Verne: The Shape of Fantasy

As there are many positive reviews, it likely is a taste thing, but I did not enjoy the game. I almost finished it, but stopped playing at some point. I want to explain a lil more detailed what my impression/issue was, so people can make up their own minds: My main issue: The game kept introducing interesting ideas and mechanics but did not follow through with any of them. It kept pretending to be things it is not. It was the sum of many little disappointments, that made me quit. An example: At the beginning we are in a ship, with a really cool design and many doors and rooms that look interesting. The first item we interact with is a map that introduces the areas of the ship. But we never get to explore any of that, not even a little bit. Just walking from dialogue to dialogue. You can interact with any door, to be hit with "I have somewhere else to go now." When the backwards key is pressed, we habe a questlog, with main and sidequests. This also suggests more gameplay, but the sidequests are simply "collect x more collectibles" and the main quest "talk to x" or "go to x". Then, it is more a visual novel than an point-and-click adventure. At no point are there multiple directions to go. I don't mean that I expect an open-would adventure or something with multiple endings, but in this game you go from A to B to C to D directly, without anything else to do. Now, that itself is not problematic at all, there are plenty or awesome visual novels around. My issue is, that it always felt like the game was not intended that way. The ways the levels were designt and how many different mechanics there are it always seemes like the beginning area of a video game, where you learn all the mechanics until you are set free into the actual game. For how short it is, there are many different mechanics that create a strange mixure. It is generelly a pretty slow game, but in dialogues and cutscenes there are quicktime events that did not fit into the vibe of the game in my opinion. It felt like it was a visual novel that tried really hard to not be a visual novel. So it's not really the gameplay itself, it just seems like they wanted to make a very ambitious game and ran out of time when actually designing the story/leveldesign. The biggest mechanig that is introduced is an item that can turn back time a few seconds and thus alter reality. When getting the item, a message apears that we will be able to find out more about this world and alter the story as we explore the game with it, but we almost only use it to keep doors from being buried in explosions. These things frustrated me a bit in the beginning, but I kept going because I was interested in the story. The story, however, also lost it's energy pretty quickly for me. The dialouge became more and more generic (main villain saying "Join me an we will change the world together" and all these kinda things) and it kind of dropped the things that I found interesting. The dialogues felt very long without really saying anything. A lot of the lore/worldbuilding is not told through that though, but through collectibles. If you find one, it appears in your inventory, unlocking a huge piece of written lore. I personally found that unappealing to read and would have preferred if the story would have been told through the world or the characters, who in their turn now have very little to say. This also seems a bit last minute, as if they did not have the time to tell the story through the game and dropped in the lore through these walls of text. I really wanted to enjoy it because the art was so pretty and usually i like slower adventures, even when they are walking simulators. But this was just not it for me.

Verne es una aventura gráfica muy lineal que tiene puzzles simples y una historia entretenida, a la vez que sufre de diálogos mal escritos y actuaciones de voz que apenas convencen. En unas pocas ocasiones presenta una mecánica sencilla de sigilo que es aceptable, excepto en el área final donde requiere paciencia y varios intentos si te topas con un bug (como me ha sucedido a mí). El juego guarda automáticamente y no permite elegir un capítulo desde el cual comenzar, así que si quieres completarlo al 100% deberás estar atento a todos los coleccionables o empezar desde cero. En resumen, es un juego bastante sencillo que recomiendo comprar con descuento. 7/10

当我们面对经典时，我们在面对什么？既要追问经典是怎样炼成的，也要反观经典在当代如何可能。一个文学改编游戏的失败案例，原著写得洋洋洒洒，游戏也做得随随便便，都有一种破罐子破摔的不羁。这类创作的胜利，必须在文学气质与叙事结构上建立起足够密实的细节，也要在历史的语境里复制时代的抒情。结尾有趣，不是所有对私利的追逐都是投机，个人主义的美梦里也不是没有陷阱。

[h2]Sinopsis[/h2] Verne: The Shape of Fantasy, una aventura gráfica de scroll lateral 2D que nos sumerge en los maravillosos mundos del famoso escritor francés del siglo XIX, Julio Verne. Ambientado en su novela “20.000 Leguas de Viaje Submarino”, pero con una trama, personajes y hechos novedosos, que tienen lugar en la mente del brillante escritor. El protagonista es un alter ego del propio Julio Verne, un científico y aventurero que viaja a bordo del emblemático submarino Nautilus, comandado por el Capitán Nemo. La tripulación forma parte de la Resistencia, una organización que trata de plantarle cara a la Nación, la superpotencia que se expande sin control por todo el mundo de Hemera. El capitán Nemo, cegado por la sed de venganza, está obsesionado con encontrar la “Llama de Efesto”, un poderoso artefacto que, según la leyenda, fue la fuente de poder de la legendaria Atlántida, pero para ello necesita a Verne, ya que es el único capaz de controlar el IMAG, un antiguo artilugio atlante que le permite reescribir la historia y moldear la realidad de los acontecimientos. De este modo, Verne se embarca en una aventura hacia lo desconocido con el fin de salvar Hemera, donde le aguardan los misterios de antiguas civilizaciones, complicadas decisiones y sobrevivir al peligroso acoso de la Nación. [h2]Jugabilidad / Apartado técnico[/h2] El juego nos propone una tranquila experiencia en 2D, marcada por los elementos fantásticos y aventureros que caracterizan al escritor Julio Verne. La historia goza de gran peso, a lo largo de sus diferentes capítulos iremos desentrañando el misterio que rodea a antiguas civilizaciones, ayudando a los tripulantes del Nautilus y plantando cara a los peligrosos soldados de la nación. Explorar distintos enclaves, como el propio submarino, ruinas o islas, será fundamental, prestando atención al detalle y a la búsqueda de diversos coleccionables. Estos coleccionables tendrán cierta relevancia, ayudando a profundizar en la trama y haciendo interesantes referencias a varias novelas famosas del escritor. Otro de los puntos clave serán los rompecabezas, sencillos pero ingeniosos desafíos que tendremos que resolver para avanzar en nuestra aventura, entremezclados con algunas secuencias de sigilo donde tendremos que escabullirnos de peligrosas situaciones. Finalmente, destacar una de las mecánicas más particulares, el uso del IMAG, un artilugio con el que podremos modificar la realidad y rebobinar ciertos eventos para avanzar en la trama, como por ejemplo, hacer que las rocas de una cueva sean más estables para evitar un derrumbamiento y ganar acceso a lugares antes inaccesibles. [h2]Valoración[/h2] Verne: The Shape of Fantasy es una experiencia perfecta para aquellos que busquen un juego no muy largo y sin excesivas complicaciones, con una historia interesante y sencillos rompecabezas que amenizan la partida. Además, presenta un pixel art muy colorido y detallista, que resulta cautivador y atractivo. No se trata de un proyecto ambicioso, pero cumple su objetivo y deleitará a aquellos que disfrutaron y disfrutan con las aventuras de Julio Verne. Por su puesto, no hace falta conocer la bibliografía del autor para encontrar el juego interesante, pero suma. El juego ha sido desarrollado por un estudio español, Gametopia, que además es una escuela de diseño de videojuegos y por ponerle un pero, he echado en falta el doblaje de voces al castellano, aunque la redacción del texto está perfectamente traducida. Si disfrutas de las aventuras concisas, ricas en historia y poco complicadas en mecánicas, te lo recomiendo. ✔️ [b]Positivo[/b]:[list] [*]Una historia interesante, inspirada en la novela de “20.000 Leguas de Viaje Submarino” de Julio Verne, pero con su propio toque y personalidad. Un gran homenaje al famoso escritor del siglo XIX. [*]Gráficamente muy atractivo, con un pixel art muy colorido y repleto de detalles. Especial mención a los diseños del interior del Nautilus, con habitaciones llenas de pequeños objetos, mapas y dibujos. [*]Perfecto para aquellos que prefieran juegos cortos que pueden terminarse en 2 o 3 sesiones. [/list] ❌ [b]Negativo[/b]:[list] [*]No es un juego realmente complejo en mecánicas, ya que básicamente se enfoca en la exploración, añadiendo toques de sigilo y sencillos puzles. [*]Se echan en falta voces en castellano, siendo un juego producido por un estudio español. [*]No posee selector de capítulos y niveles, algo que considero crucial, especialmente para aquellos que deseen conseguir el 100%. [/list] 📢 [b]Idioma[/b]: Interfaz y subtítulos en español. ⌛ [b]Duración[/b]: 4-5 horas juego base/ 5-6 horas para 100%. 🎮 [b]Steam Deck[/b]: Verificado, funciona perfectamente. Lo salvaría de las llamas! 👨‍🚒👍🔥 [h1]7’5/10[/h1] [quote]🚨 Si te ha gustado la reseña y quieres descubrir buenos juegos, sígueme en mi página de Mentor: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45092978/] Indies ON FIRE [/url]🚨[/quote]

This is the time you wish Steam had a neutral choice, however it's closer to reject than approve. The game is a point and click adventure without the point and clicking, the controls are all done by the keyboard. The story is merely okay, the voice acting merely okay, most of the puzzles are merely okay though some are quite illogical. A merely okay diversion, but not the best the genre has to offer and I don't think i'll ever replay it, unlike the best point and click games.

Alright adventure with great pixelart and a pretty interesting mechanic where you are Jules Verne (yes, the writer) who joins Nemo on the Nautilus (just go with it) searching for an Atlantean artifact (I promise it will make sense... probably). Verne can use his imagination and a Macguffin to rewrite the world around him to solve various puzzles. It's just that it's not used all that often, or in a especially clever way, it's mostly to move something that is in your way or be able to pick up a object. I wish they did more with the concept, even if it perhaps would be hard to write puzzles for it when you, at least in the lore, could do whatever your imagination let you. Most of the gameplay is pretty on rails, you only have one objective at a time and the puzzles are pretty basic, there are a couple of more traditional puzzles thrown in, most of them pretty easy, but the very last one was more anoying than hard. The story is a bit on the nose in the end, but I get what they where going for. A typical 3/5 game. It's fine, you will have an alright time if you like puzzle adventures, but it will not change your mind if you don't. Achivements probably requires a guide. Most of them are missable, and there is no chapter selection or manual saves. Several of them are also a bit out of your way and your progression in the main objective of a chapter often lock you out from picking up the collectables you havn't already got if you progress to far, forcing you to restart the entire game.

Interesting and atmospheric game with beautiful pixel graphics. Not a long game, about 4-5h of content if you explore all of it. Could be better, could be worse. Recommended if you find the setting interesting

[h2]不推荐 [/h2] 好看，但报玩 btw忍着无聊仔细探了各种角落但还是没有拿到全收集，二周目要完全重新打[spoiler]（我说怎么会有人打八个小时的…[/spoiler] 就这样⑧，告辞

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Interesting little point and click adventure, even thought it's not really a point and click, it's more of a keyboard operated scrolling adventure, which were also popular back in the day. Still, it has an interesting story and characters, with some actual historical facts also sewn in. I kind of liked the puzzles, the voice acting also i okay, the story kind of lost me in the end, that's the only downside for me, but others might like it. Overall a nice adventure.