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Message: [QUOTE="LiberoVulpes, post: 308700, member: 204772"] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="18904313-24-killers-windows-front-cover.jpg"]104915[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY] Today, I will be reviewing another interesting and somewhat obscure game, there isn’t much information about its development, only that is one of the rare times a kickstarter actually delivered. This game, wears its influences quite openly, most notably, Love-de-lic’s Moon. As per usual, this game didn’t give me any trouble performance wise, although it was unexpected to see a game using flash of all things, in 2023. There isn’t much else to say in this introduction, so, let’s get on with the game.[/JUSTIFY] [HEADING=2]Story & Setting[/HEADING] [JUSTIFY]You are Home, an Echo, a higher being, summoned to an island somewhere in the middle of The Indian Ocean, an island in which the multiverse converges. Summoned by an alien, and now inhabiting the corpse of a soldier, off you go to become friends with the island’s many inhabitants, but first, you must rescue them one by one from the bunker deep beneath the island. Why? Well, in order to lift the curse placed upon you, recover your powers, and complete your true purpose as an Echo. Do keep in mind, that the inhabitants of this island, are quite quirky to say the least, as the special conditions of the island, have made them mutate in many ways, don’t worry, most of them are harmless.[/JUSTIFY] [HEADING=2]Presentation[/HEADING] [JUSTIFY]It uses an isometric perspective, with pre-rendered backgrounds thankfully the camera isn’t static, artstyle wise, it uses both 2D sprites and clay figures, clay is used for the environment, as well as portraits during dialogues, and some character sprites as well, giving the game a quite unique style. Although, of course, reminiscent of Moon, as I mentioned before. The art direction leans towards magical realism, making each area unique, as well as maintaining the surreal yet familiar atmosphere is going for, even though everything is quite over the top and seemingly random, after a little of bit of playing, there is an actual method to the madness. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="Presentation.webp"]104917[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]The creatures themselves, which the game refers to as mons, have some varied designs, but nothing too crazy, most of the time going for silly. The environment itself changes under certain conditions, you slowly get to see how the island comes back to life, as you free more mons, make more friends, and progress through the game, with the island going from an arid desert to a vibrant and green paradise. There are a lot of little details sprinkled throughout the maps, rewarding the observant player, as well as provide little tidbits of background storytelling. Music wise, it follows the same idea as the visuals, to be surreal yet familiar at the same time, helping give a lot of life and personality to the island, especially when the blood moon occurs, and the vibe moves more towards surreal. The best way to describe how both the visuals and the sound design come together, is that, is truly a vibe. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="Presentation 2.webp"]104919[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [HEADING=2]Mechanics[/HEADING] [JUSTIFY]First and foremost, since your character has a curse, they will start quite weak, in this game, it means your stamina, once it depletes, you will get a timer, if either you receive damage while on the clock or don’t manage to get back to your bed before it runs out, your character will pass out, ending the day with you loosing half of your money. You can recover stamina by eating food, but, there is a limit as to how much food you can eat in a day. Your maximum amount of stamina increases as you become friends with the different mons who inhabit the island. In order to befriend a mon, there are usually 2 steps, first, you have to free them from the bunker, then you must either do a fetch quest for them, or play a mini-game, that will allow you to get a picture of them, that picture, you can take it to the alien who summoned you, and you will not only increase your maximum stamina, you will also get the powers of the respective mon. Mons will also give you toast the night after you befriend them, its important later. Some mons will also have some prerequisites, but its usually just having access to some items, or some powers, or becoming friends with another mon first. Although there is a total of 24 mons they don’t have a unique ability each, instead, they are divided into 6 categories which correlate to the power you earn by befriending them. The categories are, muscle which allows you to pick up and throw objects, speed which allows you to sprint, plant which is fast travel, worker which allows you to jump and glide around, ghost which creates a clone of yourself which mirrors your movement, and garbage which allows you to disguise yourself as garbage. In order to use their powers, you get to transform into them. Those powers will allow you to open up new areas in the island, and to solve puzzles. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="Mechanics.webp"]104920[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]As you free more mons from the bunker, complications will happen, which will force you to use up your stamina, to befriend more mons, or to to solve more puzzles, in order to continue. Currency is something which works a little differently, in this game, its called whispers, there are many ways to earn them, most of which are tied to the powers you have unlocked, with little whispers contractions appearing around the island, you can also increase the amount you earn through different means. And, when there is a blood moon, you get to earn even more. Whispers are another way in which the game gates your progression, forcing you to spent some days on the grind, specially in the final stretch. There are also shops which often sell items to progress through the story, things for your house which gives you some bonuses, and some other support items, the game has a little feature in which you can get some of the whispers you spent back, but its so little, its only noticeable by the end game. Even though the game keeps track of days spent, there is no actual time limit, and, there is no actual time of day or anything of the sort, each day, mons will either go to their default location or to one of the hub areas you have managed to set-up. The game has a few boss fights, but, they are glorified puzzles. Finally, the game is designed to be replayed multiple times, each save file has a unique bonus, which you earn permanently once you have completed a certain side-quest and finished the main quest, each bonus becomes available in future playthroughs, either for challenge runs or to finish a little bit faster. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="Mechanics 2.webp"]104921[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [HEADING=2]Final Thoughts[/HEADING] [JUSTIFY]This game, leaves a lot to be desired, its meant for 2 types of people, either someone who has never played Moon, or someone who has played Moon so much they want something similar yet slightly different. The game has its charm sure, but charm alone isn’t enough, it has interesting ideas, but the execution is lacking. Yes, its cool to have the different powers, but besides puzzles and whisper farming, there is barely any reason to use them. Some of the mons designs… It starts creative, but, the more you progress through the game, it feels like the dev is phoning it in, going from cool an interesting creature, to a cat, a slightly bigger cat, dog poo, a big hand… It leaves a lot to be desired. I did like the clay models, its an aesthetic I can never get tired of. The worst aspect of this game, is progression, once you start hitting the road blocks which require whispers, it becomes very tedious, even when using the multipliers efficiently, its still an annoying drag to get through, making me wonder why even bother going for multiple replays, if I know its going to get tedious at the exact same moments. There is also a major lack of variety on the ways to befriend the mons, with each category requiring its own thing repeated with slight differences, barely giving any uniqueness or characterization to the mons besides their designs. The characters who actually get more development, aren’t even the mons, its the many helpers who are around the island, which the game doesn’t count as mons, but they are still related to progression anyway. Having 24 different creatures, but only having 6 powers, its a massive missed opportunity, making the game feel like it needed more time in the oven in order to live up to its inspiration. The novelty wears off quickly, and the tedious road blocks for progression hurts it immensely, as I said, charm alone isn’t enough, a good vibe alone can’t carry a game, by the end of this game, I’d rather just replay Moon instead. This is Moon, from Temu.[/JUSTIFY] [/QUOTE]

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