Alum

Oh boy. Okay, let's start with just the game mechanics. This is a point and click inventory-based adventure game. There are only a couple of puzzles that take more than a minute or two to think about (the sequence on the boat comes to mind.) In this regard, it's fun and rather intuitive. However, many of the puzzles are rather inelegant. By this I mean that elements of the puzzle-solving process are thrown in your face in such a way that it feels like you're reading a walkthrough. This is not 'bad', and it's certainly not the whole game. Why do I bring this up? Because that lack of subtlety and feeling of being bashed over the head repeats itself in every aspect of the game. But before I go through that, let's talk about art and music. There are some really stunning moments. The Vivit Oak seems like a place I'd love to visit. There are one or two songs in the game that made me just pause and listen. I want to bring this up before I complain any more, since it's a really strong aspect of the game. Regarding every other aspect of the game - only play this if you're comfortable being forcefed religion. It becomes apparent by the second chapter that this is a Christian game. There is no good option but the one that is suggested by god. You have an item that is essentially a direct line to god, and there are portions of the game where the solution to every puzzle is to ask god. You wave your godcellphone in peoples' faces, and suddenly they see the light and are devoted to god. God god god god god god. The hero of the story isn't even the hero. God is. God sorta used some characters to share his godlove and godgod. God! I don't mean to bash this game or its developers. I think it's great to have games that aren't afraid to connect with their version of spirituality. The problem I have with this game is the same that I have with certain branches of Christian music; it's like drinking tea that has been steeping for approximately 38 years. You don't have to lay it on so thick that it blots out the sun. First it consumed the mechanics. I had fun in the Vivit Oak. The Rogation base was a little sloppy. From that point on, I realized that god was the solution to every puzzle and I breezed through the rest of the game in an hour or so. Then the heavy-handed religion swallowed up the storyline. Toward the end, it was just people jackknifing between apostle and sinner. The desire to show that god is love and light was so strong that character motivation and growth came to a screeching halt. The 'main character' had a moment near the end where he acted in a way that wasn't precisely expected. This is potentially a strong element to a story. However, his reasons for doing so make no sense at all in the context. It's hard to describe without spoilers, but I'll try: it's like walking across town to a bagel shop, then when you get there, marching in and going, "The walk to this bagel shop took so long that now I hate bagels!" I know what was trying to be conveyed, but it was so damn clumsy. If I had to describe this in one word, that would be it: clumsy. Not bad, just clumsy. I hope the team that worked on this will expand a little bit, bring in some people with different perspectives. Maybe have someone there whose only job is to say, "Hey, that story element you just wrote? Maybe we should find a more subtle approach to implementing it." I'm not saying, "Don't make a religious game." I'm saying don't get caught in an echo chamber of religious ideas and lose sight of the 'game' aspects of it. And as for the potential buyer, take a moment and ponder your tolerance for being beat over the head with religious ideals. If it's not your 38-year-old cup of tea, then pass on this one.

Alum is a really well done point and click from the mechanical and graphical standpoint, but as others pointed it out, the topic is handled in a really crude way. If the game wasn't about christianity, it would be just labeled as religion propaganda. I had no expectations after the start, but into the game it just goes really, really religious, turning the playeable character some kind of Jesus. It states that every person has the darkness in them, and if you don't drink from the rushlight of the Unfeinted Altruist, then will die miserably, but accepting his power then even murder will be a forgivable sin. ( The Altruist = God, even stated that he separated the languages at Babel, at this point it's 100% about Christianity, not just an undertone) The game is filled with religious preachings about embracing the Altruist, A. will lead you, A protect you, trust in him, he loves you - it's incredibly overbearing, multiple times the Altruist's power is just presented as *magic*. But at least him, as a voice in the head told the resistance to blow up a building, because that's what their god wants... which is still just religious terrorism :\ The game sometimes presents part of the religion as caring about eachother and forgiveness, but the majority of it is about God telling you to do something and you do it. It's an unpleasant game. It's like a ceremony that tells you that now God accepted you as his own -- so you won't burn in hell for an eternity like the the unlucky others. In my opinion the game was way too much about freeing people from the evil they don't see, because we're told that the others are bad, becauase...reasons. It embracing religions' "it works like that, because we're told it works like that" aspect, which is the most harmful because it's subjectivity and not demanding any individuality / individual thoughts.

Alum is a beautiful game. Everything fits together perfectly here, from the retro-pixel art style characters and foreground elements, to the hand-drawn painted backgrounds, to the well done voice acting, to the beautiful original music. Gameplay is very much like the old Sierra and Lucasarts adventures, with the controls updated for a modern age: you can toggle between the (few, smart) actions with right-clicking, and scroll through your inventory items with the mouse wheel, so there is no need to constantly refer to the hotbar. The option is there though for people who prefer to play that way. Puzzles in the game range from extremely straightforward to very challenging, but it never gets unfair. I was stuck at several points but for that the game has a built-in hints system. The hints given are never spoilers, instead just pointers to the right direction. There are also some timed action scenes. The most difficult ones can be skipped, the game will offer this option after a few failures. But I think they're all doable. The story in Alum is phenomenal. The main character goes through a full heroic journey, starting out as a nobody in a big city and becoming a true hero. Through the tale you pass through multiple locations, all very different but definitely fitting in the same world, and encounter a large cast of supporting characters and opponents, all again with their own voice. The story managed to surprise me several times, and also made me smile a lot. It isn't afraid to pull punches, either. Lighthearted moments lead to emotionally shocking scenes where you really feel the loss... fortunately there is a happy ending, for those who can make it that far. Alum really surprised me. I went in expecting a decent indie adventure game but what I found is one of the best games I've played in years. It is obvious that the developers had a real love for the game and they managed to deliver an almost perfect gaming experience. I enjoyed every second I spent playing this game.

Alum is a classical, retro point and click game with modern game elements. The story in Alum is just awesome. The main character is a nobody in a big city at the beginning and becoming a true hero. A heroic journey it is. The game leads you through multiple locations all very different but very suitable for this universe. You will encounter a lot of different unique characters on your journey, all with unique and decent voice acting. The story changes from lighthearted moments to shocking scenes but not miss the funny, enjoyable scenes either. Fortunately the story have a happy ending, so we will get our reward for finishing the game. The puzzles sometimes pretty straightforward, some of the very challenging. Some action element included in the game, however, after some fails, most of these are skippable. The game alone worth its full price for the 7hours gameplay. I definetly recommend it if you looking for a good story and if you like point and click games. As your Average Achievement Hunter ill share some informations about the achievements: 17 achievements in the game. Most of them awarded for the storyline, some awarded for special moves but as there is a guide for the game you can find all these informations there. If you want to complete the game to 100% that suggested to use anyway, as one acheivement ask you to not use any hint on your whole playthrough. Time to 100%: 7h

From Kickstarter, to Greenlight, to eventual release, there was no indication at all that the story of this game was going to be a blatant and hamfisted parable to biblical tales. A simple note or tag of "religious themes" would have been a lot more sincere, and enough to prepare me for the kind of story I was getting into. Given that this content is THE ENTIRETY OF THE STORY, it seems like a MASSIVE oversight to not mention it at all. I gave it an honest run and plenty of time to prove itself, but by the end of it I felt like I was sitting in a theatre being preached at by the brainwashed children of a religious cult (which is a real and unfortunate experience I've actually had before, and thus not a comparison I make lightly). As for the actual gameplay, for the most part it's childishly simple and tedious, but occasionally utterly confusing and unintuitive. Great adventure games give appropriate hints to solutions that are particularly obscure. Suffice to say, this is not a great adventure game. It also particularly annoyed me that at one point in the game there was a pixel hunt, which was a mechanic the developers expressly mentioned was not going to be in the game. Good work, there. The artwork swings back and forth between "hey that's kind of a pretty background" and "wow an actual toddler drew this". The animations are competent at best. Voice acting swings back and forth between "that's a pretty weak delivery" and "for crying out loud, shut up already". The music's pretty nice. I'd rather watch Veggie Tales to be honest.

I just finished playing Alum and overall I was very impressed at what such a small studio produced. The music is wonderful, the background animations are lovely and if you enjoy that "retro" look, you will enjoy playing Alum. For a first game, Crashable Studios is to be commended. The story is heavily allegorical and to the game's credit, you figure that out early in Chapter 2. Several reviewers have commented on the Christian overtones being too ham fisted at times and I think that they may well have a point. Depending on your own preferences, you may find the story too heavy handed. My own opinion was they presented the story using well agreed upon arguments that shouldn't get people too riled up. Free will, forgiveness, repentance and redemption are heavy topics and they fit it all in a 10 hour game. The game does have a couple of points of concern. The voice acting is uneven at best. Given their modest budget and size, this is no surprise and it doesn't spoil the game but they could have gone with just text and done just as well. It appears several family members did the voice work and that is a neat thing to do so I hesitate to be too critical but it falls flat more often than not. Alum has a couple of crisis of faith, as do several other characters and the jarring move from faithful follower to doubting soul is difficult to act and sadly, the voice work doesn't always live up to delivering the required punch. The other concern is the character development. Like real life, the heroes are flawed and their faith journey is not a straight path. In a short game, it can be difficult to guide a character through these crisis and at times it just seems the character gets their nose out of joint for no good reason! A little more exposition would probably have smoothed that over. Overall, very impressive. I hope they continue to write more games. I'll be glad to back them again if they do.

This game is great and terrible for different reasons, but I still want to recommend it on a sale if the cons are not too much for you (you have to consider this is an indie game, backed by kickstarter fans): Pros - Amazing art (pixelated) - Soundtrack and sound effects are very good - Story is interesting enough, I never felt bored - Graphics are pretty nice for the game's style - Choice: you can skip timed events after failing a couple of times - Fun: for an indie game, it's quite fun, with mostly interesting scenarios Cons - Christian game in a way that will make even believers like me feel things are forced (lacks subtlety) - An animal is killed by the player so they can get an item, and this is the only way to continue the game. You get a weird remark from your savior (not a reproach) - Muslim reference (veiled, but it is there): they are shown as worshippers of the devil (in other words) - Puzzle difficulty varies from too easy to hard. Hints vary from blunt to too vague - Found a game-breaking glitch in chapter 6, had to load a previous save (an area was no longer being loaded - black screen instead) - Voice acting is very amateurish - Writting is too blunt at times, making the religious propaganda too obvious and making characters develop in weird ways (one particular character that abruptly changed behavior at the end of the game comes to mind now)

This is actually a relatively enjoyable and well designed point & click adventure game... for an hour or so. Any enjoyment had in that first hour is ruined by a story development that is insultingly obvious in its Christian intent. The game doesn't tell you it's designed by Christians, and doesn't actually use the word "Christian" or make any reference to religion at all, but the narrative message (and the existential "moral" of the story that you're supposed to feel some sort of emotional connection to) is so blatantly Christian that it feels like a patronising attempt at emotional manipulation. I don't want to spoil the story, but believe me: this isn't Christian in the sense that stories about being kind or caring or turning the other cheek or whatever are (vaguely) Christian - this is Christian in a very unpleasant, proselytising sense. The game wants you to spread the "light" to others and show them how much better you've become since it was given to you. Seriously. That is basically the main bulk of the story. If the developers had been honest and said this was a Christian game then it wouldn't feel so insulting. I probably still wouldn't have enjoyed it, but I wouldn't have been annoyed. This is the main issue really: my anger towards this game has nothing to do with disrespect for religion (I honestly don't care what religion anyone follows), but is entirely due to the obvious attempt to mislead and manipulate through the story.

Mixed. An average point-and-click with a decent story and a strong religious arc. [h3]Additional Details[/h3] [table] [tr] [td]Operating System[/td] [td]Ubuntu Linux 14.04 x64[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]CPU[/td] [td]AMD FX-8350[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]GPU[/td] [td]GTX 750[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Last played[/td] [td]May, 2017[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Notes[/td] [td]Achievements did not work by default on Linux[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Technical Notes[/td] [td]No major problems[/td] [/tr] [/table]

Cringeworthy Christian fable. Puzzles & world-building are decent but dialogues & voice-acting ruin this. Arguably worth it for the cult factor: the increasingly questionable actions it has you do in the name of its divine saviour (pestering children to proselytise them, attacking unbelievers for no reason other than their faith) raised a chuckle or two.