Análises recentes de Deca

Genre Puzzle, Psychological Horror, Adventure
Release Date 2022
Platforms PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Developers Ebb Software[ebbsoftware.com]

Scorn is the first installment of Serbian game studio Ebb Software, based around the "being thrown in the world" concept, as it follows the player in their exploration of an unknown bio-steampunk world, filled with bizarre creatures.

The player plays as an unknown humanoid creature that wakes up in a seemingly alien world, inside a facility covered in fleshy, mechanic looking mass and organisms. As the player traverses the different sections of the massive building, solving different puzzles, he eventually faints after an explosion in one of the facility's rooms.
Soon after, the player wakes up in a different place, outside the facility, and navigates his way back inside to find himself in new areas, this time crawling with horrifying living beings. Around this time, he is attacked and becomes infected by a deadly parasite, that slowly saps his health away.
Eventually, the player finds himself in this temple, high above the original facility, and is able to remove the parasite from his body, but is disemboweled in the process. Later, he finds another medical device, which connects him to this flesh hive mind inside the temple and allows his consciousness to carry over to nearby bodies, which carry his original body to a seemingly safe place, until the player is attacked again by the parasite, which successfully kills him and consumes his body to form a giant flesh mass.

The gameplay in Scorn consists mostly in walking/running around different environments, solving puzzles of various difficulties. After the first encounter with the parasite, the player also starts dealing with enemies, managing health and shooting weapons, due to the fact that it's the parasite itself, which is attached to the player's body, that controls these elements.
There are four main weapons - a bolt-action like gun which launches a metal bolt forward on a cooldown; a pistol with low damage which becomes more accurate when standing still; a high damage shotgun with low ammo count and a grenade launcher, mostly used in later puzzles - and four primary creature enemies - a medium size and speed crawler; a small size, bird-like spitter; a large size, bull looking melee range charger and a roof-hanging spitting worm.
There are also a large variety of machines and mechanisms the player can interact with throughout the game for different purposes, like dispensing ammo and health, opening doors, or just as part of the puzzles.
Regarding the player's inventory, Scorn takes a unique approach, as it doesn't manifest as a interface or menu, but as an integral part of the world, in the form of a flesh pouch, held by the parasite, which can be seen when looking down at the character's feet. This pouch stores health charges for healing, and ammo for the different weapon types.
There's also a small boss fight towards the end of the game, where the player needs to shoot key points of the enemy while avoiding projectile and melee attacks.

I found the game a unique and refreshing experience, with an original biomechanical theme, stunningly disturbing visuals and eerie sounds all throughout.
The puzzles were very creative and different from eachother, with varying levels of difficulty, and made great use of the surrounding environment.
I enjoyed the very minimalist interface, as the only prompts and tooltips appeared while handling mechanisms or aiming weapons, which definitely contributed to a bigger sense of immersion.
The enemy and weapon variety was good given the length of the game, but the combat system felt very clunky and mismatched, as changing between weapons and reloading was incredibly slow when compared to the fast paced nature of the enemy attacks and the damage they dealt. Also, some of the enemy encounters felt very cheesy, as it was pretty much impossible to react on time without dying first and knowing what was coming beforehand. This prompted a lot of unnecessary deaths that, with the badly placed checkpoints, made it frustrating at times to progress.
The boss battle was a nice exception to this clunkiness, as the attacks were fairly slow and only one weapon (the grenade launcher) could be used, which removed a lot of the lengthier animations and allowed for a bigger focus on the actual mechanics of the fight.
Regarding the narrative itself, I struggled to understand it, as the game gives little to no context of the circumstances and events that happen. This paired with non existent dialogue, high degree of symbolism and the fact that most of the vital information about the world is only accessible through the game's paid artbook contributes to a lack of connection with the character and obliviousness for the player.
Finally, I also experienced quite a bit of lag and stuttering in most areas of the game, even on lowish settings, which suggests a lack of optimization for the game's level of detail.

The main appeal of Scorn is its outstanding visual quality. Even though the game proved to be smaller than hoped, had basically no narrative components and presented a terrible combat system, if you're only interested in the appealing style, it's a must try. Otherwise, if you're looking for a deeper, more story driven long-term experience, don't bother.

- Steam, Xbox[www.xbox.com], PlayStation Store[store.playstation.com] and Epic Games Store[store.epicgames.com] Pages
- Official Wiki[scorn.fandom.com] and Website[scorn-game.com]
- IGP's Exploration/Lore Video

Genre First-Person Shooter (FPS), Narrative, Multiplayer, Science-Fiction
Release Date 2016
Platforms PC, PS4, Xbox One
Developers Respawn Entertainment[www.respawn.com]

Considered by many as the FPS with the best story on the market, Titanfall 2 is the 2016 sequel to the original 2014 title, Titanfall, based on the concept of giant mechs, called Titans, controlled by human pilots, with different weapon and ability combinations.

The story behind Titanfall 2 focuses on the ongoing war between the two major factions of the game's universe - the allied rebel forces, called the Frontier Militia, and the villainous industrial corporation, IMC (Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation) - from the eyes of one of the Militia's pilots, Jack Cooper. After his first-in-command, Captain Tai Lastimosa, dies in battle in an effort to save him, Jack takes control of his personal Titan, nicknamed "BT", and has to stop the IMC from destroying the Militia using a super-weapon, the "Fold Weapon", while at the same time building upon his relationship with BT.

In Titanfall 2, the player interacts with the world in one of two forms - as a human or a titan. The human form is the one the player spends the majority of the time in and allows for the use of a variety of weapons, like pistols, rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, amongst others. The player can have a primary and secondary firearm, as well as access to two additional items, which include a set of grenades (there are also types) and a stealth cloak, which has a small cooldown between uses and allows for temporary invisibility. Another feature of the weaponry system is the ability for the player to change weapons and grenades on the go, as different ones drop from enemy kills or are found in the world.
Another big part of the human form gameplay is the movement, which combines running, crouching and sliding to allow for more complex combos to traverse the environment, like wall running. It is also worth noting that in certain areas that requiring more extensive parkour maneuvers, the game presents a "Ghost Runner", essentially a holographic representation of the main path to follow and movements to do.
The titan form is only available at certain points in the game, and is characterized by the player controlling a mech in combat. There are various mech models to choose from, each with their (mostly) unique abilities and signature weapons, which are unlocked to be used as the player progresses through the story, and can be switched between at any time when in mech form.
Each mech also has a special ultimate ability, which charges as the player does damage, instead of working off a cooldown like the other abilities. The movement in this form is more limited, with the mech only being able to slowly walk or run and dash a small distance (aside from movement-based abilities).
At the end of each chapter in the game, the player is typically faced with a "boss" encounter - an enemy titan of an antagonist character - and needs to defeat them in order to progress.
The game also features collectibles spread through the different missions, in the form of blue glowing pilot helmets, as well as holographic depictions and audio texts exposing some of the game's lore.
Even though the main draw of the game is the singleplayer campaign, it also features a multiplayer mode, where the player can join others in different game modes, like "Capture The Flag", and customize their pilot cosmetics and weaponry, as well as their titan loadout.

I really enjoyed this game, even though I didn't find the story as groundbreakingly good, even for a FPS game, as it sounds when reading opinions about the game. Nonetheless, I thought the story was well structured, with not too many "dragging" sections, and pretty emotional towards the end, as I find the theme of genuine friendship very moving, especially when as the player one is able to accompany it from the very start. Yet, the lack of continuous presence of most characters through the story made encounters with most antagonists and even some allied characters feel generic and characterless.
I think the gameplay duality and variety of weaponry was really refreshing and allowed for different ways to tackle the levels, and the movement was also fluid apart from the fact that certain actions, like running and aiming, seemed to only have a toggle mode and no "active while pressed" function, which I found pretty jarring especially for high speed combat.
The graphics were pretty good and ran fairly smoothly at higher settings, and the different scenarios certainly helped keep the visual stimulation throughout the game.
Regarding the mission structure, I appreciated the diversity of objectives and steps to achieve them, as it made each one feel unique (e.g. in one chapter you could be parkouring everywhere to turn on some console and in the next you would be switching between dimensions). The boss battles felt great gameplay wise, and posed a decent challenge even in normal difficulty (the one I played on) in most cases.
When it comes to the collectibles, I didn't find them particularly engaging or relevant to read/listen for the content they provided.
Didn't spend enough time in multiplayer to give a personal opinion, as I only speedran the mode-exclusive achievements in solo matches and I also don't really enjoy the more competitive side of FPS games, but from the popularity it seems to have in the community, I would venture to say it's worth it for the people who enjoy that type of gameplay.
On a final note, I have to add that this game has one of the MOST epic missions I've ever played - a full on titan showdown, where you fight alongside allied mechs against waves of enemy ones and are able to experience the different titan loadouts to their fullest, as the fight extends through multiple terrains (e.g. long range corridors, close quarter fields, tunnels filled with cover spots, etc.) which stimulates constantly changing between titan kits.

This game has a really enjoyable story that is based on an emotional connection between a human and a machine, filled with loyalty and perseverance. If you're looking for an FPS game that can hold its own as a narrative driven title and still blend fast paced gameplay almost seamlessly, this is probably one of the best ones out there. Though I wish it had more depth regarding its characters, I can't deny the game is in a unique position that makes it worthwhile, kind of no matter what.
An unexpected friendship that unfolds into a true FPS classic. A must try.

- Steam, Xbox[www.xbox.com] and PlayStation Store[store.playstation.com] Pages
- Official Wiki[titanfall2.fandom.com] and Website

Kona turned out to be a really good experience for me, not only for how much of a solid game it is, in the more technical aspects, but also for its incredible attention to detail and appealing storyline.
In Kona, you play as Carl Faubert, a well acclaimed private investigator and detective, that is called by William Hamilton, a rich indrustrialist in Northern Canada, to solve a simple case of vandalism.
After a car accident, Carl finds himself deep into the Canadian winterland, and ends up finding a little town, close to the Atamipek Lake, which was governed by Hamilton.
Soon you'll discover that Hamilton has been killed, and you end up having to learn about the town and its different inhabitants in order to solve this complicated case. You have two different vehicles you can use throughout your adventure, but you can also play the game almost solely by walking, because there's a lot to explore that is off-limits and away from the main roads.
Kona is a beautiful story about love and how it can change people drastically, incredibly well designed and with some amazing sound effects, but also a story made up of a multitude of other stories about individuals and their own lives and issues.
Not only is this game beautiful, it also has a really good optimization. The only thing I'd like would be for the game to feature a wider variety of soundtracks.
Kona is a game you definitely won't want to miss if you're a fan of interactive stories/ walking simulators with a great plot.

Paratopic, chaotic, unique, disturbing, nerve-wracking, discomfortable.
I wasn't expecting much when I bought it, but after seeing people's reviews and feedback I understood this game had something special... and indeed it has.
Paratopic does something that not many games do: it focuses in the journey rather than in the end. You play as three different characters: a VHS tape contrabander, that has to deliver a load to the border; a girl that finds herself in the woods exploring; and a criminal that robs a coffee shop.
And here's where the magic of this game comes into place: you don't focus on reaching the border to deliver the tapes, or in the aftermath of that robber's crime. No. You focus rather on the trip to the actual border, and the stops in gas stations along the way, or the actual crime itself.
The point of this game is to tell a story, but caring about everything that leads to the outcome, and not in the actual outcome itself. With its charming early 2000's design and its very unsettling soundtrack, you meet people throughout your adventure as each of the 3 individual characters and see how their own stories overlap each other.
There's just something that feels weird through the whole game, wether that is because of the atrociously deformed speech of the characters, or the oddness of the scenery that surrounds you, it all just feels very off putting and yet the game keeps its charm until the end.

I definitely recommend this game to anyone, as a different perspective of how a story can be told.

The Mooseman is a very interesting, out of the ordinary experience as it focus in ancient legends and allies beautiful design with amazing audio throughout the whole game.
You play as this man that goes through 3 universes: the Underworld, the world of the dead; the Middle World, the world of the man and the living; and the Upper World, the world of the gods.
Throughout your adventure, you'll face different enemies that guard each of the sites you go to and will learn more about the legends. There are also hidden locations for you to find.
Overall I really recommend this game because of how beautiful and original it is, as well as being a very soothing experience.

Uhmm... I don't know... honestly. Inmates might have conquered the title of the weirdest game I've ever played... or atleast is definitely up there in terms of oddness.
I had high expectations when I started up this game and had a completely different idea of what the game would be. This game had such a unexpected ending that I must say I am shocked.
So... Inmates is a game that puts you in the shoes of Jonathan, who finds himself in a prison, seemingly empty, but that soon shows how occupied it actually is. Well, this is a really vague way of explaining the game.

So let's try again (spoiler alert):

You are Jonathan, someone that has multiple personality disorder, that came as result of a trauma that you had when you were a kid (Your parents both died in a car accident, in 1983.), and you end up creating in your mind fictional playmates. As you get older, the disease calms down and you stop having these immaginary buddies, until you marry.
With marriage, came the discussions and the issues, which started to bring back signs of the disease, but in a much more negative way.
This is where it gets weird: during this period of time of calmness, you created in your mind a prison where you kept all the personalities you had. Once the problems and argues start, you go back to your old visions, which in the game is represented by you being in the prison, where many weird people with shaking heads are (some of your old "friends").
The thing is that some of them, including Ben (who you talk to during the game), show as actual individuals, particularly Nataly, one of the many personalities.
Nataly is actually in love with your character and plans to kill your wife. Natalie is also the "Director" of the prison.
This is why your main goal throughout the whole game is to reach the "Director's Room".

Final thoughts on the game: very, very confusing game pretty much until the end (that's when you actually get told the whole story behind your presence in that prison), where your main objective is to just walk (yes,you can't even run!) from room to room, getting keys and solving a few puzzles along the way.
The dynamics are a little off and it gets pretty boring fairly soon. I've also noticed some bugs with trying to enter/exit certain rooms.
Overall, I found this somewhat of an interesting experience, but that has a lot of flaws, and some of them really serious, like the ones above, so I would only recommend this game to people that are open to any type of gaming experience and like diversity on their playthroughs. I wouldn't recommend this to the average player though.

I've had this game in my wishlist for a while ever since I got captivated by the beautiful stainglass screenshots that were featured in its store page, and I must say that it is indeed a beautifully made puzzle game.
Glass Masquerade uses stainglass pictures as puzzles, that you have to complete in order to unlock more, and each one is representative of a country's culture. In total, with DLCs included, you have around 50 differente puzzles to do, each with its own difficulty.
This game gives a really good amount of content for the price, given that most puzzles took me over 10, some even 20, minutes to finish.
Even though this game is aesthetically beautiful and challenging, it is, as suggested, aimed for a very specific market niche: people that enjoy puzzles, especially challenging ones. So I can't recommend this game to anyone, because if you're not a part of this market segment, you'll probably find yourself frustrated and bored with this game. But for puzzle enthusiasts, I would say this game is a must.

I was quite interested in this game when I saw it in the Steam store; the graphics looked amazing, the plot seemed rather different and appealing, so I ended up buying this game on the Summer sale.
I wasn't actually expecting anything too great and started this game with my expectations fairly low but, oh boy!, did this game deliver.
Lethe is a really good horror game that doesn't overdue on the jumpscares but also doesn't allow the suspense to end.


Plot:
You play as this man that departs on an adventure to learn more about his origins, after having discovered that what he always thought to be true about himself was actually a lie.
As he crosses the seas on his boat, a storm makes the boat crash into a seemingly peaceful island whose misteries you, a castaway, will soon uncover.
The island was actually a mining place that housed many people; some miners, some not, and it was abandoned because of a strange fungal epidemic that killed most of the habitants.
Your job is to delve deep into the depths of the mines and discover more about yourself, as you run away from the crazy mutants that come in your way.


I really loved this game. It is a really high quality indie game, made apparently by a small team. The soundtracks are great and they keep you on your toes at all times, the graphics are top notch and, although the storyline isn't the greatest, this title isn't any less than a great game for its genre, that doesn't follow traditional horror lines and, through its originality, keeps the player interested until the end.

I remember first hearing about this game from my friends, that had played it and were trying to convince me to buy it and that I wouldn't regret it... well, I eventually bought it (I think in a winter sale) and I must admit, they were absolutely right!
Terraria is an survival, sandbox game, that has been around since 2011, yet increasing in popularity in a very healthy rate. It also has become one of my favorite games, the type you're able to sink hundreds of hours in.
You start in a randomly generated world with very basic tools. From there, you have to continuously upgrade your equipment as you explore further into the world, fighting various bosses. The game also has different modes of difficulty and a hugely praised modding community, that just increases the already high replayability value.
I've personally spent, at the time of writing this, almost 400 hours in the game and haven't even tried any modded playthroughs.

With one of the best price-content ratio I've ever seen in a game, wide space for creativity, appealing pixel art style and a ton of mods, Terraria is definitely one of the best deals on the Steam store, even after 8 years.

What a game... Outlast games are really a superb horror experience and they have a special place in my heart when it comes to gaming. If you have played through the first Outlast and thought it was bizarre, gruesome and sick, then you'll absolutely go crazy with this one.
In Outlast 2, you play as a camera man, called Blake, who flies to rural Arizona, with his wife and reporter, Lynn, to search the case of the murder of a pregnant woman, Jane Doe (whose father you'll meet briefly ingame).

SPOILER:
Throughout your adventure, you'll have only your trusty camera to rely on to record the terrible things you witness amongst the community of Temple Gate, and at the same you'll be running away from almost everyone you meet. You'll visit the town, wonder deep in the forest and ultimately spelunk down into the mines, in search of your wife, that has been captured, first by the Temple Gate residents, whose faction is called the Testament of the New Ezekiel, and later by Val and the Heretics.
As you venture further and further into the deep misteries of what's happening, you'll also go back to Blake's past and meet Jessica, a childhood friend of Blake, who was sexually molested by Father Lautermilch, a teacher in the catholic school they studied in.
You'll constantly go back and forth between the past that haunts Blake and the present, as the plot thickens.

I really loved this game, I can't say if it's better or worse than the first Outlast because I think both have their strong and weak points, even though Outlast 2 is a much more macabre game than its predecessor.
It's far longer and far harder, making me prefer it more as a horror experience.
From the achievement hunting point of view, most of the achievements are fairly easy to do, being the 2 hardest ones the ones where you have to finish the game in insane mode, which is the hardest mode in the game (no checkpoints in a 2+ hour long game, if you speedrun it!), without ever reloading your battery. It took me a whole afternoon to go through those achievements and I think they made me more stressed and worried than I've ever been in a game.

Overall, I recommend this game to the fullest, wether or not you get it in a sale or not, it's worth the 25€ price if you are a fan of Outlast games.
All I can say is that Red Barrels really set the bar high amongst this category with this game. Good job!