Recent reviews by BudFox13

Weeeell, looks like we got ourselves a reader!

Wow, I'm impressed. This actually comes pretty close to the original game. Of course, animations and controls are way smoother in this remaster and the sound is way beyond what was imaginable back then. The added gameplay features overcome some tedious aspects of the original version. All in all, this is the way to do a remaster.

As someone who has tried to find the original for years, I'm happy that I'm not the only person who remembered this game. Thumbs up to the developers for bringing back alive this old gem. Guys you did a fantastic job!!!

By the way, why is nobody talking about the unsuccessful 1993 VGA remake by T.E.C. From what I remember reading in an article about the remake, published in PC Joker magazine sometime in '94, T.E.C. was forced by Electronic Farts Studios (who acquired the publishing rights) to rush the remake in order to get a foot in the at the time increasingly popular cinematic platformer market established by Prince of Persia, Another World and Flashback. They managed to ruin the game with ugly VGA graphics, broken controls and a completely unnecessary extended storyline that made no sense at all. It was a prime example in the newly upcoming game industry how corporate greed, driven by the prospect of easy profits, destroyed everything what was once fun and innovative.

However, The Eternal Castle [Remastered] is a beautiful reminiscence of those days, when I came back home from school just to get immediately in front of my Amiga 500. I remember exactly inserting a game disk into the floppy drive and flipping the power switch on, listening to the beautiful sound of the game booting up and pleasantly anticipating the exciting world I would find myself in for the next few hours. A world most people knew nothing about. The Eternal Castle was part of that… at least in MY memory.

This is one of those cases where it would've been great if you had more rating choices than just a up- or downvote.

I decided to downvote Observer since it was kind of a disappointment. I'm a really big fan of cyberpunk themed games and this game looked very promising and seemed to be one that you would remember after years. I don't think this will be the case with Observer.

Observers potential is enormous. It's a graphical masterpiece, although a little bit challenging in regard to the effects at some points of the game. The story and the atmosphere are interesting and thrilling at the same time. One great aspect/feature of the game is the ability to hack someone's mind and to enter a surreal world offering a non-linear narrative and new ways of interaction.

Unfortunately, Observer is failing to tap its full potential for several reasons. My main criticism is that the game world is relatively limited, which has been a major disappointment for me. Observers main setting is an apartment complex, that is relatively large but quickly becomes monotonous and kinda repetitive. There are a handful of other places but all of them are pretty much limited. As a cyberpunk fan, I guess I would have expected to learn more about this world. I would have loved to explore the city, learn about the technologies running this world, see more places and get in touch with people from different backgrounds, in order to get a better and more diverse impression of this dystopian society. Additionally, the tasks you have to complete become a little bit too repetitive as the game progresses.

With that in mind, Observer seems to be just a way to capitalize on Layers of Fear with a different audience. Like other people here already mentioned, Observer could have been as well named Layers of Cyberpunk.

However, if you're into cyberpunk... get it... but lower your expectations.

A real Sierra Classic. Never played it back then, but it features everything that made Sierra adventures so much fun to play.
- great locations/atmosphere -> check
- great storytelling -> check
- great puzzles -> check
- historical/educational background -> check
- many dead ends -> check
- multiple paths to complete the game -> nice... check
- funny -> well it has its moments but the story is not about gags and humor.

However this adventure might not appeal to everyone. Especially younger audiences that are not used to this kind of game mechanics (text parser, dead ends, no hint system, lots of trial and error) might find it hard to enjoy this game. You can get stuck a lot. Be patient and you will be rewarded or just use a walkthrough, but you will miss out a great part of the experience that made those games so great.

This is a little gem from the golden era of adventures.

For classic adventures fans it's worth more than the regular price. For adventure game fans in general, get in on sale.

A short but great and unconventional game giving you a valuable and deep insight into the process of creativity and game design , illustrated by a great story in a surprising setting. Some might say it's just a storyteller game, but it's by far more than that. It will make you question and think about things on a meta level. Buy this ****... especially when on discount.