Warp Frontier

[h1]Space: the [i]Warp Frontier[/i]. An out-of-this-world point-and-click voyage that boldly explores sci-fi concepts.[/h1] [i]Warp Frontier[/i] is Brawsome’s first game in over ten years, but they definitely didn’t rest on their laurels in the interim, delivering a masterful science fiction creation in the point-and-click genre. The game is probably the best of the genre that I have played this year, worthy of inclusion in any point-and-click fan’s library and a great jumping off point for those wanting to experience what the genre has to offer. [h1]Game Universe[/h1] Following a cataclysmic event called the Reset, humanity expanded from Earth, and people are divided based on their planet. Vince Cassini, COP (Cetus Orbital Police), nicknamed Tin Man for his mechanical heart, has spent the last ten years searching for people who went missing after an interplanetary war. His intense focus on this task has complicated his family relationships, and he realizes he’s forgotten his stepdaughter’s birthday just before his ship’s hull is breached by two fighting ships flying by. As Vince investigates this occurrence, he gets pulled into a discovery of massive scale and must navigate the far-reaching consequences of what he’s learned along with his personal life. Although more realistic and serious in tone rather than comedic, there are enough jokes and puns to keep the mood from getting too dark. Since Vince has chosen not to be chipped or augmented, he operates alone out in the field except for his MAC (Machine Assisted Controller), and the recurring joke poking fun at the fourth wall that MAC makes about Vince thinking out loud is my favorite. There’s also a fun homage to [i]Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles[/i] in one of the puzzle solutions. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2619810958 [h1]Gameplay and Mechanics[/h1] In many ways [i]Warp Frontier[/i] is a traditional point-and-click adventure game. Vince picks up inventory items, and those items can be used with characters and objects to progress the story. Rather than having Vince select from actions to look at or use an item, the player must use the item with Vince just as if they were combining two inventory items. One nice feature is that if the player hovers over an object, it will display the flavor text or available actions without needing to click on it, so the player can get worldbuilding details without needing to click on objects that aren’t going to be used. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2619811741 [i]Warp Frontier[/i] manages to avoid the idiosyncratic puzzle solutions that are often a feature of classic point-and-click games. Most puzzle solutions are logical, although it was tricky at times to figure out how to cue the game to move forward. It’s nice to have many items be utilized in multiple puzzles rather than having to find similar items or items with similar functions multiple times because the character abandoned a functional multi-use tool. Sometimes this meant that the game created a third inventory item when the player combined two items. For example, if the player had Vince use glue on an item, the glue and original item were still separate in the inventory, as well as a new glue+item object. It took me almost to the end of my first playthrough to get the hang of checking my inventory for the newly created combination item. Whether or not Vince picks up certain items and has them available to use at the right times influences the outcomes of different parts of the game, as does which dialogue options are chosen. Some dialogue or action options will time out if the player waits too long to make a choice, and unfortunately there’s nothing that lets the player know a particular sequence is time-sensitive other than the dialogue options disappearing or the story moving forward in a decisive way. In addition to working with MAC, Vince’s ship plays a role in many puzzle solutions. I loved how immersive and realistic it felt to use different functions of the ship. The player needs to consider whether the cargo ramp is up or down, the atmospheric pressure outside compared to inside the ship, and other engineering and mechanical considerations. There was so much great technical attention to detail! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2619812000 The game provides many ways for players to get clues if they are stuck. Hovering over Vince shows the current goal, and talking to MAC gives additional details on the current objective. The player can use a button to show hotspots and whether they are merely flavor text (e.g., just a dot) or an action can be performed (e.g., a speech bubble or a hand icon). If all that fails to get the player’s creative juices flowing, there’s a well-designed and robust leveled hint system. If the player does need to click on the hint button, it starts by providing a very basic clue, then the player can click the right arrow to get increasing details if they’re still stuck, ensuring the player gets enough help to get unstuck but avoids spoilers as much as possible. [h1]Art Style and Graphics[/h1] The feel of the art style and graphics will probably seem familiar to point-and-click veterans, but although they aren’t particularly innovative, the realism is exceptional. This can be seen in the technical appearance of the ship’s dashboard and airlock control and the detailed paintings in the backgrounds of some scenes, but can sometimes be disturbing depending on the content. The dark color palette is well-suited to the sci-fi world of the game. If there is one flaw in terms of aesthetics, using all capital letters in the text for location names and certain reports would be it. While the font itself is in keeping with the sci-fi ambience, the lessened readability can detract from immersion. The font for the more critical dialogue is just fine, so the all-caps is a minor annoyance. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2619812581 [h1]Sound and Music[/h1] The majority Australian voice acting cast is solid, and the sound effects enrich the details of each scene (e.g., breathing when Vince is using his space suit, alarms). The music evokes the ambience at every part of the game, from mysterious to noir to eerie, although it doesn’t cross over into memorable. [h1]Extras[/h1] [i]Warp Frontier[/i] offers Steam trading cards and 69 possible achievements. Since there are multiple choices and endings, a player won’t be able to get all achievements in a single playthrough, but there is a manual save function in addition to an auto-save. On Oct. 4, 2021, the developer increased the amount of manual save slots from four to fifteen, which will make it easier to explore the possible narrative branches while avoiding repetitiveness. The game also offers a commentary feature I’m excited to use in my next playthrough to get insight into choices made in the game design process. [h1]Verdict[/h1] At $14.99 at the time of review and approximately 7.5 hours for an initial playthrough, plus extras for replayability, [i]Warp Frontier[/i] provides great value at full price. Brawsome has built a detailed and immersive sci-fi universe. Although [i]Warp Frontier[/i] perhaps isn’t the most artsy of games I’ve played in 2021, it is superb craftsmanship when it comes to worldbuilding and point-and-click gameplay. While the first ending I unlocked surprised me with how quickly it wrapped up, I hope the other endings resolve my lingering questions and plot points that seemed like loose ends in my initial playthrough. Hopefully it won’t take Brawsome as long to release another game, but if it takes place in this game universe, I’m in. [i]Note: This review has been condensed from its [url=https://saveorquit.com/2021/10/08/review-warp-frontier/]original at SaveorQuit[/url].[/i] [quote]Visit SaveOrQuit.com for detailed game reviews, posted daily![/quote]

[h1] Solides Science-Fiction Adventure [/h1] [b] Geschichte / Charaktere / Atmosphäre: [/b] Der Spieler schlüpft hier in die Rolle des Polizisten Vincent Cassini. Cassini hat sich zwar im Rahmen seines Kriegsdienstes verdient gemacht, so richtig kommt er aber aufgrund seiner Persönlichkeit und seiner Schwächen nicht weiter. Er hat Probleme mit Alkohol, familiäre Probleme und auch wenn er im Herzen ein anständiger Kerl ist, trifft er schon mal die falschen Entscheidungen. Zudem hat er auch eine ganze Menge emotionalen Ballast zu tragen. Cassinis Heimatplanet Cetos ist vom Krieg schwer gebeutelt. Tausende Cetaner wurden verschleppt, darunter auch die Frau von Cassini und sein bester Freund. Dafür hat Cassini den Roboter MAC als Sidekick. Das erinnert mich ein wenig an die Beziehung zwischen Foster und Joey bei BASS 1 und 2. Wobei MAC nicht nur sein Partner ist, sondern auch ein Aufpasser, der über Cassinis Verhalten und Verfehlungen reportet. Cassini erhält Kontakt zu einer Widerstands- bzw. Rebellengruppe, so wird er in eine interplanetare Verschwörung verwickelt und könnte doch noch zum strahlenden Helden und Retter werden. Eine spannende und gelungene Science-Fiction Atmosphäre, die mich ein klein wenig an das Adventure-Spiel “Perry Rhoden” aus dem Jahr 2008 erinnert. Science-Fiction Fans werden dem Setting und Atmosphäre etwas abgewinnen können. [b] Grafik und Ton: [/b] Die Grafik, insbesondere die Hintergründe gefallen mir grundsätzlich gut. Ein Problem sind allerdings die Charakter-Animationen. Besonders wenn Cassini schnell läuft, das sieht unfreiwillig komisch, ja geradezu grotesk aus, wie er da in Hochgeschwindigkeit in Tippelschritten vor sich hinstackst. Was dann leider die ernste und gute Atmosphäre des Spiels etwas zerstört. Die englische Sprachausgabe ist in Ordnung. Eine deutsche Sprachausgabe gibt es leider nicht. Dafür sind wenigstens deutschen Untertitel vorhanden. Insgesamt tragen die Grafik, die Sprachausgabe, die Stimmen der Charaktere, die Musik und der Ton zu einer guten Science-Fiction Stimmung bei. [b] Rätsel und Entscheidungen: [/b] Das Rätseldesigne ist gelungen und greift auch das Science-Fiction Thema gut auf. Da muss man z.B. auch an so etwas wie Sauerstoff und Schwerelosigkeit bzw. Anziehungskraft denken. Zudem gibt es ein sehr detailliertes internes Hilfesystem und eine Hotspotanzeige. Somit ist der Griff zu einer externen Komplettlösung nicht erforderlich, selbst wenn mal hängt und nicht weiterkommt. Dabei geht das Hilfesystem in einer gestaffelten Form vor, vom vagen Tipp bis zur nahezu vollständigen Lösung. Wie oben bereits erwähnt haben Entscheidungen Cassini zu der Person gemacht, die er heute ist. Da wir nun seine Geschicke lenken, habe unsere Entscheidungen auch eine erhebliche Auswirkung auf Cassini selbst und seine Umwelt. Da tragen Entscheidungen dazu bei, wie sich die Beziehung zu den Kindern und seiner neuen Frau entwickeln, oder sogar noch viel drastischer, wer stirbt und wer weiterlebt. Zudem sind alle Entscheidungen und unser Verhalten dafür verantwortlich welche Berichte MAC über uns erstellt. MAC trifft dann Aussagen darüber, ob wir z.B. ein gesetzeskonformer Polizist, oder sogar eine Gefahr und Bedrohung sind. [b] Umfang / Ende / Preis-Leistung: [/b] Ich selbst habe das Spiel über 19 Stunden gespielt. Das ist aber wohl nicht der normale Durchschnitt. Der Entwickler selbst taxiert die Spielzeit auf 6-8 Stunden. Die Geschichte ist wirklich interessant und die Atmosphäre ist gut, aber das Ende des Spiels kam mir zu abrupt und es bleiben einige Fragen und Handlungsstränge offen. Ob das an meinem Spielverlauf und meinen Entscheidungen hängt, vermag ich nicht einzuschätzen. Vielleicht gibt es da auch "rundere" Enden. Trotzdem hoffe ich, dass ggf. eine Fortsetzung einiges noch auflöst und das insgesamt zu einem gelungenen Abschluss führt. Dafür ist das Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis fair und selbst der reguläre Preis in Höhe von 12,49 EUR erscheint realistisch und angemessen. [b] Fazit: [/b] Solide Science-Fiction Unterhaltung zu einem fairen Preis. [b] Bewertung: [/b] 73 % 👑 Powered by HoI 4 Deu Curators group in German / English 👑 [list] [*] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30388691/] Follow Main group [/url] [*] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40282064/] Follow Second group [/url] [/list]

I never thought I’d develop feelings for a flying ball with flashing lights, housing an AI with an Australian accent named MAC, but Warp Frontier thought otherwise. Set in 2215, after a cataclysmic event dubbed The Reset finally chased humanity from Earth and surprisingly didn’t uncover any aliens, you’re filling out a space suit of one Vincent Cassini, a gruff, rough shaven captain of the Cetus Orbital Police. Besides searching for people, including his wife and his best friend, that went missing during a war that devastated his planet, he’s also embroiled in some domestic problems. Wearing an “ex alcoholic” sticker plastered on his forehead, combined with his 10 year obsession of finding the lost, doesn’t earn him any bonus brownie points when he forgets about his daughter’s birthday. Riding the high of finally crashing into a solid clue, returning home and playing out the birthday party can swing a few ways, nicely showcasing the game’s use of branching choices with far-reaching consequences. Some of the puzzles can also be solved in multiple ways, bringing different outcomes to your relationships with other characters. The overall story arc won’t change, but you being an angry Australian rugby player or a sweet toned lifeguard from Bondi Beach will influence how others treat you, may potentially change some puzzle solutions down the road, and will also result in a different personality evaluation at the end of each chapter, provided by your lovable, snooping, ever-present companion. Time is also not on your side when it comes to some choices, making things unpredictable if you dilly-dally too long at certain points. Tackling a solid, convincing, dystopian sci-fi tale of augmentations, transfers of minds and souls, and the increasingly persistent relationship between man and machine, Brawsome did a great job with world building, attention to detail, writing, and interesting characters. It keeps the story and the mystery, cut with some humorous moments, engaging and moving forward, in spite of a few larger hotspots of downtime due to some slightly tedious puzzles and boot tearing amount of backtracking. These bits will make your brain reach for the excellent, layered clue and hint system that takes into consideration how far you are in the current dilemma and allows you to uncover as much of the solution as you want. Even talking to MAC, or hovering over Vince gives details and hints to move you forward. Puzzles are mostly inventory based, with some environmental ones, and your ship features prominently in a few of those. An interesting thing is that there are no usual suspects of use/look/examine buttons. Instead, the game gives you a description, and these are well-written, when you hover the mouse over an item or a hotspot in the scene. No clicking required, I know, amazing. This also works for all inventory management and combination shenanigans, making this part much less annoying than hearing the “Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?” or a variation of for the umpteenth time when combining items. Very striking, realistic visuals bring the superbly detailed environments and scenes to life. On the other hand, that same style, when applied to characters, especially their faces, breaks a lot of uncanny valley points, and is sometimes just a tad bit disturbing. But, it still comes out as a minor gripe, further diminished by good voice acting, ambient soundtrack, and swell sound and background effects. The unobtrusive interface works well, and I didn’t find it a hassle. Steering clear of wacky, moon logic, and relying on it’s good story beats and real world, functional puzzle solutions, even with the above mentioned caveats, puts Warp Frontier in the same bin as Technobabylon, Whispers of a Machine, and Shardlight, to name just a few worthy games from the same genre. Its branching choices, and a few endings, also make for good replayability, with some judicious use of save slots perhaps. With apologies to all the Australians everywhere, throw a shrimp on this barbie, it’s a ripper, and get it on the next sale, or at full price, it’s worth it. [quote]More off the beaten path games, wonders and failures at the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37838664/][b]Cabinet of Curiosities.[/b][/url][/quote] [quote]Set your navigational computer to [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37072886/][b]Devils in the Detail[/b][/url], for more far out reviews.[/quote]

[h1]More interesting reviews on [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33843777//] Fenol Baron Approves Curator Page[/url] [/h1] A space detective story with a detailed concept, interesting characters and not always perfect gameplay mechanics. The future has come, but the secrets of the past continue to torment the protagonist, forcing him to embark on the investigation of strange incidents, space conspiracies and sinister secrets hidden in the depths of space. I really liked the plot, it is gloomy enough to resemble the "Expanse" series, but sometimes it allows myself to smile appropriately. Everything is done for the sake of maximum realism of what is happening, the nonlinearity of various choices allows the plot to adapt to the character of the player, creating situations characteristic of him and determining the moral character of the protagonist. We'll talk more about how this realism affects the gameplay, but in relation to the plot, it works great, really bringing it to life and making each key scene something special. The game is harsh and not afraid of this, does not cross the line separating masculine severity from excessive brutality, perfectly aware of its genre affiliation. The game strives for maximum realism not only in its story, but also in building the gameplay. It has been a long time since I saw an adventure that brought the player's actions to reality this much, perhaps since "Sumatra: Fate of Yandi". This in this case becomes both an advantage and a disadvantage, because some things that are typical for real life are so boring in the game. For example, the frequent return to the same locations or the deliberate encyclopedic nature of some puzzles, which baffles the player. Yes, the game has a wonderful hint system that completely eliminates any problem areas with the passage of difficult places, but it is necessary to mention this. Again, almost any important action in the game can be played in different ways, which has a pleasant effect on the attitude towards what is happening. It is noticeable that they worked very painstakingly and for a long time on each component of the game, and this only causes respect. The result is a solid good adventure, quite worthy of the attention of the players, be sure to try it.

Over-rated, a bit boring, slow, the tunnel puzzles get arduous and are painfully slow and the hints are useless and aggravating as the hint descriptions don't match the place descriptions.

[H1]No Moon Logic Here[/H1] Believe it or not, Warp Frontier is the [b]second[/b] independent point+click adventure of 2021 prominently featuring Aussies in Space. Coming hot on the heels of the delightful Henry Mosse and the Wormhole Conspiracy (Bad Goat Studios, February 2021), Warp Frontier is a far more serious offering, featuring a fully fleshed out hard-SF narrative, well-developed characters, puzzles that make perfect logical sense, and a huge amount of player choice. If you enjoy games like Gemini Rue, 2064: Read Only Memories, Lamplight City, Lacuna, or Whispers of a Machine, you will almost certainly like Warp Frontier. Warp Frontier takes place several years after a terrible planetary invasion kills tens of thousands of natives and kicks the survivors offworld. We follow Vince, a middle-aged space cop with two young sons, a second marriage severely on the rocks, and a strained relationship with his teenage stepdaughter. The family lives in a cramped apartment in orbit around the planet where they once lived, and Vince has been stuck in the past for a long time. While investigating an incident, however, he stumbles across a small electronic device containing the consciousness of a living person; soon, he finds himself caught up in a Federal investigation as he tries to untangle the truth of what really happened to all of the people he used to know. The story really sucked me in, and is the highlight of the game. It's clear that a lot of effort was put into really building the characters' backstories without hitting you over the head with them, and some of the most effective moments of the game are those that Vince spends with his family. There are tons of opportunities to affect the story and to affect the outcomes of scenes, as well, with a large number of the 69 Steam achievements being tied to those various alternate outcomes. The best implementation of this is how over time the game tracks Vince's relationship with his HAL-esque hovering robot companion, MAC, a character that develops a surprising amount of nuance by the end of the game. This is a very polished game. The writing is very good, and fully voiced by a rock-solid cast. Much like Unavowed, Brawsome opted for a simple mouse-over hotspot feature for looking around a room which cuts out a lot of tedious clicking. This also works for combining items, so it's a really nifty little QOL feature. The game's art and animation look quite nice, too. Puzzles in Warp Frontier are very grounded. We have an inventory, but a relatively small one; puzzles in the game tend to involve repeated use of the same handful of inventory items, but in different ways each time. The puzzles also make clever use of the game's mechanics, so you will rarely be able to progress by trying to combine every item with every other item; instead, you will have to be observant and engage in lateral thinking. As a result, the puzzles all make perfect sense, but can be a little tricky at times nonetheless. Fortunately, if you're stuck, there's a fully integrated hint system that can give you a little nudge or flat out tell you the solution, depending on your needs. I do have two minor quibbles. First, I felt like the game could have done with more save slots and/or the ability to sort saves chronologically. Second, there are some aspects of the puzzles and navigation that are a tad fiddly. For instance, It's amazing that anything works in this universe, as there only seem to be about three fuses in the whole galaxy, and you have to constantly swap them in and out to get anything to function. Vince also has a spaceship that you need to use to get from place to place - you have to enter, then access the cockpit, then navigate through several menus to pressurize/depressurize the cabin, open/close the airlock or cargo ramp, and then leave the cockpit, and leave the ship. On one hand, it's cool that I get to drive a spaceship and there are some cool puzzles with that interface, but on the other hand, a simple fast-travel would be a lot more efficient for just getting about. Overall, though, this is a great game. I fully recommend it. It came as a surprise to me as it was not on my radar at all prior to release, but I have enjoyed it so much that I also went and picked up the other games also made by this developer, and I am looking forward to giving those a shot as well.

If you like point and click adventures with multiple decisions that influence the progression in more or less subtle ways and even after you finish the game you wonder how things could have turned out when you would NOT have done this or that... this game is for you and I wholeheartedly recommend it. Game time for me for one playthrough, with using hints when stuck, was around 6-8 hours. Achievements are quite clear in which decisions cause them and should be treated as Spoilers accordingly. You will need multiple runs to get them all, or a lot of saving and loading. :) I played the game on anther platform but saw that it is criminally underrated. So i bought it over here as well to let others know its worth looking at. Yes its not perfect BUT its very enjoyable, the developer (very small team) did a great job. I have fond memories of Jolly Rover and when I saw something new from Brawsome I had to check it out. Story-wise I wont spoil anything. Mechanically the game has some minor quirks that are different from "common" point and click adventures but welcome features, such as using the scroll-wheel to go through potential item combinations quickly (the character thinks if a combination makes no sense, almost sense or will gets the job done by just hovering the items over each other or interaction points in the environment). The developer listens to the community feedback and already added more save slots which was welcome. There is a generous hint system and the two times I was really stuck I could go though the hints from more subtle onwards until it spelled the solution out for me. Saved me from having to look for a guide outside of the game. I really liked everything and will give the game another run after some time passed. Fingers crossed we get more games from these capable hands. Minor gripes and quirks: The airlock / cargo ramp handling was a bit annoying, while still being logical, when I went repeatedly from place to place. [spoiler] Suggestion: if you already were at a location and know you need to lower the cargo ramp please just have Vincent do it (again)[/spoiler] [spoiler] I was stuck at the mine but the hints got me covered, thanks again for the hint system [/spoiler]

I do not think the puzzles are good, but overall I find this game compelling, both in the story and for the meta-puzzle of 'what do I have to do differently to get the other achievement' element. One playthrough takes very roughly seven hours. I was in the beginning of my second playthrough when I started this review. I think it would need at least three playthroughs to get all the achievements. For full disclosure, I'm an immigrant to Australia. If you don't like our sarcasm, you may not like the presentation and characters. I will start with the negatives since those are more specific. The set-piece puzzles tend to be 'walk here, pick this up, walk there, put this there'. You have to move around a lot to get one thing done and maybe do that several times. I found it annoying and sometimes frustrating the first time and tedious to do a second time. The game also assumes that you are working on the next step of a puzzle when you have just entered a scene, which can make it confusing when your characer has realised what to do next but you haven't. There seem to be some odd gaps in dialogue. At one point I was given several objectives in a conversation. I clicked the option to talk about them again, and discovered another objective that had not been mentioned. The game provides a good hint system, and simply putting the mouse over your character will give you a hint too, but I often felt it did not give me enough information on what to do next without those hints. On the positive side, this is a game that lives up to the Choices Matter tag. Several people that you meet will die if you don't take proper action, often something you have to prepare in advance. And they will die in your presence. There are achievements for figuring out how to keep them alive. There are several confrontations where people will only die if you ignore all the diplomatic options and shoot them. In this case there are achievements both for being diplomatic or for people getting killed. You are playing a war veteran with PTSD who founded the local police because no one else would. There is a mechanic for tracking how diplomatic you are, or aren't, and thus how well you are doing mentally, although it doesn't seem to affect the endings. The main story is fairly linear, in that you have to at least try to achieve the fixed objectives before you get to the final event. But I so caught up in that investigation that I discovered you could miss most of the secondary story, dealing with your family. How you deal with them and how much you deal with them at all is almost completely up to you. One of the main conflicts in the family is how much you aren't there, and that is directly reflected in the gameplay. I enjoyed playing this game the first time through for the compelling story, and achievement hunting has revealed elements that I missed the first time. I recommend it.

A really good star trek movie in adventure game format. Great story, cool art. Decent point and clickie. Great for a weekend :)

Wonderful game! One would not expect this great story and excitement in the start sequence, where we just are in a cockpit - but soon unfolds the plot. A great sci-fi story with a lot of low tones, like, how are your realtionssips (Trish, how do you treat others) and at the same time our competence on the job, combined with how correct do we act? I loved my MAC and got contrantly very bad reports ... but had still a nice relationship with him. But no spoilers Thrilling, great story - highly recommended ! Replay value high as well