I watched Dodger play this several years ago and thought it looked like a really cool, cozy game. I'm not sure how to categorize it tbh, but it's definitely a walking sim. I saw someone call it a hobo simulator, and that's very true. Basically you get tricked into betting your life in a card game against a stranger, who then turns out to be a supernatural being who tasks you to travel across the country and find stories, tell them, and watch them grow in the retelling. Going in I wasn't sure if I'd like this game, but it didn't take long before I was way more into it that I ever thought I would be. So you walk/train-hop/hitchhike/take a train like a normal person across continental USA, during the depression. I'd say the setting is thereabouts anyway, some stories and characters are from a much later time and some from an earlier time, and the Stranger (when you meet him again) tells you something about time not really being the way you thought it was. But from the player character's interactions with the environment I'd say it's mainly based in depression-era US, and I've seen more reviews confirming this.
So your task is to collect stories wherever you go and then share them around a campfire with someone you meet along the way. The people you meet will ask for specific kinds of stories (happy, sad, scary etc) and you have to figure out which story in your inventory fits which category and pair them up correctly. The more correct stories you tell a person the more they will tell you about their stories and their lives. The game ends once you've heard all of these people's stories to the end. My favourites were Quinn, Cassady, Franklin and Jimmy. I really liked the graphics style of the game. Towards the middle of the map there were some lagging issues no matter which direction you came from or in what way you arrived, and I wish there was a way to make the character run and not just "walk faster", but both of those things are negligible to my experience. Strong recommend if you like story heavy games and don't mind casual play. Launch Trailer. Story Trailer. Characters Trailer.
I watched Markiplier play this a few years ago and it seemed funny so I wishlisted it to play later. Later turned out to be this week. I went in not knowing what to expect. I knew it was funny, but was it my kind of funny and would I like the gameplay? Turns out I absolutely did. To the point where I replayed the game four times to get (almost) all of the achievements. I even did the hard mode. Lucky it's as short as it is... I started one character but then messed up in the prologue so I wouldn't get the one prologue specific achievement. So started over and that became my main playthrough and also my longest playthrough. That one lasted 15 hours instead of 6-7 hours. The style and graphics are stick figure drawings. Literally. The gameplay is semi open world RPG with turn based combat (think JRPG style) and the humour is on point. The world is wild west inspired, but twisted. There are no cowboys since The Cows Came Home. Meaning the cows are demons bent on destroying mankind for eating them for so many thousands of years. The story is that you are leaving home to go west either to "seek your fortune", "help people" or "just to get off this boring farm". After you leave the prologue town there are lots of opportunities to both help people and make a fortune. (The currency is meat btw).
There are several smaller towns where you can help out with smaller things, but there are several over-arching questlines to solve. One is the advanced technology left behind by a previous civilization, another is to find and usurp the Necromancer, a third is a treasure hunt across the entire map, a fourth is to clear the railroad and make it functional again, a fifth is to prevent the cows from destroying the West, and a sixth that has something to do with clowns (cryptic on purpose). It's possible to do all of them in one playthrough. Just don't do things in the wrong order or you may hinder yourself. There's no quest log, but instead you have your helpful "pardner" to remind you of what you have to do. (The quest items tab in your inventory is also very helpful). The puzzles are sometimes annoying and sometimes they make no sense until you finish it and you just sit there like "oooooh, I get it!" This game was so much more than I thought and definitely worth the time! Launch Trailer. Preview Trailer.
"If you don't think about it too much, a pistol is just a more effective syringe."
No comments:
Post a Comment
What's the first thought in your head after reading this? Let me know!