Game Review: Mandagon

There are times when games catch me by surprise. Whether it is story elements, the enjoyment of game play or just being more than what I expected, there is something that pleasantly gives more than I thought I would receive. A game that has recently surprised me with more than I had anticipated is Mandagon.

Mandagon is a free to play Indie PC game developed by Blind Sky Studios. I am honestly not sure how to describe what genre it falls into, because it does not feel like it fits under one specific descriptor. In this game you play a stone totem, 2D platforming your way from statue to statue, map point to map point until you have successfully solved the puzzle that I wasn't sure I understood the answer to; or the question for that matter. And that was part of the fun.

The story behind the game is inspired by Tibetan philosophy on life, death and sacrifice. As you explore each area, the story unfolds. Who you are. Why you are here. What you are doing. I had this very strange feeling exploring this beautiful world while at the same time exploring thoughts about the end of life. Something so breathtaking juxtaposed with a topic usually seen as somber. It was a feeling that I can only describe as odd and unexpected.

The pixel art style of this game gives the feeling of platforming through picturesque temples and their surrounding villages. The soundtrack is very relaxing, almost meditative. And the game play is more focused on exploration than anything else. There are no enemies to fight, no levers to pull or boxes to push. You simply explore and understand. That is one of the main things I loved about Mandagon. There was no tutorial, no hand holding, nothing to tell you what to do next. I simply explored at my leisure until I found the answer.

My hang ups about this game are minor. One, the game is very short. I was finished in a little over an hour. Mandagon definitely left me wanting more of this game and wanting to see more content from Blind Sky Studios. My second gripe was that I had basically been given the answer to what was going on in game by just reading the game description on Steam. Personally, I think that took away a bit of the unveiling and realization I would have gotten if the game description had been a little less giving of details and I had been allowed to piece together the complete story on my own.

All in all, Mandagon is a lovely game that I highly recommend trying. It is on Steam right now for free and can be played on PC, Mac and Linux. The game soundtrack and art book are also on sale currently for $3.99

Game Review: Botanicula

A while back, I was watching a stream on Twitch TV where one of the viewers requested the caster to play Botanicula. From the moment the game started, I was hooked. I not only wanted to play the game myself, I wanted everyone to know about it and play it as well. Recently, I streamed this game over at Community Casters Live. These are my thoughts on Botanicula.

The premise of the game is pretty simple. Some evil, black, spider thing has come to town and is sucking the life out of all the trees. Trees which house teeming amounts of life, including the group of "heroes" this game centers around. It is your job to protect a seed that escaped the bad spider, make your way to the ground with it, and plant it so it grows a new tree.

A simple story with a simple goal, but nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to actually playing this game. Botanicula is a quirky, point and click puzzle game that takes a grand step outside of the box. Personally, I'm not sure the designers of this game even knew that a box existed to begin with. The game has lots of unexpected happenings, interesting characters, and many peculiar things that make you simply want to click everything, just to see what it does.

There is really no description about this game that would do it any justice. The art style is very unique and lends itself to the whimsy and bizarre feelings the game produces. The characters in the game do not actually speak, but instead, simply make sounds and noises that resemble speech. I thought that was interesting. I absolutely loved the music, especially at the end of certain puzzles.

Botanicula is on the short side when compared to the play time of other games. Of course it does depend on how quickly you see patterns and solve puzzles. I would definitely recommend it, just for the experience alone. Everyone I know who has seen this game has asked "What is this?" and so far no one has come up with a comprehensive answer. We usually say something along the lines of "We aren't sure". It is a game, you should play it. I believe that will always be the best response.

My Obligatory PAX East 2014 post

Best gaming convention NA!

Now that I have recuperated, I guess it is time for me to write about my experience at PAX East this year. There is absolutely no way that I can shove everything that happened this past weekend into one blog post. Instead, I will give a few highlights and leave the rest for my YouTube video.

Hugs for everyone!

First thing first, I met some of the most amazing people; my Twitch family. It was the strangest feeling, because the majority of us had never met face to face. And yet, it felt like a reunion, a coming back together. Within a few hours, I felt like I had known these people all of my life. As if we had grown up together or something. And while it was a strange sensation, it was a great sensation at the same time.You can't fake that kind of connection. I can't wait to see them all again. 

RAWR!!

PAX East is this huge mesh of everything that excites me about gaming: new games, live streamers, YouTubers, music, every aspect of gaming culture comes out in full force, flooding your mind and body for 3 days. One of my favorite parts has to be getting to play the game demos. Yeah, the lines to tend to get a bit a long, but this is just part of the experience after a while. One of the games I got to demo Lichdom: Battlemage. This game was made for players like me. While I died within moments of the boss battle, it was still a game that I want to see more from. I mean, really, who doesn't want to be a battle mage.

Yes, that is a bike ramp.

There were two panels that I was looking forward to from the moment the schedule came out. That was the Chainsawsuit Podcast and Acquisitions Inc. Acquistions Inc. was something that I had been following for years. And when I say years, I came in on Season 2 of the game and wanted nothing more than to see them game live. So when I heard they were doing it in Boston this year, I lost my mind. And it was everything that I had hoped for it to be. Comedy, drama, cliff hangers, just all in all good storytelling. I could not have been happier

About the Chainsawsuit Podcast...I have a confession to make. I was a bit late on this train. I started listening to Mikey and Kris about a month before PAX East, but even with that short amount of time, I knew that I wanted to see these two live. They just have a humor that is so complimentary. Seeing the two of them interact with each other and the audience was great.

There was a ton of stuff that happened. There were concerts, karoke, meet ups, dancing, eating, taking of pictures and recording video. In that one weekend, memories were made, friendships were forged, inside jokes were created. So much awesome happened. It is probably going to take a month or so to come down off this high I'm riding.

HOPE TO SEE ALL YOU GUYS NEXT YEAR!!

Game Review: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes

 Recently, I have been playing The Testament of Sherlock Holmes. The game was released in 2010, developed by Frogwares and published by Focus Home Interactive. What caught my attention for this game was the fact that the main character was Sherlock Holmes. I have loved just about everything Sherlock since I read "A Study in Scarlet" a long time ago. So when I saw there was a video game that had gotten good reviews, I thought this would be something that I would enjoy. And I could not have been more right.

In this game, you are Sherlock Holmes and you are trying to solve a brutal murder of a bishop. You also play John Watson and suspicion starts to rise that perhaps your detective flatmate and friend is not everything you once believed him to be. As the mysteries unfold, the questions continue to mount.

I don't want to talk too much about the story (because SPOILERS!) so I will focus more on the actual game play. I found at the beginning of the game, I was not the greatest at seeing the whole picture of what was going on. I would find all the clues and successfully put about half the story together. The rest of the time, I was in left field somewhere. While the game does a good job explaining what all the clues mean, I really wanted to be able to do it on my own. I got better as the game went on, but I don't think I ever figured out 100% of the story before the game told me.

The puzzles that had to be solved ranged in difficulty and type. Some were not that hard, some took some time, and others were just flat out enraging. (Never looking at another chess game the same way again). I will not lie, there might have been 2 or 3 puzzles where I hit skip and continued on with the game. But for the most part, I solved them myself and felt very accomplished about doing it.

The Deduction Board was very unique. I liked how it made you put the pieces together to create the larger picture. I felt like I was sleuthing too, trying to figure out what all the clues where leading to. And they didn't make it easy either. I felt like I was really working for those answers. And most of the time the answers just lead to more questions.

In conclusion, I really liked this game and recommend it to anyone who likes a mystery game or a good puzzle game. I am very excited about the next installment to this series, Crimes and Punishments. I also plan on playing through the previous Sherlock games by this company, that is just how much I liked this one.