CONCLUSE 2 - The Drifting Prefecture

[h1]«Позволь мне дать тебе покой. Твоя судьба предрешена твоими грехами. Вечная жизнь даруется после смерти.»[/h1] [b](с) из игры Fate / Unlimited Codes[/b] [b][u]CONCLUSE 2 - The Drifting Prefecture[/u][/b] – это приключенческий боевик с интенсивными пазловыми элементами за счёт [i]«выколи себе глаза»[/i] визуала, с элементами RPG внезапно, категорически не хоррор, от 1-го лица, продолжение истории с оглядкой на серию игр Silent Hill, который претерпев положительные изменения, ЗАДУШИЛ… Но обо всё по порядку. [h1][b]==========[/b][/h1] [quote][b]Введение:[/b][/quote] Привычный чёрно-серо-белый визуал. Звуки ночной улицы в пригороде. Спокойная, слегка тревожная музыка. Легковая машина, где на заднем сидении в своих мыслях сидит наш старый знакомый Майкл Бенсон, движется по направлении к дому. Собственно, сам Майкл рассказывает нам про эту ночь, которая стала роковой для его семьи. В тот самый момент, когда он зашёл в дом, он услышал вопль матери. Подойдя к родителям, он обнаружил, что его сестра Кара повесилась в гараже их дома. После этого случая его семья более не была прежней. Виды локации сменяются, и от 1-го лица мы наблюдаем лодку на воде, на который Майкл отправился из Кордовы в поисках ответов… в поисках своей жены Кэролин. Вы – Майкл Бенсон. Ваша задача – добраться до вашей жены Кэролин и понять, что за ужас тут творится. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3655761987 [h1][b]==========[/b][/h1] [quote][b]Структура Игры:[/b][/quote] Данный проект состоит из 3-х крупногабаритных глав, в которых 2-й главе отводится, как мне кажется, ключевая роль. Главным образом в этой игре у меня набежало 50 часов, но к большому сожалению они продиктованы не удовольствием. [quote][b]Музыка/Звук:[/b][/quote] Музыкальные композиции при своём проявлении достаточно разносторонни и продиктованы ситуативными решениями, хотя сами по себе, как явление, не на постоянной основе сопровождают наше приключение, однако держаться вполне себе. Звуковые эффекты более менее сносные, не балуют разнообразием, но в целом делают всё возможное. [quote][b]Визуальный ряд:[/b][/quote] Значит так: вид от 1-го лица, модельки персонажей в игре по сравнению с предыдущей частью немного преобразились, стали более детальными, утратив безликость, впрочем некоторым виды врагов не могут этим похвастаться. Цветовая палитра в 1-й и 3-й главах сохраняет чёрно-бело-серый стиль, добавляя цвета в те самые моменты, когда Майкл попадает в искажённые локации. Тут буквально [b][u]Silent Hill[/u][/b] на минималках [spoiler](особенно, когда в 3-й главе схлестнётесь с отцом)[/spoiler]. К слову местами игра начинает безосновательно затемнять на опции Brightest (САМЫЙ ЯРКИЙ). Что касается главы № 2, тот тут фактически абсолютно цветное путешествие, в рамках диалогов появились портреты персонажей в аниме стиле, но основе своей всё в приглушённых тонах, хотя когда что-либо полыхает огнём, то выглядит приятно. [quote][b]Геймплей:[/b][/quote][list] [*]Главная особенность проекта – мы можем воевать с врагом, и если обычное оружие не утилизирует врагов навсегда, то «Оружие Скорби» или «Lament Gun» (пистолет), справляется с этой задачей. На уровне сложности «Lament», данный необычный пистолет при выстреле забирает у вас жизнь и выносливость, причём стреляет он именно за счёт выносливости. Если попали по врагу, то отрегените обратно кусочек жизни и немного сверху, но, С*КА, как же ПО-М*ДАЦКИ этот пистолет себя ведёт, причём равной степенью Х*ЁВЫОСТИ хитбокса обладают враги: лужи, головы на крылышках и другие невероятные уродцы. Это просто ПЫТКА. Иными словами, когда вы уверены, что вот вы выцеливаете тушку врага и попадаете, то вы не попадаете. Помимо чудо-пистолета, у вас появится большой набор разного вооружения ближнего боя, однако он по сути бесполезного после появления последнего, кроме как в каких-то дополнительных случаях: будь то коса, лопата, удочка [spoiler](к слову, она не только для рыбы, д*рачок в цилиндре у входа в отель не даст соврать)[/spoiler], итд. итп; [*]Сохраняемся у желтоватого кристалла; [*]НЕЛЬЗЯ ПРОПУСКАТЬ КАТСЦЕНЫ. Фатальная ошибка; [*]Поиск предметов/объектов взаимодействия. В данном проекте – это какое-то описание, дополнительного/секретного круга Ада, который не указан нигде, ибо: объекты взаимодействия могу сливаться с фоновыми/выглядеть, как задники; надо постоянно ВГЛЯДЫВАТЬСЯ, чтобы что-то найти; То, что не может выглядеть, как то с чем надо иметь дело, как раз является тем самым; Шум рации и рябь указывают на важный предмет рядом, но почему-то не всегда и избирательно. [*]Физ. Подготовка. Бегаем чуть быстрее шага/двойным кликом делаем короткое ускорение. Прыжок только ради смеха. Перемещение, особенно ж*пой, вызывает фрустрацию, ибо наш дорогой друг цепляет буквально всё и застревает; [*]Скольжение по рельсам. Попадутся вам такие ботинки интересные… не спрашивайте, просто помните, что можно по всяким прутьям итд. будет скользить; [*]Глава № 2. По сути «забег (dungeon crawl) — возвращение» с элементами RPG в виде торговли с персонажами. Интересная интеграция.[/list] [quote][b]Баги:[/b][/quote] Шероховатости и нестыковки очень мешают какому-либо приятному времяпрепровождению. К примеру, порой курсор на объекте взаимодействия приходится ловить пиксельно, чтобы всё работало. А прибавьте к этому сливающиеся с одинаковым окружение эти самые объекты взаимодействия. И так во всём. [quote][b]Сюжет:[/b][/quote] Гениально ё*нутое произведение, насыщенное такими идеями, как: грязь, нечистоты, сцены секса с монстрами (блюр), насилие над мёртвыми животными, сцены инцеста (блюр), множество голову сносящих сюжетных поворотов, младенцы с ножами и пистолетами, иные миры, и многое другое. Путешествие это было бы максимально взрывоопасным, не будь оно таким УДУШАЮЩИМ по множеству указанных выше причин. Ах да… совсем забыл, это не конец истории. Бл*ть и после всей этой е*ли с игрой, мне ещё клифхэнгером по губам полупили… это просто вот… бл*ть, у меня слов нет. [quote][b]Атмосфера:[/b][/quote] Умирает, задыхается. Ей просто не позволяют захватить вас, ибо все вышеперечисленные проблемы созданы для её уничтожения. [quote][b]Хоррор:[/b][/quote] Ну нет, побойтесь Бога в самом деле. [quote][b]Боссы:[/b][/quote] Они несложные, но интересные и с изюминкой, причём ко многим из них нужно применить какую-либо хитрость, вместо топорного отстрела, что приятно. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3661282007 [quote][b]Локализация/Озвучка:[/b][/quote] Русский язык отсутствует, как текстом, так и голосом. ОСУЖДЕНИЕ. Однако сам проект в принципе оброс озвучкой, особенно в множественных катсценах, что так сказать, добавило живости проекту. [quote][i]«Итог: этот проект – дичайшая комбинация интересных идей и у*людской реализации, если коротко и ёмко, то я фактически сожрал его с г*вном, как говорится… все его загадки, поиски ключей, ломание своего зрения, е*ал я рот, извините. Но в то же самое время, я ловил себя на том, что удивляюсь/смеюсь/а*уеваю от увиденного. Новичкам в играх соболезную, ветеранам тем более. concluse_dev, T Allen Studios, ребята, вы куда? Можно будет как-то 3-ю часть в порядок привести хотя бы тогда?»[/i][/quote] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3666360394 [b]=================================================[/b] [b][u]Пациент:[/u][/b] [h1]ClickamaN[/h1] [b][u]Психологическое состояние:[/u][/b] Пациент несколько недель пребывал в прогрессирующей депрессии. Специально подобранная терапия и медикаменты не приносили должного результата. Вчера на прогулке на участке лечебницы пациент пропал из виду, а спустя 20 минут послышались крики со стороны автопарка. Оказалось, что пациент нырнул в открытую цистерну с мазутом, однако подоспевший водитель вытащил его оттуда и оказал ему первую помощь. Пациент пришёл в себя, но уже через час по организму пошло отправление мазутом и пациент впал в кому. [b][u]Лечение:[/u][/b] РЕАНИМАЦИЯ.

This game is an experiance to say the least and a loving tribute to silent hill. The unique concepts and ideas at play here are honestly impressive and while some parts of the game are better than others its still a fun and thrilling ride into the world inspired heavily by silent hill, Worth it at full price easily. 10/10

There's a level of uniqueness and joy that came from our 2 and a half hours with Concluse 2. It's a game that tricks you into thinking it's going to be another modernized PSX graphics Silent Hill clone. That it's going to rely on genre stereotypes and provide the minimum. But it's not. It's a game that, as soon as the facade breaks, becomes it's own uniquely dark, twisted, and truly fun survival horror experience. What the game lacks in clear direction (for the most part, I'll get back to that in a second) it makes up for in double by having levels quite worth exploring, if not for the atmosphere but for the subtle visual story telling. For many dots to be connected, and for a beauty in the soft yet gritty textures of the world of Concluse 2. With that being said, my only actual issue with the game...bugs aside, I don't touch bug discussions I don't fault any team of this size for bugs or anything, but yeah my only ACTUAL issue is the game has a bit of a hard time deciding how difficult it wants to be at times. Some puzzles and levels are grossly simple while others are so out of the box that it creates a sense of being lost in the sauce. Let's make a hypothetical here. One puzzle might be "A Guest in the hotel needs a glass of water at room 420!" and you find next to that note a glass of water. Cool, simple, right? Now another puzzle might be having to use an item you picked up 20 minutes or so prior and was told had a single purpose to interact with a physical entity in a manor that's only subtly hinted at in an entirely missable note with no "use" or interact prompt....yeah I mean...yeah...you know what boss fight I'm talking about. But yeah, at the end of the day I'd fully recommend checking out Concluse 2, and probably Concluse 1, I know I'm going to pick it up today to see how far the team has come since their first rodeo, but for what it's worth I think they have an incredibly fantastic little gem to be proud of here. I don't do number reviews or anything, just go play it. It's fun.

Concluse 2 is what happens when you have so much intense creative energy to put into a project that you just keep pushing on it instead of stopping. It is a game that pauses only briefly to say "can we do this better?" but never stops long enough to worry about its jank. It is confident in what it is delivering upon in a way that can only be induced by lightning, divine inspiration, and the sort of cockiness that more creatives should possess. The best summary I can give of Concluse 2, as I have given again and again to my friends, is "what if a guy made a Homestuck out of Silent Hill 2." What if the mind-twisting feeling of watching 360p videos of a 19 year old play through Silent Hill on their PSone via YouTube was piped directly into the cosmic planar Original Charactersphere of Homestuck-likes. Was it Silent Hill 2? Or 3? Or 4? Or the first? Though the planting of Michael's missing wife is the most evocative of 2, the character development plays more straightforwardly ala 3, while maintaining many of the vibes of the first, and some of the surrealist monster designs of 4, and i could name a dozen other media properties off the back of my hand that i'm 95% were direct inspiration. I wish I had this clarity of vision, for I too wish that every time I saw a cool piece on inspiration I *immediately* knew how to expand my magnum opus. Like an evolving conclusion, the inspirations coalesce into a multi-armed narrative that touches not only parallel, distant worlds; but parallel, alternate paths. Realities played elsewhere, in other times. Should you play Concluse? Should you watch the YouTube series all this is based on? Should you jump directly into Concluse 2? Okay you should definitely jump directly into Concluse 2, and if Chapter 2 title drop of The Drifting Prefecture and the unlocks of the secret mirror universe idol band music videos make your head roll 190° in enthralled confusion *then* proceed to immerse yourself in the rest of the sprawling heap. I think the thing that surprised me the most about Concluse 2 was two elements: First, the sincerely wonderful scenery design, especially in the titular Drifting Prefecture. The tight city scenery is so deeply evocative, feeling truly like an infested delapitated place, and even on the easiest difficulty settings gave a haunting feeling that I reveled in. Second, the strict adherance to constantly being the coolest ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game I've ever played. This game has such a small team working on it and it's 30 hours long. Do you know how much of it is *cutscenes*? I cannot even begin to describe how many cool things are in this game. So here's a list of some of them: - You perform mortal combat finishers with a fishing rod in a boss fight - Fight a giant baby in a tank - 3D print The New Flesh with the help of a carnivorous eyeball robot - Arson - Surprising amounts of regicide - Michael learns HYPERBEAM - Throbbing Cronenbergian guns - Apocalyptic family collapse - Evil airport - Fight the evil Grand Wizard. Yeah, that one. No no, yeah. Yeah that one. With the hoods and everything. Kill them. Super dead by the time you're done with them. They try to summon a big worm and it goes horribly for them. It whips. - Anime Visual Novel portraits - Duck Dynasty Dad Fight - Evil Goo - Evil Goo Drugs - Thomas Edison sucks ♥♥♥♥ once again You might at this point say "*what are you talking about*?" and I would tell you that it's a fair point for you to ask me that. Look. I can't say you'll necessarily enjoy this game. You may not even find it particularly playable. There's a lot of jank in here. But there's also a LOT of incredible storytelling that is delivered with such earnest panache that I thoroughly loved every second of it. Do you know when the last time I was hooting and hollering at a video game before this was? I don't remember either, honestly. My brain was basically entirely consumed by Concluse 2 from December 2023 to April 2024. I could not stop talking about it. I will not stop talking about it. I NEED Concluse 3 to be real one day, or I might sincerely evaporate from anticipation. One final note for my fellow queers: T4T Michael / Caroline is my headcanon. Look how clocky she is in Chapter 3. I know that's the PSX graphics, but I can believe.

I don't normally review games but this game deserves it. I was a big fan of the first game, despite it's faults and lack luster endgame. I was a little worried that this game would be the same. But I was pleasantly surprised in only the first hour of the game. The voice acting, while a bit hammy, really enhances the games. It's kinda like Silent Hill 2's acting. The puzzles were good like I expected them to be, but the fishing rod really does stand out as a highlight, in both as a "weapon" and as a puzzle solving device. The biggest moment for me was during the first boss fight. I won't spoil anything here but the look on my face when what I thought would be a joke of an idea lead to me actually beating the boss was unmatched. I hope this game continues to surprise me as I play more. If it keeps up, this is certainly my indie game of the year.

I am having a very hard time trying to find the words to describe CONCLUSE 2 in a way that isn't the most off-putting combination of descriptors possible. I love it though. CONCLUSE 2 is bizarre, almost outsider survival horror in the way that Clock Tower 3 is - combining harsh tonal shifts and seemingly incompatible genres to make something far more interesting and effective than the sum of its parts. It's also pretty janky and amateurish, but these just add to its alien charm. I didn't expect anything out of this game. What I got was a 20 hour psychological body-horror isekai, containing themes and instances of: love, viral outbreaks, romantic regret, sexual abuse, metaphysics, reality shifting, talking weapons, evil duck, prostitution, explicit on-screen child murder, explicit on-screen simulated intercourse, 3D printing, ritual sacrifice, parenthood, xenophobia, genetic cloning, artificial intelligence, the ku klux klan, game development, kaiju, workplace violence, political bureaucracy, ghosts, and fishing. Does CONCLUSE 2 handle most of these things with subtlety or care? No. But I have to respect a game that chooses to go in every direction possible, even if none of those directions are all that relevant or explored. CONCLUSE 2 is an inimitable experience. It's already a GOTY contender for me, just for sheer audaciousness alone. If you want a solid, traditional survival horror game, play literally anything other than CONCLUSE 2. If you instead want a psychotic and uncategorizable game that is really 3 or maybe even 4 games, or a game that changes genre and stakes every twenty minutes and that lets you grind on rails with SOAP shoes like Sonic Adventure 2, then CONCLUSE 2 is prefect for you.

Even though the review is "positive", i'm gonna be honest and say that this game has a lot of bugs/glitches and other problems. I lked the story and the gameplay, and for a game made only by 2 devs it took me 25 hours to finish it, they worked hard and with love for their product, you can see that when you play the game. They already released tons of hotfixes and 6 patches to improve the quality of the game,they respond to the community very quickly. They are working non-stop and this behaviour honors them. Tons of different enemies , puzzles and a very original gameplay and story-telling style. But this is still far from a "perfect" product, if you play it now you will encounter many bugs and some possible softlock, but if you have patience and manage to get past these defects you will have a good time.

After looking around for a retro style horror game, this hits the spot. The style is classic and the story line really wraps up the first game nicely.

I wish they playtested more than they did before release. But the good news is that the developers are actively solving bugs and have patched a lot out already. The combat and abundance of enemies makes the game even spookier than the first game because there are actually threats. The amount of voice acted cutscenes is also very nice. From what I have played so far, the atmosphere and worldbuilding is very in line with the first game. Overall, I think the good qualities outweigh the bad, but you might want to wait until the game gets tweaked a little. Some bugs and issues I've encountered are the mirror arm enemies being unkillable, bad audio design making it hard to tell where enemies and phones are, inconvenient interaction hitboxes on a few doors, and after looking at the floor my camera angle was extremely slanted and trying to walk forward made me walk left instead, forcing me to reload the last save.

Edit: 6+ hours into the game now and I will say the good thing is that the dev is patching the game like crazy to fix things that are going wrong. But before that happened, I spent hours in one level with a never-ending ringing telephone that drove me completely insane to the point where I couldn't concentrate on anything because the phone rang all over the map no matter where I was and at a loud volume as if it was right next to me. When I finally managed to escape the living hell that was this level (after a patch fixed the phone for me) I arrived at an airport where suddenly several enemies were now invincible (or at least if they weren't, I couldn't figure out how to take them out). Bullets did nothing, the axe would sort of appear to hurt them but they never died or slowed down in any way. There were 2 of these enemies following me all over the very, very short map so I just kept taking damage that I couldn't help while trying to solve a puzzle I can't solve because these enemies won't leave me alone. I mean I don't know what else to add to this but if you could put yourself in my shoes after the hell I went through the previous level to then be thrust into a level where I can't do anything - that was just the final nail in the coffin. I can't give it a negative review because it's a super creative game and they're patching it like crazy but I have lost all desire to continue playing it and that's a shame. It's very creative but I can't keep going right now. I'm only an hour in but I'm really enjoying this so far. It improves on the first game in just about every way imaginable. I did experience 1 small issue when I was interacting with the plaque in front of the first boss. I heard an enemy behind me so I closed out of the screen without choosing one of the two options it presented (Look Up or Wait) and doing this caused the game to break. I was no longer able to interact with anything, I had to reload my save so I could do it again. But other than that small issue everything from the story to the cutscenes to the puzzles to the combat is improved from the first game or welcome additions. I'm very excited to see where this goes. The first game is one of my favorite free to play horror games of all time and this one, although not free, from what I understand has an insane amount of content for the $15 price tag. I can definitely recommend it at this point in my gameplay.