İncelemeler

• gamedeal user

  Mar 4, 2023

  So. It's finally here. And like others have said, I feel a bit... underwhelmed by the experience. Don't get me wrong, I really wanted to like this. I've been waiting for god knows how long for this game and following its development on Twitter pretty religiously. But I don't think it lived up to the expectations the beta brought upon it. The beta, or the Family Tropical Resort as it is in this version, was a masterpiece of atmospheric exploration gameplay. The rest of the game, however, fails to capitalize on that. This ultimately comes down to one issue. Procedural generation. Several of the game's levels, those being the Conference Center, Country Club, and Office Hell (as I'm dubbing it, since it's nameless in game), are procedurally generated. As I said, I've been following development for this game with my nose pressed against the ground, so I know the systems behind the procedural generation to the levels is actually incredibly impressive. However... In practice, in actual gameplay? They feel lacking. The root of that problem comes down to lack of variation. Much of the three aforementioned levels are nearly completely barren. There's a smattering of objects littered around like chairs, potted plants, wall outlets, but there's really not a whole lot beyond that, causing there to be a lack of anything worthwhile or interesting. The Lazy River in the Family Tropical Resort has also been made to use procedural generation (Which I don't think it did in the beta? If memory serves right). That at least keeps my interest because the environment itself is visually unique and has moderate variation in what generates in it. Granted after a while I did end up seeing the same things again and again, and the Lazy River went on for a bit too long, but it was at least a bit more colorful so to speak than the other levels. On top of that, the Conference Center and Office Hell are a bit too similar in design for my tastes. There's differences between the two of course, with Office Hell being a bit more erratic in it's overall design, but that ultimately doesn't do much to help differentiate it from the Conference Center. The hand-crafted environments like the Movie Theater and, again, the Family Tropical Resort, were fantastic. The Movie Theater, in my opinion, played extremely well off of what the beta built up. If the whole game was like that, I think that would cut out most of my beef with the game as it is. As for the other procedurally generated level, Country Club... I just plain didn't like it. Not only did it lack variation after a while like the other proced-gen'd levels, but the golf controls in this game just... Aren't good. Having to position the mouse just right to make a certain shot is incredibly difficult, especially if the ball is too close to a wall. I also found there to be no point to this level because even after completing 20 holes, I didn't get any tickets, even though supposedly you're supposed to get tickets from what I've read. And that's another point of contention. Tickets. I think I like the idea. But I don't think the execution was done correctly. As it is right now, the game has a few different levels with elevators connected to them, and you have to spend tickets you find lying around to pay to board the elevators. The problem comes down to actually finding tickets. They're scattered around levels, some just sitting on the ground, some actually purposely placed in certain places. But the problem comes down to, if you don't find enough tickets in a previous level? Then you have to go back to one of those previous levels to look for more tickets. And levels have way less tickets on subsequent visits than the first visit. On top of this issue, I wish there were more uses for tickets. I can't think of too many uses within the current experience. Maybe some sort of collectible gachapon system, or an arcade-style prize store that sells gadgets and toys, that sort of thing. Just something else. By the end of the game, I had hundreds of tickets I actually didn't need, with nothing to use them on. I also feel another issue with tickets is that it detracts from the overall experience. As I said, the original beta was masterfully crafted to be an atmospheric experience. But having to always be on the prowl for tickets takes away from that. It averts my attention from soaking in my surroundings and instead demands me to look high and low like I'm hunting eggs on Easter. Continuing on the list of issues. The music. The music is incredibly good. JORDANN and Intellifax 42 (formerly 4REST) did an incredible job on the soundtrack for this game. But the problem is that the opportunities to actually listen to that soundtrack is few and far between. Music only plays through speakers in certain spots most of the time, meaning many levels are spent in silence beyond the noises the main character makes. I do wish that the procedural generation had those speakers incorporated into the mix of objects that can generate. But even outside of the proced-gen levels, the hand crafted levels like the Movie Theater felt a bit too quiet at times. On a similar note, the overall sound design in this game is incredibly good, not just the soundtrack, so good job on that as well! One last gameplay issue, but I do wish there were a bit more puzzles. As it stands, the only puzzles to actually solve are the maze panels. And I think there's a total of like, 4 of them in the whole game? Which isn't a lot, and they're all incredibly easy to solve. I realize puzzles were never the main focus. But having some more would definitely help the player feel like they're accomplishing something, if nothing else. Beyond that, I do wish there was more meat to the story. Most of it is tied up in the Movie Theater, Family Tropical Resort, and the end cutscene. And what’s there… Doesn’t explain a whole lot. The player can still connect the dots despite that of course, but there’s so little there that I’m left wanting more. Another glaring problem is the length. I beat this game in less than two hours. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, short games can still be good. But it felt like most of that time was spent doing not much of anything. In my minds eye, it felt more like my actual playtime that had meaningful content was closer to 30 to 40 minutes. Which isn't a whole lot. Granted, I did blitz through Office Hell in less than a minute because the elevator spawned pretty much right next to where I started. But even then, if I had actually played through it normally... I don't think it would've added that much more time onto my clock. There's then also another problem caused by the short playtime of the game. By Steam's policy, I could get a refund if I wanted to. Am I going to? Hell no, I want to support Andrew and his endeavors. But I can easily see other people abusing the game's length and getting a refund. Overall, I'd say that I am disappointed by Anemoiapolis. The beta set my expectations high, and I feel only really the Movie Theater reached the same height as the Family Tropical Resort. Everything else just failed to please unfortunately. As it stands, the current iteration of the game feels more like a tech demo or vertical slice than anything else, rather than a full fledged game. However, despite all that, I can't bring myself to hate it. There's still potential there, a diamond in the rough. I can only hope that Chapter 2 (and maybe beyond?) better builds upon what's here. However (again), I know Andrew has expressed that he wants to move on to a different project before touching on this one again, so it's anyone's guess when that day may come. But personally, despite being disappointed in how this turned out, I'll be waiting for that day, as long as it may take.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 14, 2023

  I played for less than an hour, and I know I saw that mannequin move. I have never quit a game faster, 10/10 will fire back up in about a year or two or ten, in broad daylight, maybe while being cuddled by my dog.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 16, 2023

  A decent game, but the demo felt more polished. The demo for Anemoiapolis had plenty of atmospheric voice lines, a natural flow between areas, and a strong atmosphere that a lot of people trying to make "the liminal space video game" were going for. It did a lot right, and only really needed to be expanded upon. Unfortunately, the full game felt a bit hacked-together. A hub level that didn't really fit the atmosphere was added, changing the feeling of descent into the unknown into something more resemblant of an art gallery, which was wide but not very deep. The sense of being lost was lost. Additionally, some of the levels (most of which were in the demo) were reworked in ways that took a lot out of them, such as reversing the direction of a climbing level so that it could be skipped by jumping downwards, and none of the obstacles were logical. Further, a number of mechanics were introduced, but none felt as if they were committed to. The game opens with some small, very simple puzzles ("press this button to open the path forward"), but seems to forget about them after that, aside from one "move this cart to jump over a gate" puzzle towards the end. There's a horror segment a bit after that, but it never comes up again, aside from a one-liner in the ending. The wire-matching puzzles are sprinkled throughout (there are four of them), but they feel disconnected from the game, and all but one of them are completely trivial, with the other being a fairly well-known one that you're probably seen in another game. The major change from the demo is the introduction of "tickets", which gate the player's progress, but the player quickly ends up with enough of them that it doesn't really matter. Procedural generation is used heavily, but never for anything significant, so it doesn't really end up contributing much, relative to the time it must have taken to implement. I think the dev felt burned out after the demo version, and tried to pad what he had into a complete game. It really is kind of sad - integrating the bits he added to the demo with the requisite polish wouldn't have taken long, relative to the time he'd already spent, and would've resulted in a much more complete-feeling game. I understand that the space is quickly saturating, and he must have felt pressure to publish early, but it's still a shame.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 17, 2023

  can you make the inner tubes use able please.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 6, 2023

  >Infinite Lazy River had me strolling the same 6-7 rooms in different orders for over 30 minutes >hub/ticket system was completely unecessary and just another mechanic to critique the game upon. I expected linear game. >Lighting is off, no shadows on anything from what I played >The "Office" level or whatever it's called feels like a really bad gmod map >The Family Resort level was decent at best and frustratingly boring at worst Honestly, I feel like this would have been one of the few times Early Access would have benefited the game a whole lot. I don't know what on earth prompted this weird ticket system. I can see where the hub might fight but bruh, white tickets on white floors? You're better off playing the demo tbh.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 25, 2023

  It could use more interactivity in the environments, but overall a really cool experience. If you're willing to meet the game in the middle and immerse yourself in the experience, it's a fantastic mood piece. A lot of the environments nail the feeling of familiarity while maintaining a sense of unease. Genuinely caught myself looking behind me even in the quieter environments because of how oppressive the atmosphere was. I also played a little more mini-golf than I'd care to admit. The main criticism I'd give is to not overuse pool environments in future chapters. It's fine that the game double dips on poolrooms aesthetics for the first chapter, but with the sheer variety of possible inspirations from liminal spaces it's a little disappointing. That said though, the pool segment also contains some of the most effective horror in the game and I hope to see that leaned into more in future chapters. The shadow person jumpscares are a little "gmod horror map"-y, though, and I don't think that's a good direction to go in. It feels a little bit cheap for how intricate and interesting the environment is and sticks out like a sore thumb. Overall though, really solid experience for the price and very effective atmosphere. Really looking forward to Chapter 2 if/when it comes out.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 8, 2023

  Great horror game for people that dont like playing horror games but enjoy the genre. It's scary in all the right ways.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 4, 2023

  I bought and played the beta on itch.io and loved it immensely. When I saw that it released here on steam I didn't hesitate to go ahead and buy it again because I loved the Beta V2 that much. That being said, I can't recommend purchasing it here on steam, rather elsewhere where you can have access to the Beta version which is superior both in atmosphere and cohesion. It appears the opening dialogue cut scene in the release version explaining why you're in the parking lot at the beginning is absent, and instead of exploring more organically until you come to the door for the next level as in the beta, you now collect tickets and ride in elevators which detracted from the experience imo. Disappointed honestly but don't regret supporting the dev, hopefully he will revisit/revise chapter 1 if he feels inclined and/or if he ever works on chapter 2, move the game back towards the feel the beta v2 had.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 4, 2023

  I played the original preview release and it was pretty cool and instantly purchased this when it released. The intro level was reworked and was a bit short and boring, and then the game disappointingly degrades into hunting for tickets to progress to other areas, Explored around aimlessly and unlock some areas with the few tiny tickets found and ended up with 10 tickets and unable to find any more tickets for the remaining 60 and 120 ticket elevators. Maybe bugged? I really like to support the smaller developers so I never refund games unless they are totally broken, but this is pretty bad and may be the exception. Being release day anyone interested in this one may want to hold off purchasing until it's updated.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 7, 2023

  I'm thumbing this up but only if you really really like liminal spaces backroom games because really this isn't too fun. It's a bit sleepy time. There's a lot of potential for the game but it's just sort of boring right now. My friendly suggestions are more mallsoft music and more fun colors. Maybe some cool art....anything to keep me from falling asleep. I like the spa part the most. It's not a bad game for the price but kind of unsatisfying. I do hope the creator keeps at it tho because I think it could be good.