DeVuego ES_COR

Tales From Candleforth impresses with its music, visuals and (mostly) logical puzzles, but falls short in both the story and scares departments.‍

CLeM delivers a short but excellent point-and-click experience with some cracking puzzles and varied gameplay to make up for its compact size. 

Scarf doesn’t brave new platforming territory, but platforming newbies will appreciate its forgiving nature, and it tells an interesting and often dark story in an engaging way. 

It took me north of six hours to play through Call of the Sea, but whilst a direct route from puzzle to puzzle would shave that down considerably, the empty spaces in Norah’s journal at the end of it indicate even more eldritch secrets hidden away in enriching optional interactions — which are more than worth the intense scouring it takes to uncover them. Varied and interesting puzzles occasionally clash with obtuse clues, and there’s a couple of choppy technical hitches, but little can detract from the solid story of love in the face of the unknown, and understanding as the antidote to fear.

However, outside of this fairly minor problem, Mutropolis is an absolutely fantastic game that is a must-purchase for point-and-click fans. Although the tale it tells isn’t particularly unique, and the game’s puzzles are about as 1990s as you can possibly get, the game is self-aware about what it is and this makes it a treat for anyone who likes Harrison Ford references. When combined with the game’s superb visuals, playing Mutropolis reminded me why I spent 20-odd hours a week writing about video games instead of getting a real job.

A decent narrative-puzzler with some elements that shine, Vanishing Grace spoils its interesting story and premise with barren locations and formulaic gameplay.

By the end I was taken back by what had happened in the story, but I enjoyed sneaking around so much that I wanted to go back. You can see that Tessera Studios has put a lot of love and care into making this game. It has its own style and approach, meaning I am finding it hard to place it in a genre or compare it to anything else. This is not only a well-crafted game, but it also makes great use of virtual reality. I am surprised it is available to play without VR, but the story alone was unique and enjoyable so I am glad that those without PSVR will get a chance to play it. Apart from some stiff animations and some minor distractions due to the hardware limitations, I have nothing but good things to say.