CODA

[i] This copy was obtained through my steam group* [/i] A short introspective experience where you explore a metaphoric museum, as well as finding a few additional areas that may require some basic platforming. There are multiple different narrative themes within the game, including capitalism deconstruction, lack of purpose, feeling left behind, or just being lost in general. I would say the game can be completed in 70 to 90 minutes, and as far as I can tell I got most of the content. The developer described the game to me as a first-person Yume Nikki, although I think the similarities mostly end with the exploration aspect, in this case instead of entering the doors, you enter different paintings, but the actual mood of the game is very different, more about self-analyzing, not so much just exploring a dreamy world. The game has a relatively simple goal, interact with every painting in the game and return to the reception room, hopefully with some escapism in between (not sure if it's every painting, or just the 4 narrative sections, I did both). As a visual experience, I thought the game was rather average, I like that you focused a lot on verticality with the visibility, but some of the areas felt very similar, and there were not that many interesting things to find. From the story perspective, there were a few interesting character moments, even though the game is not too heavy on the reading, you can occasionally pick between different dialogue choices, but I am not sure if they have any impact. The controls for the game were a little strange, I am not sure how much of that was intentional arthouse design. I was unable to find a fullscreen mode, and just the way you interact with the game seems intentionally awkward, like you have to exit out of the panel and click on buttons with a pointer manually - sometimes I enjoy this type of game design, but I am not sure if it will translate well to those that are not initiated. Luckily, it's not the first game for me that does something strange like that, however, I still think the game needs a widescreen, if it has one It was not clear how to enter it. [h1] Pros: [/h1] (+) The game is really trying to do one thing, and it's to provide a sense of introspective escapism through psychedelic visuals and cerebral undertones, with that said, I thought the game was interesting enough, but from my perspective, I played similar games that did it a lot better. I guess I am trying to say that overall, you did a decent job with everything, but you also not doing enough, I think you need to focus more on the details and provide more meaningful experiences within the exploration. [h1] Feedback: [/h1] [u] Focusing more on the melancholy and endearing qualities of the narrative [/u] - so my favorite parts of the game were those optional areas (I assume they were optional) where you went beyond the paintings to interact with different characters. But even then, a lot of it came down to walking up to the character and just reading some dialogue. I think the game would benefit if you focus more on rewarding exploration, more hidden content, more backtracing between secret places, and more personal interactions with the characters, maybe doing some things together or having recurrent characters based on your progress. It seems like you were trying to do that to some extent, but I never really felt that attached to any of the individuals. [u] Nitpicks: [/u] - is there no fullscreen? You should add it, even if it stretches the game, it would be better. I didn't mind the visuals too much, but some of the areas were a bit too similar, for example like a lot of open areas with faces, so when you do it like 5 times, it starts to feel repetitive. I wish you could track your painting progress, so you know which of them you already interacted with. [b] Overall Thoughts: 7/10 [/b] I think you generally have to right ideas, I play many similar games, but what separates them is their ability to have those endearing moments and worthwhile secrets, you want to make the experience more personal and make the player care about the navigation. What you doing so far is perfectly fine, I would just say focus a bit more on the characters and how they appear throughout the game, as well as how they interact with the player - even if you make a gloomy and cold experience, you want to have some playful moments so it's fun to find some strange places and weird dialogue. Even if you just inject a lot more optional/hidden content than what it has now, it would feel a bit more wholesome. With that said, even though this game tries to be original, for me it was an average experience as far as weird games go, there is a lot of space for improvement, but it looks like the dev priced it reasonably for what you get in the end. [code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]

UI and shaders look good and make this look like a surreal gem. The gameplay is more like someone's first unity game. various randomly placed objects, with a high likelihood of softlocking yourself. Vinesauce egglikes have more content than this.

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/9686972/]Follow "[b]First Person Exploration and Puzzle Games[/b]" for more games like this![/url][/quote] A walking simulator with a few short stories that don't really make sense. In this game, you walk through a museum and look at a few dozen paintings and five exhibits. The paintings each teleport you to a world with a big ball, or a face, or a pyramid, or stairs with weird textures, or other weird locations. After about 10 seconds, you're teleported back to the museum. The exhibits are a bit more substantial, and bring you to a short story that usually lasts 5-10 minutes. Some of them have some platforming, while others involve talking and making choices. For the most part they're just weird, and don't seem to have any moral or purpose. Another review mentioned that this game has beautiful visuals. I'm not sure where they're getting that from. The mapping and modeling are [i]extremely[/i] rudimentary, to a novice degree. The monochrome filter only serves to hide that. The game takes about 60 minutes to beat, with no replay value as far as I'm aware. Overall I just felt like this game was trying too hard to be artsy, without really having a goal or story in mind. Some people enjoy those sort of games, but it wasn't for me.

While this experience is stunning visually and in terms of atmosphere, it is also needlessly painful. For example, you can spend half an hour scaling an old-school platforming environment just to meet a creature who tells you to collect 8 pages, but there is no way to determine how close you are to the objective as you collect the pages -- you have no inventory, no game menu, and no item count. At least, if these things exist, they are hidden behind some obtusely difficult means of locating them. This is a soft pass from me unless it gets some QoL improvements.

Really pleasant game that details a number of unique stories that detail unique narratives. Great experience

This is not so much a game as it is an interactive art piece. It gives much introspection on the many facets of humanity that make up our day to day lives. Very much worth buying especially at its low price point.

Interesting game, cool vibes, couldn't beat it though, because i couldn't work out which paintings i still needed to visit to talk to the coffee man, and trial and error became tedious. I wish they were marked on the map or something as you visited them. Will probably return in the future to try find what i missed.

The best way to review this short game is to describe it as either a religious camp or an acid trip: "You had to be there to get it"

If you're keen on surreal, disjointed experiences and 1 bit visuals paired with some weirdly appropriate minimalist music, this is a game worth checking out. After several short trips in a strange otherworld triggered by looking at paintings in a museum, I did find a proper story sliver which I won't relate because I am not sure if it will give away the larger story. At first I was pretty negative as as I put in a little more time I found myself drawn in by the oddness. I recommend you check out some of the media above and if you like what you see, grab a copy.