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Just like a good cuppa joe, this game gives you an instant energy boost with its zen gameplay loop, savory art style, chill soundtrack as well as diverse cast of engaging characters and story arcs. If you played the first installment and was left wanting for more, you're sure to feel right at home: it's basically more of the same, which is exactly what I expected (or ordered, I guess :-P). A brilliant testament to the late Mohammad Fahmi, RIP.

I've nominated it for this year's Steam Awards in the Best Game on Steam Deck category, tho I readily admit I haven’t tested it on that platform myself since I don’t own the device. It’s listed as compatible, however, so it gets a nod from me. It definitely deserves one.

My nominee in the Best Soundtrack category for Steam Awards 2022. A bit cheeky on my part (again) since the game was originally released in 2019 and the extra content in 2022 Director's Cut is rather underwhelming, to say the least, and hardly worth the asking price, but the selection of the licensed tracks is still as superb now as it was back then, featuring the likes of Low Roar, Silent Poets, Chvrches, and even Apocalyptica, each and every one of them perfectly fitting the game's quirky and eldritch ambience.

The soundtrack complements the surprisingly addictive gameplay loop that has you traversing the picturesque landscapes, managing your cargo/inventory and delivering those damned packages but it would be a disservice to call it a walking simulator, as many do. It’d be more fair to call it a HIKING simulator, if anything. I completely understand why the game was so divisive when it came out but in my personal experience, once you get into the groove of this “UPS Man Simulator”, it’s almost zen-like and very rewarding. Case in point: I’ve spent over 200 hours in the game AFTER completing the main campaign, listening to the exquisite soundtrack while plotting my routes and completing hundreds of delivery orders. From an external source, tho, because for some incomprehensible reason, the game doesn’t feature a music player OUTSIDE of your private room which I consider a huge oversight if not a crime against humanity :-P

I thought about nominating it for the best narrative, too, but the story is too up its own rear: Hideo Kojima has very unusual (and not always great) ideas but his direction - and especially his writing - often feels too self-indulgent and a little more than a bit verbose. If I have to smell anyone’s rectal discharges, I prefer my own, Kojima-san, thank you very much ;-) Kudos for the entertainingly bizarre setting and world building, tho.

No other game to date has made me so self-aware about my character’s movement: it’s immensely kinesthetic and tactile and every step you make, I’ll be watching you… I mean, every step you make needs to be carefully considered or you might slip and tumble down the cliff to meet your maker. I could've very well nominated it for the Most Innovative Gameplay too, but the soundtrack is my jam so it gets the nod there.

If you’re looking for a sequel to the exquisite Primordia, you may be sorely disappointed, but if you seek another unique point and click adventure game that goes beyond the usual trappings of the genre, you might just find yourself razzle-dazzled and transfixed all over again by the creative trinity of the twisted minds at Wormwood Studios as I was.

This time around, they deliver a much more personal narrative that feels rather introspective and intimate in comparison to Primordia’s overarching parable of the human condition that, in true sci-fi fashion, seemed to transcend the experiences of an individual and extrapolate them to the whole mankind, or what was left of it in that particular post-apocalyptic setting. Instead, Strangeland is asking you to try and empathize with a plight of a lone and lost husk of a man, driven to his wits' end by a series of tragic events in his life, which I won’t spoil here because deciphering the oft-vague clues and putting the pieces of this nebulous puzzle together is part of the fun and games at the nightmarish carnival that the protagonist navigates through. It’s very commendable, in fact, that the devs are trusting YOU, the player, to figure things out (mostly) on your own, without spoon-feeding you the RIGHT interpretation, but leaving just enough bits and pieces for you to pick up and come to your own conclusions.

The story, tho far removed from my own life experiences (so far and thankfully so, I'd say), feels very... real is not the right word, perhaps, given the – well… strangeness of the overall premise. But definitely vivid, thought-provoking and evocative. Mark Yohalem’s writing is as eloquent here as it was in Primordia, chock-full of metaphors, literary allusions and references, and while some may find it too vague, high-brow and/or wordy, perhaps, I, for one, think it's very powerful.

Victor Pflug returns with his unmistakable brand of peculiar aesthetics in both art and sound direction. The visuals are distorted, gritty and visceral, whereas the soundscape feels suitably tortured and tormented with a lot of droning tracks and reverb, both very unsettling and effective in burrowing their way into your psyche, even without resorting to any gore and jump-scary cues.

And last but not least, James Spanos’ code and visual effects are a masterclass of what you can squeeze from the limited capabilities of the AGS engine, giving both the writing and the audiovisuals a stable scaffolding to rely on without any noticeable frame drops, which is an impressive feat, given how much is happening on the screen (and no doubt, behind the scenes) at any given time.

Although shorter than Primordia (my initial blind playthrough took me about 6 hours), Strangeland doesn’t lack for content, what with the extensive annotations and dev commentary tracks that give you not only a reason to replay the game with those features enabled, but a lot of insight into the creative process of the aforementioned trio. It’s so substantial, in fact, that my second run lasted for about 9 hours, most of which was spent reading and listening to the various bits of trivia from the devs themselves. Now, that’s what I call bang for my buck.

What about puzzles, the crux of any point and click adventure game, you ask? Well, they’re here, of course, and quite varied at that, both in their mechanics and difficulty. They’re quite logical, even if not immediately obvious; some even offer multiple solutions. The somewhat open-ended layout of the world lends itself to exploration, experimentation and discovery, and if you’re stuck on one particular puzzle, you can usually go elsewhere and tackle a different challenge. And if you’re REALLY stuck, you can always use the in-game hint system seamlessly integrated into the world itself populated by many a twisted version of carnival attractions and a cast of memorable characters, professionally voice-acted by the likes of Abe Goldfarb (whom you may remember as the lovable Crispin from Primordia) and Miranda Gauvin, the staples of Wadjet Eye Games’ VO talent.

All in all, Strangeland is not your typical adventure game but one with a unique vision and voice, asking a lot of the players but also giving them an abundance in return. If you’re up to the task, give it a try and don’t be a stranger.

(The game is actually ways better than my terrible pun might suggest, so please, disregard it and stop looking at me funny :-P)

It's a Daniel Mullins' game and that, to me at least, is a mark of high quality in and of itself. Haven't played much of it YET (or at all, really, since I only idled it for a little bit) but I will very soon indeed.

I'm posting this brief pseudo-review only to unlock the last level of the Steam Awards Nomination Committee 2021 badge as I nominated this game provisionally for the Most Innovative Gameplay Award, but knowing the creator's excellent output in the past, I'm pretty convinced my (tentative for now) praises will soon be proven justified.

Will try to update the review soon with more informed opinions :-)

To be honest, words alone are not enough to describe this absolute gem of a game, so how about an old (but very appropriate) meme instead?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1614039979

Technically, it was released originally in 2019 (on Epic Games Store and Xbox Game Pass) but only graced Steam a year later (the cursed 2020), so it counts, which is more than fine by me :-) My pick in the Most Innovative Gameplay category of the 2020 Steam Awards. However, if the rules allowed, I could just as whole-heartedly nominate it for Best Soundtrack, Outstanding Story-Rich Game or Outstanding Visual Style.

My nominee in the Outstanding Visual Style category of 2019 Steam Awards.

Not very scary, but I'd hardly consider it a survival horror game, a misnomer that some people might want to label it as. I'd personally describe it as an existential horror first-person adventure game with a focus on a deep sci-fi narrative and environmental story-telling interspersed with some obligatory stealth sections. Oft-disturbing with its imagery and mind-bending with the philosophical questions it probes. Had a blast throughout. An under-appreciated gem, if you ask me.

My pick in the “Best Environment” category of 2018 Steam Awards.

My rating: 6+/10
Based on: one full playthrough of all 3 episodes with some sequences rewound
Check out my other reviews

TL;DR: The miniseries follows the Telletale formula we’ve come to expect almost to the T, but its length and underdeveloped characters don’t deliver on the promise of exploring a badass heroine that Michonne is in any real detail and lacks the punch of the previous full seasons. It may please the fans of the comic books or the TV series, but serves as a half-cooked meal at best for the rest.

Pros:

(+) the condensed, but interesting enough story of the eponymous fan favourite from the comic books (that I still read passionately) and the TV show (that I can’t stand to watch anymore), set in the time gap between issues #126 and #139 of the former (according to the devs) or before issue #127 (according to Robert Kirkman himself), told in 3 episodes of 6 chapters each
(+) the miniseries recounts Michonne’s exploits during her departure in the comics, alternating between her modern-day seafaring stint on or around the Chesapeake Bay and her past explored intermittently through flashbacks transporting the heroine back to her Atlanta’s home just after the outbreak, focused on the unknown fate of her daughters
(+) Michonne is given a story arc of sorts, juxtaposing her usual blade-wielding badassery on full display with moments of crippling self-doubt and guilt
(+) the classic Telltale formula (an interactive graphic adventure with dialogue choices interspersed with QTE action sequences and third-person walking simulator) works as good (and/or as bad) as ever before
(+) the writing is solid for the most part, if inevitably stunted by the scope of the miniseries, with each episode done by a different team of writers who have contributed to other Telltale’s titles before or since, but can hardly be considered their A material (see the Cons section)
(+) the voice acting is solid, too, if occasionally uninspired, with Samira Wiley (Poussey in Orange Is the New Black, RIP) doing a pretty good job as Michonne, but the real standouts are Cissy Jones and Derek Philips, voicing the antagonists (Norma and Randall)
(+) the coloured comic-style art direction, a mainstay of the series since its inception, still serves its purpose well enough, and even looks crispier and more detailed than in the previous instalments
(+) the music composed by Jared Emerson-Johnson, the man behind the soundtrack of all the previous games in the series, is properly dramatic, but I especially liked the badass licensed song (“Gun in My Hand” by Dorothy) playing during the intro credits of each episode
(+) the QTE action sequences are some of the best the series have seen to date, even though Michonne wields a machete rather than her trademark katana, which stayed with King Ezekiel in the comics
(+) perfectly playable with a mouse and keyboard, but analogue controllers are also fully supported
(+) UI and subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese-Brazilian, Simplified Chinese and Russian, but audio only in English

Cons:

(−) the episodes are pretty short and uneven: the first one (“In Too Deep”) serves necessarily as a setup, with the most interesting developments not occurring till episode 2 (“Give No Shelter”) and stakes ramping up to the somewhat underwhelming confrontation in episode 3 (“What We Deserve”), but Michonne’s underlying storyline (told in flashbacks about her past in Atlanta) gets sidetracked for the most of the miniseries
(−) the story as a whole, however, lacks the punch of a full season, as readers of the comic books or the TV audience can very well suspect that Michonne is pretty much invincible and most of the side characters simply don’t have enough time to grow on you
(−) the ending of the miniseries lacks the tear-jerking bite of the Season 1 finale (which still makes me cry like a little baby whenever I play it) or the heart-wrenching poignancy of the Season 2 wrap-up (which leaves me torn inside to this day)
(−) only a handful of secondary characters (like Sam and Pete) are given enough time to be somewhat fleshed out, the rest relegated to archetypical, one-note roles, especially the pair of antagonists who have no real redeeming qualities, despite the voice actors having a blast playing them
(−) the illusion of choice typical of Telltale’s games is noticeably more overt in this miniseries, given its cursory length and the abovementioned underdevelopment of most secondary characters, so the moral choices presented to the player primarily concern people or issues they haven’t had enough time to start caring about
(−) Telltale Tool, the engine used for all the games in the series to date, is already showing its age and limitations, what with the clunky running animations, frustrating inability to skip dialogue lines even when replaying the same sequence over and over and a lack of major quality improvements, etc.
(−) the mouse click sometimes didn’t register properly when I was selecting what do with a particular spot in the environment, especially if I was standing close to it
(−) occasional graphical glitches (missing or flicking textures, jittering, etc.)

My rating: 7+/10
Based on: two playthroughs (one full and one speedrun)

TL;DR: Double Fine’s Broken Age may have been one of the early success stories for the Kickstarter-backed projects, but it didn’t live up to the expectations of a long-starved fan of the point-and-click adventure games such as myself. Admittedly, that wasn’t entirely its fault: it’s a good game with a great production value for its budget, but it doesn’t exactly stand tall among the all-time greats of the genre, either. Not an instant classic, but very charming, it offers an intriguing coming-of-age story, memorable characters, excellent writing, art and sound design, but the second act is sort of a drag.

Pros:

(+) a heart-warming, disarmingly whimsical but fundamentally mature coming-of-age story divided into two acts and two distinct, seemingly unconnected subplots, each involving the game’s teenage protagonists, the boy Shay and the girl Vella, who try break the cycle and escape their allotted fates in both sci-fi and fantasy worlds
(+) a diverse cast of quirky characters to meet and interact with, including the overprotective ship computer Mom, cult leader and compulsive hoarder Father Lightbeard, cowardly hipster lumberjack Curtis, mysterious Marek, even an over-sensitive living tree and talking cutlery
(+) Tim Schafer’s writing strikes the perfect balance between adolescent humour and mature themes, with many a dirty and puerile quip, joke and gag sprinkled throughout the both intriguing and charming storyline
(+) fully voice-acted, featuring such household names as Elijah Wood (Shay), Jack Black (Father Lightbeard) and Wil Wheaton (Curtis), with Masasa Moyo as Vella, the veteran Jennifer Hale as Mom (who also played Ophelia in Brütal Legend) and some other frequent Double Fine’s collaborators voicing the secondary characters, like Richard Horvitz amd Nicki Rapp (Raz and Lilli in Psychonauts), as well as Nick Jameson (Max in Lucasarts’ classic Sam & Max Hit the Road)
(+) the art direction resembling a 2D animated children’s storybook by the team under Lee Petty, based primarily on the digital water-colour paintings by LucasArts’ alumni Nathan Stapley with some initial concept arts by the masterful Peter Chan and Scott Campbell, brings the fantastical worlds and characters to life with vibrant colours and unique, aesthetically pleasing visual style
(+) the music composed by Peter McConnell, a mainstay of Double Fine’s games, performed by wind and string ensembles and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, evokes a sense of wonder, a thrill of discovery and a high of unchecked tomfoolery
(+) both the sci-fi and fantasy settings are chuck-full of distinct locations to visit, characters to interact with, objects to manipulate and puzzles to solve, which encourages you to probe into every nook and cranny to get the full experience
(+) you can switch back and forth between Shay and Vella at any time, which makes for a welcome change of pace or a breather if you’re stuck on a particularly daunting puzzle with one of them, but isn’t exactly necessary because they can’t interact with each other like e.g. the three playable characters in Day of the Tentacle
(+) the point-and-click controls utilizing primarily the two mouse buttons are simple enough to remember and operate even for a pre-schooler
(+) the clever puzzles require some deductive skills and abstract thinking, though, and a few of them a lot of patience (see the Cons section), especially because the game leaves you pretty much to your own devices to figure out the solutions (which is fine by me)
(+) a hidden retro mode for nostalgia hipsters and blurry pixel art enthusiast alike ;-)
(+) full language support for English and German, with UI and subtitles in French, Italian, Spanish and Russian
(+) an episodic, but very extensive documentary by 2 Player Productions available on DoubleFine’s YouTube channel is a nice bonus and gives a fascinating insight into the nitty-gritty of the entire development process
(+) a very good production value and a good value for money, considering its budget (the over 3,3 mln USD in Kickstarter backers’ pledges plus the revenue invested from the sales of Act 1 on Steam and the studio's own money redirected to finish the project)

Cons:

(−) the second act is somewhat underwhelming: despite delivering an ultimately satisfying conclusion to the story, it basically rethreads the established locations and characters, requires a lot of backtracking and involves a noticeable spike in difficulty in comparison to the previous
(−) the annoying trial-and-error puzzles, especially the ones that involve re-wiring the robots in Act 2
(−) not enough hand holding for novices (many objectives are pretty self-explanatory but there’s no hint system to help you out, no journal nor check-lists to keep track of your progress)
(−) occasional voiceover skipping
(−) the controls and menus have an evident touchscreen feel to them, which I don’t appreciate in my PC games
(−) no concept art gallery, a feature I’ve come to expect in Double Fine’s games
(−) the autosave feature stopped working properly once I loaded the game from a manual save and then an annoying pop-up kept asking me if I wanted to use this or that save spot for an autosave every time I loaded a game

Check out my reviews of other Double Fine’s games:
Brütal Legend
Day of the Tentacle Remastered
Full Throttle Remastered
Grim Fandango Remastered
Psychonauts

My rating: 7+/10
Based on: one 100% complete SP campaign on Brütal difficulty + MP boosting with a partner and solo grinding
Check out my other reviews

TL;DR: An homage to heavy metal and a peculiar, if mediocre blend of a 3rd person hack-and-slash with a sandbox world and RTS-lite mechanics. Excelling in art direction and soundtrack, but bogged down by the gameplay design choices and console controls, it can make you hum, finger drum and fist pump in a mosh-pit-like excitement or bang your head in gloomy frustration. Fun enough to play on your own, but the MP is pretty much dead without friends. Brutal, perhaps, metal, definitely, but not enough to rock my world.

Full disclosure: I received it for free through a Humble Bundle giveaway.

Pros:

(+) the entertaining main story of Eddie Riggs, a roadie who is transported into the fantastical Age of Metal and joins in the human rebellion against their supernatural oppressors, told in 22 chapters (main missions), with some interesting lore to delve into
(+) dozens of over-the-top characters, both the allies like the sassy groupie and Eddie’s love interest Ophelia, self-obsessed king Lars, stubborn rebel Lita, cowardly engineer Mangus, bassist healer Kill Master, amazon queen Rima, biker gang leader Fire Baron, flippant Guardian of Metal, as well as antagonists: the BDSM-loving Emperor Doviculus or his lap dog, the glamorous Lionwhyte
(+) spawned from the twisted mind of Double Fine’s taskmaster Tim Schafer and assembled by his minions under the watchful eye of their Electronic Arts overlords at a time when EA still gave a hoot about releasing fully-realized products and even went as far as snatching this diamond in the rough from the indecisive clutches of one of their prime rivals in the anti-consumer practices department, Activision Blizzard
(+) Schafer’s brilliant writing cranked up to eleven by a near pitch-perfect voice cast, featuring Jack Black as Eddie, Jennifer Hale as Ophelia and the wickedly diabolical Tim Curry as Doviculus, with many metal legends lending their voices to the characters: Motörhead’s late Lemmy Kilmister to Kill Master, The Runaways’ Lita Ford to Rima, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford to Fire Baron/Lionwhyte and the surprisingly coherent Ozzy Osbourne to The Guardian of Metal (duh…)
(+) the spot-on art direction, inspired by the artwork of heavy metal album covers under Scott Campbell and Lee Petty with an unmistakable flair of Peter Chan, lends itself perfectly to the game’s overall theme and makes up for the inadequacies of the 2009 graphics ported from the consoles in 2013 with some improvements (increased draw distances, better anti-aliasing, etc.)
(+) the rock-fueled soundtrack by Peter McConnell serves as an important, albeit supporting act to the real headliners, the huge collection of no less than 107 licensed tracks from across the heavy metal genre, which serve as both a refreshment course for the fans and an introduction to the genre for the novices
(+) the SP campaign doubles as an extended tutorial for the RTS-lite stage battles, gradually introducing new mechanics or units and upping up the ante with each confrontation
(+) the covert tutorials are interspersed with a variety of palate cleansers in the form of arcade-style boss battles, racing, herding or convoy missions, which are entertaining in their own right
(+) the open world, which evolves as you progress through the SP campaign, is quite fun to explore, full of content (40+ side missions, hundreds of collectibles) and populated by crazy creatures, allies and enemies alike
(+) each of the game’s three main factions comes with its own leader, wildly creative units, special attacks and rock-paper-scissors rules of engagement, requiring different strategies to effectively utilize, manage or counter them in the SP open world or stage battles, and especially in MP
(+) the pretty simplistic, but enjoyable enough hack-and-slash combat utilizing moves and combos with a melee weapon and a guitar to cast basic spells or use more potent powers by performing note-matching solos
(+) by performing a specific solo, Eddie can literally drop The Deuce, i.e. summon his personal hot rod, customizable and upgradable in the metal forges through in-game currency
(+) the metal forges in the SP campaign also offer cosmetics and upgrades to Eddie’s melee weapon, guitar and clothes, as well as unlockable combos and even effigies to carve into Mt. Rockmore
(+) the immense attention to detail: from obscure inside jokes, through more overt references to the ridicule of the more over-the-top heavy metal trappings, hidden gems and missable interactions, the game is the ultimate fan service for the enthusiast of the genre such as myself
(+) the opening live-action intro is ingeniously integrated with the game’s main menu made to look like a heavy metal vinyl record album
(+) the pretty impressive facial animation and lip syncing for a game initially released for consoles in 2009 and re-released for PC in 2013
(+) the extensive concept art gallery unlockable through completing various tasks in-game
(+) full localizations in German, Spanish and French with an option to retain the original English voiceovers, plus a partial localization in Italian (UI and subtitles)

Cons:

(−) the RTS-lite elements are mediocre at best, which made me wary of the stage battles, especially on Brütal difficulty when you need to be in full command of your environment to succeed and progress through the story
(−) clearly designed for analogue controllers and lazily ported as such to the Windows platform without any concessions for the PC users: neither the radial menus for units’ and solos’ selection nor waypoints, individual orders and other controls work especially well with a mouse and keyboard setup, which makes issuing collective or individual commands in the heat of a hectic stage battle frustratingly ineffective; they should’ve redesigned the controls with e.g. quickbars, hotkeys, drag unit selection and click-to-issue commands while in the air
(−) the driving controls are a bit wonky, too, and the car itself can be a little unwieldy at times
(−) the painful lack of a minimap, both in the open world, which would help drive the car between waypoints GTA-style instead of relying on an arguably more immersive, but less effective turn signals while trying to spot the inconsistent column of light over the destination, and within stage battles to keep track of the units and identify hotspots
(−) no fast travel mechanics: it should have been possible at least between the motor forges, especially since the game autosaves your position every time you leave them anyway; as it is, you’ve no choice but to drive in your car
(−) not enough checkpoints or autosaves in the open world, so you might need to drive between distant spots all over again if you happen to die en route, unless you visit the nearest motor forge
(−) Eddie gets wings every time he enters a stage battle, but is unable to use them in the open world, which would potentially make it easier to travel from place to place, cutting down on backtracking
(−) Eddie cannot jump nor climb up slanted surfaces, which made me stuck in the environment on more than one occasion
(−) it’s impossible to set waypoints on the map to places other than the markers, which are few and far between; there should have been more markers appearing on the map as you unlock viewpoints, tab slabs, legends, etc. should you want to return there later and helping you keep track of the collectibles you’ve discovered as well
(−) the MP sounds like a lot of fun, but the match-made ranked mode is a ghost town now, even though I waited for a full hour, so I had to find a partner to boost me for the MP achievements and grind some on my own against the AI or in solo custom matches
(−) occasional camera problems and clipping issues