BlueDemon's Archive

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is an existential horror game, developed by The Chinese Room  and published by Frictional Games in 2013. Started development as a mod and is an indirect sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descen t, set in the same universe, loosely tied together via references to its internal mythology. /// Premise You take control of Oswald Mandus, a millionaire industrialist from the late 1800s, after a bout of bad fever and memory loss, Oswald wakes up with his children missing while rumblings shake the walls of his mansion. Following the instructions of a mysterious man on the phone, Mandus will venture deep into the underground complex of the machine he has no memories of building, bringing its gargantuan mechanisms back to life in order to save his sons. /// Gameplay What do you mean? There is no gameplay, I'm only partially joking. Ok, let's get this out of the way, at its core, A Machine for Pigs is a narrative-driven game. In one fell swoop, it removed, inventory...

Cultist Simulator is an absolutely genius game. And it is absolutely not for everyone; it appeals to a particular audience. And no, it's not one of those ironic simulator games about building Kool-Aid tanks. If I had to summarize quickly: It's a game about maintaining a balancing act, spinning a dozen plates while taking risks and experimenting to further your goal of supernatural ascension, with the ever-looming presence of catastrophic failure knawing at your heels. I can easily identify all the aspects that would make someone hate this game with a passion. Obscured mechanics, ticking timers, and especially the lack of clarity. Most first-time runs of Cultist Simulator will be confusing and end abruptly. Death via overwhelming dread or fascination. And that's by design. It hands the player a few cards, some action tiles, and says: Do you want to ascend through powers unknown? Want to know how? Well, combine some cards and figure it out yourself. Good luck. Of course, the ...

[This is a Mini Review, shorter and more direct] Penumbra: Requiem is a first-person, adventure puzzler expansion for Black Plague. Developed by Frictional Games, published by Paradox Interactive, and released in August 2008. Six months after Black Plague's release. /// Premise An expansion pack focused on strict puzzle-focused levels, absent of survival horror mechanics, with bits of lore that further explore some underdeveloped side characters. /// Is Requiem is Episode 3? I gotta get this out of the way. People often confuse Requiem as Penumbra 3, or Episode 3, when it is just an expansion DLC for Black Plague. "Requiem won't be the 'third episode', though. It's less the series conclusion, and more the epilogue. I consider the story to have ended with Black Plague" - Tom Jubert, lead writer of Penumbra series. 2008 interview with RPS. /// Structure Penumbra: Requiem is an abrupt switch from the survival horror genre to a horror-themed puzzler. It consis...

[Consider this Part 2 of the Penumbra: Overture review ] Penumbra: Black Plague is a first-person, horror game developed by Frictional Games , published by Paradox Interactive , and released in February 2008. Running on Frictional's in-house HPL Engine . /// Premise Picking up immediately where Penumbra:   Overture left, right after leaving the mines behind and entering the secretive research facility, Philip finds himself knocked out and imprisoned by unknown entities. After a hasty escape and possibly being infected with a Xeno virus, Philip must find a cure, while piecing together the truth of this place and his father. /// Structure and pace As the direct sequel to Penumbra: Overture, the two are intrinsically linked. I will be skipping over the more basic mechanics that have stayed the same, focusing on what has changed or improved instead. For a more detailed overview of the basics, I suggest reading the Overture review, as the bulk of its core mechanics have carried over t...

Penumbra: Overture is a first-person survival horror game, developed by Frictional Games , and published by Lexicon Entertainment in march 2007. Running on in-house HPL Engine . It received a direct sequel a year later called Black Plague . /// Premise Set in the year 2001, it follows the story of thirty years old physicist, Philip Buchanon, after receiving a letter from his supposedly dead father, instead of following the letter's instruction to burn several documents, Philip follows a series of clues that lead him to a mysterious location in uninhabited northern Greenland. There he finds a series of modern underground tunnels below an old World War II bunker. What was his dad doing there? What hides deep below? /// Structure What started as a tech demo for the HPL Engine, would a year later be polished up and shipped as Frictional Games debut title. Overture is a mix of survival horror, first-person gameplay, and puzzle elements. The player is lent some freedom to explore hub-l...

Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason is a First-person psychological horror game. Running on the AtmosFear engine , developed by Ukrainian studio Action Forms , known for other titles such as Chasm: the Rift and Vivisector: Beast within . It was published in Russia by 1C Company in December 2008 with a global release in 2009. Due to licensing issues, disagreements, and even legal battles, between Action Forms and 1C Company , the game was pulled from all storefronts in 2013. This made it impossible to get through official means. The only way to experience it today is shady key resellers or resort to archived copies preserved only thanks to piracy. Who is the Cryostasis IP holder today is unclear. The consensus is that in the dispute 1C lost the rights to Action Forms, as 1C had to pull the game out of their own store. But we have no confirmation. On top of that, the studio split up shortly after, forming another company focused on mobile devices, Tatem Games . Nonetheless, Action For...