Beyond a Total Loss

good game

Hello?, Is this 911? I'm being jumped on and murdered by 2D animated FROGS! SAVE ME!!!!!

这么好玩为什么没人玩啊啊啊

So I beat the game normally twice and then did the no gun run (it's not worth it, trust me) and tbh I don't know how to feel; specifically bc of that. If you just play the game normally I'd give it a 7/10 since the two main endings are not satisfying and basically a joke but it's a fun experience overall. I want to give it a thumbs down but I can't when it clearly engaged me enough to do such a tedious challenge run and also it's a single developer. The game is essentially Lisa Resident Evil, but all jokes no emotions (the jokes are hit and miss as well). And the writing and game design was good enough to make me want to get all the story. I really wanted to believe there was more going on than basically random events. But since there is very little information on the game online, I figured I'd need to do a gunless all truth run to get the true ending. And while technically I did, it literally is just a minute of different dialogue and an anti climactic "good ending". Nothing is explained of what was going on, there is little to no lore, and no character depth. And the run itself is so aggravating and doesn't feel like it was built to be an option. Essentially there is so much RNG on how the enemies act, clunky controls but needing quick execution, and in combination with requiring certain mixed drinks being required to beat the last two bosses (other bosses you can power through but it's a chore) but not necessarily getting enough of the ingredients. That doesn't even include all the puzzle/enemy sections that basically are built to be solved with a gun and one section literally requiring me to jerry rig my controller to hold the analog sticks in a direction for 30 min while I played a different game elsewhere. It felt like I had to break the game to get this achievement. And if that's all I wanted, fine. But I wanted to get more story or something satisfying and I just didn't. Even in combination with the no lies achievement. I do have my theories of what was happening but otherwise, nada. Take this for what you will. I think the developer should be supported and I will probably get future games.

"Beyond a Total Loss" is an action-adventure / survival-horror (with all its old inventory-management glory) where you play a middle-aged, alcoholic loser that finds himself in a devil-deal with an elusive and snobbish entity and thus shoots his insecure way through beasts, demons, freakish lab experiments and mutated-knight-cultists (?). The story is very low brow and doesn´t take itself seriously, and while the graphics are a bit amateurish, the core gameplay and presentation is solid and even manages to create an ounce of hilarious existential angst. Plus I liked the cocktail-mixing mechanic.

Beyond a Total Loss is good. It's about what you'd expect it to be based on the visuals, and is more or less what I love about indie games. A quirky story about a man who ends up going through a series of unfortunate events.

제작자의 머리보다 더 큰 이야기를 다루려다가 엔딩을 말아먹은 게임을 여럿 해본 입장으로서, 이 게임은 추천을 줘야 한다고 생각했습니다. 엔딩 모으기가 좀 많이 지루하긴 한데 하위 엔딩들도 나름대로 깔끔하고 아쉬움없기 때문에 역시 추천으로 돌립니다.

A great game for alcoholics and people with social anxiety :D