It was a fun game while it lasted, and the variation between the characters was lovely to experience. While I wasn’t a huge fan of Standard mode, I can appreciate a lot of people will enjoy that style of gameplay. The inclusion of visual novel mode is something that I wish I’d see more of in games like this, so that people can enjoy the story without needing to be good at the balancing act. I’d have liked the game to be longer because it didn’t take me that long to go through every story in visual novel mode – I understand and appreciate that it was an experimental add-on, but it should’ve been carefully tested and potentially expanded before being included in the final product. That said, if there happened to be a fully-fledged visual novel version I can see myself double-dipping without much hesitation! I had a lot of fun with Nicole, and would definitely recommend it for any visual novel fan.
I wanted to love Manifold Garden. It has a gorgeous design, thoroughly unique concept, and is wonderfully challenging despite being frustrating at times. Unfortunately, it just makes me too ill to play in the type of bursts I’d like to. If you’re unaffected by motion sickness then there’s a real gem of a puzzler here, but I’d recommend watching some gameplay first to make sure that you’ll be ok – I’ve heard multiple counts of it negatively affecting people who normally have no issues.
While the stat-raising portion was sometimes frustrating, and the background music did occasionally become annoying, I found Roommates an enjoyable experience on the whole. I’m looking forward to replaying the game and hopefully reaching the ideal ending with every character. The progressive stories are fun to follow and the characters are oddly compelling. I’m not sure I’d have paid £20 for it, but at the time of writing it’s on sale, so I’d still recommend giving it a go if you’re a fan of the visual novel/simulation genre!
Paradise Killer is everything I wanted from an open-world detective game; complete freedom to interrogate and investigate, not having to worry about missing a clue because you can always go back to that location, secrets hidden both in plain sight and tucked away, and the ability to decide for yourself who is guilty. Throw in a likeable protagonist, a liberal sprinkling of inappropriate humor and swearing (pay attention to that age rating!), and a truly mind-boggling cast of characters; Paradise Killer is a bizarre but wondrous experience that you’d be remiss to miss out on – I’m just praying for a collector’s edition release!
The Last Days was a huge disappointment. A sorely lacklustre story, complete lack of characters, sadly limited variation of puzzles, and utterly average graphics and sound resulted in a very neutral experience. It also only lasted an hour, and while I normally hate to make this statement, I have to call the price too high considering the length and enjoyability. I’m a huge fan of the point-and-click puzzle genre, but The Last Days was just an unfortunate waste of time as far as I’m concerned.
I wanted to love Memoranda. It comes across as a quirky, slightly dark, and fun little point-and-click game. While the story was a little strange, it was also fun and interesting without being too long. The graphics and sound design were spot-on for the tone of the game, instilling a subtle sense of unease all the way through. Unfortunately, the obscure nature of the puzzle solutions lowered my enjoyment a lot. They were just too bizarre, and as a lover of logic puzzles this went completely against what I enjoy in a puzzle. All in all, a nice little experience, but expect to be scratching your head more often than not!