Recent reviews by Will Smith Getting Crucified 666

the qol features like queueing villager tasks is good but i hope your ready to sacrifice game balance on it's altar because they keep breaking civs
cumans can get a 10-20 villager lead over you in feudal age, khmer have 100% farming effeciency, i cannot take the balance of this game seriously anymore
worth it if youre a fan of aoe2 though

game ,, AMAZING
crash every lobby? I DONT CARE!!!!! I WIN DIPLO AT LEAST 5 TIMES.... MY 1V1 LOBBY IS POPPING DAILY!!!!!
Wtf NERF MALIANS I***REMOVE PORTUGESE REPLACE WITH BOSNA****

i became the pope in this game

pro
-GOOD game
-sound great
-ninja
- cool time

con
- sounf BIG!!!!
-,1

(My hours is a decent representation of how long it takes to complete the game)

Where do I begin - I've just recently finished this game. It's been in my library for a good time now but I just got around to finishing it with two endings (one being the dead end ending) I got this as soon as I could as soon as it was released because I have played the creator's previous games Gingiva and Middens. I was not disappointed - quite the opposite. If you are familliar with the two aformentioned, it's a bit of a step in an experimental direction as far as gameplay goes as it is a beatemup. It takes a little getting used to but it isn't widely difficult to.

This is a review, though, and I'm obliged to tell of the pitfalls despite the much love that I have for this game, so I will get them out of the way. Though the controls are simple, they are a little clunky. The abstract nature of the game makes for compromised level design (bad for gameplay, great for artistic environment which is a fair tradeoff that the game intentionally pulls off) and attributes to a rather general lack of direction - you need some measure of patience to progress in this game because there is simply so much hidden in the environments, and aside from the base mechanics not much is conveyed in terms of where to go and what to do etc, there are mechanics i began discovering near the end of my playthrough - however this doubly serves to a part of it's beauty. As a videogame it may fall short in some standards such as this, but I'll get into why they are superceded. Aside that, the next biggest fundamental flaw is a prevalence of minor glitches. Bottom line - the gameplay and how it progresses is fairly unique and takes some getting used to (it is IMPARITIVE that you are always thinking outside the box and scanning the screen), but once you get the feel of things you'll be progressing through the game like a breeze - don't let the review intimidate you, this is an exploration game with a driving narrative, beautiful art and enjoyable gameplay, if that sounds like something you'd be in to then definitely consider picking up a copy.
It can be easy to become lost in some segments of the world and your first time around you're not going to know what much to do, and could be wandering for minutes before getting that one click that drives everything forward - this is a curse in the effect that it is a drawback of the gameplay but a blessing in the nature of the narrative it provides, the lost in a strange world is imparitive to the feel of the game but it does admittedly get slightly unfair at times.

Now on to why I love this game;
The reasons why the gameplay may come up short at first is because this is less of a game and more of an immersive interactive painting - the term animated painting comes to mind. I can think of describing the artistic direction as nothing other than brilliant - each room, each environment is it's very own, with it's own tone and feel. As the description states, each environment is hand drawn with almost no reused assets, and the art styles range from a child's coloring book to bold collagist styles, populated by unique creatures all with some manner of interesting dialogue with roots in occult and philosophical themes. To accent this, the sound track is down right perfect for it - every room is harmonized in it's beautiful weirdness, the sound design so well executed to a point of immersion that still haunts me as I write this review. I mentioned the tradeoff of level design for a more artistic environment - in this light, you can see that as a compliment, and in that vein, I can say that the level design is great for a game of it's nature as opposed to the usual beatemup. My biggest gripe is that in several rooms there's just not enough room to move around while fighting and can lead to attacking npcs you don't want to attack.

You play as a renevant charged with hunting down those that made your life hell - at the mercy of not spoiling any events that I encourage you play for yourself to experience, there's not much I can say beyond that aside from that it's easy to forget that as you play, being put in different perspectives and past lives. If you die - you die, and go to an afterlife, then back to a main menu. The concept of actually experiencing an afterlife in a game is not one I can think of being in any other in the way it's presented here. The entire game is a rollercoaster of being thrown into different perspectives and being motivated to uphold your vengeance by a devil figure and a sentient smartphone.

The sheer amount of work that was put into this game seems unfathomable, the amount of artistry it possesses seems unreal - a review could not do it proper justice, I urge anyone who's piqued interest and the game, from the game or this review, to buy it and play it for yourself - there is so much to be appreciated about this game. I cannot stress that enough. In a time where modern art is so easily characterized and in fact accepted by the corners it cuts, this game stands out as a shining example to them all. This game is akin to an "age of mystery" experience akin to playing a nostalgic adventure game in front of your TV at age 7 or something of the sort, an entirely unique experience not unlike that of soul searching.
I would consider Where They Cremate The Roadkill to be one of the best faces of surreal and avant-garde in the best and most substantial way possible. I could reccomend this game day and night to you, but you won't know why I'm reccomending it so vehemently until you play it and see for yourself.