Full Quiet

Bearing in mind that this game was designed as a homebrew game for the NES, I was floored by it. I've been playing NES games for the past 35 years when my parents got me and my brother the Deluxe NES set for Christmas. The NES was really what got me into video games in the first place and despite the limitations of the system, I have a real soft spot and will go back regularly to replay my favorites, try out games I never played, laugh or get frustrated at the real crappy games, and most certainly keep an eye on the indie homebrew games for the console. Full Quiet is the most impressive NES game on a technical level that I have personally played. The game is absolutely massive by NES standards. I've already invested several hours in the game and surely have several more to go, and outside of maybe a long form RPG like Dragon Warrior 3 and 4 or a game you can endlessly play like Tecmo Bowl or Nobunaga's Ambition, is probably the largest game I have played. It is gonna be most similar to something like Metroid with a large world you go through, but it has modern sensibilities that were not common if at all present in the older games. I would say this game is basically in a way like playing something like Resident Evil in a 2d Action Platformer format, there is a lot of survival horror elements, a multitude of puzzles to solve, limited ammunition and resources, etc. Visually the game looks fantastic for 8 bit. Excellent use of color palettes give it a nice visual flair given the limitations, it easily has the best use of Parallax Scrolling I've seen on the system, using multiple layers at once and all without any flicker or slowdown. The music is minimalist but catchy, it is not overbearing as it is more atmospheric. The control mechanics are pretty complex for an NES title, I was surprised at how many buttons you can use on this steam release, I assume on the original hardware you have to do some interesting combinations to use all of the possible commands. The in game manaul and resources are pretty handy to give you the basics you need. This game is extremely challenging. This is gonna be right up there with the likes of games like Metroid, Metal Gear, etc. as far as these type of games go, but it has a modern touch. There is an in game map system which is a big deal since most games didnt have any map system at all. If having a high level of challenge makes you shy away, I totally get it. I recommend perhaps the Garbage Pail Kids game instead, which is another NES homebrew that is very fine by these same folks. I think it's safe to say that outside of maybe some crazy new chipset being designed for the NES that makes it do things beyond what it can do, this game more or less taps out what is possible on the system. BRAVO! I'd love to see Retrotainment tackle the Super Nintendo and/or Genesis next.

Full Quiet has absorbed so much of my attention and focus since its launch. I think about the game world at different times of the day, trying to figure out what I think are good strategies and routes. My notebook has pages of codes, maps and doodles. And my wife keeps telling me to stop annoying her with stories about the game. There are very few other games like this, on the NES or otherwise. The game is unforgiving in its combat, resource management and cryptic puzzles, and it's such a great feeling of accomplishment when you get to the next save point or figure out a puzzle. I've been playing for 5 hours and am only ~16% done in the game, and I'm so looking forward to retracing my steps with new gear and utilizing my improved skills to overcome the games obstacles. Definitely a recommend.

Really enjoying the art style. Definitely seems like a challenging game. Interesting tug of war between trying to go fast to be efficient and being methodical to conserve health. Feels more like you go on runs than I expected. You'll need a couple of attempts to figure out how to get to next save point.

Edit: I'm gonna be honest, I limited my fps cap on the game to 60fps via nvidia control panel, and the game plays well. There's too much game here, and too good of a game here, *especially* at $10, to not change my review to recommended. I would still really like to see the game patched to separate fps from game speed if at all possible, and I'd still like to see keyboard support added even though I do agree that if at all possible, the game *should* be played on a controller. I'll leave the original contents of my review up below: Let me preface this by saying I'm really, really sad to leave this review, but it feels like I need to. Ever since I discovered the Haunted Halloween games years ago, I've been a huge fan of Retrotainment Games and the work they do. I was massively excited for Full Quiet ever since it was announced almost SIX years ago. For an NES game. A very ambitious one, but an NES game (and NES-style, since this is Steam) nonetheless. The Haunted Halloween games have keyboard support and the game speed is not tied to framerate; I've been able to enjoy playing them with controller OR keyboard mapping at 144hz for as long as I've played them. Full Quiet, released in 2023, forces a controller, doesn't recognize my Xbox controller every other startup, and runs at turbo-speed unless I frame limit it down to 30fps. 144 is smooth, but far too fast. I have no doubt that at its heart the game is killer, but six years, delay after delay after delay on Kickstarter, and now the Steam version has either lazy or arbitrary limits imposed on it (I don't know which is worse), is really unacceptable. Hoping for a patch to remedy these issues shortly, or else maybe I'll just get that refund and move on. You can do better, Retro.

I tried to like this game but I couldn't. Sure, the pixel art is nice but what makes a game is the gameplay. And that is where the game lacks. Be ready to mash the shoot button, fortunately steam allows auto fire (saves me thumb arthritis) because some enemies require lot of damage and you can't go past them. The "open world" part of the game isn't an open world, this game is a metroidvania, period. And this is my biggest complain about this game : the metroidvania part. Even with the map and compass, it is SO confusing to travel, and what is this with all the back and forth? I know this is how metroidvanias work but does it has to be so annoying? Spend 10 minutes going from point A to point B, get an item, spend another 10 minutes going back to point A, get an item, spend another 10 minutes to go back again to point B so you can procede further. And of course during these back and forth you can't just rush and avoid enemies, no no no, you will stumble on said enemies that you can't get past and that require you to mash the shoot button to kill them. Sorry devs for the thumb down, I know you spent a lot of time and passion on your game, but it's a miss

Update: changing my rating to recommended. Some of the downsides are fixeable by options that were pointed out to me by the developer. Difficult game that dares to try something new while maintaining an old-school appeal, but terrible controls and some questionable design choices are too huge of an obstacle to make it enjoyable. You begin the game with little backstory or guidance. The only thing you can deduce from the introduction is that someone named Pap got himself into a bit of trouble, and it is now your mission to come to his rescue. You're on your own, with only an in-game handbook containing Pap's notes on the essential mechanics and the strange world you've found yourself in. The basic goal of the game is to restore the grid. This is accomplished by locating numerous machines that provide various clues. These could take the shape of Morse or colored codes that must be written down or remembered because the game does not take the easy route of providing hints or some kind of notebook that automatically notes down what you uncover. The game's world is made up of several areas. You can't just travel wherever you want because there are obstacles in your way, but there are some open-world components. While there is a basic minimap that indicates major objectives and locations you've already visited, it does not show the exits. Despite the 2D movement, getting lost is easy because you never know where the road leads. Exploring thoroughly is mandatory because you will have to find items needed for progress. Some of them are fuses for circuits and ropes to climb the marked cliffs. Interesting thing is that you can reuse the rope as long as you remember to pick it up. The game, similar to its overall visuals, attempts to go with an old-school difficulty. Despite the endless ammo for your basic handgun, there are many threats out there who simply want to make your experience as unpleasant as possible. In reality, enemies turn out to be the least frustrating aspect. There's no coddling here; the game is tough as nails. Poisonous clouds, sticky traps, cliffs, and a variety of other perils will gladly drain your health or kill you. Although you may be lucky and receive a particularly rare and beneficial piece of food when defeating an enemy, it is best to move slowly and observe the environment. While things aren't all that horrible because there’s a base where you can recuperate by resting and save your game, the difficulty stems from factors beyond your control. One of them is a hacking minigame in which the goal is to connect two points by using random tiles. The short time limit plus the fact that you lose a significant amount of health if you fail turns this into a dangerous undertaking. To make things worse, you need to take the risk if you want to open safe houses. Too many times have I passed countless obstacles and defeated many enemies only to die right in front of a shack because I didn’t get the tile I needed. Update from the developer: tiles can be rotated. This is mentioned in the tips, but it doesn't say which button does it (Y on gamepad). I also forgot to mention that if your line goes through a heart that might show up on the grid, your health will be restored. Unfortunately, the main reason for losing health is not the game's mechanics, but rather the poor control scheme. Climbing and jumping are extremely aggravating. The issue is that it is not automatic. You must press up to grab a ledge and then perform a complex motion to actually climb up. Situations requiring you to jump and maintain momentum are a surefire way to get yourself killed since the button gymnastics required are a bit too much. If that isn’t enough, the up button is also used for interacting with things. Shooting things above you is another obstacle a player needs to deal with. The problem is that the gamepad is overly sensitive, and you're continually pointing up or straight ahead, but you never seem to find that tiny sweet spot for shooting diagonally. A button to "lock" the aim could have fixed the problem. Update from the developer: the diagonal shot can be found in the options. I failed to notice this because it's hidden quite well; you need to bind it to a button by toggling through all available commands. The notice about supported controllers might cause some confusion. It says you can only play with a controller and that keyboard and mouse are not supported. That is only partially correct because the keyboard controls work fine.

It's supremely ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up that the best new release of 2023 was literally an NES game. Why do I even have a $1500 gaming PC? (ended up actually playing it on emulator since the steam port has no fps limit so you have to set your monitor's refresh rate to 60Hz before starting it... annoying)

Hidden gem alert! You are currently reading a hidden gem review. Proceed accordingly. Despite some of its flaws, I really enjoyed this retro-beautiful metroidvania. Graphically, it's pure joy to look at for anyone who enjoys NES pixel art. Has many beautiful, varied areas, and each one of those areas even has different colour palettes depending on the in-game time of day. Gorgeous. The music is good too. Very impressive presentation. Gameplay-wise, it's a bit of an acquired taste. The combat feels engaging at first, but as you revisit each screen for the nth time, it will start to feel more and more repetitive. With rare exceptions, enemies respawn every time a screen is loaded, which means even doing something like reading a note will repopulate the screen. Add the game's "be at camp before 2 AM or it's game over" gimmick, and you'll be fighting the same guys much more often than in other metroidvanias. And once you know which buttons to press, combat devolves into button mashing. So the combat isn't the game's strong suit. But that's okay! There's rarely a reason to fight anyway. Some of them do drop crafting resources, but other than collecting fungal snakes to craft medkits, I don't think you ever need to bother. Just avoid the enemies and dodge past them whenever you can. The game's strong suit is exploration. Mapping and learning all the different areas is fun. Navigating them is fun! Even getting lost in the forest area is fun. You'll have some trouble with ledges at first, but even they will become fun once you get used to them. The in-game map is lacklustre, so you might want to draw up your own. Or just have an excellent memory. Otherwise, you'll end up having to revisit each screen even more often. I do have some complaints: all the pretty graphics don't always make it clear which bits are walkthroughable, which pixels count as a ledge, and which don't. And I feel the game doesn't always do a good enough job telegraphing what door or path any particular switch opens, leading to even more repetition. Puzzles get respectably tricky. You will have to take notes -- there's a convenient page towards the end of the manual for that. The manual is fantastic, by the way. Comes with many pretty drawings and helpful hints. You can view it in-game, or you could get it from Steam to see it in a much higher resolution. The puzzles are heavy on the colours, and for the majority of them, they use colourblind-friendly colours (brown, orange, blue), but there is one unfortunate exception that forced me to ask for some assistance. Finding items hidden among all the trees is pretty tricky too (red on green), but they're supposed to be hidden, and they're never mandatory and are mostly just for the completion percentage, so that's okay. The game is listed as "controller only" on Steam, but that's a lie -- it's just that the default keyboard bindings are very unfortunate (arrow keys, z, x, a, s, e, r, enter, and q+w for the options screen), and you'd need some third-party way to rebind them to something reasonable, but if you take the time to do so, it's perfectly playable on a keyboard. Also, apparently the game doesn't run at the right speed if you don't have your monitor's refresh rate set at 60Hz. And some players report that the game randomly deleted their save files, but, thankfully, that never happened to me, so I can't chime in on that. Play time: 15:36 Explored: 238/238 Completion: 84%

I own the Full Quiet cart and so I’ve played the game on the NES. I am extremely impressed by this game. - it’s unbelievable what the devs were able to do in terms of creating such an atmospheric adventure, given all the restrictions that the NES console imposes. I really like that this game takes itself seriously. There’s this sense of mystery and tension throughout the game. At some points it’s even scary! The game’s length and challenge level are both satisfying. The puzzles are clever but not impossible. If the devs would do more crowdfunded NES games in the future I would back them without hesitation.

Yeah okay, this sucks. The movement feels waaaay too fast, like atari movement. It's actually difficult to do basic things like climb ladders because you need to be stupidly fast to put in the inputs in the split second you have compared to other games. I'm not sure if this intentional or just a lack of effort put in to making the character feel fun to control. It's rare to encounter a game this retro, It brings down the whole experience to something I find miserable to play.