[code]Curator page here-->[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37670120/] DaRevieweD #225 [/url]<-- [i]New review every week[/i][/code]
[h1]"LAMB ME GUESS- INCOMPLETE!?"[/h1]
[u]Here's The Thing:[/u]
You adopt the role of John, single father of unknown circumstances, seeking to reunite with his daughter Mary. The latter of whom was detained by the authorities along with the rest of the kids and sent to a camp somewhere as the world went to hell… What from? Infighting, overcrowding, hunger, drought, and the usual foes~
[h1] ! ANNOUNCEMENT ![/h1]
This is a super special write-up simply as this makes the 225th entry in my reviews series since 2016 and it just so happens to coincide with my 25th birthday today! Anyway, I wanted to take the time to express a heartfelt thanks to anyone who’s checked out the work I do. I’m far from the most original or skilled of writers, but I do put in a lot of thought and effort into them~
[h1][u][+] PROS;[/u][/h1]
[h1]:) THIS IS THE JOHN-LY WAY~[/h1]
I will just come right out and say it, this mini-adventure took me a mere thirty minutes to complete (for reasons to be disclosed in the cons) and a meagre 12 minutes to speedrun. I usually leave that playtime tidbit in the finishing portion of the first pro, but… y’know what? Even though it’s problematic, it is irrevocably what made the game too!
The controls had such ease to be grasped, there were no tutorials whatsoever except for a few on-screen button prompts, giving you immense and total focus on the little narrative all niftily wrapped up in a bow! This post-apocalyptic 2D platformer, which by the way we can’t ever have enough of those, is reminiscent of both [b]The Last of Us (TLOU)[/b] & [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/1449690/] The Walking Dead[/url] in more ways than one and would probably be the most cited in terms of story parallels. And they’d be right, however,[url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/1561530/] Project:Solace[/url] comes a close second as well in style. It’s actually darn trying to describe stuff because you never really get to see or experience much of anything, therein lies the key characteristic of its appeal.
In fact, you’re bound to discover that just like the world it paints as scarce in supplies and humanity, the story acts as its beacon of hope. A precious resource, something that all the players would focus on, much a scavenger would when they eye a nugget of meat or anything bearing even the slightest semblance of edible~
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2973840615
[h1]:) THE. LAST. DRAW.[/h1]
I may have tightened the noose by pointing out the story as its shining exemplar, for the hand drawn visuals and graphic novel-like opener were nothing short of striking and gritty! Granted, the in-game “universe” you witness is but a very microscopic section to a run-down city that you’ll pass by oh so quickly… that said it sticks to you and gnaws at you like an artistically emotional splinter. I adored how it also looked very humble and not too professional that it ended up causing a distraction, trust me we wouldn’t want that in here.
Thank God for ambient acoustic tracks that are a cliche to the genre or else I would have resorted to cannibalism as well. I felt as though Joel (you know the fella) was somewhere alive and well with a guitar in hand and punctuating an all-too-familiar journey. Luckily, it doesn’t play off that sentiment heavily and its echoey sound design has a seat at the empty table too~
[h1]:) EAT OR BE EATEN? SURVIVE OR SERVE LIFE… IN A NOW-LAWLESS WORLD, BUT STILL!?[/h1]
It’s a premise we know all too well, therefore it need not be introduced or have much added to it. That said, the synopsis stating that it was directly influenced by Cormac McCarthy’s [b]“The Road”[/b]; which also served as the pinnacle of inspiration for one TLOU, just changes everything! And having not read that book, instead just did some last-minute research, that makes me an expert to conclude…! But seriously, I do think it captured the spirit thoroughly while paving its own path. Something that’s proving to be a challenge for horror titles these days leaning towards and then relying on nostalgia alone~
[h1]:) MARY, COULD YOU REALLY BE-[/h1]
Yes, I partially quoted James Sunderland- for who would know better of this dilemma than the man named after denial itself? What greater horror awaits out there than the truth of not knowing whether someone is alive or not? Besides the actual truth I mean. You know what… don’t respond to either of those!
While there is no proper resolution yet, and no, I didn’t just perform a “spoiler” because it’s in the name itself; I took a liking to it cause I really am dying to know what happens next! Along the way, you will come across a few survivors at their wits’ end which shouldn’t bode well for Mary, but somehow the hope springs eternal… in spite of it. Ultimately, the scariest bit is that the team doesn’t decide to continue this series and we are stuck in a purgatory of terrible fan fiction and self-envisioned endings. So, thank you for that~
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2973842254
[h1][u][-] CONS;[/u][/h1]
[h1]:( DEAD MAN WALKING![/h1]
You’ll notice the really stiff controls from the get go like rigor mortis is just about to set in… but this isn’t a psychological horror (not that I know of), so what gives!? The platforming ain’t all that fancy either, with the jumps that John does giving off the impression that he’s weighty as in he’s lethargic, which he well should be, but not quite?
Instead, he’s almost all stuffed, straight out of a buffet someplace! Just changing directions feel sloppy and delayed… Once a jump is initiated, there’s a very negligible slow-motion at play and you just have to wait until he’s done~
[h1]:( T-THAT’S ALL THEY ROAD? REALLY NOW??[/h1]
To not sound totally manic, I know- I KNOW (oops that ship has sailed) that I commended the game for its brevity and how it piques curiosity while leaving the good stuff to the imagination. But as it turns out, there is a fine line somewhat like a hair strand between “short” and “proof of concept”, guess which one it’s closer to…! The two separate preludes came off undeserving and just stalled for time. It’s subtle when it didn’t need to; winded when it should be. Interestingly, the voice acting felt unnaturally sped up as well, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say it was trying to catch up with the cinematics. Now that slayed me~
[h1]:( THE BEGINNING… OF THE END.[/h1]
3 distinctive levels with highly uneven design choices. My hugest pet peeve? A game deliberately includes unfair environmental hazards that can off a person like *snaps fingers* and then spawn you back at the beginning- wait, is THAT why it’s called that?! There are checkpoints, but they are few and far between, so what that translates to is the slightest misstep and you’re out!
I wasn’t big on the progression either in that it deviated from the standard “safe” to “moderately threating” and then finally “danger zone” formula. Don’t get me wrong, it could be done, but the end felt barren and “ok, bye”. What’s weirder is it opts for partial gibberish voiceovers, when we’ve already heard full monologues from the start, why can’t it stay consistent~
[h1]BUGS:[/h1]
x Multiple instances where the animations just lock up once a jump is performed.
x Takes fall damage after dropping a very short height and landing on air.
[h1]NITPICKS:[/h1]
~ Some funky English present and one last check couldn’t have hurt!
[h1]"EITHER WAY, DO LAMB ME KNOW DEVELOPERS~"[/h1]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2973843050
[u]Last Words?[/u]
As disheartening as it was hopeful, it ends prematurely before it even truly began! Despite it being mired in mobility qualms and narrative indecisiveness, it planted seeds only it can~
[h1]7.2 / 10[/h1]
