Recent reviews by ESWAT

I've felt a vareity of emotions while playing Near Death: annoyance, relief, joy, frustration, curosity, accomplishment and many others. This stems from the game throwing you in a very hostile environment that's indifferent to how your character, or even you as the player behind the screen, are handling issues like dealing with -100C weather (great feeling) or physics bugs (not so great).

In the end, despite its flaws, Near Death has what I look for in games these days: an experience I will likely never feel IRL or even in another game and for it to treat my time with respect by keeping that experience short but sweet.

Interesting game. You decide the actions the characters will take each chapter and there will always be compromises. But it becomes harder to make the “right” ones as you progress.

I played it with the option of being seen by the Kaplans turned off. I just wanted to experience the story. If you’re into a game that’s definitely story-driven rather then this would be a good pickup.

Very touching story that’s worth looking past the graphics, if you’re not really into the art style, and some stability issues.

Shame really. I’ve played almost two hours of this and know there’s a good (in a understanding about someone’s mental illness sort of way), introspective experience burried in this game. If you had assumed it’s a lot like Dear Esther you’d be right. But it’s hard to enjoy the story when annoying puzzles, busywork and odd gameplay mechanics make this a chore to play. I think this game would have reached a better potential by leaving out more of the gamey-elements, especially when it’s constantly breaking the fourth wall, pulling you out of the story so it can explain how to solve its convoluted puzzles.

I think I got my value out of this when it was on sale for $2. But in the end it just ended up being a frustrating experience that I can’t really recommend, even after the patches.

Pure interactive fiction that’s told through, often vague, narration. Despite the short playthrough and some bewildering use of the English language, Dear Esther is a great example of using this medium in a different way. It’s a contemplative walking simulator that will put you in a different headspace, if you allow it to (I recommend alcohol).

With just having to contend with hunger, wolves and the elements, this game is already shaping up to be a pretty fun survival game. Definitely recommended for those that want to get into this genre but don’t care for fighting monsters/undead or building a base.

The weirdest tower defense game you will ever play. Might be on the short side but the concept is different enough to make the trip interersting.

This is a non-game and there’s nothing wrong with that. It tells a short story through a dated Quake 2 engine using an interesting art style and visual tricks. Also includes the previous game, Gravity Bone.

Would I pay $5 for this? Probably not, but if you can pick it up during a sale and are open to a game where you have to use a bit more of your imagination to piece together the story, it’s worth playing. Yeah, it won’t take you more than 30 minutes to finish TFoL or GB, but it’s a nice, succinct couple that shows how games can be used to tell a story.

Nice satire about the game industry, though the game loses its charm a bit with the DLC by making the game arbitrarily longer to fit in more jokes. I guess that was the intension but felt the original game did a better job of conveying that without making the game an actual chore to play.

You can have sex with a ghoul AND a robot.