Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Jul 25, 2022

  Ehhh....Burly Men has a really great aesthetic with its wonderful graphics and charming sound effects, but it's very clear this was natively a mobile game. Using a mouse to navigate the environment and move the men is so so clunky and tedious. Even though you can beat a playthrough in about twenty minutes, that time feels like an eternity because of how often I'm fighting with the controls. Also, this is a game that encourages multiple playthroughs but has no options to skip dialogue and everyone moves slower than a slug in acid so have fun with that If you're going to buy this, get it on sale when it goes for cheap
• gamedeal user

  Sep 30, 2016

  Burly Men at Sea, This game can be summerized as an interactive story with gorgeous visuals and calming sounds. In short, it'll be a game that you can play during your down time to take your mind off the events of the day and just relax a little. The game works like this: you, the 3 brothers, are inside a circle, which is your view of the world, by dragging this imaginary circle left or right, you explore the world and find new adventures. The game isn't linear, it has a number of branches and stories that you can explore, each with their own tales. The writing is amazing, although it's more or less a series of short stories, I really appriciate it. There are some funny jokes and some serious moments which all together set a beautiful tone to the world. Mix that with the wonderful sounds and music (and trust me you will enjoy this part a lot) and the wonderful, colorful minimalistic visuals and you end up with a true indie gem. Now to my understanding this isn't a very long game as you can tell from the price but it isn't lacking. Considering the gorgeous artstyle, sounds and the charming writing I think it's worth the price point and it should give you around 2-3 hours of entertainment. What you need to know is that this isn't a game for everyone, this is a series "of soft-choice based intractive short stories" so that's up to you to decide if that description is appealing to you or not. When i say "A series of soft-choice based interactive short stories" I mean that you make choices that shape different adventures and branch a path for you, however in the end once one adventure is over, you end up looping around to start another. This game isn't a "oh you died cause bad choices scenario", hence why i used "soft-choice based" as the description. Your choices still matter and give you different and unique paths and different stories, but it's more like a series of short adventures rather than a really driven out novel with major choices that drag on and affect you later on. So in short, some of the choices you might make are as simple as going left or going right and this'll give you a new adventure based on what you chose. I hope this serves as a good description for someone looking to buy this game and that if you're interested in that type of game, ends up as a buying point for you. Finally I'd just like to point out, there is a mobile version of this game as well, which you might find more suited to you. (since it'll be swiping left and right instead of dragging the screen with a mouse) In any case, buckle up and enjoy this one :)
• gamedeal user

  Sep 30, 2016

  Really nice game with a great art style and amazing sound design. I wasn't sure what to expect but the price and the presentation drew me in. It is essentially an interactive story that encourages the player to try different outcomes and explore the world in as many ways possible. The writing is well done and very amusing. It fits in well with the quirky style of the environment. Overall I just found the whole experience relaxing and fun. There is no tutorial or directions that I saw but it is simple enough to catch on to the point and click (and drag?) style of mechanics. Saying to much though could give away the charm of discovering this little world for yourself. Very glad I gave it a go and would highly recommend it.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 1, 2016

  So, where to start... Short? Yup. Challenging? Nope. Mind-bending puzzles? Nary a one. Super-whizzy realistic graphics? Definitely not. But if you've got any child left in you, any fondness for simple, charming stories, you'll love it. I did. For those that are old enough to remember (cough), it feels like a whimsical version of the old "Fighting Fantasy" books where you make a decision and then get told to turn to page 120 for the next bit of the story. Nothing nearly that forced here, it's all beautiful, smooth, stylish animation telling a seamless story which weaves in and out of almost invisible choices. And it means that the next time I play it, there will be a different story told. And pay attention to the backgrounds... Poke a puffin, tickle a chicken, furtle with fish. Beautiful, charming, childish, innocent. Not words you usually associate with video games, but this one deserves them all. It made me happy.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 2, 2016

  Uterrly charming in everyway. Soundtrack is quirky, storytelling is wonderful and above all the art style is breathtakingly simple in the best of ways. Is it a challenging, gritty playthrough type of game - no. Think more along the lines of Firewatch, a closely curated narative driven creation that is no less compelling for it. 100% should win the 'Steam Awards'
• gamedeal user

  Oct 3, 2016

  I met the designers David and Brooke back when I was in college.I have been waiting for this game to come out since the release of the trailer, and I can honestly say it is greater than I anticipated. The art style is so simplisticlly unique and the soundtrack itself deserves an award. It's not about getting through the game, it's about the narrative that guides you. Well done Brain & Brain. I'd love to see more of your work in the future.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 1, 2017

  Very, very beautiful; but way too short. And that's all there is to say. Enjoyable in every way, but I think it should cost way less. Now that you know that and you can see, how much time I spent on the game, decide for yourself. (The mouse control sucks, by the way: sometimes the burly men move, sometimes they don't, sometimes you can move the screen, sometims you can't; after trying for some time, it works, but often not in the first place.) What makes me a little bit angry: Spoiler ahead: So, it seemed like there would be a little more to the story: you are told, you can return to the island, if you want, for more adventures; OK, so I returend and wow, you can visit the homepage, enter a code and voila, surprise, surprise, the secret is, you can pre-order a book. Great art; so it seemed, but now I feel ripped of. The devs perhaps should leave their narcissism behind and think about, what they really gave the "player". And, if they promise a secret in the game, it should be in the game. Shame on you! You already know how advertisment works; but that your materialistic paradigm destroys the positive message of the game, do you know that, too? What the devs real profession is/was, I don't know, but this "game" seems like something graphic designers would do, to make maximum money with minimum effort. They are able to design sound, visuals et cetera, for the effect to get the buyer hooked and that he wants more. Then he can buy the book, the soundtrack and perhaps some other upcoming gimmicks. Give kids candy with a nice story and then suck them dry. Fuck you!
• gamedeal user

  Apr 24, 2017

  A beautiful picture-book game with wonderful sounds and music, and gameplay that suprised me. The tagline 'A Quiet Game' is very true. This game is calm, and provides tiny delights throughout. If you enjoy art, if you enjoy stories, if you enjoy a quiet humor then this game is for you.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 13, 2017

  A game that at first glance is very interesting and makes you want to discover more, but quickly turns into a boring repetition of the same 3 things. Boring and mind numbing after 40 minutes. The art-style is cool, the writing fits the style of the game, the sounds effects and soundtrack is intriguing and unique, but it doesn't change the fact that this game barely contains any content. It has 3 [i]endings[/i], and to come to those ends you do [i]almost[/i] the same thing every time, except for maybe 1 or 2 slight differences. The game is in dire need of a [i]skip dialogue/cut-scene button[/i]. It becomes very boring and mind numbing after 40 minutes once you realize you're doing the same thing over and over with a few dialogues of cut scenes that have slight differences, may it be something so little as a slight re-wording of a dialogue. It is very overpriced and it doesn't live up to what the store page says about the game. The story means... nothing, it's just meaningless babble, not that I have a problem with that, typically, but it's described as a [i]"choice driven adventure with a branching story"[/i]; that's half-true for the first 2 scenarios of the game until you realize, as I said before, you're just doing and experiencing the same things over and over. The writing is still cool, and definitely fits the game, but non of it means anything, it's definitely not story rich, it's babble-rich. It's not fun, it's boring. I wish this game had been expanded upon, the music, sound effects and art-style is great and very unique, and it makes a very nice aesthetic. It might be up your alley, as I said the first 40 minutes are somewhat interesting, relaxing and slightly engaging, but the claimed replay-value is nonexistent. From the store page: [i]"Innovative Controls: Shape the narrative through a unique, draggable viewport and your interactions within it."[/i] That's a very fancy, over-hyped[i](?)[/i] and marketing-like way of saying: You drag the screen with your mouse to move the characters, and you click things to interact with them. It's not innovative, it's been seen a few thousands times in point'n'click games. [h1]Curator page[/h1] [i]If you liked this review or otherwise found it helpful in deciding whether or not to buy this game, feel free to follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/29162366/]my Curator page[/url].[/i]
• gamedeal user

  Jan 14, 2018

  This is a "choose your own adventure" type of game, with fantastic artwork and graphical design. It looks like a book put on screen, and if I'm being honest, it plays a bit like one too, for all the good and bad that implies. I completed my first "story" in, oh, 20 or so minutes? It was neat but very very short. I went back a few more times and chose different options to see how it differs. That was neat too but honestly, also a bit boring. Here's where I get nitpicky: I found the artwork to be extraordinary but the style of writing really grated on me. Adverbs everywhere, he said annoyingly. Glad to be done with the review, he wrote satisfyingly. One other thing that bears mentioning: the game is clearly designed for touch screens and feels like a mobile port. Given the lack of game-ness here and the limited replay value, it's hard to recommend this as anything but a pleasant experiment in short story reading. The game will hawk URLs each time you complete a story branch, allowing you to buy a hardcover book of your particular path. As visually appealing as it is, the story (or rather stories) were not inspiring enough to warrant that. Maybe this will work for you - it didn't do the trick for me. I'd give this a 4 out of 5 for effort but 2 out of 5 for execution. I can't recommend spending money on it, but it sure was a high-quality attempt!