Mortimer: First Launch

Mortimer: First Launch is one of literally thousands of student projects infesting Steam. It's from Jyväskylä University of Applied Science in Finland (where there are no raccoons). While student projects tend to be better quality than most "amateur" made games, we must still question what value such projects have for gamers. As with all student projects, this isn't really a fully fleshed out game, it's just the result of an academic exercise, and as such it has much more limited value as a game than a professionally developed game would have. Educational institutions should not be using Steam as a dumping ground for homework assignments (especially if the students didn't even pass the course). Sure, it helps their marketing and helps the students feel good about themselves, but this is another case of a business putting themselves before the needs of gamers. This isn't a full game, it's just a prologue/demo intended to represent what an entire (third person puzzle platformer/adventure with a Finnish raccoon theme) game might look like.... so, uh, why is that of value to gamers exactly? Oh wait, it's not. Sure, the graphics might look ok and it might even make you considering buying the full game, [i]but there will never be one!!![/i] See why student projects like this are often directly against the interests of gamers? The graphics in this game are passable, but could be better. And while it's vital for any game to have impressive visuals (gaming is a visual medium, after all), there's more to a game than just the graphics. To be worth a gamers time, the game must match top tier visuals with top tier gameplay, and that's not happening here. This is "free" enough, at least you won't be expected to spend any more money after you download this, but just because something is free doesn't mean it's good. Despite having no up-front cost, this failed to appeal to the 120 million+ gamers on Steam. SteamDB showed the game peaked at only 4 concurrent players... this is a dismal public reception. This was so bad they couldn't even give it away. Bearing in mind that free games don't add +1 to your game collector count, should you bother adding this to your library and downloading it? Not this time. This isn't worth downloading. While this won't cost you any money, you get what you pay for, and sometimes, even when the game is free, it's still not enough.

Meraklı bir rakun olan Mortimer'ın başrol oynadığı, sıra dışı bir gizlilik-bulmaca macerası başlıyor. Hemen yerimizi alalım.

⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⠟⠁⢀⣀⣀⡀⠈⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠛⠁⢀⣀⣀⡀⠈⠻⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⠄⢰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣦⡀⠙⠻⠿⠿⠿⠿⠟⠋⢀⣴⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⡆⠄⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡀⣈⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣁⢀⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡀⠄⠄⠄⠄⢀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⡿⠁⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄⠄⠄⠄⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠈⢿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡟⠁⢸⣿⣿⠟⢉⣉⠙⢿⣿⡄⠄⠄⢠⣿⡿⠋⣉⡉⠻⣿⣿⡇⠈⢻⣿⣿ ⣿⡟⠄⠄⢾⣿⣿⣆⡘⠻⢿⣾⣿⡇⠄⠄⢸⣿⣷⡿⠟⢃⣰⣿⣿⡧⠄⠄⢻⣿ ⣿⡟⠄⠄⠄⠉⠻⣿⣿⣶⣾⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣷⣶⣿⡿⠟⠉⠄⠄⠄⢻⣿ ⣿⣿⣷⣶⣤⣀⠄⠈⢻⣿⣿⡟⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⢻⣿⣿⡟⠁⠄⣠⣤⣶⣾⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⡀⣿⣿⠄⢠⣴⣶⣶⣦⡄⠄⣿⣿⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄⠈⠻⠿⠿⠟⠁⠄⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⣦⣤⣤⣴⣶⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿

This is an interesting short game about raccoon, who wants to fly to the Moon. To do so, he needs to build a rocket from parts, stolen from the people around. Pros: 1. Funny raccoon as main character 2. Clear goals 3. Interesting mechanics Cons: 1. The game doesn't run smooth on steamdeck 2. Can't skip the educational part in case on re-run 3. Can't hide the hints at the beginning. I ran through a half of the game with the hint how to swim. To hide it you must swim in the proper place and eat some king of the fruit on the other side. It's easy to miss this fruit.

I certainly don't want to be the guy to give a free, cute, student-made game a thumbs down. I'll recommend it with some warnings: -Objects you need aren't very obvious. Some kind of glowing outline around them would help, especially with the one that I didn't notice right away because it looked like it was part of what it was leaning on. -Having the audacity to explore an area out-of-bounds will get you instakilled by an invisible shorse (a reference to another game by this studio), sometimes without any warning. The odd thing is that swimming is part of the tutorial, but almost every area past the water will do this. Perhaps a future installment will feature this more. Just stick to the camp area to avoid this. -When you pick up an object, you will be unable to move and have your screen blocked for a few seconds. This led to me being unable to do anything when a human who didn't seem to care about my presence ran up to me. -Any time you restart you [i]have[/i] to do the tutorial again.

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬜⬜⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬜⬜⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬛⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬛⬛ ⬛⬜⭐⭐⭐⬜⬜⬛⬜⬜⭐⬜⭐⬜⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⭐⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⭐⬜⭐⬜⬜ 🟦🟦🟦⭐🟦🟦⭐⭐⭐🟦⭐🟦⭐🟦🟦 🟦🟦⭐🟦🟦🟦⭐🟦⭐🟦⭐🟦⭐🟦🟦 ⬛🟦⭐⭐⭐🟦⭐🟦⭐🟦🟦⭐🟦🟦⬛ ⬛⬛🟦🟦🟦🟦⭐🟦⭐🟦🟦🟦🟦⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛🟥🟥🟥⭐⭐⭐🟥🟥🟥⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛🟥🟥🟥⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛🟥⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

This delightful game tells the story of Mortimer, a young racoon with big dreams of space exploration. The hand-drawn art style is adorable, and the gameplay is a fun mix of platforming and puzzle-solving. The story is heartwarming and encourages believing in yourself. Pros: 1. Charming art style 2. Engaging gameplay 3. Heartwarming story Cons: Relatively short length Score: 7/10