Incline Strangeland - new adventure game from Wormwood Studios

[turbo elephant]

Purchased as well.

 

[MRY]

Thanks!

 

[lightbane]

Got it. Won't have time to play until past July or so though, so I'll wait for you to patch possible bugs and such.

 

[MRY]

Thanks!

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Congrats Mark, James, Vic, and everyone else involved! I will pick it up when I get home tonight, but probably won’t find the time to play it for a few weeks.

And don’t let the reviews get you down! I seem to recall Primordia sitting in the mid60s on metacritics journalist reviews while simultaneously having Overwhelmingly Positive user reviews on Steam. What do the critics know?

 

[MRY]

I think we were 72 on Primordia, but yeah. :D

 

[ValeVelKal]

 

[MRY]

Thanks!

 

[MRY]

Not gonna lie, my favorite review (in part because I like the site, I like that they're hard-asses, and I love the Spanish language) is from Meristation. Not because of what it says about Strangeland (though it's very generous) but because of the actual ratings it has given and what it says about Primordia. This is from the review's preamble, before it talks about Strangeland:

Along with all of them and many more, in 2012 would come one of our favorite modern graphic adventures, Primordia . This superb video game presented us with a bleak dystopian future where all forms of life have been completely wiped from the face of the Earth, and where machines have inherited the planet. Accompanying the memorable protagonist couple formed by the robot Horatio Nullbuilt and his inseparable and good-natured Crispin, we immersed ourselves in a world populated by robots and automata, which offered us a wonderful plot displaying a spectacular setting. To his phenomenal staging, which masterfully recreated this bleak future, he added some great dialogues and the possibility of solving some great puzzles in various ways. All this ended up crowning it as a true modern classic of the genre , and as we have already mentioned, it is one of our favorite graphic adventures of all time.

(Meristation's emphasis, Google translated.)

What did Meristation rate Primordia, this "modern classic," on of their "favorite graphic adventures of all time"? 7.0.



Meanwhile, Strangeland got a 7.8 from them.

 

[Alpan]

I haven't played the game and don't know how it turns out, but keep in mind that virtually all reviewers are skewed towards positive, upbeat experiences. Moody, internal games are few and far between, and high scorers among them are even fewer, especially for indies (IOW, your comparison isn't with TLOU Part II). Critic scores simply aren't going to be very indicative.

 

[MRY]

Who knows? I tend to accept that bad reviews are no less valid than good reviews, often more valid. But I'm more concerned with how many people respond positively than how many respond negatively, in that I'd rather make a game that hits at least some people in a meaningful way, even at the cost of bad reviews. And, ultimately, I just have to make the games that matter to me, irrespective of how they'll be received.

 

[Jenkem]

bought.

welcome to clown world.

 

[Jenkem]

Are you going to get sued by Dee Snider?

 

[Ivan]

purchasing day 1 to support the devs, but will holdoff playing until after I finish me some Yakuza/patches. Congratulations on the release

 

[MRY]

I certainly hope not! I think it is a well-worn title by now.

Meanwhile, though my normal tendency is to focus on negative reviews and give a wry chuckle, this French review really made me very proud, so I wanted to link to it. Here's Google's translation of the end:

Strangeland is probably the best adventure game I've played in a few years. With an insane literary richness, produced in a sublime way, it also enjoys the luxury of being a living documentary on the video game material in the process of being made. While it won't be able to be recommended to everyone due to its disturbing and nightmarish appearance, Strangeland is a success in almost every way which, on the same note, will be hard to match.

Obviously, nice words alone are enough to win me over, but the review as a whole does seem like the reviewer clicked with what we were trying to do.

 

[MRY]

purchasing day 1 to support the devs, but will holdoff playing until after I finish me some Yakuza/patches. Congratulations on the release

Thanks, Ivan.

 

[agris]

Did my duty, looking forward to playing.

 

[MicoSelva]

Just finished it. It did not strike me as hard as Primordia, since I am a sci-fi rather than horror guy, but I still love it.

It does feel like a deeply personal piece and will mostly resonate with people who can relate the most.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Alright, I already finished the game. Damn it was good. This is definitely in my top list of adventure games.

 

[Jenkem]

how the fuck are people finishing it so fast?

so the game is like 2 hours long and I never even got thanked for my purchase (lol) .. should I refund?

 

[MRY]

MicoSelva Hobo Elf You guys are the best. Sorry it was over so fast!

And thanks for picking it up, agris. After your Steam post made me LMAO, there's no much more I could ask of you!

 

[agris]

That Techraptor article is probably accurate, and I think we are quite lucky that MRY has the luxury of making games he wants to play, and sparing us all from "emotional connections".

The TR reviewer wanted more explanation (aka gratification) and emotional connection (i.e. relationships). Those are some of the worst trends in gaming over the past 20 years, and reading someone's gripes about their lack of inclusion in Strangeland conjurers up images of a fat kid complaining about how he can't have candy.

 

[MRY]

how the fuck are people finishing it so fast?

so the game is like 2 hours long and I never got thanked for my purchase.. should I refund?

Sorry I missed the thanks, I was derailed by your Dee Snider post.

How long it takes depends on various factors, but I think 3 to 5 hours is a fair estimate. There is some replayability, especially if you're into commentary tracks. I won't be burned if you refund and wait for it to be cheaper. God knows I'm a cheap bastard myself.

 

[MicoSelva]

how the fuck are people finishing it so fast?

so the game is like 2 hours long and I never even got thanked for my purchase (lol) .. should I refund?

I started playing around an hour after release. The game took me around four hours, with one instance of getting stuck and using in-game hint system.

the protagonist looks oddly similar to Colin Farrell especially the eyebrows

Reminded me more of Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee from LoTR movies), but with dark hair.

 

[Hobo Elf]

MicoSelva Hobo Elf You guys are the best. Sorry it was over so fast!

And thanks for picking it up, agris. After your Steam post made me LMAO, there's no much more I could ask of you!

No need to apologize. I feel like the length of the game was as long as it needed to be (took me 4.7h). I'd rather a game be well paced and exciting every step of the way than be padded ad nauseam with tedious filler content.

Anyway, there's still the replay with commentary on to look forward to. I love replaying adventure games with the commentary on.