The STEAM Sales and Releases Thread

[SevenSidedDice]

Spoiler

POV: You are Hitler’s psychologist in 1925. Diagnose his complexes by using both Jungian and Freudian psychotherapy and attempt to heal him. Resolve Hitler's trauma and prevent catastrophe via therapy and psychology. Succeed and avoid the war and holocaust.

This game was created by one developer and two voice actors.
It is a psychologist simulator taking place in 1925, before Hitler came to power.
It is a game about resolving Hitler's trauma and preventing catastrophe via therapy and psychology.

The facts in the game are historically accurate. During the marketing period people accused the developer of being a "nazi apologist". He is not. He is Czech, and Hitler murdered tens of thousands of his ancestors. This game is an experiment. You are using methods that were available back then. It is a conversational game and you can finish it in under an hour. In each therapy session you get 3-8 choices that influence the ending.

Hitler was human too, just like you. If you distance yourself from him by dehumanizing him and calling him a monster, you are doing psychological damage to your Self. In order to develop your Shadow, you need to realize and admit that given the right life circumstances, you could become someone like Hitler too. You are both good and evil. And if we don't admit that someone like Hitler could come again, we are doomed to repeat history.
Gameplay
You take the role of a psychoanalyst. The game takes place in your office, where you diagnose your new client, Mr. Hitler.You will use both Freudian and Jungian concepts to diagnose Hitler’s complexes.
He comes to you with a problem - he claims he has some anger issues.
You will use psychoanalytic techniques to diagnose the source of his trauma, that could be triggering his anger and hate.
The game is a classic conversation game (akin to visual-novel types), and could also be considered a "conversational walking simulator".
You try to uncover the depths of Hitler's personality through conversation. You will be able to talk with him during 3 therapy sessions, a few months apart. Each session features 3-8 decision points, that will influence the final ending.
Research
This game is intended as a serious game. I have thoroughly researched Hitler's history, psychological reports (Ott, Langer, Fromm, Jung) and reports by people who met him, including his close friend August Kubíček and the Hitler's family doctor Eduard Bloch. The facts in the conversations are verified by multiple sources.

spam porpoise
58 products in account
4 reviews



Recommended
0.6 hrs on record (0.4 hrs at review time)
Posted: 25 July
I bought this game because, as a psychology student myself, I was intrigued with the premise. I thought that, if handled well, this had the potential to be a wonderful piece of art.

The balls on the guy that made this game to choose to approach such a taboo subject is very commendable, and there are some valuable facts and perspectives that the game provides if you're interested in learning more about Hitler's origins.

However, I feel that this game was somewhat lacking in some areas of the execution.

- The pacing was off. The insights that you as a character present Hitler with would have been much more rewarding if they had built up slowly over the course of more sessions, starting from your first session with him and progressing from there until, after a few sessions, some breakthroughs start happening. It felt like the developer was too eager to get this idea out there (which, to be fair, I can't exactly blame them for, since it is a very cool idea) and didn't have the patience to develop it in a way that did the idea justice. There were some valuable insights in this game, but I feel that delivering them with more tact and subtlety would have been the way to go.

- The therapeutic approach utilised here was subpar - good psychologists typically do not tell their patients their own interpretation of their life story, but instead try to guide their patient towards a breakthrough or interpretation of events that leads to the formation of healthy mental habits. Given the time period this game is set in and the fact that the approach used by the therapist is clearly Freudian in nature, this isn't that big of a deal, and is more of a psych nerd critique than a gamer critique. But I do feel like, if you wanted the audience to get out of the game what you hoped they would get, some artistic liberties should have been taken to make the therapeutic approach more modern in order to allow the audience to vibe with the game better.

I still think this game is definitely worth having a look at and I'm all for supporting independent creators that do out-of-the-box things. However, the overall feel that I got from this game was that there was a fixation on the premise rather than the execution at the expense of quality.

Tl;dr - wasted potential but still worth a go (maybe buy on sale though)

 

[Jenkem]

 

[Kev Inkline]

Spoiler

A piece of documentary, in game format.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

hnngh

i see a lot of codexers shit on Quake 2. all i know is that i enjoyed it a lot and this is reminding me of the Q2 super shotgun. i am going to track down a Q2 weapon doom mod as a pavlovian response to this screenshot.

 

[LESS T_T]

Somewhat interesting looking thing. Golden Underfoot. Despite the look of the screenshots, developer tagged this adventure and visual novel, and no RPG.

You will have to go on an interesting adventure in the wastelands. Solve puzzles, communicate with interesting characters and try not to die.

In the game you have to find a huge number of treasures that are hidden in the wastelands, solve simple puzzles, plunge into the history of these places.

Wastelands are quite dangerous places. Underground worms, quicksand and government drones are trying to kill you.

And the sun is constantly shining in the wastelands, so you will have to wear a hat.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

, and no RPG

Don't see him mention combat, so I am inclined to agree with the guy.

 

[Infinitron]

First time 50% off.

 

[LESS T_T]

Selenwald, action roguelite:

Somewhat interesting looking thing. Golden Underfoot. Despite the look of the screenshots, developer tagged this adventure and visual novel, and no RPG.

This guy listed another game on Steam, also with 2022 release date.

He has yet another game listed, again, with 2022 date.



All of them look interesting in their own ways but this doesn't give you confidence if he will finish any of this.

 

[Black Plague]

 

[CyberWhale]

 

[Outlander]

WILL NEVER GO ON SALE!!!

 

[Jinn]

WILL NEVER GO ON SALE!!!

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Fun fact: For the April 1988-issue of ZX Spectrum-gaming magainze "Your Spectrum", there was this review for a game called Advanced Lawnmowing Simulator.

'The most advanced domestic chore simulation yet to hit the home micro,' claims the advertising blurb. 'Awe inspiringly realistic with a near infinite number of randomly generated rural and suburban lawn scenarios.' Hollow advertising rhetoric? So much insincere profit chasing hype? ...Not on your grass-box, matey; this game is ACE!

You, a humble YTS junior gardener, start off with a very small tool-box, one can of petrol and a standard issue Campari 'Lawn Master' motor mower. Your first randomly generated garden is guaranteed to be camber free and generally straightforward in design, so a fast but neat job and you will be awarded points (in the guise of sandwiches), by the incredibly grateful home owner.

In the age old tradition of 'Points Make Prizes', you'll be able to start upgrading your equipment: more tools for your tool-box; extra spacers for the flymo (if indeed you have one); more cans of petrol or oil and, in general, more power to your grassware.

You'll need all the extras and add-ons you can lay your little green fingers on, if you want to climb the gardening hierarchy. The gardens get progressively bigger, have increasing cambers, hidden 'traps' such as stones and old wire coat-hangers, and grassy banks sloping into ornate but potentially ruinous duck-ponds. Probably most dangerous of all, on higher levels, are the rose gardens; you won't make head gardener after you've accidentally totalled three square feet of Lady Talbot-Smythe's prized pink-perpetuals!

Gardensoft is a brand new publishing house that looks set to carve quite a niche for itself in the simulations market. Its press release promises several follow-up games, to be blanket released within the next month or two, such as a spring cleaning game in which you have to rifle through the cupboard under the stairs before you can even start the game proper; a washing-up simulator (which incorporates a drying-up simulator); and best of all, a launderette game in which you have to clean ten large bags of assorted colours and materials. Sounds easy? Well not really, because most of the clothes have missing labels.

All these games sound absolutely ber-illiant, but we'll have to wait and see. As for now? Well, we do have the Advanced Lawn-Mowing Simulation, and that IS brilliant.

It got a 9/10 score on all fronts.

But here's the thing: It was an April Fool's joke. The game didn't exist upon the review being released, and for two years they let the joke persist.

But then they raised the stakes... and actually released the game on the mag's covertape in August 1990!

Sporting a whoppin' six lawnmowers to choose from (but five of them are broken and don't work) it was literal seat-of-your-pants gameplay as you pressed the M-key to mow a single unit of lawn. Hold down the button for enhanced gameplay! But after mowing a few lawns the game auto-kills you as your lawnmower hits a rock and blows up. (Those familiar with Ski Free know the feeling.)

And now, 33 years later... the joke continues.

 

[IDtenT]

Truly an Unkillable Cat.

 

[LESS T_T]

Stella Pastoris, monochrome post-apocalyptic colony sim:

Dire Vengeance, cool-looking stage-based 2D platformer:

Into the Pit, another boom boom shooter published by Humble:

Stray Blade, some action RPG published by 505 Games:

Lenny Loosejocks Goes Walkabout, rerelease of some obscure(?) Shockwave game. Apparently they're looking for fund to make third game:

 

[Black Plague]

And now, 33 years later... the joke continues.

Warning,

Spoiler

 

[ferratilis]

Hell yeah, Valfaris is getting a sequel \m/

 

[Riskbreaker]

Geistjogger is out yo

You boys better be buyin some of that shit.

 

[LESS T_T]

Prisonscape is... alive. (Yeah, I really didn't know there have been activities recently.)

 

[karoliner]

 

[Curratum]

Stop posting indie boomer shooters that will either never get finished or stay in EAccess for 5 years.

 

[Riskbreaker]

I do hope that this thing is actually good, I've been itching for a revival of this style of survival horror what with all these other retro revivals around.
The last game that tried to sell itself as a classic, fixed-camera survival horror with modern visuals, Song of Horror, did nothing for me. This one at least features combat and resource management by the looks of it, so at least that's an improvement over Song of Horror's combo of QTEs and enemy avoidance.

 

[Abu Antar]

JarlFrank

 

[JarlFrank]

JarlFrank

I bought one of these games once.

Not recommended

 

[karoliner]

This one is made by a single guy from Poland.