For a second there I thought it was some lost adventure game from the mid 90s, it looked too old to be an imitation, so I think you did a pretty good job with the models, texture, and the movement of the camera. The game can be finished in about 3 to 4 hours, I thought the first half wasn't as exciting, it seems you saved most of the obscure elements toward the end. Granted, sometimes you need that suspense to make the story more impactful, it just took a little longer than I was expecting. I think the stages starting with the duck were much more enjoyable, partially because that is where you start to see all of those otherworldly characters, with the mayor area being my favorite because it had the most personality.
I like that you mapped the scene navigation to both mouse and the keyboard which usually does not happen, strangely enough it was easier to control the movement with the keyboard, probably because it was faster. Overall the game was very playful with a lot of moving details in the environment, I felt like the puzzles had a good variety like minigames, and they were never too difficult. The logic was intuitive for the most part, I only got stuck maybe 2 or 3 times, although I do feel like there were a bit too many fetch quests in the first half of the game that didn't move the narrative.
The only thing I didn't like was the flat colored background, I think most games would match the theme of the game with a similar interface look, maybe like some retro console with tubes and some rust texture, would make it a little more immersive I think. The UI probably could use a little work, sometimes you would give certain feedback for some interactions, but not the other. I also had various small issues like icons sticking on the screen, items not leaving the inventory, and other random bugs. The camera was not always intuitive, sometimes it felt like you would keep it consistent with the angles, and toward the end I felt it gotten a bit lazy, and you would just do the reverse or move camera from odd positions.
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
(+) Overall I thought the game was very playful with the writing, that said, I thought the second half of the game was much more interesting in comparison, largely because of all the cool character models that only show up relatively deep into the game.
(+) These games tend to be very static on the lower end, but I felt there was a lot of movement and various ways to interact with the game that made it more enjoyable. You had a nice variety of minigames and ways to push or move things around the environment.
(+) You got the retro look down extremely well, and there were a lot of fun environments, I liked the claustrophobic locations more personally. The ending was interesting.
[h1]Feedback: [/h1]
[u]Puzzles:[/u]
- I was stuck for like 45 minutes just because I could not see the bottom of the machine in the gas station, I didn't realize I could lower it there, I thought I had to do something else
- I felt like I had to brute force the pole puzzles, even with the drawing
- I didn't like the solution for the fuse, maybe at least give another hint somewhere with a drawing because it does not seem like it should work
[u]UI:[/u]
- I would have preferred like a more thematic background for the unplayable area instead of just flat color, maybe like a retro tech console with rust and retro texture
- sometimes interaction icons would stick around, maybe because I alt-tab sometimes
- you should give consistent feedback on interactions, either with sound, visuals or text, it felt very sporadic across the game
[b]Overall Thoughts: 7/10 [/b]
I thought it was a really fun & faithful oldschool puzzle/adventure, maybe a little slow at the start, but the second half is very funny with all the obscure characters, strange plot, and interesting conclusion. There was probably a better way to present the game instead of sticking it into a small window surrounded by flat color, I am not sure if it's because it was playable in the web, I am sure I would enjoy it more with a wider picture. I think you did a good job with a variety of puzzles and variety of locations, with a few slight pacing issues as I felt the first hour of the game was too uneventful.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
