The First Friend

It is not often I get the chance to play a brand new game, but thanks to Jan I received this quiet gem. This is the first game of developer Alexander Westwater and it is a sterling effort. This is a walking simulator and you play a man who comes out and finds his dog missing from his kennel. He takes off to look for Zack and along the way you find mementos of the man's life. For example, you come across a bicycle and the narrative tells you of an amusing incident that took place. A fishing rod reminds you of a trip with your father. A box of cigarettes triggers off a memory of your peers at school. These mementos can be hard to find and some of the 'worlds' are quite large. You have to be quite systematic to track them down and even then I missed a couple. When I played through there was a bug with 4 achievements and I didn't receive them when I finished for the night. Alex has since done a patch and they are working now. The memories can be emotional, especially if you're a dog lover....which I am not. That is probably one of the negatives of this game. You need to have had a relationship with a dog to understand the bond between the two of you. I never got that emotional connection that others had. Graphics are quite basic, but there are some really lovely scenes. Beautiful piano music accompanied you and made the whole experience very relaxing. I never felt rushed or stressed to find the mementos. There is no action, just a steady pace throughout. You have the option of walking or going faster with the shift key. The latter was handy with the larger environments. To me, the scenery went through the seasons and it was well done. The big downside for me is that there is no way at the end of the game to replay chapters where you have missed mementos. It took me 4.5 hours to play at a leisurely pace, so others can do it in 2 hours. Game is reasonably priced and I came across no bugs. I did get caught in rocks but managed to extricate myself. Recommended for walking simulator fans. 7/10 Thanks again to Jan for the lovely gift.

Memories. We all have Memories. You can keep them by yourself, you can talk about it, you can write them down or you can make a special step and share them in a Game. Welcome to THE FIRST FRIEND. At first sight it seems to be that this Game is a Walking Simulator. Somehow … yes it is. But it is much more. It is a wonderfull Journey that let you dive into special Memories of a Person, who remembers. When we go through our live we will get so many, many Memories it is a Wonder that we can save it all inside us. That goes for good Memories, that goes for bad Memories. And sometimes, as a Protection for ourselves, we forget some of them. But one day, we will remember. One day we must remember, just to come to terms within ourselves. Deep hidden inside you means not gone forever. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2319246940 THE FIRST FRIEND is a remembering Journey. Starting in a House you will then walk through wonderfull Season Landscapes and find pieces of memories. Each Time you reach an important Place a Voice will tell you about it (and himself). The more you find, the more the Live Puzzle of the Person gets together and forms a Picture. The Landscapes are really, really wonderfull and that goes also for the Fantastic Piano Music that fits in so well like i rarely seen somewhere else. Amazingly done. Be warned if you are looking for Action and more. This is an absolutly unhasty Walking Simulator with Large Areas. This is Special. Yes, the Areas are large and after my first Walkthrough i saw many open Achievements, that shows me there is much more to find and yes, i want to find them. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2319245212 It took me about 1 Hour to complete, but i often stopped to enjoy the Areas and do some thinking about my own memories. It sounds strange but yes, this Journey inspired me to think about my own past. Each time when i had a longer walk from one Story Piece to another. All inspired by that wonderfull Landscapes AND Music of course. THE FIRST FRIEND feels very familar with HOME IS WHERE ONE STARTS (I really love) and THE FIRST TREE. If you like them, you will like THE FIRST FRIEND. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2319246123 I got this Game for free, but i will buy it for a Friend of mine to support the Developer. The Price is absolutly Fair for what you get. A very big Thank to the Developer for taking me on this really wonderfull Journey. A Journey about the really important parts in Live. Thank you! And please, please share the wonderfull Soundtrack with us. And thank, dear Reader, for reading. [h1][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/26335619-Adult-World-Gamers/] If you like this Review and want to read more like this then Follow our AWG Curator! You`re always welcome. [/url][/h1]

Довольно милая игра жанра симулятор ходьбы. Да, такой себе симулятор ходьбы, где мы находим различные предметы из прошлого главного героя, каждый из этих предметов связан с каким-то новым воспоминанием. Воспоминанием из прошлого его жизни, связаное с потерянным другом и членом семьи - собакой по имени Зак. Хотя местами игра немножечко Лара Крофт - догадайся, что нужно прыгать по камням с ускорением, чтоб найти скрытый предмет, или догадайся, что идти надо на свет, которого чуть раньше не было в какой-то местности:) Это история о дружбе человека и собаки, рассказ сложенный из кусочков историй, прожитых переживаний вместе. В общем, в поиске воспоминаний) Под настроение, вполне подойдет на вечерок. Спокойная, с успокаивающей мелодией игра... https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2710308317 Очень напоминает визуалом и аудио сопровождением the First Tree... мне обе игры понравились. Хотя в Friend немного более упрощенный геймплей относительно Tree. Там ГГ потерял отца (альтернативный ГГ - лиса, которая ищет лисят), тут ГГ потерял верного друга - собаку. И там, и тут происходит поиск предметов - триггеров для воспоминаний. И даже финал очень похож, тоже милый и немного философский. Позитивно, душевно, красиво и, в тоже время - и грустно, и печально. Вот такой спектр эмоций даёт нам эта инди-игра:) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2710328330

[h1][b]Finding your first friend, or barking up the wrong tree?[/b][/h1] [h2][b]Brief Overview[/b][/h2] [i]The First Friend[/i] is a first-person walking simulator about a man looking for his best buddy, his dog. The game features different areas littered with hidden artefacts which, when found, trigger memories about the two main characters. [i]The First Friend[/i] features interesting colour pallets, good voice acting and an okay story, however, the immersion is ruined by bugs and the emptiness of the world. [quote]🖱[i]The game can only be played with a keyboard and mouse.[/i]🖱[/quote] [h2][b]Gameplay[/b][/h2] [h2]General:[/h2] The controls are straightforward: you can walk, run and jump. The objective of the game is to explore the surroundings and recollect memories as you encounter artefacts. This is optional for progression, and you might miss some before accidentally wandering into the next area. You automatically trigger the associated recollections when you pass an artefact, which could cause you to trigger a memory without noticing the artefact. [h2]Story:[/h2] You play as an unnamed man who lives alone with his dog, [i]Zack[/i], in a forest cabin. The story starts you off in your cabin where you discover that [i]Zack[/i] went on an adventure into the forest. You set out on a mission to find your beloved friend. The story is told exclusively through dialogues triggered by the different artefacts that you encounter. You aimlessly wander in a rather empty world, trying to find [i]Zack[/i] and learn more about him and yourself. The story is decent, brought slightly more alive by good voice acting, but does not particularly stand out. The flow of the story is unfortunately interrupted by the large empty spaces between some artefacts, game bugs (which I will discuss later) and lack of interaction with your surroundings. In some places, it feels like the story was moulded around the available assets and level design instead of the other way around. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2343494136 [h2]Level design:[/h2] [i]The First Friend[/i] was created by a single, first-time developer within a few months. Sadly, this shows. The idea behind this game is simple in principle, but this idea was not executed well. [i]The First Friend[/i] is designed using only Unity assets and a limited knowledge of coding which left a rather empty world to traverse through. The levels are slightly different from each other with their own colour palettes, which breaks the monotony of the environments. That is unfortunately where the goodwill stops. The areas are too big with little content, you have to put a lot of effort into traversing nothingness to find more artefacts. Even the little bit that is there is quite repetitive, and once you notice the same tree for the umpteenth time the true lifelessness of this empty space shines through. I feel like this could easily have been fixed with smaller areas that are denser and more exciting to explore. The game world is barren of life, except for a few butterflies which occasionally fly past. Everything here is static, with no movements when you brush against plants and unresponsive water with no splash animations when you run through it. To me, it felt like I was floating through the world which disconnected me from the character, the environment and the story. Besides feeling disconnected, I also felt like a caged bird due to the unnatural boundary walls. The boundaries for the levels consist of massive "mountains" that appear to be ground that is raised with a terrain tool with rows of trees at the top. It would have been a lot more pleasant if these walls were lower and shaped more like mountains to suit the atmosphere that the developer is going for. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2343481678 The level transitions are just a simple black screen, which also broke my immersion. Sometimes you are just thrown into a black screen without knowing that you finished the level. Loading times are also unforgivably long, so prepare to become quite familiar with this blackness. Something that puzzled me was the inclusion of a goal (specific memories that need to be triggered to advance in the game) in one level exclusively. This would have made a lot more sense if there was such a mechanic in each level but including it randomly in only one level disrupts the flow of the game. [h2][b]Technical[/b][/h2] [quote][h3]PC Specifications:[/h3][list] [*]AMD Ryzen 5 1600X (3.60 GHz) [*]16GB DDR4 RAM [*]Radeon RX 570 8GB (OC) [*]1920x1080 Resolution [*]HDD [*]Windows 10 [/list][/quote] [h2]Visuals and audio:[/h2] [i]The First Friend[/i] has a simple design, with no settings for graphics or audio. [h3][i]Visuals[/i][/h3] The first friend opted for a simplistic visual style. Each level's unique colour scheme causes them to appear quite pretty at first glance but spending any amount of time in this empty, repetitive world quickly leads to this prettiness fading away. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2346539138 [h3][i]Audio[/i][/h3] I enjoyed listening to the soothing voice of the main character and I felt as though it suited the story he was telling. There are some parts (especially around the start) where emotions aren't portrayed to their full potential, but this is minor and I'd definitely say that the voice acting was a big positive in [i]The First Friend[/i]. There is, however, a problem with the voice tracks playing over each other if you trigger a new memory while still musing over a previous memory. The music used in the game is lovely and atmospheric. The problem is that only one track plays per area on repeat, which is assured to happen since you traverse these huge maps at a snail's pace. The pauses between the repeats are also sometimes too long leaving you with a jarring silence which could sometimes last a few seconds. This absolute silence is due to the absolute lack of ambient sounds, besides the occasional bird chirping, a lone rustling of a bush, a single footstep and rainfall in one of the areas. There is also no audio feedback from footsteps or water splashes which once again leaves one feeling disconnected as I mentioned before. [h2]Performance:[/h2] The game ran rather poorly on the above-mentioned specs, barely reaching 60fps in most parts of the game. The frame rate was fairly constant in the first level and started fluctuating often after this. In some parts, the frame rate would drop to low twenties with noticeable frame rate drops when you stand still for a while and start walking again. [h2]Issues:[/h2] [i]The First Friend[/i] is riddled with bugs, and I am not talking about the occasional butterfly. Besides the above-mentioned bugs, there are floating shadows, floating objects, flashing textures, and one artefact even dropped my frame rate to 2-6fps. [h2][b]Summary[/b][/h2] I really wanted to like this game, I am fond of relaxing walking simulators and enjoy experiencing the creativity employed by first-time devs to put life into their visions. [i]The First Friend[/i], however, lacks that life. Conceptually, this game had the vision to take me on a fun, emotional journey based on an emotional topic. Sadly, the execution was severely lacking and the game left me feeling disconnected and bored instead of emotionally invested. I believe that, with a smaller and livelier world, [i]The First Friend[/i] would have been a lot more enjoyable and worth buying (especially at its low price). However, at its current state with the bugs, lacklustre level design and lack of audio feedback I cannot recommend this game. 🌟 [b] Despite being an affordable game, I would not recommend [i]The First Friend[/i] to anyone in its current state. [/b] 🌟 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37072886][quote]For more reviews with a bite stronger than its bark, come take a look at [b]Devils in the Detail[/b].

First, do not buy this. If you already own it, my condolences. You can try to get it working natively on Linux with the following steps, which I tested following a [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1484580/discussions/0/2984162084708751555/#c3191362449936244574]discussions post[/url]: [code] [browse local files and rename as posted or copy the commands below when in the appropriate directory] mv The\ First\ Friend\ Linux.x86_64 The\ First\ Friend.exe mv The\ First\ Friend\ Linux_Data The\ First\ Friend_Data copy libsteam_api.so from another game to the Plugins directory in the new "data" directory launch the game from the terminal, it will crash and restart using Steam [/code] Steam may re-download the Linux files again so lucky you, you now have 2 copies of everything (nearly 11 GBs in total if you are counting)! Achievements will not work, and the game rarely autosaves. There are also absolutely no options if you want to adjust graphics, audio, controls ... anything. But it will launch and you can move painfully slow through the [strike]familiar assets[/strike] environment while it slowly eats your memory (no pun intended) until it crashes. The developer is non-responsive after a single patch a year ago and "incapable" of understanding code. More discussion and context is in [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1484580/discussions/0/2992045158716751277/]this post[/url] Remember to manually delete the files you renamed after you uninstall through Steam. It will be the most satisfying part of this game - unless you avoided purchasing it in the first place. If you want to torture yourself a bit more, try it in Proton. The achievements work but the input is both sensitive and laggy so have a barf bag and stress ball or liquor nearby.

I don't think I have anything positive to say about this game at all. To be completely honest I found every single aspect of the game to be bad in one way or another, and the story literally doesn't make sense. [h1]World design and general gameplay[/h1] The world is built up on almost nothing other than trees and 2D grass that blink in out of existence as you walk closer/further away from things, and of course it is all copy/pasted assets. The levels are extremely rushed, no thought seems to have gone into them. It feels as if the developer placed trees and grass literally everywhere then just plopped down the memories, threw some rocks about and was done. Also each level is surrounded by giant mounds of brown dirt, as if each level is inside giant meteor craters with just 3-4 different types of plants that all look identical. Some levels require you to find a set of memories but there is absolutely no direction given in the endless sea of identical trees and grass other than some paths that lead to the exit that you can't go through yet, and the levels are so horribly made that it can easily take you over 30 minutes in a level because you just can't find the damn memory to move onto the next level. Also, it seems weird to me that there are so many memories scattered about with an extremely high chance of the player never finding them. If you only find the memories that you are required to find to move to the next level the story becomes even worse than it already is and incredibly short. [url=https://steamcommunity.com/stats/1484580/achievements]Take a look at the achievement stats for the game, there are many players that missed many memories[/url]. A much better way to make the levels would be to make them linear; guaranteeing that you will stumble upon every memory. The entire game aside from the area that you start at and the area where the game ends feel extremely rushed, as if the developer just sat down one day and decided to quickly rush through it all to just be done with it. [h1]Bugs[/h1] Bugs like light flickering, entire parts of the world disappearing, not being able to jump properly near things, missing invisible walls, etc is everywhere. Your movement speed becomes slower/faster between each level. Strafing makes you run faster than moving straight. So holding the sprint button+W+A will make you move considerably faster than just holding the sprint button+W. The subtitles are littered with grammatical errors. If you move a short distance away from the water in the level with a lot of water it will all disappear, trees will be chopped in half and it just looks horrible. [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/bodomi/screenshots/?appid=1484580]You can see 3 screenshots of this here.[/url] Shadows from the trees on top the dirt walls that encase you blink in and out on the ground below all the time, not very pleasant to look at. [h1]Voice acting, sound and music[/h1] The voice acting is absolutely horrid. This is the best I could come up with to portray the voice acting: "The..... [i]lines[/i]. Are spoken, like this... taking a... pause. After almost... every, two or....... [i]three[/i]. Words." There are full stops, commas and long pauses constantly in places where it makes absolutely no sense. Emphasis is put on words when it makes no sense at all to put emphasis on them. The voice is extremely monotone and just dull to listen to. There's no sound effects to speak off and the music is extremely repetitive. Each level has 1 track, and that 1 track is a short, boring piano tune that repeats endlessly. [h1]Options menu[/h1] Yeah, you guessed it. There is no options menu. [h1]Story[/h1] It's bad. It feels as if the developer had no real story made, no beginning or ending made, only all the memories, which is like 80-90% of the story, then one day decided to just quickly finish the entire game before sundown. How else could a story like this be made? I refuse to believe it was thought about for a very long amount of time. The main story is lightly talked about between levels, the ending is spoiled halfway through the game, and the ending literally doesn't make sense, the ending can't be, there are plot holes/things that just can't happen. Also, why does the old man sound like an 18 year old? It's not very convincing. [spoiler]You're an old man reminiscing about your life, poorly, as you search for your decades old dog that is apparently still alive from your childhood. The entire story is that you are leaving your cabin with seemingly no civilization in sight for thousands of miles, not even a road, to find your dog Zack that ran off during your sleep. Mid-playthrough it is revealed that the dog Zack saved you from drowning when you were a small kid and it is basically flat out said there and then that the dog died, then you reach the ending and surprise yea the dog is dead you just didn't know about it all these decades; actually having a dog house, dog toys and food for a dog, thinking a dog was around you all the time because you couldn't forgive yourself that the dog died while saving you... several decades ago. You haven't been able to forgive yourself or be able to realize that there is no dog anymore after several decades? Dogs don't live that long mate, and no it's not deep or profound, it's just dumb. It doesn't make sense.[/spoiler] [h1]Ending words[/h1] I don't see any reason for anyone to buy this. It is an extremely short game with nothing going for it. The levels are identical aside from some having more water and differently coloured trees and grass but otherwise identical assets. [h1]Curator page[/h1] [i]If you liked this review or otherwise found it helpful in deciding whether or not to buy this game, feel free to follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/29162366/]my Curator page[/url].[/i]

The First Friend is a walking simulator game built with Unity. The game was created by Alexander Westwater, it is a one-man project. You wake up in a cabin and deceide to take a look for your friend Zack, a dog. As you exit the cabin you realize that he is not there, so you are going to search him. On your search you explore the world and will find some items, like a gamepad, a smartphone and so on. When you found these things the narrator will start to share his memories with you. His memories are about events in his childhood, about his parents but are mostly centered around his first friend Zack. It is a typical walking simulator game as there is not much gameplay. You can simply walk, run, jump and explore the areas while listening to the music and narration. The story is a deep, personal story that deals with the joys and heartaches of life. The duration is something around 2 hours, it took me personaly around 80 minutes to finish it. The game is not an open world, there are loading times between the levels/areas. Alexander (the developer) did a decent job from my point of view in terms of narrating the game. The music is really beautiful. While walking through the world of The First Friend it is really relaxing to listen to the piano music. The graphics are ok. Not really the greatest but it fits to the game combined with the music. It is like walking through a surreal dream world. However, it is not all about the graphics. What I did not like was that there is no settings menu at all. You can not change graphics, controls or anything. There are a few places where some stones or other things are floating in the air. Also there are a few clipping issues, I felt through the world and had to reload. However, these are few things which could be patched out and an option menu should be considered to be added. Overall, I really liked The First Friend. It is peaceful, relaxing and also an emotional experience. While listening to the memories of the narrator in terms of his first friend Zack, I was also remembering back on my first friend, who was a cat. I think that everyone will be a little bit reminded of themselves, be it how it was to smoke the first cigarette, making the drivers license or the good times with your pet(s). I appreciate that I received this game to make a curration. If it would not have been sent to me, I would have probably never known about it and that would be really a shame. I recommend The First Friend to everyone who loves walking simulator games, the price of 3,99 € is totaly fine for it. Sounds 8/10 Graphics 5/10 [strike]Gameplay -/10[/strike] Atmosphere 9/10 If you liked my review, please feel free to follow me and/or my curator group: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Ov3RT4K3R/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Ov3RlusioN/curation

Alright. I've played [i]The First Friend[/i] to the point where you pass the gate at the end of chapter two, then head out across the water, at which point, after about ten seconds, the game suffers some sort of fatal Unreal engine error and crashes. The third time, I uninstalled the game. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3171972352 The game uses a single autosave file at the beginning of each chapter, so to add insult to injury, when the game crashes, you have to replay the entire chapter. Which isn't what I'd call fun. It's a shame, because as Unreal engine walking simulators go, this one is pretty good. The story is voice acted, triggered by new areas and objects you find, and was pretty decent. The terrains are pretty. The OST is pleasant enough. After reconfiguring the shift (run) button from L3 to R2, the game became very playable on the Steam Deck. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3171972400 Sadly, from all appearances, the developer stopped actively supporting the game several years ago and the few forum requests for bug fixes have gone unanswered. With that in mind, and in light of my own experience with this game, I'm retiring it unfinished. If the developer ever does return to address the game issues, I'd be happy to revisit it. The issues are the fatal error crashing and the one autosave slot not overwriting more frequently. Whenever dialogue is triggered would be the ideal time for a new autosave, plus whenever entering a new chapter. [b]I did receive this license via my Robilar’s Reviews curator program a while back.[/b] As of right now, I can't justify recommending the game, but if the developer ever does address the stability issue in particular, this could and probably would change. [code]If you found this review helpful and would be interested in supporting my Curator group, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32549618/]Robilar's Reviews[/url], it would be appreciated. Cheers.[/code] [code]Also follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]IndieGems[/url] for more reviews like this one.[/code]

The First Friend is a sweet game that is obviously a gift from the heart of Alexander Westwater. He designed, created, wrote, and narrated. It is a first person walking simulator through the memories of a man as he reflects on his life and the things that mattered and the events that occurred. The landscape is crafted with care and changes with the seasons of his life. Your journey is complemented by soothing piano melodies in the background which inspired me to keep my headphones on! The game is divided into chapters and within each are objects to find that correlate to memories. There about 30 objects to find (each with an associated Steam Achievement), spread over a REALLY large amount of game world. So, be prepared to spend a lot of time wandering if you hope to find the majority of the memories and hear the character's musings about the objects. He focuses on his history, lessons learned, and life impacts. All in all, it is a nice walking simulator with some deep thoughts along the way. For those of us who are a bit older, the narrative is likely to hit home in a heart warming way. There are some things that could be improved. The English subtitles are rife with errors that do not detract from the story but correcting them would make the game more polished. The game also does an auto-save at the start of each chapter. So, if you get knocked out of the game (by pushing a boundary or doing something the game does not like), you will have to restart the chapter. This does not impact your achievements but does mean a lot more walking about. An 'Auto Run' toggle would have been great to have in this game. In one chapter, access to the next is dependent on you finding 3 specific objects. Replaying the chapter requires you to locate all three again in order to proceed. A 'Chapter Select' feature (instead of 'New Game') would be a great enhancement for achievement hunters. As it stands, you have to start from square one to look for missed achievements once you have completed the game. All in all, I enjoyed The First Friend and recommend it to thoughtful adventurers. Most of all, I appreciate the effort put forth by Alexander. I am currently short one achievement but, after 6 hours making two passes through every corner of the landscape, I may have to call it a day!

I am reviewing this game after 40 minutes of play or so. I know, it doesn't seem like much. But it was enough for me to know that this game, though it has a seemingly interesting story, has too many other issues for me to recommend it at this time. If the developer is able to work on and fix these issues, and updates come out to address them, I may change my review in the future. No need for me to get into the plot of the game, lots of other reviews cover that. I'll only go into the reasons I am not recommending the game at this time. It runs terribly, even for a game built with Unity. No optimization. None. Fps spikes galore, extreme load on both CPU and GPU, revving the fans up to near top speed,and pushing a ton f heat out. Neither my gaming laptop (MSI GS 75 Stealth 17 9750H/2070 RTX Max Q/16 GB DDR4 RAM) or my desktop (i9 9900K/2070 RTX Super/32 GB DDR4- fully water cooled) hit critical temps, but 80-90°C on both CPU and GPU was unexpected for such a simplistic game. Jenky camera- it would frequently spin around wildly while you are moving, or snap left or right with no mouse or keyboard input. That camera was all over the place at times. Frequent clipping through walls and objects, often into the middle of "solid" objects like rocks. Sprint up a hill and jump- you may find yourself above the invisible ceiling, walking on it, until you suddenly fall through it, back to the ground. Frequent stutters and hitches. Ran the game in Windows 10 20H2 natively, tried it in compatibility mode- no difference. Honestly, it seems like it could be an enjoyable game, if it were better made and optimized. The art and graphics reminded me of a few other games immediately. It looked like the same basic Unity Store assets and color palettes. The games it reminded me of were Heaven Forest/Heaven Forest- Night and a few other games made by that same dev who has a dozen accounts and names. No, you won't find them on Steam right now, they were pulled some time ago. The game looked, felt and played (same bugs and optimization issues- exactly) as those games. That is not a good thing. Not at all. I doubt I will attempt to fully complete this game, I prefer to not cook my hardware on something like this. But, as I said, if the developer manages to fix these major issues and push a few updates that allow the game to run a bit cooler and more smoothly- I may change my mind and give it another go. but until then I am uninstalling and shelving this one. I think I paid 99¢ USD for the game, so it's not a huge loss. Just a bit of a disappointment considering some of the more positive reviews it seems to have gotten.