Spookyard

Best 2k21 ever

I think this is the best game i have ever played hands down.

[h1]Before I played Spookyard, I had a small pp, no friends, no gf, depression, and no life. These things havent changed, but the game is pretty good[/h1]

From PUC-Rio in Brazil (the Pope's Catholic University), we have "Spookyard." Students here were clearly mistaught that it's fine to release obsolete 2D games in the 3D era. 3D graphics cards became uniquitous in every single gaming PC ever since the 1990's when the ATI Rage and Voodoo3 hit the scene. Any professional development business that sees a prospective hire who doesn't know 3D graphics became mainstream in the mid 1990's with the Voodoo3 and ATI Rage probably isn't going to give them a job. Bad for the students, and what is this delivering for us gamers in the 3D gaming era? The students gave us a twofer... a game featuring 2 party brawler modes, one top down, one platformer, both really bad. At best this is one of the worst ripoffs of Super Smash Bros you ever saw. And value for gamers? None, because Super Smash Bros already exists. Why did we need an inferior copy? Yeah, sure, the Nintendo characters are replaced with some generic lulzy "horror" monsters, but that's just a boring skin on an obsolete game genre. When institutions flood the store with low quality 2D video game homework assignments, we have to question what value they have for gamers. They're not fully fledged games, they don't even have 3D graphics. It might make the students feel good about themselves to get this published on Steam Direct, but gamers have to wade through this stuff just to find the professionally made, fully fleshed out 3D games we really want. This is a multiplayer game that lacks any actual online play because the developer didn't include netcode or matchmaking. Steam has "Remote Play Together," but that isn't a real fix for the fact that PC gamers aren't sitting around a desk together to play games on one monitor. Whether the developer was too lazy or just lacked the skill to add online features, a multiplayer game without online support is a failure. On the topic of visuals, the weak looking 2D retro assets seem like they'd be more at home in a browser game or a mobile app. 3D graphics accelerators hit the mainstream of PC gaming in the mid 1990's with cards like the ATI Rage and Voodoo3D, there's no excuse for such poor 2D graphics in 2026. That alone is enough to disqualify this for recommendation. This game is fairly dated at 6 years old... and even back then it looked old and busted compared to contemporary, professionally made 3D games of the same period. It looked bad then, it looks worse now. Next is pricing and what value this has for gamers. It would be unethical for students to try charge money for their homework assignments, so you don't have to pay any money for this. But you'd still have to spend your time downloading this, and "time is money", as they say. There's the other problem, too... as a student project, this wasn't made for gamers. There's no requirement for them to polish and balance the game properly, all they need is something to show the faculty so they can get their grade and move on. Let's once more ask... why is that good for gamers? It's obviously not delivering a solid product. Yet here it is, on the store page, and here you are, reading my review for a student demo that's going to waste your time. While genuine amateur developers who made real products get ignored because they have to compete with this stuff. In some ways, this deluge of student projects on Steam is harmful to everyone. Even as a free game, this couldn't find an audience. With a peak of [b]only 5 players[/b], it's clear the Steam community took one look and walked away. They literally couldn't pay people to spend time playing this. This student project/tech demo/glorified homework assignment provides no Steam profile benefits, no +1 to your game count, and little value to gamers (because it's just a small, unpolished student project), so I can't recommend this over the thousands of full, professionally made games on Steam. Remember what I often say... if you don't agree with what I've said about this game, by all means add it to your library and play it. My review is just here to inform your decision, and if you think I was wrong and you downloaded the game, then I've done what I really wanted to do... inform your decision.

I liked it very much, great to play with friends. the only thing is that it felt a little slow. But the concept itself is very good and the graphics do not bother the view. I recommend it.

Игра 'Spookyard' оказалась приятным сюрпризом. Пиксельная графика очаровательна и создаёт правильную, немного жутковатую атмосферу. Геймплей – классический point-and-click квест, с интересными головоломками, которые заставляют подумать, но не доводят до отчаяния. История, хоть и не блещет оригинальностью (заброшенный парк развлечений, призраки и тайны), подана достаточно увлекательно и с юмором. Персонажи запоминающиеся, а диалоги написаны остроумно. Особо хочется отметить музыкальное сопровождение. Мелодии атмосферные и отлично дополняют визуальный стиль. Управление удобное, интуитивно понятное. Из минусов можно отметить короткую продолжительность – игра проходится за пару часов. Хотя, с другой стороны, это позволяет ей не надоесть. В целом, 'Spookyard' – это отличная инди-игра для тех, кто любит пиксельную графику, квесты и немного мистики. Рекомендую к ознакомлению!