Scapeland

[h1]Introduction[/h1] Scapeland is developed and published by 3100 games. The dev team’s sole Steam project so far and after briefly reading on the game’s Store page, I noticed that it was developed by 5 eager students. Steam’s the perfect place to jump-start your career and transform a hobby, into something truly creative. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] And indeed, no one can argue that Scapeland isn’t stretching imagination. In fact, judging the game at first glance you wouldn’t consider that its core gameplay lies within stealth mechanics instead of let’s say, peaceful faming and trading? Because that is precisely what you have to do as soon as you hit the “New Game” option. Yet after a short while, harvest time is over and you find yourself literally hunted by groups of soldiers along fenced-off areas with tanks sprinkled in-between. Zero explanation for any of this and survival means avoiding the aforementioned soldiers and bypassing them. You’re a peaceful farmer/trader, remember? Of course the “eevil gov’t” is after your crops or whatever silly motivation you can muster for yourself in order to find some reason for the fictional manhunt you are witnessing. One thing is certain: you have to use your wits and carefully plan your movement as to fully avoid crossing through the cones of vision, featured by your potential captors. Luckly, you can distract the soldiers by throwing rocks. Fascinating! Earlier, as in before you were running for your life, you could also toss seeds and animals using the same throwing mechanic. You have to appreciate a game as abstract as Scapeland, no doubt. What I didn’t really like is the predictible AI and equally so, search patterns used by the patrols out there to get you. I’ve had my fair share of stealth games and I declare myself a fan of this subgenre, but sadly, Scapeland lacks providing even a decent modicum of challenge. So a farming simulator it is not and the weird stealth sections besides offering no context, are also fairly superficial. The odds are not in your favor, Scapeland… At least the game uses the Unity engine to its advantage. It also nails a minimalist style of sorts with faceless characters (by the way, you can choose between a male or female protagonist, even if there won’t be any gameplay differences at all) and brightly colored pixelated assets. It’s screaming “indie” all over it and that is not necessarily a bad thing. If only it could stand out somehow. The sounds are most certainly not helping it, since they’re only a handful and repetitive to a fault. Level design also seems to be lacking variety since you will be playing along the same farmlands/military bases for the majority of time. It gets old pretty fast and no matter how predictable the AI is, you are still prone to mistakes that will sooner have you rage quit than to restart the level yet again. [h1]Pros[/h1] + Bizarre stealth/farming mechanics + Pleasant graphics + Steam Achievements & Trading Cards [h1]Cons[/h1] - Limited sound selection - No story or coherent context for the in-game actions you must perform - Gets repetitive fast [h1]Result / Final thoughts[/h1] Frankly, if this game wasn’t decently priced (even outside seasonal Sales) and offering both Cards and Achievements, I would have firmly warned potential buyers of the bad investment and advise them to steer clear. But Scapeland manages to offer the said auxiliaries and its vague attempts at mixing stealth with farming represent a novelty, even if poorly implemented and seriously missing even a flimsy storyline. Getting this game from a bundle would be ideal or at least, buying it on a hefty discount. [b]Rating 60/100[/b] [quote]This review was submitted for [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/ImperialReviews]Imperial Reviews[/url], through the generous contribution of [url=http://steamcommunity.com/id/redhillcro]RedHill[/url].[/quote]

IMO "short" but sweet defines the game best. But it isn't as short for erveryone. The game can get very frustrating and you will be stuck here and there which can drag out the game quite a bit. So be sure you can handle a bit of anger or rage :P The looks are great- they fit the game pretty nice and it runs smooth. All in all the game is definitly worth a try, especially for indie fans. It will kill one or another hour ;)

definitely woth it !!! + great concept/story + plot twist + chicken + challenging (if you like challenges) - maybe sometimes a bit frustrating (if you're someone who ragequits after 5th attempt ;D ) would buy again!!!

Stardew Valley this is not. Incredibly frustrating to the point of being broken. I feel like maybe I'm doing something wrong but the game isn't telling me. The game has a cool crossy road look so there's potential but overall more frustrating than fun.

I like that there is a diversity between the different levels. It's much more fun than a simple farm simulator. The game is also quite challenging for not so advanced gamers. There are also small puzzles which you have to manage and I really like the way how the checkpoints are set. All in all, it's a nice game to kill time and it has replay potential.

[h1] Empty game. [/h1]

「一見（コンセプトアートなどから素直に想像）すると普通のゲームだが、実は隠された大きな秘密が……」といった感じで本筋を大胆にひっくり返すプロットは、どうも最近インディーゲーム界隈の隅っこのほうで静かに流行しているらしい。代表的な例としては Dr. Langeskov（略） と Pony Island の2作だろうが（後者は筆者未プレイですが）、これらはあくまで成功した例だ。 そうした例と対照的に、Scapeland はいわば失敗に終わった「ひっくり返し系」の例として記憶されるべきゲームだ。 この手のゲームでネタバレは禁物だとお叱りをうけるかもしれないが、とにかくそのネタの部分がどうしようもなくダメダメなので、バレでもなんでも書かざるをえない。このことは先にお断りしておく。ようするに、Dr. Langeskov のレビューのようにノリノリでネタに乗っかってしまっては、「だまされた」ユーザーにかえってお叱りをうけかねない程度の出来なのだ。 Scapeland はトレーラーやスクリーンショット、商品紹介文などをみれば「ほのぼの農業ゲーム」の類が想像できるようにされている。実際ある時期まではほのぼの農業ゲーム一般にみられるルーチン（収穫、種の購入、種まき、収穫、剰余利益で上ランクの種を購入……）をこなし、時を進めていくことになる。だが順風満帆にみえたほのぼの農場は突如として謎の軍隊に襲われ、主人公は逃避行を余儀なくされる。謎の軍隊の追跡を逃れ、どこかも知らぬ先へと逃げ続ける。これがこのゲームに隠された本筋であり、ゲーム本来の楽しみを損ないかねない重大なるネタバレでもある。とはいえ、ネタバレといってもたいしたネタがあるわけではない。主人公がなぜ追われているのか、なぜ逃げねばならないのか。主人公を追う謎の軍隊はいったい何者なのか、何が目的なのか。こういった謎は一切明かされることがない。しかしそれはあまりに退屈で、謎を追求したい好奇心よりも話の展開に飽きる方向に早々に天秤が傾いてしまう。 なぜここまで堂々とネタバレをするかというと、この本筋のステルスゲームがどうしようもなくつまらないからだ。実際のところ、ステルスゲームというほど上等なものではない。黄色く表示されている兵士の視界に入らないよう動き、ときには物陰に入って巡回する兵士の視界から隠れたり、反対側に石を投げて兵士の視界を他方に向けたあいだに通り抜けたり、立ち止まって動かない兵士の背後を足音を立てないよう歩いて通り抜けたりといった具合で、敵の無力化などこちらから攻撃的に抵抗できる手段はない。言い換えればオブジェクト回避パズルのようなものだ。これがただひたすら退屈なうえに無駄に難易度が高く、チェックポイントもないので失敗して最初からやり直しの順を繰り返すとたちまちストレスが爆発する。 苛立ちを抑えながらもかなりの忍耐力を動員して最初のステルスマップを抜けると、次は3レーンの道を左右への移動とジャンプ・スライディングを駆使しながら走り抜けるアクションシーンに移る。これは反射神経が要求され、筆者のなによりの苦手分野ではあるのだが、似非ステルスゲームに対する苛立ちからの解放感も手伝って、前のマップよりはよほど面白く、ここへきてこのゲームに対する私のなかでの評価が一変したかに思えた。なるほどこういう形でさまざまなミニゲームに順番にチャレンジさせるのは実験的で面白い試みだと。しかしその期待はこのステージをクリアしたのちに見事に裏切られた。次のステージはまたもや似非ステルスゲームで、そのステルスの難易度もチェックポイントなしでクリアさせられる1マップの広さも増し増しであった。ここで10回ほど失敗を繰り返し、ついにステージの最終関門らしき場所までたどり着いたところでまたもや失敗して開始地点に戻された私はこのゲームをあきらめることにしたのだった。 結論としては、このゲームはそもそも農業ゲームではないので間違えて買ってはいけないし、タグに付与されているような「実験的」な面としてみても明らかに失敗しているので、私としてはこのゲームをおすすめすることはできません。お目当てに応じた別のゲームを買いましょう。（[url=invalid-gamer.blogspot.jp/2016/10/scapeland.html]画像付きレビュー全文[/url]）

I have mixed feelings about this game, but I would not recommend it. [b]Gameplay[/b] The game begins as a simple farming game which introduces the controls to the player. I liked this portion of the game the best, but I completely forgot what happens afterwards and was surprised. The levels began somewhat easy then got more difficult and longer as they continued. Along with a chase scene in between. I feel as if the chase idea was somewhat stolen from other games (such as Temple Run, Subway Surfer, etc.) I viewed it as 3 different game types mashed into one short game. The stealth portion of the game got stressful due to the fact that I messed up at certain parts, but certain checkpoints help you continue back to where you left off. I am mainly upset at the fact majority of the screenshots displayed a farming game, but in reality that part lasted me maybe 5 minutes. It was most likely easy to guess it wouldn't last long due to the fact of how small the starting map was. If you explore it the only things you find is your farm and a small stand for the seeds. I wished the developers would of included more screenshots of the stealth portion than to have screenshots of (most likely) the shortest portion of the game. The graphics are okay, not horrible but not the best. The coloring of the world is simple, no different shades really. As for the music, as soon as I launched the game I noticed I had to turn it on myself and it was not enabled already. I am unsure if it is like this for anyone else, but I played through the game without any sound. I went back and enabled it to help me write this review. The main soundtrack though, seems quite annoying. The main beat is repeated and does not change at all (I would recommend muting it to keep one's sanity.) Sound effects are not bad, better than the music. I just think it's a tiny bit weird I can hear the river across the map as clear as I can next to it. Could be better. [b]Thoughts[/b] Not really worth it. After I finished my save deleted. I wasn't even allowed to go back to my farm (;-;) which was kinda disappointing. The puzzles were a bit annoying along with the fact since I played it all in one sitting it didn't save my settings (example: windowed, resolution, etc.) which could maybe be annoying for people who might want to play it again for the achievements. The game shouldn't be worth $3.99 and more so the price I bought it ($0.99)

The farming was great. Then the rest of the game happened and it was horrible, no fun at all. Make a game based on the farming part, forget the rest.

Scapeland... I'm not sure what the name is supposed to tell us, but the game is, for me, somewhat of a mess. Graphically the game is OK. It's better than some of the modern "pixel art" games that look like C64 rejects. This one looks like it came from an N64 demo. Sound wise, I never listen to game music, I've always found it off putting, so I won't comment on that. The rest of the audio seemed fine. There was nothing outstanding about it, but also nothing bad about it either. Game play.... This is where I just went: WTF ? Initially the game starts as a farming simulator. You have one chicken, one plot of land with 6 spaces to farm an item, and very little money. You harvest your crop, pick up a chicken egg, buy seeds, plant seeds, sleep, and repeat that process until for some magical reason the army turns up. I had to plant & harvest at least a dozen times before the army showed up. There was no reason for it, they just show up one morning. You then run for your life to escape, which puts you into the next level.... Level 2 is a stealth mission which sees you sneaking past army men. One wrong turn and you're all the way back to the beginning. Repeat this half a dozen times for "reasons" (i.e. random occurrences that cause the army men to turn around and see you) and you will escape the army camp. Level 3 is an endless runner, where you can change lanes, duck and jump over obstacles. Every time you die you start back at the beginning of the level. It's easy to make mistakes, and you'll be repeating this level until one of two things happen. You finish the level or you quit in disgust and then idle the game for the cards. I chose option two. I quit the game at that point and will idle the cards, remove the game and never bother with it again in the next few days. The game seems to want to try to be a mixture of everything, but fails at most of them. The farming is tedious and repetitive with an artificially imposed limit on what you can buy at the shop (most of the shop items are ghosted out for "reasons"). The stealth section(s?) are frustrating and the endless runner is as well. In the end: don't bother. If the game doesn't know what it wants to be, then you shouldn't be parting with money to help the developers confused state. Update: 25th Apr 2016 - I made it to level 4 and it's another stealth level. After a bunch of tries to clear it, I've given up again. The game just isn't fun to play.