The Order of the Snake Scale

It feels, looks, and sounds like a game straight out of the late 90's and I loved it for that. It's a narrative-heavy horror game that moves you quickly from one puzzle/mystery to the next, using quest items you find and acquire along the way. You play the role of a detective in a distant dystopian future, who gets wrapped up in an inter-dimensional cult conspiracy while investigating a murder. The game uses a 3rd person camera, but also mixes in a first person aiming/shooting mode which makes it feel quite unique. The first person mode also can help you navigate the environment and locate collectibles and interactive items. There's a lot of text to read, but unlike a lot of games, I didn't mind reading it and didn't get bored. The game is mostly linear, with a little bit of player option about the sequence of events that can be taken at certain points. There's very little hand holding when it comes to the solution/order of events needed to solve a puzzle and progress, which is actually something I liked. In terms of combat the game is extremely easy for any half-competent player. If you loot environments properly you'll have way more ammo and medical supplies than you could ever dream of using. Enemies also die rather easily. Your flashlight has infinite battery and you have no stamina bar so you can sprint as much as you want. If you enjoy retro horror games with a narrative driven story that focuses on using your brain to put clues together to advance the story then I think you'll find this a relaxing and enjoyable game. At the time of writing this I played the early access version of the game which is restricted to part one of the game. You can check out a (2 part) livestream I did here: https://www.youtube.com/live/wwsvJp1XcOg?si=StlfPj2AWfXml1ed

Interesting but tiresome, The Order of the Snake Scale combines the Twin Peaks pattern (government investigator called in to solve 'weird' murder of woman in small town) with some slight cyberpunk and cosmic horror elements. The writing has some charm and twists, but really needed a pass or two from a native English speaker. Puzzles are often obscure and frustrating, with related elements placed far away from each other, requiring onerous trudging across a dull, oversized map in order to test theories and find items. Traversal is fine, minimal jank. Combat is fiddly, despite the innovative camera-in-camera 'aiming view' when the player prepares a ranged attack. Ammunition is seems incredibly scarce, which is a problem for a game with this kind of artificial length - I can see players investing a lot of time into this only to be unable to finish the experience due to a lack of bullets. Sound effects are okay, music is passable, though it does tend to repeat and incorporates a number of stings into background tracks which will occasionally make you think something dramatic is about to happen... and then nothing does. Controls are mostly okay, though the pad layout seems a little unwieldy. There's some decent low-poly modelling, but textures are extremely dull and lifeless - they're meant to convey a miserable atmosphere, but just left me feeling miserable. Fixed multicam is mostly competant, though nearly every camera is a panning/tracking shot - you kinda wonder why you don't just use continuous third person at that point. Supposedly this is the beginning of a larger arc. If I have one wish for subsequent entries in the series, I'd request that the developer focus on concentrating their experience over a smaller area. The running time might be shorter, but it'd be easier to test, and would probably provide a more fun experience for players. Only for survival horror die-hards or fixed camera lunatics...!

It's a really fun, compact, experience. The story is good, and the mood is excellent. The controls may take some getting used to (you can use the aim function for finer control) but once you do it really doesnt feel that clunky. It's largely puzzles, with some minor combat elements. it wont hold your hand, but it doesnt take much deduction to get where you need to go. I did brute-force one or two puzzles, but that is more due to my own stupidity than anything. Would definitly recommend it, especially for the price.

I really enjoyed this little scrappy title. It's very much like an old school 90's, 3rd person, point and click adventure game with some fps thrown in. You'll do a lot of backtracking and the game doesn't hold your hand so location memorization is important while playing. Took over 6 hours for me and it has a good story with a worthy ending to your journey.

Genius puzzles, excellent conversations between characters, bizzare events and very authentic in general. Mabye lacks a bit in combat in the sense of too easy to kill them if you just spam them in the head (because they literally march into you in a straight line, but still, I'll give 9/10, thanks for an elegant breath of fresh air, that's how you do it!

Unfortunately can't recommend this one. What bills itself as a survival horror game is actually a frustrating adventure game, with puzzles that have you backtracking all over the map trying to find the one little item in a corner that you missed. After my third time having to look up a solution and realizing I would have to backtrack all the way to the start of the game, I decided to call it quits. The other frustrating bit of this game calling itself survival horror is that there's no survival aspect (healing items and bullets are EVERYWHERE, I was never even close to running out) and there's no horror aspect; the game very rarely sets up scenarios that are even remotely scary. Enemies (of which I think there are only 2 types) always announce themselves before running at you, and combat is largely a joke that is rarely threatening. The game is also constantly blasting its moody, ambient tracks in the background, rarely allowing for any moments of silence or tension to be felt. It's frustrating because there is something here that is interesting; I love the fixed camera perspectives and tank controls coupled with the first-person aiming. The visuals are pretty solid and the soundscapes are moody and dark and creepy. The story, though poorly translated, has some interesting ideas. But overall it just doesn't come together and is a bit of a frustrating mess.

Happy Rock isn't so happy. This is a survival game in the vain of the older ones. I didnt like how we couldnt use the mouse on the menus. The shootin' mechanics are interestin..it works. Goes to a first person picture in picture view. I didnt get too far mainly coz I was not sure how to get to the police station ha. Intrigued to continue tho. Gameplay Impressions: https://youtu.be/PRbLMhsPCtw

The Order of Snake Scale je jedna za dvou her, kterou vyrábí FM Simple Games Studio a je to mix retro adventury s fixní kamerou a FPS střílečky. Zasazení je do nevelkého městečka "Happy Rock" kam hl. hrdina přijíždí jako detektiv vyřešit vraždu. Později se dovídá, že za vraždou stojí kult uctívačů hada a ovládá celé město včetně zkorumpované policie a dalších. Mezi významné oblasti kam se detektiv dostane je továrna s laboratoří, stoky a doly. Gameplay se skládá hlavně s hledáním předmětů v herním světě, jeho kombinací na předem určených místech, nebo výměnou u lidí. Engine využívá fyzikální model, kdy věci na zemi (mrtvoly, krabice) můžeme odkopnout, nebo odtlačit (vozík, brána). Hra podporuje i akční režim, kdy se po stisknutí tlačítka přepneme do prvního pohledu, ale to jenom v omezeném kolečku, jakéhosi červeného spektra pro lepší zaměření nepřátel. V tomto je hra velice originální, ještě jsem neměl možnost vyzkoušet tuto kombinaci v žádné hře. Hrdina má asi implantát oka s rentgenovým viděním podobný jako u terminátora (T-800). Když jsem hrál hru dýchla na mě atmosféra starších titulů z 90. let a výrazně k tomu dopomohla i hudba, které se mi velmi líbila. Co se mi nelíbilo byly zvuky, které měly velmi špatnou kvalitu a přehrávají se jenom v blízkosti věcí, které je dělají a to bez ztišení a zesílení, což je velmi rušivé. Hru můžu doporučit hlavně hráčům logických adventur, protože tady každá kombinace předmětů dává smysl, problém je jenom najít místa, kde je použít, nebo sebrat a to zbytečné běhání kolem okolo. Akční režim je značně omezený, nepřátel málo a munice taky, takže tady bych to spíš nedoporučil. Zápory: - Po přepnutí do FPS režimu velmi padá framerate. - Zvuky. - Grafika. - Jedna zbraň. - Někdy zbytečné běhání po mapě. Klady: - Retro styl terminátora 90. let. - Atmosféra důlního městečka. - Hudba. - Logická kombinace předmětů. - Neomezený inventář. - Save pointy u monolitů. - Detektivní mysteriózní příběh. - Zajímavý konec příběhu a rozhodně se těším na pokračování.