Castle in the Sands

Ідір вирушає в небезпечну подорож пустелею, щоб знайти лікаря для свого хворого молодшого брата, та посеред оазису зустрічає дівчину на ім'я Тізірі, яка згоджується йому допомогти й веде до замку посеред пустелі, замку, якого там просто не може бути. [quote]But come they did and when they did, ready they did stand And things would never be the same in our village on the sand Blackmore's Night – Village on the Sand (важко було втриматись)[/quote] Візуал, музика та атмосфера тут чудові, як завжди тішуся дізнатися щось нове та цікаве й Північна Африка то ніц не часто згадувана тема (дарма!). Сюжет досить простий, але добре структурований, не встигає набриднути чи втомити, але мені не вистачало власне дрібки казки, себто тут є магія, драма й все таке інше, але саме сюжетно не дотягує. Чи радше не дотягує стилістично, отут сваритимусь, бо текст не вичитаний, помилок багацько й я б це пережив, але щойно я починав пірнати в атмосферу, в тексті з'являлися то суржик, то недоречний в цьому сеттінгу сленг й стукали мене по лобі. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3738960945 Не треба так. Ну й позаяк вже почав буркотіти: шрифт українською наче й пасує до гри візуально, але я весь час гадав, героїню звати Тізірі чи Мізірі, як приклад; а також пропуск тексту й швидкість тексту. Це от не суттєве загалом, бо тут лише 3 закінчення й будь-яке можна прочитати менш ніж за годину, але потім або ставити повільне автовідтворення тексту, або ж мучити комп'ютерну периферію, клоцаючи мишкою купу разів на секунду. Й ні, збереження не дуже допоможуть, бо найкраще\найгірше закінчення не сумісні між собою й вимагають двох повних проходжень. Загалом радив би радше заради візуалу та репрезентації, а не сюжету, але тим не менш радив би, грається та виглядає достатньо цікаво, щоб звернути увагу.

It's always nice to see games that focus on cultures that are less represented in the medium and Castle in the Sands focuses on the Amazigh people telling about a castle that exists with the help of magic. The highlights of the game are the pixel art style that does a convincing job and also reminded me of the classic Prince of Persia games and this aesthetic translates well to the UI too. While the game is short, linear, and can be cleared with all endings in under an hour, and it's clear what choices you should make to get the better endings, I'd say the shortness isn't a bad thing. The game doesn't overstay its welcome and leaves a good impression. I would love to see what other ideas this developer brings to life in the future!

I'm a little conflicted on whether I like this game or not. The art and design of the game is very well done, and reminds me a bit of the PC-98 era of games. I particularly like how intricate and on theme the UI and border are. The music is also great, though at some parts the volume feels either too loud or too quiet. The Main issue for me is the story. To put bluntly, the writing just isn't very good, and that's the most important part of a visual novel. Some parts feel way too long, and other parts too short. The dialogue felt unnatural, and there was too much tell, not enough show in descriptions. The game is also very short, but it does have multiple endings and is very inexpensive, so I'm not too mad about that. I think there's a lot of potential here, and I originally had this as a positive review, but after reconsidering I don't think that non-visual novel fans would be wanting to play this game, and people who do play visual novels would probably be disappointed in the quality of writing. I'm sorry to the creator for leaving a negative review, but as I said, I can see so much potential and I will be sure to play any future games made by them.

The game is quite beautiful, filled with regional designs and features unique to North Africa. I found the color palette and artistic style really cool. It also reflects the region’s atmosphere. I also appreciate the Amazigh people representation, as such representations are rarely encountered in games. During the game you occasionally encounter choices that allow you to make decisions that can alter the game's ending.

Encontré este juego en algún evento de Steam, o quizás me apareció sugerido. La verdad, en términos literarios, es un perfecto cuento (short story), que se puede leer/jugar "en una sola sentada", como dijo alguna vez Edgar Allan Poe. Es decir, puedes completarlo en 1-2 horas. Se trata de una historia entretenida, ambientada en el desierto del Sahara, inspirándose en culturas del norte de África. Esto lo menciono porque es un escenario poco usual para las novelas visuales. Hay arena, misticismo, mosaicos, café. Ahora bien, lo que más llama la atención de este juego es el apartado visual: un exquisito pixelart que evoca el estilo de arte de la GBA, y en alguna medida, la PC-98. La música cumple. Debido a la extensión del juego, son pocas canciones, y ninguna me voló la cabeza. La verdad, fue por el arte que quise comprar el juego, que es sumamente barato, y no me siento decepcionado. El juego tiene un par de errores de tipeo, y algunas expresiones extrañas (quizás el inglés no es la primera lengua del dev), pero es una buena pieza de entretenimiento. Totalmente recomendado.

really beautiful game with some nice characters and nice representation :)). i love the artstyle, soundtrack and story!!!

Укр. новела, якщо подобається така естетика і пікселі, то можете підтримати розробника. Не слід очікувати чогось геніального, але за свої гроші піде.

Дуже класна візуальна новелла, графон нагадує мені PC-98, я навіть летсплей записав на цю новелу. Ось відео - https://youtu.be/BSg4S2SdNeQ

A very nice visual novel. I loved its atmosphere and the setting is not one we often see in video games. It also looks beautiful if you're into pixel art. The presentation reminded me of these old Lankhor games I used to play on Amstrad CPC (with quite more pixels though :-D) Also, it's pretty short. It took me 90 minutes to reach the best ending (the choices to reach it are quite obvious) and 30 minutes more to reach the other 2 endings.

Castle in the Sands is a very short visual novel about a man who ends up in a magic desert castle while traveling with his sick brother. It describes itself as being inspired by North African culture and by the style of Arabian Nights. I can't speak to how accurate the cultural details are, but it does at least do a good job of capturing the atmosphere you'd expect and it taught me a few new terms. You should know going in that you're unlikely to get much more than an hour out of this game even if you try to get all four endings (the game says three, but there is at least one more minor variant that doesn't give an achievement) and that the story is pretty generic. Gameplay consists entirely of picking one of two options at four or five points in the story. There are a few good moments and it's not like it can outstay its welcome at this length, but it's all pretty standard stuff from the desert area stories you'd get in any other game. The English text is always easily readable, but frequently has missing punctuation or awkward phrases that suggest the text wasn't checked by a native speaker. All that said, Castle in the Sands is a $4 game with fantastic retro art and a couple of excellent pieces of background music. It may not be very long and may not tell a terribly original story, but $4 is a fair price to spend an hour with the art and music. If that's enough for you, this is an easy recommendation.