Tag: guy

First Impression: Suicide Guy – The Lost Dreams (Switch) ~ Let’s Find A Waking Solution

Nintendo.com microsite – Metacritic – ChubbyPixel

Since I started blogging, I have some developers reaching out to me with the question to review their game. One of these developers is Chubby Pixel, the developers behind Woodle Tree and Suicide Guy. Now, this game might have a trigger word in the title, the game doesn’t handle depression or actual suicide at all. In this series, our goal is to wake our dude up by ending his dreams as fast as we can. And how can a dream continue if we die in a dream? So, is this new entry in the trilogy a good entry or did the series run its course? Let’s find out in this article together. Since the developer gave me a free, press key to give you my 100% unfiltered opinion on the game. If you have any thoughts on this article and/or the content of the game, feel free to write a comment in the comment section down below.

Editorial note: this article is written on v1.1.

Let’s find a waking solution

We still play our beloved guy in this game. This guy already went on two previous adventures in his dreams to try and save himself from disaster. In his first adventure, he falls asleep while watching TV and the beer in his hand is falling towards the floor. He wakes up in a diner, where the screens in the diner are warning him on the danger of his favorite beer falling towards the ground. Our beer loving guy doesn’t want that, so we try to end his dreams as soon as possible, so we can catch that beer bottle before it hits the ground. And in the second adventure, our dude drinks an even stronger version of the beer, and let’s just say that he has a very strange drunken adventure.

In this third game, we don’t really know the trigger that sends our guy in the hell that’s layered dreams. Probably, it’s either the influence of his mind playing tricks on him. You know, when your mind creates some strange dreams sometimes? When you are exhausted or just have a lot going on.

Anyways, the story in these games isn’t the main focal point. It just provides an amazing setting for an interesting first person adventure game where the goal of each level is to wake up from your dream, so our guy can wake up and continue with his life. It’s an amazing setup for this subject, since it might be sensitive to some people. Also, while this is the third game in the series… You don’t need to have played or completed the previous two games. These games can be played in any order and the only link between the three games is the main character and the gameplay mechanics.

The main hub in this time around is a spaceship. We have 18 new levels to complete, so we can wake the guy up and let him continue with his life. If you have played one of the previous two games in this series, you know what to expect in this game. Let me cut this article short for those who played one of the two previous games by saying, if you enjoyed those games… You’ll enjoy this one as well. Since, it’s a total new set of puzzles for you to figure out. But, allow me to talk a bit more in-depth about this game for those who either forgot things about these games or just want to know more.

The references game

In the previous two games, you may have one or two levels referencing another game or a franchise. In this game, the amount of references is just through the roof. Quite often during my playthrough I was happily surprised at the references in this game to other games without it being overpowering and stealing the show. Various levels are also themed around big franchises, and I just love it. While I haven’t reached that point in the game just yet, I’m especially looking forward to the Indiana Jones level near the end. The reason I know that there is an Indy themed level is that I saw the trailer and our guy is just running around with a whip in a tomb… The amount of references I counted during watching that trailer was impressive to say the least.

At the moment of writing, this game is currently only released on the Nintendo Switch. Later this year, a Steam port will be released. It won’t surprise me that this game will come to other platforms as well in the future. At first, I found it a bit unfamiliar to not play this game on a mouse and keyboard, but I really quickly got used to playing this game on a controller.

The first level is an excellent tutorial level where most of the mechanics of this game get introduced. Don’t be silly and jump down at the end of the tutorial, since you’ll be back at the start and have to go back using the long away around. The tutorial in this game is excellent and teaches the mechanics to new players and is a quick refresher to those who played the games in the past since it has been quite some time since the previous title got released.

In general, the controls are quite responsive and great to use. Although, sometimes the controls felt a little floaty. Especially while jumping, I sometimes felt I didn’t have control on where I was going to land. Maybe adding a small black shadow underneath the guy, so players can judge the landing more, would be an ideal way to solve this issue. Currently, we have only a shadow to the side, but this isn’t enough to judge distance since you can’t exactly see where the shadow starts.

At first, I also wanted to complain about the slow turning of the camera. But, I was able to crank that up in the options’ menu. A bit higher sensitivity and voila, we were in business. You can also invert the camera controls there, if you want. There are quite some settings you can adjust, so you can optimize the game to how you want to play. Another example is you can enable or disable the rumble. But that seems to be bugged out, since each and every time I went to check on rumble it gets disabled.

If I’m allowed to nitpick, I have a few minor complaints about the options UI. First, in the main menu when you choose the “options” button, you appear on the second button instead of the first button of that menu. Secondly, in-game… You have the language option, but you can’t interact with it. There are also two “apply changes” buttons in that menu while in the game. Thirdly, there is no way to go back to the hub once in a level, only to the main menu. And a final nitpick is, why are two of the sound effects buttons (ZL and ZR) working while in the menu and not the others? I’d disable that, since the other solution would drive people who use the D-pad for menu navigation insane.

Now, the previous paragraph might sound like I’m giving the impression that the menu’s in this game are broken and unusable. But, that’s not true at all. They have some minor issues that should be polished out and that’s that. It wouldn’t surprise me that after the release of this article, the developer fixes several of these issues with a patch. Knowing Chubby Pixel, they are extremely open for feedback and bug reports, and they try to fix as many as they can. Once, I posted a YouTube video on a glitch I found, and one of the lead developers commented sometime later that they fixed that bug. Also, I notice that they really take advice to heart. So, if you have any feedback for them, just go to their Discord server and tell them or contact them, and they will help you out!

This game is quite linear and is mostly a puzzle game. After finishing the tutorial, you arrive at the hub, where you can go to the next level. Each level has a certain theme and your goal is to end that dream while exploring the level and using the tools provided to you. The fun in this game is that you have to figure out how to end the dream, since there is always one solution per level. There is also some replay value in this game since in each level there is a hidden collectible statue you can find. And let me tell you, some of these are quite tricky to find.

If you want to play this game, I highly recommend that you don’t use a walkthrough. Since, most of the fun in this game is trying to figure out what you need to do to complete the level. I’d only use a walkthrough when you are truly stuck and don’t know how to progress. Most levels can be finished in give or take 5 minutes, there are a few levels that are a bit longer, but not that much longer if you know what you are doing.

Since the levels are so short, I honestly don’t find it a big problem that you can’t save during a level. If you exit the game during a level, you’ll have to restart that level from the start once you reboot the game. And sometimes restarting a puzzle with a fresh mind might give you the solution. There is only one save slot and the game automatically saves after finishing every level. So, we don’t have to worry about that.

It’s getting better and better

When I’m honest with myself and look back at the previous games from Chubby Pixel, I’m really seeing growth in quality. While this game would take you around an hour when you know what you are doing, I rather see quality over quantity. When I started to play this game, I encountered barely any strange physics bugs or objects behaving in strange ways. These were present in the two previous games and patched out, but not this time. Also, weird little quirks like you seeing the player object (floating arms) when crouching and looking to the sides aren’t present in this game anymore.

There are also more details in the environments this time around. Visually, I felt like every level was a complete package and felt like a real dream somebody could have, while it still looked cartoony and colorful. I can’t exactly explain why, but I feel that the charm of the series is reaching its full potential in this game. The only thing I can be critical about in terms of the visuals is that if you go to the edges of the levels you can sometimes clip a bit in things and see a bit more than you are supposed to. This also very rarely happen inside the levels, but I only saw one time.

I really mean what I say in that the quality is improving each and every game. The puzzles are more clear, the visuals get better, the world design is improving… I also still adore how the music in this game is played through radio’s in the level which you can enable and disable to turn the music on and off. It also acts like a true radio where if you move away from it, the music grows more quite.

The music in this game just fits the charming atmosphere like a glove. It’s relaxing and just helps you to put your mind in a relaxing state. This game is a perfect game to wind down or just try to solve some interesting puzzles and relax.

This game also has quite the stable framerate. I didn’t notice any moments where the game started lagging or had slow downs. In terms of visuals and preformance, I only have one minor complaint about the animations. And that is that you can’t always see the punching animation when you move the camera a bit to the top.

I think that a great summary for this game is that this third entry in the Suicide Guy series is the best entry yet. The experience of the two previous games really shines through and this game is even more polished than the two games that came before it. I’m really having a difficult time trying to find things to critique. Especially since the quaility we are getting for a game that costs only €8 is insane to me.

Also, most things I can point out to critique could be patched in an update. Earlier examples I gave where mostly UI but let me give an example of a gameplay mechanic. There is a level where you have to jump on red elephant plushies to reach the sun. The level is extremely well built but I found it quite annoying that the red elephants could fly off if you jumped on the wrong area. I’d love to see a way to make these plusies more solid since it got quite frustrating if you were backtracking to get another plushie to complete the route and you jumped on one plushie the wrong way and it flew off to the ground. Another solution would be a midway checkpoint since if you complete the plushie part, you have to jump on the clouds and if you miss there, you can easily climb the castle via a ramp. Maybe I got a few times unlucky but I feel that either making these plushies more solid or giving a mid-way checkpoint during this part would improve that level quite a lot.

And that’s exactly my point I’m trying to make in this section of the article. In the past, there were more glaring flaws in the levels or just frustrating (timed) levels… Looking at you Rube Goldberg machine level from Sleeping Deeply. But in this game, a lot of the issues I found in the previous titles aren’t here anymore or in a way smaller capacity. A lot of things I talked about in this article aren’t dealbrakers. Some of them are (extreme) nitpicks even. I may repeat myself now but a lot of them can be fixed with a patch.

In conclusion, if you enjoy puzzle and/or adventure games, I’d totally recommend this game. This game doesn’t take itself too serious and that makes it a blast to play through. It’s an amazing game to spend an afternoon or two trying to beat all the levels and find all the hidden statues. I’m happy to see the newest entry in the series and looking at this entry, I’m sure that we are going to get more amazing games from Chubby Pixel. A small Italian indie game studio totally worth following.

I enjoyed my time playing this game and I’m thankful that I could write an article about it. But, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. I hope you enjoyed reading the article as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another one, but until then have a great rest of your day and take care.

Publishing: Chubby Pixel – June 2020 newsletter

This week I didn’t have the time to write a full article. But, I still wanted to publish something. Now, one of my befriended developers Chubby Pixel had some news to share, so I decided, why not share it with my readers? So, I’ll give the word to Chubby Pixel to tell you the latest news about Suicide Guy and Woodle Tree. Take it away Chubby Pixel.

Hello!

I’m writing to you to let you know about our latest projects and updates news.

Suicide Guy VR is coming in the next few months and will include new exclusive levels.

The game will be released on Steam, Oculus Rift, and Quest store + PlayStation4  and 5 Store.

Here a mini-video to check it out in action!
https://www.reddit.com/r/PSVR/comments/gghoc6/improved_driving_system_in_vr_based_on_your/

Thanks to our fan’s support, the original game that today just passed 800 reviews on Steam! (84% Positive) – https://store.steampowered.com/app/303610/Suicide_Guy/

Here a blog post that I wrote about the game passing 150.000 copies sold:
https://chubbypixel.com/suicide-guy-a-port-mortem-3-years-after-release/

Moreover, our Nintendo Switch games Woodle Tree Adventures and Woodle Tree 2: Deluxe (includes co-op local mode) are now on a major sale (50% OFF)

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/woodle-tree-2-deluxe-switch/

https://www.nintendo.it/Giochi/Giochi-scaricabili-per-Nintendo-Switch/Woodle-Tree-2-Deluxe-1607727.html

Thanks again for the attention,
Chubby Pixel 

First Impression: Woodle Tree 2 Deluxe (Switch) ~ Let’s Explore For Tears

WoodleTree2Deluxe-featured

Nintendo.com microwebsite

I remember when ChubbyPixel asked me to review Woodle Tree Deluxe on the Switch in March. I felt like there could have been done so much more with the concept of the game. Recently, the company released the sequel to the Nintendo Switch. Woodle Tree 2 Deluxe. An expanded version of Woodle Tree 2: Worlds on Steam. Now, the asked me to take a look at the sequel as well. While a review key has been provided to write this review, I’ll give my 100% honest opinion on this game. And as usual, feel free to leave a comment in the comment section with your opinion on the game and/or the content of this article.

Let’s explore for tears

WOODLE TREE2

The story of this game is a direct follow up to the original. In this game, you play as a son of the hero of the original game. Now, the powers of evil have taken over the Wood Lands as revenge. It’s up to you to save the Wood Lands and find the tears again.

The way the story is being told and paced is a lot better than the original. In the original, you have a small cut scene at the start and you got thrown into the hub world. Now, the whole world is the hub world and there is a central place that acts as a sort of overview place where you can buy upgrades and cosmetics.

Before you can go explore the whole map, you go through a sort of tutorial section. The tutorial is quite decent. It teaches you the basic mechanics of the game without being too punishing.

After you have saved the three first tears, you will be allowed to find all the other tears. Right on the map screen, you can see that the game is divided up in several area’s where you can find three tears each. Right there on the map screen, you can also notice that the checkpoints you activate also can be used as warp points. That’s pretty neat.

So, in each area, there are three tears and at least 80 blueberries. You can find your progress of that collection on the mini-map. There are also red berries but there is no counter for that on the map screen. The map screen is quite useful since it tells you where in the world you are and which level it is. The only thing I miss on the map screen is a sort of zoom-in feature that you can use to have a better idea of the current area you are in. Also, it would be extremely handy that you could move the cursor freely around without being restricted to only being able to choose the warp points.

You can bring up the map screen by a simple press of the (+) button. If you use the shoulder buttons, you can use the pause menu. The menu after the map screen is the options menu. Where you can adjust the camera sensitivity, the volume if you want to invert the X-axis or the Y-axis if you want or don’t want anti-aliasing and the language. The controls are listed in this menu, but you can’t change them. In the most recent update, the developers added a lot of languages!

The 3rd and final screen in the pause screen is a total overview of your adventure where you can see how much red berries, blueberries you have and how many tears you have collected.

Now, most of the story is being told through text bubbles. There is no voice acting nor are there any “voice noises” in the game. There are sound effects, but I will talk more on that later in this review. You can easily notice when somebody has something to say because there is a text box floating above their heads. Now, you don’t have to worry to approach them from the wrong side since the text box sort of follows your character while staying on top of the character that’s speaking. The only thing is that the character itself doesn’t follow you.

Wall jumps and double jumps

WOODLETREE

If you played a platformer or the original, you will be right at home playing this game. The idea is that through platforming, you find the three tears. In this game, Woodle has few new moves in their arsenal. You have a double jump and a wall jump. You can also use your leaf to float around and to catch water droplets to water dead trees. To easily find your way around in the world, you can also use a telescope. Sadly enough, there isn’t a run button insight.

It’s not that your character is moving slow, the world is a tad bit too big. It would be extremely helpful that you had a run button or some way to make traveling faster. Thankfully the warp mechanic is really fast, so once you unlocked the waypoints, it’s easy to get there fast. It also helps you out in a pinch. Just take a look at this tweet. Yes, I got stuck inside a house I wasn’t supposed to get into. Or the moment I was able to let the character do a sort of moonwalk.

Now, the reason that I called this section, wall jumps and double jumps are because I feel like there is some sort of conflict in the code. I found it a bit difficult when I wanted to use my double jump to get onto a higher ledge because I jumped away from the wall since a wall kick was used.

This caused me a few deaths. Thankfully, there is no life system in place. After a few hits, you respawn at the checkpoint you used last. Checkpoints are also used as save points. So, whenever you need to save, you can easily warp to a checkpoint and the game automatically saves your progress. Now, the game only has one save slot, so it’s impossible that two or more people have their own playthrough at the same time.

Overall, the controls are quite responsive. While I sometimes have to fight the camera, I don’t think that the controls are that bad. They could use some polish, especially in the above-mentioned wall jump mechanic. Now, the game drops the ball in two other areas.

First of all, the visual presentation is something that needs some work. Overall the game looks fine and the animations are decent. Visually the game looks amazing for being a budget title. But, there are multiple popping issues and in some area’s I even had some major frame drops when the area was loading in. And in some areas, the place suddenly totally changed like in this video/tweet.

The character is sometimes quite jittery, especially when you are floating down. You can attack during your floating down without losing height or momentum. Textures and models pop in and out. The leaf you use sometimes just turns white, like when you are floating down… The game needs polish in the performance of the visuals.

Speaking of the visual presentation, the lighting is extremely off. Now, I can understand that when the enemies come and attack you, the scene goes dark. It is the powers of evil after all. But, for example on the beach, the lighting is so strong… the yellow that’s used for sand was sometimes quite painful to look at. Besides that, I had different lighting in a similar area without any rime or reason. I also posted that in a video on Twitter.

A final thing in the visual department I think that could have been improved is the design of some enemies. At first, I wasn’t able to tell some enemies apart from NPCs. This was a problem during the tutorial since I was attacking an NPC that looked an awful lot like an enemy from the original game.

Now, a great thing about the visual department is how your health is being displayed. The size of the leaf is basically your health. How smaller it is, how closer you are to death. Unlike the first game, you can be hit multiple times in this game. This makes the game more forgiving and more fun to play.

It’s a shame really since the game is looking quite charming and fun to play. If only these issues with the visual presentation weren’t present, then the game could have been so much better. Sadly enough, this isn’t the only major issue with the game.

Spooky silence

WOODLE TREE 3

The game itself isn’t too hard. When you get used to the controls and the mechanics of the game, you are able to find your way around quite easily. Enemies can be easily avoided and sometimes just buying an upgrade can make the game a literal walk in the park.

Now, the 2nd big issue with this game is the audio design. Don’t misunderstand me, the music and sound effects of this game are all quite well done but there isn’t enough. Some things are lacking sound effects like hitting switches or elevators. But the biggest issue is the music. The music is amazing but there are a lot of areas where the music doesn’t play and you hear silence. You only hear the sound effects of the game.

It’s a shame since each area has its own unique musical theme that really fits with the atmosphere of that area. But the area’s in between stay silent. But, sometimes the music just loops wrong as well. There are these flowers you can run into to get a speed boost. Each time you hit a flower, the musical jingle restarts. This is quite annoying in my opinion. I wish it just extended playing the jingle. And let’s not forget to mention that the animation is quite inconsistent with these speed boosts. In some areas, a roll animation starts playing and in some area’s it looks like you are gliding over the ground.

Should I be so harsh on this game? The game is fun, has a lot of love and creativity in it. The game costs 12 bucks and is quite often on sale. The developers are quite responsive and if you find a bug and report it to them, they fix it in the next patch. Even when another game has come out. Still, I see the potential that this game has and I just wish that the game was more polished.

Something that I’m quite content with this game is the fact that this game shows a lot of potential for the following games of the studio. I have been working with this studio since the first Suicide Guy game. I have seen the quality of each of their titles improve and grow. And this game impressed me quite a lot. I’m quite thankful that I got a key from them to review this game since I think that this game shows a lot of potential for the future.

Now, something that I would love to see in a sequel to this game is less technical issues and more things to do besides looking for blueberries and the tears. Expand the game and the universe. Maybe have a cross over with the Suicide Guy series, besides being it as an easter egg.

So yeah, I think I’m going to continue playing this game. The charm of this game really has won me over. I can recommend this game to other players, but keep in mind that this game has some technical issues in its current state. Maybe some future patches will improve on this, who knows.

And that’s for now, everything that I have to say on this game. Thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

Publishing: Suicide Guy gets updated AND a bundle on PS4!

ChubbyPïxel is writing to you to let you know that they are celebrating the 2 years release and the 40.000 copies sold for their latest game “Suicide Guy” on Steam with a new Update 1.60 and a 60% Sale!

Thanks to the support of the gamers, Chubby Pixel is able to continue the development with more content in the near future for the game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/303610/Suicide_Guy/

The Update includes:

– Improved physics interactions with the items
– Better and more refined graphics
– Higher FPS and faster loading times
– Bugs and Glitches fixes

But wait… there is more news!

ChubbyPixel is also proud to announce that to celebrate the success of our 2 PS4 games Suicide Guy” and “Suicide Guy: Sleepin’ Deeply”, today Chubby Pixel is releasing a bundle of the 2 games!

https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP2659-CUSA11105_00-SUICIDEGUYBUNDLE

The games in bundle contains a total of 34 challenging levels for 6+ hours of gameplay!

Publishing: Suicide Guy – Sleeping Deeply is now out on PS4!

“Suicide Guy: Sleepin’ Deeply” is a new Chapter from the original Suicide Guy game series.

suicide guy sleeping deeply logo

The game is a first-person action-puzzle game set in a world of dreams. You’ll assume the role of a nice big guy unable to wake up from his dreams. Your task is to help him to step out of them.

Features:

  • 3 to 4 hours of pure gameplay set inside Suicide Guy’s subconscious
  • A whole new story with an unexpected plot twist
  • Physics-based levels
  • Ultimate moves: able to pick up items, throw them, activate mechanisms and even burp.
  • Funny creatures to annoy
  • Vehicles to drive
  • New Collectible items to find

Gamers will have to use different items in every kind of situation by solving original brain teasers. Despite the title, the game is NOT at all about suicide or depression.

Link to the game on the PS4: https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP2659-CUSA14842_00-0000000000000000

More information can be found in the presskit: https://www.igdb.com/games/suicide-guy-sleepin-deeply/presskit

Link to my first impression of the PC version.

Publishing: Suicide Guy – Sleeping Deeply now on Nintendo Switch

CoverVideo10.jpg

New lunatic dreams are waiting for you!

In this new chapter of “Suicide Guy” you’ll be challenged with even more insane puzzles, generated by the surreal dreams of the Guy. You’ll encounter the weirdest of living beings as you go deeper and deeper into his subconscious. This time, to wake him up you’ll need all your skills.

Release Date: Oct 25, 2018
No. of Players: 1 player
Category: Adventure, Puzzle, Action, Platformer
Publisher: Chubby Pixel

Read my review about this game here, the PC version.

First Impression: Suicide Guy – Sleepin’ Deeply (PC) ~ Moar Beer

header.jpg

Official website

Today I want to talk about a sequel, another chapter in a game I review last year. That game goes by the name of Suicide Guy. A game that got ported to the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4 too. Now, the developer gave me a review key for this game and asked me to give my opinion. So, this article will be that, my unfiltered opinion on this game. Also, real talk for a moment. While this might be a game about killing yourself in various ways, if you are really struggling with mental health issues or thoughts about suicide, please look for proper medical help. That said, let’s take a look at this game. Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the game and/or the content of this article down below.

(Note, the version that’s used for this review is v1.35. Some comments might be changed with an update.)

Moar beer

In this game, your goal is to wake up. Again. But this time, you feel asleep drinking some stronger beer than usual. He wanted to drink some stronger beer since he saw a (voice acted) commercial on the TV.

Suicide Guy Sleeping Deeply Screenshot.jpgThe first level is a battle with a giant octopus. This battle introduces the mechanics of the game to new players. But, players who have played the original game will feel right at home with this one. It even has the same controls, the same issues with not recognizing AZERTY keyboards as well. If you could rebind your controls, this wouldn’t be an issue.

Because I haven’t gotten too far into the game, I can’t comment too much on the story. I’m looking forward to the promised twist in the end. The only thing, story-wise, I felt was a missed opportunity is the hub area. It would have been amazing if you were on some sort of a sinking ship, where the incoming water represented the beer falling to the ground. Maybe this is a lucky guess towards the twist ending, who knows?

The hub area of this game is the exact same as the first game. Now, I feel that there is something missing. The motivation of our main character to wake up.  You don’t have anything on the screens of the beer falling. There is, therefore, less urgency to finish the game. That’s why, to me, it feels like a level pack DLC. Then again, there is nothing wrong with that, but some of these small touches really added to the atmosphere of the original.

Earlier, I said that this game has voice acting. While it isn’t the best voice acting I have heard, it’s good. The price tag of this game is 3,29€ and you that, you would expect some cheap voice acting, but no, that’s not present in this game.

Frustration

Suicide Guy Sleeping Deeply Screenshot zwei.jpg

Now, let’s look at the actual gameplay. Like I said earlier in the article, the goal of this game is to find a way to commit suicide and wake up from the dream. The first two levels, I really enjoyed. But the 3rd level, the Rube Goldberg machine… I have to be honest, I dislike these kinds of levels.

A level where you need to finish a whole obstacle course without failing once. Those cups near the end were the bain of my existence. I have to admit that I have quitted the game several times. This level is a bit too long, I would have liked checkpoints. One fix can help this level to feel less frustrating. If you are able to finish the jumps of a section, you could knock over a ladder that lets the player pass that section so they can try to finish that part again. And, to make it more challenging, make it that the statue can’t be obtained if shortcuts are used.

Now, it might look that I’m giving this game a bad rap because I’m unable to pass one level. Then again, I might be spoiled by games like Super Mario Odyssey and A Hat In Time, where you didn’t have to finish all the levels to continue in the game. This game has so much potential and it would be a shame if somebody would quit because they are unable to finish one level.

Besides that, I feel like this game needs some polishing work in different areas as well. The animations in this game aren’t the best. They aren’t bad but, I felt like they could be smoother. For example, water splashes staying too long on-screen at the introduction level or no climbing animation. If the developer added a climbing animation, that would make this game a lot better.

Visually, this game looks extremely good. The texture work here gets a thumbs up from me. The references and the humor of this game really shine due to the visual design of this game. While there are some areas that look unfinished as well. For example, I found a spot where the poles of the wooden bridge didn’t connect to the ground, making the bridge floating in the air. Now, a quick email to the developer fixed this. He is also very responsive on the Steam forums so if you find a bug, don’t hesitate to report it.

The UI needs some minor polishing up to do as well. These might seem like nitpicks; one thing is that when you enter a level, you are unable to go back to the hub area. You need to go to the main menu and then to the hub area. The list of languages in the options should be alphabetically organized and there are some major issues with windowed mode.

Good but not great

Suicide Guy Sleeping Deeply Screenshot driejpg.jpg

Now, the music and audio design of this game are great. It helps to build the charm of this game tenfold. I’m really interested to hear what the rest of the game will offer when I finally beat that 3rd level.

In terms of controls, while it’s a shame I can’t rebind them, I feel like they are better in this game. It’s also possible that I got more used to them in the sequel but I felt fewer times that the game wasn’t doing what I asked it to do.

The game is good, but not great. It still needs some polishing up work to be done. Since there are still a few bugs in this game. Thankfully, the developer is quite active in polishing up the game. So, report every bug to make this game better. I might have been harsh on this game on several moments but that’s because I believe in this game. If the developer polishes up that 3rd level and adds some quality of life updates, like a climbing animation or rebindable controls, this game will be better for it. Things like that would make the game great.

If you were a fan of the original, I think it would be a shame if you skipped over this one. If you enjoy puzzle/action/adventure games, this is a great time waster. While it isn’t the most polished game, it’s enjoyable and unique. The references and gameplay is something I really enjoy. I have finished the original game, but I hope I’ll be able to finish this sequel one day. And who knows, I might even write a full review then.

That’s everything I wanted to say about the game for now. Thank you so much for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, take care and have a great rest of your day.

Publishing: Suicide Guy now out for PS4 & Nintendo Switch

I’m writing to you to let you know that our new game “Suicide Guy” is out today on the Nintendo eShop and PlayStation 4!

Editor note: This is a press kit from the developer. I, NekoJonez, have nothing to do with the development of this game. I’m only here sharing information about it to promote it. 🙂

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“Suicide Guy” is a first-person action-puzzle game set in a world of dreams.

You’ll assume the role of a nice big guy unable to wake up from his dreams. Your task is to help him to step out of them.

Features:

  • 25 levels set inside Suicide Guy’s mind
  • Story-driven game
  • Physics-based levels
  • Ultimate moves: be able to pick up items, throw them, activate mechanisms and even burp.
  • Funny creatures to annoy
  • Vehicles to drive
  • An important mission to accomplish
  • Collectible items to find

Gamers will have to use different items in every kind of situation by solving original brain teasers.


Despite the title, the game is NOT at all about suicide or depression.

eShop page: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/suicide-guy-switch

PlayStation Store: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP2796-CUSA11124_00-0000000000000000

The trailer of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUCki6EwCFw&t=4s

Official website: https://chubbypixel.com/games/suicide-guy/

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Review from my friend: https://overthinkeryblog.com/2017/11/06/roughly-an-hour-with-suicide-guy/

First Impressions: Suicide Guy (PC  – Steam) ~ How Do I Die This Time?

Suicide Guy 1Steam page

In most games, your goal is to accomplish a goal alive. Yet, there are a few games that challenge you to do the exact opposite. This is one of these games. Your goal is to try and die in your dream to hopefully wake up and catch the beer you dropped. So, will this guy be able to drop his beer before it hits the ground? Full disclosure, I got a review code for this game. So, with that said, it’s time to talk about this game. As usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion/thoughts on the content of this article and/or the game.

Note: for this review, I haven’t fully beaten the game, that’s why it’s the first impression. Also, I have played v1.2.1 released on September 18th.

The tavern hub

Suicide Guy 2Like I said in the introduction of this article, the goal is to die in each dream to try and wake up so you can catch your falling beer. The story is basic but it fits the theme rather well. This game is a hybrid of a puzzle, action, adventure and platform game. The story takes a backseat for most of the game and honestly, I’m glad for that.

I expected much worse things when I heard the title. I expected the story to be about a highly depressed man who wanted to die as quickly as possible. But the story is lighthearted and that makes the game even more enjoyable.

So, after the first dream that acts like a tutorial, you get sent to the hub world. The hub world is a big tavern with all the tables a separate level. The level you have to beat will have a light shining on it, all the beaten levels will have their icon without said light. I really like the hub world since on the monitors you still see your main objective, wake up and catch that beer.

The hub world also helps build the character you play as a bit more. I’m under the impression is a somebody who owns his own tavern at the side of the road who is on holiday watching TV. Or perhaps, I might be looking way too much into this.

The icons you see on the tables is also a quick representation of what the level is going to be about. You can also see if you have collected the statue of that level. When you have found the hidden statue in the level, it will be displayed on the table. I really like the design of the statues, since the pose has always something to do with the level theme.

I have two issues with this hub world and that is the in some occasions, the sound effect for the level doesn’t start playing when you quickly walk between levels.

The second issue I have is with the placement of the levels. Levels 1 to 7 are placed in such a strange order; levels 1,2,3 and 7 are placed on one row and 4,5,6 are placed on the other row. I personally place them in a more linear order. The reason why I talk so much in-depth about this is that from level 7 to level 25, it’s all placed in a linear order. So, why not the first few levels.

How shall we beat this level?

Suicide Guy 3The goal of each level is simple. Find the end of the level to try and commit suicide. Like I said before, in each level, you have a statue to find too. This is optional as far as I know.

Once you collect the statue, it stays collected. So, if you didn’t find the statue the first time, you can enter the level and find it. You don’t have to beat the level to keep the statue. Most of them are in plain sight and if you explore just a little bit, the statues are easily found.

I really love the theming of each level. Some levels are even a reference to other popular games or movies. There is even a level based on Indiana Jones, my favorite movie series!

Visually, this game is very pretty. I think it’s a quite impressive display. The only thing I don’t like about the visual presentation when you crouch and you look up, you see what I think are the tops of the arm models. I have seen this for the first time in the 8th level.

The animations are also great. You can see a big visual difference between the graphical settings. I ran the game on high settings since the normal settings had some elements that I didn’t like too much. The shadows for example where too blocky. If you can avoid it, don’t use the lowest graphics settings. The lighting engine goes banana’s then and makes the levels too bright. The game has rather low system requirements, so I think not a lot of modern computers will have trouble with it.

There are a few areas that could some polish visually. Some parts of decorative walls aren’t solid and sometimes the skybox is shown in-doors. Most of the times, these problems are quite minor and will only annoy you if you look for them. I have notified the developer of all instances I found.

Shall we catch that beer?

Suicide Guy 4This game has controller support. I haven’t tested it out with my controller, but I have played the game using a mouse and keyboard.

One annoying thing about the controls is that you can’t rebind them. This isn’t such a big issue if you use QWERTY-keyboards. Sadly enough, here in Belgium, we use AZERTY keyboards so I was annoyed that I had to change my keyboard language to QWERTY to easily play the game. If this could be fixed, I would be a very happy camper.

The UI of this game is pretty good. I have only one complaint, I think that the “select level” button in the main menu is not needed. The hub area covered that already.

The biggest problems with this game are the awkward items and jump controls you must get used to. The problem with the item controls is that the “pick up items” button is a physical button and the “use items” button is the left mouse button. I think it would be better if either both are buttons or both actions use the mouse.

The problem I have with the jumping is that you don’t always know if the character is going to grab and climb up a ledge or not. Maybe a bit more of a visual indicator would be helpful. In most levels, there isn’t a lot of jumping that you must do. So, it isn’t that big of a problem since you get used to it quickly.

Each level isn’t too long. If you know what you are doing, some levels can be beaten in 1 or 2 minutes. In addition to that, if you screwed up and got stuck somewhere, you can easily restart the level without losing too much progress.

If you commit to it, you can beat this game in an afternoon. The game doesn’t take longer than 2 and half hours to beat. This makes the game ideal for speed running. I think that this game would be better if there is a “speed running mode”, where there is a timer in the bottom of the screen and after you have beaten the game, you see a results screen that you could possibly share online, on how fast you beat each level and the entire game.

One thing that I missed in this game is a sort of hint system. One time, I was really stuck on the Mario level. I didn’t want to look up a walkthrough, but I did want a hint. It took a bit too long to figure out what I had to do to climb up to the second ledge.

The soundtrack of this game is excellent. You also can get the soundtrack for the game data folder. If you enjoy the soundtrack, you can listen to it everywhere you want. Something quite unique is the fact that the music plays through the radios scattered around the level. You can pick up those radios to take the music with you or shut them off if you don’t want to hear the music. Pretty great mechanic.

This game isn’t too difficult, once you figure out what you should do, it’s straightforward. This game can be challenging when you don’t see the solution, but overall, it’s quite simple.

There are also Steam Achievements and Steam Trading Cards for those who are interesting in those.

So, that’s everything I wanted to say about this game. I can’t wait to fully beat it myself. Currently, I’m halfway done. If I had to give a score of what I played so far, I would give the game a 7/10. This game is a very fun game but it’s rather short. It’s ideal for casual players or gamers who want to play something quick and different. Also, for the cheap price tag of 5€, you can’t complain. This game has a lot of polish and soul put into it and it’s a bargain for that price.

Thank you so much for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article, but until then, take care and have a great rest of your day!

(16+) First Impression: Overlord (PC) ~ For you, master.

Overlord_pc_uk

This game is just Pikmin for adults. Nah, that’s a lie. This game has some Pikmin elements but the game is way different. It’s a game that I tried to finish many times before but somehow other games distracted me. But now I told myself that I have this game finished by end of the summer. I have so many games in my collection I want to finish in order to make a proper review. In this game you play as the bad guy that needs to restore his (or her) tower. Which first impressions did this game leave on me? That’s all what this article is about. Let’s cut the introduction short this time and let’s dive right into Overlord and my thoughts on it now. 

Mainstream?

Many of my classmates and friends pick the latest games on the shelves and talk about them if they are the only games that are out there. It’s so disappointing how games like these don’t get a lot of recognition.

The first impression was a good impression. It made a big flaw in the start with the menu, but that’s forgiven. The way how this game handles it’s tutorial really makes up for it.

But I like to play games, regardless in how old they are. And for a game from 2006, this game really holds up. The story doesn’t really feel developed at this point. Actually, it feels like it’s a long string of quests. It works though but I really miss an overall story in the game. But the missions itself are actually really enjoyable.

Where this game truly shines is the gameplay. The game is mostly liniair in the area’s but you can go where you want as long as you can fight through the area or you have the right minions. This game really feels open. Plus, there are two styles you can play in this game. Corrupted and hero.

For you, master.

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You don’t feel like giving the food to the villagers? Sure, you can keep it and strike fear in their harts. But are you more of a gentle person, then you can give the food back.

One thing that breaks and makes the game are the minions. The concept is quite unique in how it’s handled here, but they can be so extremely big derps. Like they don’t run where you order them unless you move back and forth in front of the place. This happens sometimes and got fixed and fixed each patch that came out but it is far from perfect. But it doesn’t break the game till an unplayable point. It just leads to frustration and sometimes loss of minions.

Now to think of it, there isn’t an update button in the game as far as I know. I have to look into that for my review maybe.

What I still find funny is how the developers added a small map inside the gamebox. It’s such a neat extra as game collector.

The game can be a challenge. Not only because of the derpy AI but because of the enemies that are actually smarter and stronger then you might think. I truly advise you all to sometimes farm out life force. A minion more or less can make a huge difference.

Beautiful

overlord_puzzle2To this day, I’m amazed in how pretty this game looks. Everything looks so nice, detailed and amazingly animated. It’s truly advised that you play this game on a computer that can handle this game. The lag otherwise will ruin your experience.

The music, soundeffects and voice work is something I really applaud this game for already. You truly feel as a bad guy. And your minions will cheer in support for you if you burn somebody alive.

The enemies are partially generic but some have an amazing twist. Like there are, yes, unicorns in the game. But they are “Bloody Unicorns”. Yes, that’s how they are called.

Well, I know this is extremely short but I think I’m going to leave it here. Consider this as a sort of teaser of what I think of the game right now. Plus I’m quite busy with finishing my exams these days and I wanted to write an article about this game. So, I did. Once I finished this game, be sure to find a review on here. I might also review the expansion pack together with this game. But for now, happy gaming. And leave in the comments what your first impression was of this game.