cute characters and colourful settings. This is accurate to an extent – it can be enjoyable for all ages – but the true genius of the design is that the parents can have even more fun than the kids. Especially if they have any history at all with PlayStation.

The concept is that this game takes place inside of your console and every time you power it up, this is the magic that is happening within. It is a giant party. We take control of a robot named Astro, making our way through wonderful and bold levels based on different components, such as the ‘SSD Speedway’ and the ‘GPU Jungle’. It is a 3D platformer so your job is to explore, hop, skip, jump, roll, glide and fly your way to your objective, avoiding and/or dealing with obstacles, taking in your environment and collecting everything you can find.

The more that you look around, the more you will get from this game as you notice all of the attention to detail. Every level is full to the brim with references of famous scenes from many different games, providing delight around every corner. Every environment that you enter is built from technology parts in ways that you would not expect. Every area makes use of a unique mechanic, showing off the potential of the haptic feedback in the controller. At the end of each section, you will be rewarded with a nostalgia that – if you are anything like me – could bring a tear to your eye. On top of that, the sound track is fantastic and completes the atmosphere perfectly.

Unfortunately, the only way to play this one is on the PS5. But, if you do have a PS5 then that means that you already own the game and it is absolutely worth the few hours it takes to play through it. It is like the most fun, interactive, joyful museum that you could ever go to, celebrating PlayStation’s past, present and future.

Developer: Team Asobi
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Release date: 12th November 2020
Average play time: 4 hours
Available on: PlayStation 5

If you would like to see my live playthrough, here it is!

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A Noob’s Review – Pupperazzi

Based on what I had seen of Pupperazzi, this game wasn’t high up on my ‘to play’ priority list. I thought it was going to be a ‘meme’ game and not much more. I am very happy to report how wrong I was about that. This game is an absolute delight through and through. I expected a rough experience that would be fun for an hour, but instead it provided multiple sandboxes of endearing, silly (in a great way), exciting, shenanigans and says ‘go wild’. And wild I went.

+ Atmosphere

The atmosphere in this game is unironically electrifying. The summer vibes instantly swept over me and there was no where else I would rather be. In every direction something weird or wonderful was happening and the energy of everything going on around me was in turn feeding me and my shutter finger.

– Bugs

I was so charmed by the rest of the game that I almost forget that I got some serious bugs. I almost quit in the second area because I thought my game was completely broken. It crashed and when I came back, it had kept my ‘follower’ and ‘item’ progress, but it set me back to the beginning with requests, right back to the tutorial. Thankfully I could speed through them, but then the third time I loaded in the game all of my items were gone. Once again, thankfully I could recollect them, but it was touch and go for being game breaking for me, which would have been a travesty. I am not sure how common these issues are, but being scared to quit the game for fear your progress will be lost is always a bummer, providing a background, gnawing anxiety that I must finish the game in this session.

+/- Jank

Sometimes the photos don’t register the ‘things’ that is in the picture you took, be it a particular breed, a number of dogs, a background element etc. I have read some frustrations from others online that couldn’t complete requests because of this finickiness. Thankfully that was not my experience. Instead, it created some fantastic comedy moments, which is why I give it a ‘+/-‘ rather than a negative. If you are going completionist then it could also be problematic because it is all about taking photos of all of the different breeds and behaviours. By the time I had finished all of the story requests my Puppypedia was pretty much full so it didn’t get in the way for me fortunately.

+ Stylistic Choices

The way the dogs move is hilarious. The lack of animation in their body is perfect. It isn’t something that I thought I would like, but when you enter an environment full of these goofy dogs, you can’t help but smile. Considering they are stiff as literal boards, they still have so much personality. Their faces and responses are animated giving them a lot of character, and each breed is instantly recognisable.

When you get photo requests from clients, each dog and/or thing that you talk to have their own little Disco Elysium style character portraits. This is another touch that didn’t have to be there but gave me a chuckle when I saw them. As much as I laugh at how silly the game is, it can also be beautiful. The art style provides for some beautiful backdrops, particularly the sunsets. It would be easy to see 5 seconds of footage and think that the lack of animation is ‘lazy’, but I disagree. It only takes playing the game for 10 minutes to feel the joy that the creators have distributed throughout so many different areas. Even the player character is an unexpected but light hearted surprise.

+ The Randomisation

The levels feature a specific kind of randomness. There are dogs in different scenareos and doing different things, but the breed that you get in each of those slots is random everytime you load up the level. The fact that the dog breeds are randomised means for more unique photo opportunities between players. Sometimes it can feel like you have hit a jackpot, having specific breeds for specific moments. Other times, loading back into the level can inspire a shot that you didn’t even consider before. This was a great decision to bring even more joy to a game already filled with it. It allows for a kind of spontaneity that you couldn’t manufacture any other way.

+ The Gameplay

This is a photography game that is actually about the photography. You arent going to be learning to use a DSLR or taking photo of the year, but everything in the gameplay loops back to it. The game is structured around taking photography requests in different areas. Doing so earns you money that you can spend on lenses, filters and other items to increase the tools available to you, allowing you to take more of a variety of photos. Exploring the environment will net you new toys, which you can then use to provide new interactions and yet more photo opportunities. A few other games feature a camera as a way of gathering collectibles, but it is often a means to an end. A way of cataloguing things as opposed to getting creative with the photos. This was the first of it’s type that really made me excited about taking good pictures, by giving me everything I needed to play.  The only thing I wish was that film wasn’t also tied to that progression. On one hand, only having limited photo slots forced me to not go overboard and keep them organised. On the other, I would have enjoyed the freedom of snapping away as much as I desired.

+ Using the Camera

I really like how easy it is to jump into the camera. Right click to open camera, left click for photo, mouse wheel for zoom, wasd to move and tab for menu. Nice and simple. If you need to open the menu right as you have got a shot lined up (for example to change your filter or lens) you can do it easily and the action freezes perfectly. You can view the scene while altering your settings and it is exactly how you left it, ready and waiting for you to close the menu to get your shot. I was very grateful for the pause as I would have missed many opportunities and it would have put me off using the filters if it wasn’t so easy.

+ The Extra Things

There are some fun surprises in the game. I am not going to spoil what they are but I appreciated the additions. The final level that I unlocked was the first level at a different time of day, and despite spending a lot of time there, when I went back there was something new that made me smile. They can be small details but they make the game feel complete.

One of my goals this year is to properly learn to use my camera. This game has genuinely made me more excited for this. I have tried having photoshoots like this with dogs in real life in the past, and I am so ready to try it again.

I want to express how sorry I am for judging a book by it’s cover, but I already feel forgiven by the warm love that I felt from all of the wonderful doggos on my screen. If you enjoy dogs, taking pictures, summer vibes, silliness and/or charm, then I recommend giving this one a go. A bite-size delight.

+ Atmosphere

– Bugs

+/- Jank

+ Stylistic Choices

+ The Randomisation

+ The Gameplay

+ Using the Camera

+ The Extra Things

If you would like to see more images check out posts Hot Diggity Dog and Gone to the Dogs in my Game Photography section!

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