Évaluations récentes de Substancer

Short and inconsequential with sloppy art and game design. Clicks on some of the cats didn’t register in the coloured version of the picture and others needed the click to be held down for a while (but not too long). The background music and the price is ok and I never expect much from these games, but this one was poor.

A very cosy and relaxing game about moving into new homes at various stages of your life. The chilled music and laid back atmosphere allows for a wholesome and charming experience with just a tad of nostalgia, but just as I was thinking there’s more to the game than expected, it ended. There isn’t much of a story or emotional investment to unpack and there isn’t much character development beyond “growing up”. The pixel art graphics are good except when you zoom in and the pastel art style compliments the theme. Although it wasn’t clear what all the items were supposed to be, they are very detailed and there are lots of neat little touches to enjoy. It’s a short but solid game which is easy enough to complete due to the limited scope and challenge, but the music was quiet for too long at stretches and a lot of the bonus content like camera filters and achievements are easily missed.

Easy to play and simply built but with plenty of charm and silly cartoon humour. The humour is funny with a mix of the bizarre, random, puerile and farce with comedic timing and crazy antics, making it fun and entertaining to play. The basic pixel art is colourful and makes it easy to see what’s what most of the time and the quirky music adds to the experience, even if it does repeat a bit too often. There’s plenty of inventive levels and even more gags and secrets within them, but it does get repetitive and annoying when you can’t figure out the correct solution, especially when the interactive spots are a bit iffy at times. It’s bigger and better than the first game and makes for a dumb yet funny diversion, but I felt as though the hub area was a bit dull as the gags and secrets were few and far between and the Heist sequence lacked context. The currency system was also mostly pointless, although I can understand why it was included the way it was, and in general, the challenge of solving the levels, finding all the gags and achievements was about right.

It has a good creepy setting and premise but the puzzles are far too obscure or nonsensical for the game to be enjoyable. The simple story, art style and music makes it feel like a Grimm Fairy Tale (complete with a shocking and moral ending) and the animations are well done, but I never felt as though I solved a puzzle beyond trying everything with everything else. The game is pretty unforgiving with death coming frequently and as you are forced to repeat some sections multiple times, it just becomes tedious and boring. The very short play time is extended by earning achievements, but not by much and although overall, I was disappointed by it.

A great collection of quirky and inventive artworks each with their own style and challenge. The way the music suits the various settings is great and the game play is both engaging and wholesome. The Forest Fort level was particularly tough and bees on the darker backgrounds need to be easier to see, but other than that, I enjoyed playing it and finding all the little scenes in each of the pictures is a joy. There’s been no changes or improvements to the formula from previous games, but the quality remains good and if you’re playing the 10th game in a series, you should know by now whether these games are for you or not.

A relaxing and enjoyable romp through a cartoon castle filled with hidden rooms and secrets as you try to find all of the elusive cats. Whilst there was plenty of cats in different forms to find, I wasn’t too taken with the cats changing as you click on them as the artwork detail is far too small to appreciate in normal play. There also needs to be better signposting as to where the hidden cats are hidden to avoid clicking everywhere and the hint just takes you straight to them. The spooky theme and setting is well done with a variety of music tracks, but it got a bit dark at times. The final boss will be divisive, but it was an interesting idea and whilst not a long game, it was nice to continue to find more bonuses after the boss.

A relatively basic but enjoyable and rewarding jigsaw puzzle game, even if some of the picture themes aren’t as interesting as in the previous games. The artwork is great and the music is relaxing, but it doesn’t really have the same stained glass aesthetic as the earlier games and the menus look a bit cheap. There’s a good number of levels and a lot of potential variety and replay value due to all the different puzzle cuts, game modes and other challenges, but it can make some puzzles extremely easy to solve and others very tough.

A quirky but very basic first person shooter. With basic graphics and animations, no abilities such as jump, crouch or reload and only 5 levels, enemies and weapon types (although all of these can be remixed, adding some replay value), it’s more of an experiment than a full game. It’s very short and not that difficult but it’s got a lot of odd charm and weird humour and its fun enough for the time it lasts. The enemies are comical, their voices are funny and each location is different enough with a couple of secret areas to uncover, but more could have been done with the other elements such as the coins.

A beautifully crafted and well told set of stories about fear, loss and persecution, but too short to really get into. The stories are well written, the pixel art is very detailed and the classical music is superb and fits in well with each setting, but the acts vary in length and none really go into enough detail of the characters. The themes are dark and disturbing with some shockingly detailed gross depictions and the topics fit in nicely with the time period and the macabre atmosphere. The puzzles offer little challenge, some scenes are a bit too dark, the walking pace is slow and the ending is quirky which doesn’t really fit with the rest of the style of the game, but overall, it’s a solid narrative adventure game.

A chilled and relatively laid back adventure game with a lot of talking as you complete routine jobs whilst exploring the city. Whilst you play as an outsider with their own interesting plot, the city is the real star of this story. Very atmospheric and beautiful to look at from a distance with its rain soaked streets, neon lights and eternal twilight, towering city blocks and constant motion, it tells a hundred stories a night, seemingly small and inconsequential, but together, something more. It’s a shame about the loading screens - a tunnel would have been better to connect the city districts, and waiting for elevators takes far too long.

Most of the side quests amount to little more than a conversation, but they all add to the experience and whilst game variety is limited, it is a solid and entertaining game to play. The mix of graphic styles doesn’t always work as the character portraits don’t look as they do in-game and the voxel graphics don’t look good close up. Exploring on foot is a bit awkward and looks poor in third person, civilians and other traffic doesn’t react to you and driving is too floaty and difficult to judge distances. Timed missions need better warning or a replay option as the choices you make really don’t matter, making a second playthrough not worth it. Still the music and voice acting was good and it was a different experience and enjoyable to play.