A Fine Mess

[ + ] • Sehr bizarrer aber gleichzeitig interessanter Walking-Simulator • Arbeitet nicht mit Sprache, sondern Musik, Hintergrundgeräuschen und Farblosigkeit • Fairer Preis • Je nachdem in wie weit man auf Achievements aus ist, desto mehr Zeit kann man darin investieren, aber nicht mehr als 2 Stunden max. • Mit einfachen Mitteln sehr viel in Szene gesetzt, teilweise gruselige Atmosphäre • Kann mir das Spiel sehr gut in VR vorstellen • Das Erkunden und selbst heraus finden, was in diesem Game passiert ist, ist Kern der Sache • Aesthetic, I whisper. [ - ] • INVISIBLE WALLS – I scream • Teilweise sehr drückende (aber durchaus gewollte Stimmung)

The game runs fine on my computer, after reading the reviews and comments before I bought it, I just put quality on High and resolution on 2560x1440 in options and it ran smoothly. I like the game, I think the sound and music are a big part of the experience that make the game atmosphere weird, making you play till the end. It itakes not much longer than an hour playing time and that is long enough for this game. It left me with a sad feeling.

A Fine Mess is a surreal, atmospheric walking simulator that relies heavily on film noir-esque scenes and imagery to tell it's story. Dedicated to a beloved friend of the developing team, Santima Games, this game is very interesting to experience. I thought the music composition worked wonderfully in developing anticipation for what this empty, apocalyptic world had to offer. Given the lack of context to the events that take place, other interpretations are bound to be different from mine. Especially if some may not care for the Impressionist/abstract story-telling or may naturally interpret things differently. However, the imagery and events of this game clearly spoke of the pain of losing a loved one. To me, this game reflects of the hollowing, world-shattering pain of watching a loved one pass away-- whether from a sudden accident or from the long, exhausting throes of a terminal illness such as cancer. This game seems to represent the idea that while these last moments/memories of them may be filled with pain and uncertainty, the past remains stagnant and unchanging. It's only natural that sadness may tint these memories, as they become bittersweet in the ignorance of the past versus the trials of the present. Briefly discussing the other aspects of the game, the graphics are pleasant and the controls are standard-fare for walking simulators (WASD, shift, and mouse if my memory serves me right). There's nothing really truly divergent in the formatting of the actual game from other walking simulators, especially given how tightly constrained the player is to the path/areas. Overall, A Fine Mess is a great, stylistic indie game that relies on music, imagery, and disaster to convey its message of love and loss. Some of the textures may fall flat, however, I enjoyed some of the compositions as well as the general atmosphere. For $2.99, I think this game is well worth the purchase as it helps support the dev's work while providing a nice change of pace from very story-driven games.

⚔ Gameplay ⚔ ☐ Marvellous ☐ Excellent ☐ Meh ☑ Starring at walls is better (Is walking really gameplay?) ☠ Difficulty ☠ ☐ Frustrated ☐ Difficult at first. Takes time to Master. ☐ Requires a lot of thinking ☑ I play with my eyes closed ☼ Graphics ☼ ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☑ It's got its own style ☑ Decent ☐ Paint.exe ♬ Music ♬ ☐ Fantastic ☑ It's alright ☐ Bleed my ears out ☯ Story ☯ ☐ Mind-Blown ☐ Wow ☐ Not bad ☑ Worst ☐ There is none ♻ Length/Replayability ♻ ☐ Get ready to invest some time ☐ Just enough ☐ Short ☑ Too short 2/10 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ It's a 20 minutes walking simulator with barely any interaction. Can't recommend.

When I first played this game back in 2017, I really didn't get it. Now after playing it again in 2024, I do for some reason. It really is a beautiful game with a very cryptic story line. Great visuals and a beautiful music track. Glad I went back and played it again.

It's not a horrible game. I did enjoy the aesthetics (if you can ignore the dodgy as hell graphics, the actual art direction isn't so bad, the B&W was a good move) & the overall mysterious ambiance. But... it felt like it didn't really go anywhere. It feels like it wants to be deep, but is just kinda pretentious. It's also super buggy. For a third of the game, my movement kept veering to the right. I got stuck in places. I have a dual-monitor setup, & during scene transitions, they were both doing odd & horrible things. & this was neither bad & probably not technically a bug, but I did get to stand a on a little girl's head while watching something like the apocalypse, so that was fun. Overall... if you understand what it is & you wanna experience that, go for it. It doesn't feel [i]unique[/i], but still worthy of your 20-30 minutes if you're into that kinda thing. But as a general thing, I wouldn't recommend it to most people.

It's ok.