Unusual finds and strange things are afoot in this point and click homage to everything 80s, filled to the brim with stuff that made the era so memorable. I could also be seeing this through rose-colored glasses since I was there for most of it. Shame my mind was too young for the ladies' spandex craze though.

Being a bucketful of nostalgia, Unusual Findings slaps from every angle. Aside from an obvious Stranger Things influence, I could throw in a few other movies, like Stand By Me, The Lost Boys, E.T., and Goonies as the proud patches it wears on its denim jacket. A huge amount of references, hat tips, nods, tropes, cliches, and zingers of the 80s crammed into every corner is a veritable smorgasbord, no vibe of the era forgotten. Even the main protagonists, Vinny, Nick, and Tony bear the clothes of some of the most popular characters and heroes of that era.

Outstanding vibrant, sharp, pixel art and great animations bring all the characters to life, accompanied by great backdrops, and a rad map for navigating the town, all of it supported by the splendor that is 80s music. Well, apart from a slight overuse of You Spin Me Round (Like a Record), but let’s call that a headliner song. A few unexpected cinematic sequences, might even call them montages, up the drama and the importance of the moment and the interesting overarching story. Splendidly voiced dialogues, and great, unobtrusive sound effects round out this sweet deal of a package.

The story starts with a very simple dilemma in most teenager’s lives, how to get ahold of adult movies, but quickly devolves into a loveable small town, huge problems conundrum that only our intrepid mystery squad of kids can solve. All three boys are with you all the time, but mechanically, you only control Vinny, with the other two boys following you around and participating in dialogues and puzzle solutions when required.

You’re warned in the prologue of choices and consequences by your father, and the game holds up to that. Relationships, puzzle solutions, and the ending you get, there’s three of them, depend on your responses in dialogues. It features plenty of well made exchanges of words, but only some of them are relevant for branching options, and they should be no trouble spotting.

Point and click concept is simple, you only have three options which change based on the context of the interaction, and sadly, that can sometimes lead to some headbanging. No, not the great heavy metal banging, but stone wall frustration with puzzles banging, since the game will throw a few stumpers your way, and it’s easy to miss one of the interaction options changed. Overall, it’s not exactly moon logic or overflowing, useless inventory of the old school point'n'clicks, I might dare say that most of it is pretty grounded, but you’re still served with some obtuse moments.

Environments, descriptions, and conversations are the main puzzle info sources here, and you need to be on point to catch it all. I caught myself doing trial and error clicking a few times, but not enough to mar the mechanics and the underlying logic of it. I’ve gotten two endings at the time of writing, and both are completely different gameplay wise, even leading to different epilogues. I will assume the third one does as well.

Three slightly annoying issues were the need for all the boys to align themselves whenever you talked to someone or did a correct puzzle, finicky navigation through the side-scrolling areas, looking for a spot where you wouldn’t click on the interaction options, so you can move forward, and the lack of manual saves. Not perfect mechanics, but hey, the 80s weren’t perfect either. Anyone remember Betamax standards? Or the video game industry crash? Or the Cold War?

In bangs of 80s popular culture nostalgia, Unusual Findings finds a spot of its own, nailing the aesthetics while still serving a good, enjoyable script that holds your attention, making it worthwhile in spite of some mechanical issues. So strap on your boombox, and journey back in time, to a place where MTV was a great music channel, and not a peddler of vacuous reality TV.

More off the beaten path games, wonders and failures at the Cabinet of Curiosities.

Follow the Average Achievement Hunter Curator for reviews and useful information on Steam achievements: Lack of manual saves makes this a bit more annoying than it should be. Three endings required, there are a few guides on Steam, but not complete for all the puzzle solutions, so it might prove sensible to enlist the help of YouTube.

Unusual finds and strange things are afoot in this point and click homage to everything 80s, filled to the brim with stuff that made the era so memorable. I could also be seeing this through rose-colored glasses since I was there for most of it. Shame my mind was too young for the ladies' spandex craze though. Being a bucketful of nostalgia, Unusual Findings slaps from every angle. Aside from an obvious Stranger Things influence, I could throw in a few other movies, like Stand By Me, The Lost Boys, E.T., and Goonies as the proud patches it wears on its denim jacket. A huge amount of references, hat tips, nods, tropes, cliches, and zingers of the 80s crammed into every corner is a veritable smorgasbord, no vibe of the era forgotten. Even the main protagonists, Vinny, Nick, and Tony bear the clothes of some of the most popular characters and heroes of that era. Outstanding vibrant, sharp, pixel art and great animations bring all the characters to life, accompanied by great backdrops, and a rad map for navigating the town, all of it supported by the splendor that is 80s music. Well, apart from a slight overuse of You Spin Me Round (Like a Record), but let’s call that a headliner song. A few unexpected cinematic sequences, might even call them montages, up the drama and the importance of the moment and the interesting overarching story. Splendidly voiced dialogues, and great, unobtrusive sound effects round out this sweet deal of a package. The story starts with a very simple dilemma in most teenager’s lives, how to get ahold of adult movies, but quickly devolves into a loveable small town, huge problems conundrum that only our intrepid mystery squad of kids can solve. All three boys are with you all the time, but mechanically, you only control Vinny, with the other two boys following you around and participating in dialogues and puzzle solutions when required. You’re warned in the prologue of choices and consequences by your father, and the game holds up to that. Relationships, puzzle solutions, and the ending you get, there’s three of them, depend on your responses in dialogues. It features plenty of well made exchanges of words, but only some of them are relevant for branching options, and they should be no trouble spotting. Point and click concept is simple, you only have three options which change based on the context of the interaction, and sadly, that can sometimes lead to some headbanging. No, not the great heavy metal banging, but stone wall frustration with puzzles banging, since the game will throw a few stumpers your way, and it’s easy to miss one of the interaction options changed. Overall, it’s not exactly moon logic or overflowing, useless inventory of the old school point'n'clicks, I might dare say that most of it is pretty grounded, but you’re still served with some obtuse moments. Environments, descriptions, and conversations are the main puzzle info sources here, and you need to be on point to catch it all. I caught myself doing trial and error clicking a few times, but not enough to mar the mechanics and the underlying logic of it. I’ve gotten two endings at the time of writing, and both are completely different gameplay wise, even leading to different epilogues. I will assume the third one does as well. Three slightly annoying issues were the need for all the boys to align themselves whenever you talked to someone or did a correct puzzle, finicky navigation through the side-scrolling areas, looking for a spot where you wouldn’t click on the interaction options, so you can move forward, and the lack of manual saves. Not perfect mechanics, but hey, the 80s weren’t perfect either. Anyone remember Betamax standards? Or the video game industry crash? Or the Cold War? In bangs of 80s popular culture nostalgia, Unusual Findings finds a spot of its own, nailing the aesthetics while still serving a good, enjoyable script that holds your attention, making it worthwhile in spite of some mechanical issues. So strap on your boombox, and journey back in time, to a place where MTV was a great music channel, and not a peddler of vacuous reality TV. [quote]More off the beaten path games, wonders and failures at the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37838664/][b]Cabinet of Curiosities.[/b][/url][/quote] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30168383][b]Follow the Average Achievement Hunter Curator for reviews and useful information on Steam achievements[/b][/url]: Lack of manual saves makes this a bit more annoying than it should be. Three endings required, there are a few guides on Steam, but not complete for all the puzzle solutions, so it might prove sensible to enlist the help of YouTube.