RoccoSalvetti

This is a very personal and brave work, and the business should be proud of it. I played it all in one go, I didn't feel right breaking it in more sessions. There are no puzzles, there is no arcade (well, there is one actually), here the mechanics serve the feelings and the storytelling. And they do it well. One remarkable things that was done right is the use of game-play to communicate discomfort. To do so you have to put the player in an annoying and frustrating situation, without giving any obvious action to take. Feeling lost can be a deal breaker to many players and it is a very risky design choice, but here it is done very well. You will feel that discomfort, you will feel the frustration as the protagonist does, yet it won't last too long to become redundant and pointless. There is also bit where you are invited to follow a conversation exploring the different point of views. Brilliant.

Fran Bow surpasses entertainment and defies arts as it can make a better person of you, one that isn't just more efficient at problem solving. Its demand for interpretation, its many and intense metaphors, human knowledge and poetry, it will make of you more understanding, cultured, and empathetic.

It reminds very much of Mafia Wars, it is a grinding game with a bit of humour about old action movies. I had kinda enjoyed playing but that is because it as it takes on the ocd side of me and this will not leave me with any nice memory for the future. I don't want to encourage anyone to develop this kind of games, you don't need to be intelligent to beat this management game.

Curiosity, exploration, patience and learning are very close experiences as The Witness proves. They complete each other and learning proves itself rewarding. In life discovery is fun not because you find rare armours but because you find a way around to fulfil your curiosity. The first few minutes of Super Mario are to teach how to play and it does so via events. (Braid quotes Mario in these first few minutes quite a lot). That kind of tutorial is an intelligent learning experience. There are obvious actions to take, suggested actions and hidden actions to experiment if you are curious. The Witness is a whole game dedicated to this! This game is not for casual gamers because it could walk as master example in a philosophy book titled: Phenomenology of learning. 10 out of 10 and the reason is simple, we have to pick a side here, we have to side with designers that count on us being intelligent. This is the opposite of Candy Crush.

I would give it an 8.5 and that is because I am an ass. This game has one big point: it scared me. The last time I felt so much tension I was watching IT and I was 7 years old. Someone said that it is a bit too long in some parts and maybe it is true in the sense that quiet a few times you will think"I made it!" but really you didn't yet. The fight is always going to be longer, between one shock and the other there will be not be much relief for your nerves that will be proved in resistance as well. I bought this one on sale but I wouldn't have regretted buying it full price.

It is like the first one but with an awful level design and a not interesting **** will die a lot, these days it seems fun but 9 out of 10 times here will be because of something shooting from outside of the screen. Where the first game could praise being reckless, here you will hide, lure the enemies toward you and then kill them. It is boring and frustrating in the way that skill doesn't count much.

I recommend this game to everybody - especially if you are interested in level design - that you like puzzles or not. The level design is brilliant making the game good for both: beginners and more demanding players. The only flaw I feel to remark is that it fails at teaching that you can put boxes on top of bombs but you will figure it out yourself a some point. Every puzzle will leave you with a pleasant feeling of accomplishment. Wonderful.

Finally they made it right! Yes, when it was released it was unfair and frustrating but it was clear that something brilliant was hidden behind. Introducing more difficulty levels and some fixes here and there they solved the frustrating and what is left now is a remarkable experience that I feel to recommend to any gamer. Just pick the difficult level that suits you, I suggest to cut off the elements of chance on your first time.

The AI cheats and the quests often are bugged, eventually you will get stuck but I can't stop playing it. Rebalance the combat system with a better AI and I will give it an 8 or a 9. I would allow the camera to go higher, sometimes it is very annoying to find your way around.

It is repetitive and sometimes unfair - like when you just can't find oxygen in a whole game and you die because of that - but still fun. It is only aesthetically comparable to FTL, as sometimes the game-play reminds me more of Mafia Wars, but with very good writing and writings are not a minor thing here. To me it is a 7, maybe a 7.5.