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This is the single best exploration game I've played in years. It is reminiscent of Myst in it's approach to discovering the lore of an ancient worlds while having none of the contrived puzzles - Outer Wilds is all about unraveling and making sense of what has been left in plain sight - like most ancient lore is. There are puzzles, but they are more about understanding the world around you than deciphering a mad man's code. As for the exploration, I am reminded in Subnautica in how treacherous and astonishingly enticing the adventure is. Often times it is even more imaginative and precarious. The graphics are superb, sound is impeccable, story is well written, diverse, personal, the exploration is nerve grinding - just give this game a try.

Once in a while, you stumble upon and old house, a peculiar landscape or some forgotten music that instantly triggers your imagination, that sets a dreamy mood you just can't let go. Oddly enough for a game, this is exactly what The Vanishing of Ethan Carter did for me. Nothing is rushed on you, you simply wander and uncover the story as you go along. The music, the narrative, the landscape, everything is carefully balanced to let you breath and inhale the game. While this is of course along the lines of games like Gone Home and Dear Esther, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is on a completely different level in terms of making you care and being genuinely interesting. It's one of the very rare games in which I got goosebumps while not being directly spooked by some lurking horror waiting to devour my character in some horrible way. In all, on some rainy autumn night, you're looking for an atmospheric, well written, astonishingly beautiful adventure game, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter might be the perfect game for you. The only reason I don't give this game 10 out of 10 is that the level of interaction is a little too mild for my taste: a handful of basic puzzle solving here and there, some item finding and that's mostly it. While there is definitely more interaction that what you'll find in Dear Esther or Gone Home, being a puzzle solver at heart, for me, it's not quite enough.

At its core, Druidstone is a tense, merciless turn-based RPG who's tight strategic situations can only be compared to Into the Breach. Do not go in expecting another Grimrock, this is a different beast entirely where, again, the emphasis is all about very tight strategic combat along with some light puzzle solving. While a lot of the game design is strongly reminiscent of Into the Breach, Druidstone's handcrafted levels and story leaves you with a far more organic, immersive and pleasing experience where each mission seems to have a peculiar twist of it's own. For full disclosure, I usually am not a big fan of turn-based RPGs for it seems that most of them can be won by a simple rinse-and-wash procedure where you just mechanically select the most effective action at your disposal without thinking any more than one move ahead. Notable exceptions: Invisible inc., Into the Breach, XCom and now Druidstone. In terms of production quality, the game runs smoothly (steady FPS) on my limited machine without any major bug to be seen. The UI is well done and intuitive. The backdrop story is kind of generic and light but the dialogues are usually fun to read. Overall, this is a very well done game. If you think this is just another shovelware turn-based RPG, do yourself and the dev a favor: just go ahead and try to beat it. My bet is you'll fail a lot and have a lot of fun while doing so.

As Telltale games go, this one feels especially cheap. I don't mind a game where the story and decisions relative to it are and the crux of the game play mechanics but this entails that the script must deliver. Unfortunately, this is were this episode fails: most of the story is rushed up, bold, scotched taped with an overall quality far below what I've seen from other telltale's titles (Wolf Among Us, Game of Thrones, Walking dead season 1 & 2, Borderlands). I'm keeping up only in the hope that some other writers and directors will step in and improve the whole thing. As a side note: the new visuals are appealing but meh... the old style was lovely.

Enticing premise and mechanics but (as most negative reviews are saying) the level design offers absolutely no challenge and no real puzzle. On the strong points: the writing can be funny at times, the atmosphere is well done but in the end, no enough to compensate for the poor level design, basic and repetitive use of the same mechanics. If you are looking for a game in the same vein but leagues ahead in terms of intense strategy, take a look at: Invisible inc.

I cannot comprehend the amount of mild, disappointing reviews for such a splendid game. In terms of puzzle design it is certainly on-par with the likes of Limbo, The Swapper and other acclaimed puzzle-platformers. Most of the puzzles do not require heavy lateral thinking but there is sometimes a real-time constraint to the formula that requires you to think fast and right which makes it a rather unique (and beautiful) puzzler. The main concept of the game revolves around switching the world's ambient color so that some elements of the level appear and disappear depending on how the color affects them and the designer's variations on this theme are as numerous as they are ingenious (most of the time). What adds to my confusion on how mild some of the reviews are is how exquisite this game is on so many levels: the artwork is simple yet lovely (no retro pixelated crap), the soundtrack features some delightful piano pieces which render a calm and soothing mood and the story/narration while simple, is well told, heartfelt and very much engaging - this makes for a very well done game in every regard. In all, I completed the game in around 5 hours which makes the 17$ ish price-tag much reasonable. In short, if you appreciated Braid, Fez (imho, Hue's puzzles are better), Limbo (kinda weak on the puzzle side but oh the incredible ambiance!), Hue is a game for you - no pun intended.

As any game from the Myst series, Obduction is a game about exploration, subtle details and environmental puzzle solving. As true successor to Myst, Obduction really delve into those core principles but sadly most of the time it's execution is flawed by some really bad design decisions. The exploration part is good, not quite linear yet focused enough and most importantly: the environments are diverse, grandiose and sometimes beautiful (other times: awkward and clunky). Where the game fails, as other reviews mentioned is mainly in the puzzles. Most of them really are simplistic and few require some form of lateral thinking. Most of the time, the solution is outright given upon discovering some piece of paper that will connect the dots for you. When puzzles do require a bit of logic, most of the time they are not really complex nor ingenious but rather extremely tedious given the time/loading time required to perform some step of the solution (imagine solving a simple Sudoku problem where you need to take a 15 minutes stroll across the park prior to the writing of any number). As for the subtle details, there are some (some directly copied from the ol' Myst formula) but most of the time, the clues are plain and obvious. To be sure, the Myst series feeling remains but it surely, this is no Riven. (A side note, for puzzle aficionados: the puzzle quality is far below of what can be found in Talos Principle, The Witness, Braid, Tetrobot and Co., Stephen's Sausages Roll, etc. to name a few). In terms of graphical quality, to be honest, given Myst's legacy, my expectations were also a bit higher. For some reason I spent a lot of time adjusting my gamma settings for it never felt quite right (below some threshold, some places looked just perfect, others were too dark, and vice versa). In some worlds the meshes/models resolution felt quite poor giving an overall impression of 2010 era graphics. As for the textures and lightning, it's mostly good and if you have a machine powerful enough: do crank the resolution scale up to 200 - it's really worth it on the texture side (otherwise, the whole game might look blurry). One good point: the game seems performs quite well and because of the resolution scale mechanism, it seems it can fairly accommodate a wide range of hardware specs. Overall, I was expecting something on par with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter but got something quite below. As for the sound ambiance, this is one of the highest points of the game. The music itself is bland, nothing to fall for but the sound effects are very well done. Overall, it took me 13 hours to finish the game and found most of it to be a somewhat tedious experience. I appreciate the effort cyan has put into this and in itself, the game surely is a nice technical achievement but it would surely have benefited of more though into it's puzzle design (not to say it's an easy thing).

This War Of Mine is a harsh, unforgiving and absolutely delightful game (easily among my top 3 of 2014). You begin with a small group of ordinary people, each having their own skills and weaknesses and try to survive through a civil war that has left you with barely no resources. At it's core, the concept of the game is quite simple (yet innovative for all I know): during the day, you must make the best of what you have to organize your shelter in order to tend to the needs of your group while at night, you go scavenging for the resources you are in dire need of. Where all this really takes off, is how the game mechanics have been fine tuned so that each and every day, the stakes are to the max. As it is the case for any realistic survival situation, every bits of food and material is vital and must be carefully managed, every step you make while scavenging can be deadly and have irreversible consequences - this is a rogue-like game: you cannot save and everything you do generally have irreversible consequences. For instance: you must have water to cook food (per the game's mechanics, raw food is less nourishing) and given a group of four people, you hence might need a certain amount of water to feed them well. Let's say one day you forget to tend to your water collector, the raw food you have might then not be sufficient to nourish everyone in your group. Being malnourished, someone might get sick so that, on your scavenging night, instead of simply having to find a little amount of food, you now must find water, lots of food and some meds. Meds are usually rare and chances are you'll have to sneak your way in some dangerous place to find some (and perhaps even kill someone if you get caught stealing), all this because you forgot to tend to your water collector! Add to this mix a bunch of unexpected, random events such as kids begging for meds at your shelter, a friendly neighbor offering you a batch of vegetables, your well crafted survival plans can easily go south in the blinking of an eye. This is, in my opinion, what makes this game so addictive, intense, frustrating and yet deeply enjoyable. On the technical side, there are very few bugs. The graphics are a perfect fit to the game's spirit; the environments are diverse and not repetitive and while the music themes can be a bit repetitive they do create a very good atmosphere. In all, if you like survival games for the sense of vulnerability and intensity they provide, if you appreciate rogue-like games such as FTL, you will definitively love This War Of Mine.

Decent puzzle game. Despite it's escheresque presentation, most of the puzzles are not nearly as convoluted as they may first appear: most solutions are pretty straight forward and the amount of lateral thinking required is pretty low. This sums up in a somewhat unappealing gameplay that would, by itself, make an sub-average puzzle game if it weren't for overall graphical appeal. The art style is commendable and is perhaps the very reason I kept playing the game. On the technical side, the game often feels tedious due to the control's sluggishness (even on a high end gaming rig). Overall, don't expect a masterpiece but The Bridge can sure fill one evening or two if only to enjoy stepping in a sweet, grey Escher like universe.

I'm often amused by how, for some games, the "official critics" response to a game can be far from the general public appreciation. My guess is that, two main factors are responsible for this. The first is that, nowadays, as games are being touted as a serious art form, it seems that critics feel as if they now must theorize on what makes a good game, they built up expectations on what a game should be and in some places, the meeting of this expectation simply replaces sheer enjoyment and appreciation. The second factor is that, most critics don't have the time to properly review all the games that come out and they simply "inspire" themselves from other "reputable" opinions. Actually, concerning the Broken Sword 5, I wouldn't be surprised if most of the mixed reviews we see are just clones of the RockPaperShotgun's appreciation. As for myself, as most of the other reviewers around, I feel that that Broken Sword 5 is on par with the first two games of the series. The story unfolds in very natural way and is punctuated with glimpses of the same silly humour that made Broken Sword 1 & 2 so enjoyable. I felt that the intrigue, while verging on the mystic and mysterious, was told in credible and enticing way. As a first episode of two, by definition, it is incomplete and somewhat of an intro to the whole story but it sure got me hooked into playing the second act. On the technical side, the graphics are mostly very well done. Every background is hand-drawn and they all are, with respect to the series, colourful and lovely detailed. As for the characters, while being 3D rendered, they do integrate very well with their surroundings but to be honest, the animation part is 70% of what it should have been. (The main problem is that most of the characters have very limited movement routines and it sometimes leads to situations where you really feel like playing with cheap puppets). Most of voice acting was equally good with the notable exception of Nico - her accent is just off and her intonations are often misplaced. As for the music, it does the job well enough (nothing overstated). In the end, if you enjoyed the first Broken Sword games, chances are you'll really appreciate this one. And if you're somewhat new to point and click adventures, I guess this would be a good title to begin with (in my opinion, it surely is far more appreciable then most of that Daedalic have done in last few months)!

A very credible continuation to the previous season. The story does neither feel forced nor like a gratuitous sequel. One of my greatest fear for this season was Clementine being the central character and I must say that, given how difficult an accurate portrayal of a child's reaction can be, Telltale did a wonderful job in making Clementine a strong, realistic character. As for the story itself, given that this first episode is some sort of introduction to the second season, I feel it's been told with an appropriate pace (some action takes place, but nothing feels rushed and the story builds itself in a natural manner, with small and interesting events). That being said, if the previous season has been criticized for it's lack of actual and meaningful interactions, this one feels even more close to a movie than a game. The choices are very few and most of them seems to lead to the same conclusions for this very reason, I would give a 7.5 out of 10 if it was possible on Metacritic. Anyhow, I believe that, as for the previous season, the real experience can only be enjoyed if you play all the episodes in a row (hence 7.5 out of 10 means nothing by itself). In the end there is too little content in this two hour episode to really make up your mind about it, it's a great introduction but good introductions will always be unsatisfying teasers. My recommendation to anyone considering to play the Walking Dead Season 2 would be: just wait until all the episodes are out if you can. With the Wolf Among Us being released in parallel to this series and with the many side projects that Telltale just signed on, I guess the wait between episodes will be long and equally frustrating if you got engaged by this first one.

Now that the "artsy game" genre is beginning to spread, it seems that it was inevitable that a game such as The Stanley Parable would someday come out. While I'm certainly not against games that will abstract themselves from the traditional gaming paradigms, I demand that they remain GAMES, NOT STATEMENTS ABOUT GAMES. And so, don't be fooled by that pseudo-wisecrack-british-accent narrator that'll accompany you all along the way: The Stanly Parable is a statement about games that, in itself, is a poor game. In the end, it's really no wonder that this title has received such a high critical acclaim; it's indie, it's unconventional, it's a game about games, it's pure critic's dog food. Let me hammer it again: it's not enough to step out of the traditional gaming paradigms just for the sake of it, you still have to make a game. This is what Anti-Chamber did, this is what Telltale did with (love it or not) with Walking Dead, this is what Miasmata did; those game stepped out of the conventional path and yet, they stand by themselves. And then you have your Andy Warhol games: The Stanley Parable, Gone Home (a very bland experiment in cheap empathy) and Dear Esther (that thing is so pompous I tried 3 times to spend more than an hour in front of it without feeling like I'm watching the English Patient).

I've been intrigued by this game since it came out a few years ago mostly because of it's appealing setting and the good reviews it got. While I'm not quite fond of this retro-pixelated trend going on these days, those blocky animated sprites have delivered more than their share of magic in the past and if it's what it takes to deliver an enticing fanstasy well then be it. With It's noir sci-fi dystopia and the smooth jazz/ambient music the game sets an excellent mood with all the rain, trench-coats and spaceships you can ask for. Yet, this mood can be somewhat distrubed by some minor annoyances: as another metacritic reviewer wrote, the game's interactions often are too linear and directed toward the advancement of the plot moreover, the game has few locations and after a while, they begin to feel over-used. What kept me playing though, is the quality of the narrative and the overall story aside from that, the voice acting is well done and the flow is really good. If you appreciate some of other Wadjeteye titles (such as Primordia) or anything that comes close to bladerunner, there are very good chances you'll appreciate this game just don't set your expectations too high.

Since the release of the Samorost series and Machinarium, Amanita Design held a special place in my hear for being able to convey a profoundly sensible experience without relying on dialogue. This made their game appealing on a totally different level. Like many, my expectations for Botanicula were consequently very high and all that big tree idea was very compelling until... I actually played the game. To give credit where credit is due: you can feel that there's been an incredible effort to make the game look alive; literally, every pixel seems to be animated by a life of it's own and all of which is enclosed in a rich sonic ambiance that soothes the mind. But the greatness ends there. Your interactions with this rich and beautiful world are as tantalizing as they are passive. There is a reason why games have puzzles or challenging opponents for when you try to defeat them, you are engaged with the game and sadly, this is where Botanicula fails completely. The "puzzles" are so simplistic and naive that you could have solved them by clicking at random on anything that moves or shines (in no way can they be compared to what Machinarium had to offer). Not only the puzzles are simplistic and naive, there's not even enough content to the game to keep you occupied more than 2 or 3 hours. One could argue that a game does not need to have a challenging game-play to be fun; citing The Walking Dead for instance but The Walking Dead is a whole different story for, to the point, it has an amazing story and a very peculiar way to drag you into it while Botanicula simply has no story, nada. Aside from the ever changing animations, I really can't see what is this game's appeal. Fortunately, Amanita makes no false claim about this game as they call it a "toy-game" (what more unfortunate though, is that they intend to make Samorost 3 a toy-game too!). To be fair, perhaps I'm not the right audience for this game; I like a lot of stuff that's somewhat intended for children (any Hayao Miyazaki's movies for instance) but perhaps this is a game that really is for children. In brief, if you're the kind of person that deeply enjoyed the Myst series, or something like Portal, run away like hell. If on the other hand you loved Samorost I and II, maybe you'll like this game and if you loved Machinarium, just know that this is NO Machinarium at all.

***This is a review of the solo campaign, it may not apply to the multiplayer mode. I don't feel like saying much about this game except that this is perhaps the most linear and restrained solo campaign I've played in the last few years. In each mission, it feels like you could sit back and let your buddies do all the work and the objectives would be accomplished all the same. There also are numerous missions where you're in "control" of some vehicle (tank, plane) and there again it's as hard as clicking a few places. Sure the graphics of the Dice engine are something but there is way too much post-processing effects and it makes the whole thing disturbing. If you want a good FPS experience, try Far-Cry 3 or Black Mesa. They're perhaps not as visually compelling but hell they deliver a better experience.

Behold immersion through sensory deprivation! As paradoxical as the previous sentence may seems, I'd suggest that's exactly what Amnesia succeeded to achieve. The game's premise is that you are alone, chased by a living nightmare from which you can only hide from. Being completely vulnerable, you constantly keep you ears open for some unknown sound, being in the dark, relying on the frail light of your lantern, you keep scrutinizing for somewhere to hide or for some way to escape through and being on the verge of sanity, your heart keeps pounding, your breathing gets heavier: the immersion begins. Soon, you learn that your only way out of this nightmare is only forward, deeper where all the horrors come from. All this, makes Amnesia a game you'll never forget (no freakin pun intended) if only for the atmosphere it creates. Aside from keeping your head cool, progressing in Amnesia requires you to solve puzzles and obstacles, most of which are logical and well integrated. In all, this makes it one of the best game-play experience I've had in some years. Technically, the graphics are very decent (not even considering that it's an indie production) but where the game shines most is perhaps in it's sound effects which are greatly responsible for the realistic feeling of this game. I'm not aware of much games in the style of Amnesia but in the end, if you liked it, I strongly suggest you try Miasmata.

As most positive reviews will tell you, this game especially shines through it's puzzle designs and what makes those puzzles so good is that they require you to go beyond the simple, intuitive answer and think of something new. What's even more appreciable, is that the puzzles progressively build on your previous solutions and explorations, twisting them in some unexpected ways. Now while that's all excellent, in my opinion, there are some serious flaws that should be addressed. I've completed the game in around 5 hours, divided in 3 small gaming sessions and each time I wished to take up where I left, I spent many frustrating minutes trying to remember in which room I last was. Sure, I like open world games but this one has a progression path and unless you make it one long gaming session, it's really easy to lose it. The next big flaw is rather a matter of taste but I'm pretty sure some people will agree with me: this game seriously lacks some personality this is mainly why I wasn't compelled to play more than one or two hours at a time. Compare this to Braid, Portal or Limbo, aside from it's very peculiar puzzles, Antichamber feels sterile (sure the little advice panels were fun but sadly not enough to make the game really compelling). In anyways, if you liked Portal (I II) or if you're just fond of puzzles, this is a game you should definitely give a few hours of your time.

Being somewhat a seasoned adventure gamer and having enjoyed Conan Doyle's works in my youth, I must say that I had great expectations for this game and fortunately, it met and sometimes exceeded them. Considering the numerous and most of the time awful adaptations of Sherlock Holmes out there, I must say that this is one that truly nailed the original stories character and ambiance; they got their details right. Aside from the details, something that really sets this game apart from other adventure games, is the attention given to the deduction process. In most adventure games, once you found the appropriate clues the conclusion is outright given to you while in this game, you must put these clues together and logically deduce the right conclusion. While somewhat limited, this process really gives you some sense of actually solving the case. Another good design decision is the general absence of pixel hunting: most of the relevant items will become highlighted when you pass next to them. As for the puzzles, I must say that this is one aspect of the game that truly shines: they are realistic, logical, not too easy nor too hard or tedious. It's really been a long time since I appreciated that much a game for the consistence of it's puzzles (I guess the last one I had so much fun was Braid). As for the story, it is a really enjoyable, credible Sherlock Holmes case perhaps not as subtle as the original stories but enjoyable in it's own merit. Technically, the graphics are superb are I would place The Testament of Sherlock Holmes amongst the few games that achieved a 3D adventure game without it being awkward in some way. The voice acting is flawless and the music, while being a little bland, still manages to create the right atmosphere. As for the bad points, it is to notice that the character animations (lip sync and such) is often a little off and you have to compensate with your imagination. As for the controls, if I remember correctly, the game offers 3 different ways to control the characters but unfortunately, they all get a little tedious at some point (although, I really don't know how they could have done better than offering those 3 different ways (FPS, Third person, and point and click). In all, if you're sick of toy games such as Botanicula (where clicking at random can lead you to finish the game in approximately 4 hours), if you appreciate the Sherlock Holmes novels/stories, and happen to enjoy puzzles, then The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is a game you'll surely like.

Miasmata achieves a peculiar kind of in-game immersion which I could only compare to Amnesia: the dark descent. You are alone, completely vulnerable (sick, thirsty) in a hostile yet truly beautiful environment and there is an omnipresent threat you can only hide from. This makes the perfect sauce for paranoia; you keep your ears open for any uncommon sound, your eyes scrutinizing every leaf in the jungle and the immersion begins. The premise of the game is quite simple: you are seeking the cure from a plague you'll soon die from on an island where few scientists might have discovered a remedy. You'll have to explore the island to discover what is that cure and how to fabricate it. What really adds to the immersion, aside from your ever constant vulnerability, is the realistic perspective of this game. Your character is sick and dying so you must keep him properly hydrated otherwise he'll become increasingly weak, his vision blurs, etc.; he has a body and hence inertia so you must take care of every movements so that he won't trip on a rock and split his head down a cliff; the environment is huge and getting lost is a true and fearsome possibility - especially if the sun is coming down and you have no light source to guide your steps (chances are you'll split your head on something or worse). I can't say it enough: all those details concur to provide a deeply engaging experience once you let the game get to you. Technically, the graphics are astonishing and even more so if you consider that this is an indie production. At places, there are some texture and tiling problems but it is easily forgiven by overall beauty of the landscapes (I have played it at max settings though). The following video should give you a good idea of how good the game can look: ****/watch?v=8xbdpCWyLFw The sound effects and music are decent but far from being as refined or detailed as what you get with Amnesia. As for the controls, a lot of people, complained of character's tendency to slip on ridiculously small slopes so that overall, the movement is unbearable but in my sense, this is simply an exaggeration. Most of the slopes a normal human being would handle are very well handled by your character and the better he physically gets, the less he is likely to slip; to the contrary, I found that this challenge really added to the experience. In all, I really recommend to give it a try. Especially if you are fond of games such as Amnesia, Myst or Skyrim (for the exploring part that is).