Recent reviews by aubri

This doesn't affect my review but, I was given a key to stream this in 2020. I played it to completion and have revisited several times. It is absolutely worth the price.

A puzzle game that relies solely on your ability to discover, analyze and piece together. No handholding. An epic mystery. Several visual options to switch to if you're like me and have sensitive eyes. Somehow manages to have an interesting cast, despite lacking the depth (not a bad thing) that most games insist on, in order for characters to be memorable. Excellent ambiance. Gave me great sense of accomplishment as I slowly, but surely, filled out the book and unraveled what once was.

An extraordinary experience. One that makes me somewhat grateful my memory isn't the best, so I can revisit it for what I know will be a cozy, engaging adventure. And a feeling I have sought after in any other game, since.

Yes, this is a puzzle game, but not your typical type of play. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes snooping around, searching for clues, hidden details, and figuratively putting the pieces of a puzzle together, through your own observations and deductions. I don't give games a perfect score anymore but Obra Dinn sure comes close to being the exception.

Love it. As much as I love Piper, wish she wasn't the only wlw option.

I was given a key by HH-Games for streaming Morrok.
This does not affect my review.


Morrok's experience is vastly different from what is portrayed on the steam store page. Simply put: it's boring, uninteresting, short and incomplete. Most people who play this will get roughly 30 minutes out of it, unless you're like me and encounter a bug that doesn't allow re-examination of a hotspot, resulting in restarting the level. In that 30 minutes, you'll make your way through 9 chapters (rooms), all of which are pretty lackluster. Once the player finishes the final chapter, you're given a screen that says (and I quote) "Well done! You have successfully completed the first episode of the Morrok game! However, the adventure has not ended yet: there are still mysteries to solve and souls to liberate! See you soon in Morrok: The Castle Escape. Thanks for choosing our product!" ...... Uh huh.

It's rich to call this a "3D Puzzle Adventure" as I wouldn't consider the mundane tasks in each room to be puzzles, more like obstacles. Pick up this item, pick up that, combine them, bring them here and use them on this. That's the gameplay loop. Even Hidden Object games have more puzzles in them! If you're playing on Hard difficulty, your cursor won't change when you look at things you can more closely inspect, whereas on Normal difficulty they will change to an eye symbol, that's the only difference. And although minimal, the interface is a bit dodgy when dragging items from your inventory (at the bottom of the screen) to the object you want to use them on. It'll only work when put on a specific spot and there's no indication of where that is! Very frustrating. Hints are USELESS, as all they do is tell you what you already know: "Get to the other side of this room." or "I should find a way to leave." No **** lmao.

I'm so disappointed by this one. By how it's described on the store page.. it sounds really intriguing! And there's a SLIVER of plot at the beginning, told by the game's intro, that has the potential to lead somewhere but that's literally it! Even the tiniest bit of hope that's granted you, quickly fizzles out into nothing once you realize the whole game, or episode or whatever the heck this thing is, is a slog to get through and then abruptly ends with no resolution.

False advertising + incomplete + intro plot goes nowhere + boring gameplay + buggy + not enjoyable at all AND short?
Avoid it. I wouldn't recommend this even if it were free.

despite facility 47 feeling more casual than most point and clicks (similar to the style of hidden objects), don't get it twisted! this game is atmospheric and does a great job of making you feel you're on your own. the interface didn't bother me too much, surprisingly, despite being a very obvious mobile port - it still gets the job done. i do have to say though: there is no distinction in what can be clicked on, interacted or combined with, and transitioned to. this was very frustrating and resulted in me getting stuck often, never sure if i ever explored anything in its entirety. fortunately, there is a ? button for when you're stuck, to give what i THOUGHT was a hint.. turns out it tells you explicitly how to solve the puzzle. i'm not a fan of that and would've preferred hints so i suggest having a text walkthrough nearby, for tips in the right direction, and only use the game's ? (cheat) button as a last resort.

with that said, i can't say i enjoyed the puzzles in this one. they weren't terrible in their premise.. but i didn't find any of them to be fun. there's no roster of characters to get to know or talk to, only little glimpses of what they were like, read from journal entries scattered throughout the facility. our protagonist is a man of few words, commenting a little here and there about things in the environment, but never showing any emotion, or much of a reaction, even when it would be very human to do so. like i get it dude, these people aren't your crew, but damn.. your stoic nature.. it's making me uneasy.

it's no secret i have some gripes with this game, but i definitely do still recommend it. if not for the setting and story (which work so well together), then because it's a short, cheap and decent point & click that you'll most likely be glad you gave a chance :)

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I was given a key by Caligari Games for streaming Whateverland.
This does not affect my review.
I also played the Prologue back in August 2020, nice to see some improvements since then!

Whateverland is brilliant. A joy to explore different locations, in the order you please. Really makes me want more non-linear point and clicks! Exciting to meet the cast of quirky characters, whose dialogue is great and voice acting AWESOME! I especially love Vincent's voice (he's the protagonist), it's very soothing, which helps the narration when examining objects in the environment. Soundtrack is wonderful, artstyle just as beautiful. I adore the character art! The subtle movement to mimic breathing and the idle animations are a really nice touch that brings them to life. I also love when devs are able to incorporate their credits into the game, in an immersive way that doesn't distract from the players' experience. <3

Whateverland has several minigames. Some that work as puzzles to progress (these can't be skipped), and one that's.. well, a completely different game called "Bell and Bones" or "B&B." It's got a hex-grid and it's strategy-based. Can't say more than that because I don't know, I never could figure it out. But thankfully, you can skip that minigame altogether if you've collected yarn, which the game puts throughout the different areas you'll explore. As for the puzzle-based minigames, they fit a lot better with the game's pacing.

There were a few bugs here and there, like an extra line of dialogue being re-voiced, or the subtitle not matching up with what was being said, but nothing game-breaking. I did have an issue with my saves being inconsistent with my instance, especially when in the same room as someone I've already spoken to, but as long as you're saving often, you should be fine. And honestly, that's just a lil nitpick from me, as I doubt most players will be bothered by that, if they even encounter it at all.

How you have Vincent tackle his objectives.. be nice and help, or ignore and steal is up to you. I played nice (I always do :p) and enjoyed the outcome of my decisions and the ending I earned as a result. I loved helping all the residents and wish I could've spent more time with them. <3

9/10 An amazing point-and-click adventure. Thank you Caligari Games.
P.S. Please give whoever wrote Francois and Hilda a hug ;~;

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i can't stop making mods for this aging game

god i'm so mentally ill
thumbs up

The Occupation has a lot going for it, with some charming visuals and a dope soundtrack to match. Unfortunately, there are a few things about it that I can't get past.

My main gripe is that there is no option to skip or advance dialogue, in neither conversation or cutscenes. On the first playthrough, this won't be much of a problem. However, the further you get into the game, the more you'll realize the devs meant for it to be played more than once to fully explore the levels, what they may offer the player, and the different outcomes that result from your exploration. As mentioned here and here.

Originally posted by destroyermaker Mar 9, 2019 @ 12:27pm:

Encourages multiple playthroughs. Don't restart, just continue on. When you replay the game, you'll have more knowledge.

Originally posted by Pete_Bottomley (developer) Mar 11, 2019 @ 8:03am:

In line with what destroyermaker mentioned above, that was our thinking in design. We didn't design it with the intention that everyone needs to get 100% before continuing.

When I realized you couldn't skip dialogue during my first playthrough, I knew immediately it would become a problem but I was hoping, hey, maybe it being my first playthrough was why I couldn't do that. It wasn't, it isn't. Even on the second playthrough, I can't skip anything. This game consists of walking (very slowly, might I add), sneaking, listening, and talking. And when the former half of the game is already so slow.. it does nothing but contribute to how frustrating and tedious it all becomes when it cannot be skipped.

I think it's important to mention:
Regardless of what progress you make and the ending you earn, at the completion of your first playthrough, you unlock 'Chapter Selection' on the main menu, which allows you to replay specific Chapters, instead of having to start from the beginning again. I read in the patch notes that this was added in v1.4.0, which was the 5th update, 7 months after the games' release, so good on the devs for adding that in, as it is very useful. Sadly, it seems that the game's last update was well over a year ago, in October of 2019. Weirdly enough, Ether One, a game White Paper released 7 years ago, received an update March 2020 that even included some fixes to their save system, which I find interesting. It does seem like The Occupation has been abandoned, or if it hasn't, the devs haven't kept communication on Steam but because they've added Chapter Select, I'm led to believe that if they had any plans to patch-in skippable dialogue/cutscenes, they would have done it by now.

And to think I haven't mentioned the game's saving system. It works like this: you play through various levels of different time constraints, that go by real-time minutes, and the game only ever saves once at the end of each chapter. Smaller levels are 15-30 minutes, that branch in-between the larger levels that are 60 minutes each. It's awful. And even worse, it's intentional. In response to players complaining about lack of manual saves, a dev stated and I quote:

Originally posted by Pete_Bottomley (developer) Mar 7, 2019 @ 4:36am:

We designed the world to get immersed and hopefully lose yourself in. We appreciate sometimes people only have 20 minutes or so to pick up and play a game in a day, but with the systems and the way you investigate leads, we didn't think it would make too much sense if you were picking it up and putting it down in short bursts and instead felt that most people would be OK seeing a fully chapter through before saving and exiting (much like when reading a book I guess!).

Man, sometimes I just don't know. Is it me? Is it a me problem? I've never felt rushed or forced to finish the chapter of a book. Do people normally feel that way? It's so odd to me as a player to see devs acknowledging (prior to implementation) how detrimental lacking a basic mechanic accessibility option would be for a lot of people, and still.. following through with it regardless because 'it wouldn't make sense' to their vision. Like I get where they're coming from, I do, but their excuse that being able to save when you want, or having autosaves at different intervals throughout a level would break the world's atmosphere or the player's immersion.. doesn't make sense. Thief 2 (2000) has similar level structure (even the cinematic story breaks), great atmosphere and manual saving that never once subtracts from the experience so I think that's a lame excuse. It makes even less sense with the Chapter Select addition because now you can boot the game up and start playing a chapter that's 3/4s the way through the story. And I am not knocking that feature but where's the ~flow~ of world-building in that?

Besides the lack of accessibility options, the game suffers from ludonarrative dissonance. At the end of three chapters are meetings where you conduct an interview. Depending on what leads you pursued and evidence you gathered throughout the level, you'll unlock different questions to ask. After answering, characters will often ask for your opinion and you'll be given the opportunity to pick a response. It seems what's available to you is directly tied to the leads you've completed in your notebook. This is to say that even if you (playing the game) read a note that says XYZ, your character will act like they haven't read the note. Even if after reading it, your character acknowledges in the notebook a new clue based on XYZ, you won't be able to bring it up in the conversation unless the associated lead has been followed through.

For example: I read a note saying X received something from Y. As the player playing the game, I know this to be true. When asked if I know anything, I'm forced to say 'I have no reason to think otherwise.' In the same scenario, I read a note saying X received something from Y. My character (in the game) updates the notebook with the clue: investigate, therefore acknowledging they too, know this to be true. Again, when asked if I know anything, I have one option available that claims I know nothing. There's a serious disconnect between the knowledge the player learns (in the same game session) and what you're allowed to do with what you have learnt.

For the most part, I enjoyed my first playthrough but ultimately felt disappointed with how quickly the game became tedious and was too frustrated with how my exploration felt meaningless. Thanks for reading!

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As much as I love this game, I do not recommend anyone purchase or bother investing anything into it until they patch a game-breaking bug.

I haven't written a review for a game in a while so I'm rusty but I truly feel compelled to write one for Silver Chains, especially considering how many positive reviews there are for a
First and foremost, I got this for free because I requested it for my stream so thank you to Headup Games. With that said, that doesn't affect my opinion or review.

I was looking forward to playing Silver Chains but the sad truth is it's just another generic, predictable and stale game cluttering up the horror genre. Store page description tries to sell more of a game to you than what they are able to deliver; saying that Silent Hill and Resident Evil, among other horror titles, inspired them to create SC. Other than it also being a horror game, there are no similarities and I wouldn't advise relating your game to others with an upmost standard.

Silver Chains follows the same uninspired format as all the others like it: Pick up note, run to one room, pick up item (that was spawned AFTER picking up the note), jump scare, run to room to use item, once inside scripted monster AI chases you, hide, go back to item room, use item, jump scare, run to next room, rinse and repeat. Entire game consists of this. Puzzles aren't actually puzzles as they're solved with minimal effort and the game will tell you how.

Let me use an example:
You want to go to the grocer but you can't find your keys. You look around and you end up finding them after some searching. You leave your house, get into your car, put your keys into the ignition and then make your way to the store.
Was this a puzzle? No, it was an obstacle, an obstacle you didn't have to face had you already had your keys. Silver Chain's puzzles are like this. Annoying, tedious time-wasters with nothing to make them interesting or redeeming. As someone who plays puzzle games regularly, they are in no way riveting, challenging or even remotely unique as another reviewer would insist and it's sad to see blatant lies told within that review.

Main menu is simple but inviting with pretty and haunting music that sets a tone the game sadly cannot match. Options contain three sliders for audio: global, music and voice over. No slider for sound effects, which coincidentally, is what blares into your ears when you get jump scared. I believe it goes without saying that it would have been nice to be able to control the volume for that, since you hear it so often. Music was nice when I was able to hear it, since it would cut in and out for me. Voice acting wasn't anything special but with the exception of one character's voice, it wasn't awful either.
Video options contain sliders for: textures, effects, shadows, view distance, and anti-aliasing. VSync can be turned off, resolution changed and windowed, borderless and fullscreen available. You can also view the controls for controller and re-bind kb+m. I played using keyboard and mouse but regardless of my setting to turn rumble on/off, my controller always vibrated violently. Seems that may be a bug.

Game starts with the player spawned next to their crashed car. From main menu, to this. No cut scene, dialog, nothing to offer any explanation as to what brought us here or how we got in the accident. But that's the supposed mystery, right? Lack of explanation increases curiosity in some players whereas for me, it makes me hesitant to get involved in the story if there's no attempt on the dev's part to lure me in. Bits and pieces of the story are revealed to you through notes you pick up throughout the house. I consider myself a fan of visual novels and choose your own adventure games so reading is something I enjoy and I don't mind putting the pieces together myself but SC seems to be lacking direction throughout the notes, as you don't pick them up in order and they leave unanswered questions.

Mansion has a bit of atmosphere at the very start, with cracked and dirty walls that remind the player they're in a now-abandoned place that is not familiar to them. Unfortunately that feeling fades all too quickly, as what would a creepy, decrepit mansion be without a never-ending thunderstorm? It's a shame the thunder sound effect (which as mentioned earlier, cannot be turned down) sounds nothing like a thunderstorm and more like a muffled gunshot, as it plays the entire time you're in the house, on loop with no variation.

Upon departure of the starting room, you will notice immediately that most of the doors are inaccessible. Although a few are locked, meaning they can be unlocked using a key, the majority are jammed, meaning either they cannot be opened at all or are unlocked only when the game decides you've progressed far enough in the story to warrant a room's use. A problem stirs from this technique right away, since the game has you running back and forth throughout the house's halls to collect an item, note or trigger a jump scare that allows the player to continue forward. Navigating the house is a pain, with no map or visual representation of where anything is, until about halfway through the game, when the player is granted a tool, a monocle, that specifically highlights items. Despite having to use this tool, you can't use it continuously as it obstructs your vision to the point where everything except that lit objective is too dark to see. You also cannot use both the monocle and the lantern at the same time but it's a relief to say that the lantern does not deplete fuel. It does however, have a nauseating bobbing effect while running with it out, which I felt was a bit too exaggerated.

Ending was beyond rough. It involves a chase scene with a monster you cannot hide from, while having to navigate through a room that's designed like a maze, pick up items and interact with objects that create noise which immediately initiate the chase scene if the player isn't already in one. Along with my key for this game, I was given a step-by-step walkthrough to use if I got stuck and its instructions for this are, and I quote: "Run in circles until you've created a little bit of space between you and the monster." Run in circles.. wow. Needless to say if the monster catches you, you have to start at the beginning of the altercation and do all the steps over again. That's it. Terrible ending for a terrible game, how poetic.

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An excellent HOG / Puzzle Adventure!

+ Hidden Object scenes aren't overbearing
+ Story keeps you interested & on edge
+ Progress is straightforward, meaning you won't spend hours stuck on what to do
+ Clean, easy to navigate interface
+ Good amount of playtime
+ Searching for clues and solving puzzles is always fun

Nothing negative to say about this game.
Glad I decided to play it :)