Recent reviews by Sofox

Short fun game that really helped scratch an itch in my mind. A case of completing quests in this haunting valley, fighting monsters, upgrading your equipment, and mostly story based with some good old fashioned puzzle solving and inventory puzzles.

Just nice to open a game, engage in a whole new world, trying to make your way through, learn its rules, succeed and complete your quest.

I never did find a use for that third drop of tar.

Fun and good game.

I'm a bit conflicted on this recommend, but overall I do due to the fact its relatively novel and actually may inform people of what to do in an emergency (short version: Call emergency services as soon as possible, and maybe learn CPR before such a thing happens). Truth is, I've a high standard for these sorts of games and the game simply doesn't meet them, but I appreciate the effort.

In each level, you'll arrive on a scene of a car accident, and have to go "First Responder". The things you have to do in this section are the most education bit of the game, but as a consequence, are the most scripted. It really is a series of steps you do over and over again. There doesn't seem to be a way to screw up a rescue in a way that causes different outcomes, it's either a straight Success or Failure, the latter requiring a quick rewind to try again. For instance, you are always required to turn off engines because, as the game says, they might start a fire in REAL LIFE. In the game however, failing to turn off a car engine will just mean you can't move onto the next series of actions, preventing you from progressing until time runs out (yes, every level is on a timer which runs out when the first person you can potentially rescue dies). If there's a fire, it's one that started before you arrived, not one you caused through your own actions. Like I said, the game doesn't let you screw up the First Responder section by doing anything other than running out of time.

I will give credit to the game that despite the steps being mostly similar (call emergency services, secure area, find location, check victims, triage, etc.), the different accidents scenes throw up different challenges and details. Sometimes the dangers you have to secure are different, or it's harder than normal to call emergency services or find out where you are. The diverse amount of locations, mostly Europe with one or two in USA, is also nice. So yeah, mostly linear, but I think the variety helps.

The Investigation part of the whole thing is where my biggest beef is because it's not very good. Mostly wandering around the map and adding a bunch of "clues" that you sort into correct order, sometimes requiring a bit of initiative to find out where to look for the last one or two. The problem here is two fold: Firstly, the clues practically tell you, via text, what happened, there's really no making your own deductions, just putting them in the correct order. Secondly, and this is where my high standard comes in, most of the accidents aren't fully laid out with full on attention to detail and physics. I'm super attentive on this sort of stuff, so I'd regularly notice stuff like skid marks, timing or momentum not making sense. In one instance, a car head on collides with a big truck, and both come to an immediate stop. In another, a car collides with another, but then has skidmarks indicating they moved backward after the collision. There's a massive timing issue in a later level where two vehicles are in motion right next to eachother, one crashes and comes to a standstill, but it still takes seconds after this for the second vehicle to arrive.

It's all little stuff, but "investigation" style gameplay is all about picking up on little stuff, and the game just doesn't convince me that the devs did enough work in determining whether the accident would happen precisely like this. In general terms though, the accidents do make sense with mostly realistic causes. Like I said though, it's a matter of detail, and the fact that the investigation mechanic is simplistic, possibly to cope with that fact.

After investigation, you get a summary of the outcome for all the victims. Honestly, this is one of my favourite parts, with the account of the victims mostly realistic with nice details, showing all the different ways people respond to sudden accidents like this. I do like this human interest angle.

Finally you get a cinematic of the accident as it happened. The quality varies, but generally is a good way to wrap up the scene.

I'd recommend not doing more than 2 or 3 accidents in a go, partially to make the game last, partially because some of them are kinda intense and its nice to recover, and partially because the time will help you less notice the repetition, and allow the lessons to sink in a bit. Like a syndicated TV show, it's best to space them out.

So that's my overall take, a novel approach, and an execution that is decent, but for me feels somewhat restrained. Like a good budget PC game, it takes a pretty decent approach to an interesting area, and gives you some memorable experiences, but you just have to accept that the rescue sections feel a bit linear and the investigation phase is simplistic.

The Forgotten City is one of the best written games I have ever played. While the location is relatively small and self contained, its deep, with you travelling across a relatively small area but learning so much as you dive in and learn more about what you can do.
It's got a very nice "playtested shine" to it too, a lot of times. If there's a thing you think you could try doing, often times the game will be one step ahead and make sure you have the option of doing it and receiving the consequences of it.
Towards the end of the game I was feeling a bit sad because I was running out of game and would soon reach the final (full) ending. That's a sign of a great game in my opinion.

Just a great continuation of the series, more puzzle solving and a great location!

A super bright, colourful and fun game with challenging puzzles and an engaging environment. I like the simple story and how you have a big literal "sandbox" to play in.

Fun puzzle game. Good evolution of the first one which is also good!

A fun investigation game where you have to find out what happened to the crew of a "Marie Celeste" style ship, powered by a magic pocketwatch that will take you back to the moment a person died if you can fine their remains.
A lot of the game is exploring scenes that are frozen in time at the moment someone or something died, and working out context from the gaps between tableaus. Lots of investigation, deduction, and some guess work. Mostly the method of death is apparent, but getting the names down for all of the crew is the tricky part and often has you looking out for little details, paying attention to the audio-only dialog before each scene, and even simple things like figuring out which characters tend to hang out with eachother and if you can figure out relationship from that.
Lot of fun, deductive puzzle work, definitely recommend for people who like these sorts of games.

Pretty fun puzzle game with neat mechanics, and regular twists on the theme. Easy to blast through in one or two sittings, but that just means it doesn't overstay its welcome.

Challenging platformer that often has you rapidly repeating sections until you get it just right. Colourful, bright and bouncy, and having the entire game in one map is just really cool! At any time you can see your progress through the game by zooming out (and try to play it zoomed out if you want a challenge).