The First Friend

While unsure about the slow pacing of a mostly empty large world in 1st person and pretty rough game design, clearly it's a passion project wanting to tell a touching story with lovely music, it's nice to see small indie narrative games and see where they take you with unknown expectations :) If you'd like to see what we're playing next with regular updates, or request to review a game, feel free to follow us at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35688508-Ember-Works-Reviews/

[url=https://cthulhuscritiques.com/2020/12/10/the-first-friend-review/]Read the Full Review[/url] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33596395-Cthulhu%2527s-Critiques/]Follow the Steam Curator[/url] [url=https://twitter.com/CthulhusCritiq1]Follow on Twitter[/url] [url=https://www.facebook.com/Cthulhus-Critiques-726185434394773/]Follow on Facebook[/url] [i]A review copy of The First Friend was provided for this review. No compensation was involved and all thoughts are my own.[/i] [h1]Major Pros:[/h1] [list] [*]Beautiful music [*]Sweet story [/list] [b]Minor Pros:[/b] [list] [*]Pretty nature scapes [*]Explore for memory fragments [/list] [h1]Major Cons:[/h1] [list] [*]No toggle for run [/list] [b]Minor Cons:[/b] [list] [*]Weak level 5 narrative [/list] [h1]Recommendation[/h1] I enjoyed The First Friend. I especially liked the natural scenery and relaxing music. While there were some parts that lacked polish, these were relatively minor and did not detract from my interest in future work from Alexander Westwater. I did find one level of the story to be pretty disconnected from the narrative, but I still enjoyed the story and found it meaningful. I recommend The First Friend to fans of story-based exploration games looking for a short but meaningful experience.

This is such a pretty and lovely little walking sim. Enjoyed my time with this one!

The First Friend is a narrated story about a man reminiscing growing up with his best friend (i.e. his dog). It's more of a walking simulator than a game, or should I say "moonwalking" simulator (when you jump, it's like there is low gravity). It's an emotional trip down memory valley, though the dialog is sometimes a little over the top (such as being brought to tears over his mother's cooking). The game is linear, but does feel like an open world. Piano music accompanies you on your travels, and is quite relaxing, and adds to the emotion of the journey. There isn't much replay value, and even in my first attempt it at times felt a bit boring and unnecessarily drawn out. I also found the game a bit glitchy and buggy. From what the game has to offer overall, I feel that it's not really worth the price, even though it's not expensive to begin with; would still suggest waiting for a sale. Themes: Brief smoking and alcohol reference in the dialog/achievements. Minor supernatural themes (door opens magically), which are fitting within the dreamscape world, as one might expect such things to happen while dreaming. Your character can't die at all, even when falling off a huge cliff, however talks about his near death experience. *** ~ House Blythe, curator for Non-violent Entertainment: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35899705/

Vous vous promenez et découvrez les souvenirs du narrateur, certains d'entre eux vous rappellent bien sûr les vôtres. La narration est parfaite, la bande-son magnifique et les paysages très beaux et colorés.

It is a walking simulator that tells story about man reminiscing his old life and especially his dog. You find bits and pieces that opens up more story (and achievements). Technical wise it is pretty jank as I am running 21:9 the menu was just zoomed to fit horizontally (cut off top and bottom), movement has sprint and walk but I kept running the whole time by holding shift. Story is pretty decent. Took me around 1h to complete 100% and I feel like you want to complete 100% as it tells the whole story. 4€ is okay for the story, 0.79€ what I paid was really good. As I didn't encounter any crashing or what not can recommend it.

No, it is not just a little game but an amazing expierence filled with great emotions and beautiful graphics. The First Friend is a good example for a brilliant indie game.

This game takes a certain mindset to appreciate. It's not a typical game, and it's not for everyone. Yet, it is quite the work of art. It tells the story of a person's life through fragmented memories that you must seek out in various vast landscapes. That's about the extent of the gameplay mechanics. However, if you can get past the fact that this isn't a game, it's more like an auto-biography told using gaming as a platform, it is wonderful. It's a difficult start if you're going in not knowing what to expect. So, if you go in with zero expectations, you will be blown away by the magic. Maybe it's not the ultimate source of knowledge or has all the answers to life, but it does tell the tale of one man. It shares the emotions, fears, significant life events, and all the beauty there is to what makes a person. I wouldn't change a thing about this. It is exactly the way it needs to be.

Une merveille. Un jeu contemplatif simple et sublime, une narration touchante et émouvante. Tout est de plus en plus évident au fil de la narration : les souvenirs, les saisons, le temps qui passe... Bien que la fin semblait de plus en plus évidente, elle n'en était pas moins extrêmement touchante. Merci pour ce moment ! Verry big thought for Zach <3

I was really looking forward to trying this game because it looked so atmospheric and beautiful, even if it's gameplay was very simple. Hell, I've played lots of walking sims that are gorgeous and story-rich but unfortunately this was completely unplayable. Full of lag in the FPS and there were no options for me to optimize so that I could fix this and actually play the game. I knew something was off the moment I could barely navigate the main menu and started the game. FPS just was jerky as hell that I didn't even make it outside the house. Very disappointed, I mean it was on sale so I didn't lose a ton of money, but still, this was a real let-down, bummer.