The GWJ Adventure Game Club - Main Thread

fuzzyslug wrote:

Eleima, thanks so much for the Silent Age!

Congrats Fuzzyslug!

Even though The Blackwell Legacy didn't win this month, it caught my eye and I decided to look it up on Steam... where it was on sale for one dollar, so I bought it, started to play, and before I knew it, I had finished it. It was a very enjoyable short story!

Told you so. I’m saving my replay for the club. I have all five games on my iPad too, so that should be nice.

You were right!!

Has anybody here looked at Mage's Initiation: Reign of the Elements? I had noticed it years ago, and recently saw that it finally released on Steam. It reminds me of Quest for Glory; I'm curious if anyone tried it and liked it.

The poll is ready, the write up is ready, and I am so READY for your folks to see the poll for next month. Can't wait. Might post tonight, just because.

Eleima wrote:

The poll is ready, the write up is ready, and I am so READY for your folks to see the poll for next month. Can't wait. Might post tonight, just because.

YAY!

The survey for the fifth game is now live!! The poll will close at midnight on February 26th.
General descriptions below with playtime estimates from HLTB (How Long To Beat).

  • Gray Matter (2010, HLTB 12) - Brilliant Jane Jensen wrote this game which takes place in Oxford and, to a lesser extent, in London. It follows the story of Samantha Everett, a street performer and magician, and Professor David Styles, an acclaimed and mysterious neurobiologist. Highly recommended by yours truly.
  • The Red Strings Club (2018, HLTB 5) - A cyberpunk adventure game which deals with themes such as date, happiness, bartending and the extensive use of poetry. It defies description, by all accounts, truly something special.
  • Subsurface Circular (2017, HLTB 3) - Mostly text based, but with a third-person perspective, you play as a robot detective investifating the disappearances of a number of robots. As you travel in the Subsurface Circular (a subway for all intents and purposes), you will meet many different robotos or "Teks." Really enjoyed this one, it went on my GOTY list back in 2017.
  • Anchorhead (1998, HLTB ?) - Despite appearances, this isn't a Star Wars game. A Lovecraftian horror interactive fiction game, it takes place in New England, in an old, ancestral home where a ritual to summon a Great Old One is about to take place...
  • Thimbleweed Park (2014, HMTB 14) - In Thimbleweed Park, a dead body is the least of your problems. Switch between five playable characters to uncover the surreal secrets of this strange town in a modern mystery adventure game from the creators of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion. The deeper you go, the weirder it gets.
  • Gemini Rue (2013, HLTB 8) - All is not what it seems in this dystopia. A wonderfully told story makes up for a slightly wonky interface.
  • The Sexy Brutale (2017, HLTB 8) - An adventure puzzle game, The Sexy Brutale tasks you with exploring a mansion, while stuck in a time loop, as the inhabitants are killed off one by one.
  • Blackwell Legacy (2006, HLTB 3) - A young freelance writer is living in New York city when her aunt passes away. Her legacy isn't all she expected...
  • Loom (1990, HLTB 3) - A classic. It does away with the verb interface and uses the beautiful music of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. With three difficulty levels, it's accessible even for those who aren't musically inclined.
  • Eleima's Pick: Memoria (2103, HLTB 9) - Two stories, two main characters, one epic experience: in Memoria, players travel through different time periods, while following two distinct protagonists: Sadja, a southern princess who wants to be a war hero, and Geron, a bird catcher who wants to lift a curse from his girlfriend. I'm offering this one up as my pick because it spoke to me so strongly when I played it all those years ago. Moved me to tears, I tell you! (but in a good way!)

Looking forward to your picks, people!

Console availability: Subsurface Circular (Switch), Thimbleweed Park (XBO/PS4/Switch), The Sexy Brutale (XBO/PS4/Switch).

Also, just as a heads up that the Epic Games store will have Thimbleweed Park for free starting (I think) next week and lasting for two weeks.

Thanks so much, Clocky, you're the best! <3

Voted! Crossing fingers for The Sexy Brutale.

brokenclavicle wrote:

Voted! Crossing fingers for The Sexy Brutale.

Yeah! I won’t lie: it looks great and I voted for it!

Just finished Sexy Brutale a couple days ago. Very cool atmosphere, fun mechanics, nice design.

I saw Eleima post about this on twitter, and since I've got some of these in my backlog/wishlist already, I figured I'd see about joining in. Voted (for Subsurface Circular, Timbleweed Park, and Gemini Rue).

Still have a session or two left in Rime I reckon. 100% completion rate will come to an end this month as probably skipping Pillars. Especially as half of that new list would be up for playing, have picked top 3 most keen to play.

If folk want to vote Sexy Brutale, Red Strings Club or Subsurface Circular that'd be ideal, ta.

Also side note. Gemini Rue, Thimbleweed Park and Blackwell Legacy I know are all on mobile. Blackwell played nicely on tablet.

What a great list of options! I voted for three and I'd be delighted to play any of them.

Just to repeat an earlier PSA, if we end up playing Sexy Brutale, try to avoid the Switch version. Performance isn't great, and that's coming from someone who's usually oblivious to that kinda thing. I'll put it this way; sometimes when the devs tweet about the game, they'll follow up with "We know about the issues with the Switch version."

To be clear, I love the game. So I'd say it's better to play it on Switch than not at all, but if you've any other option, I'd go for that.

I played Blackwell on PC but double dipped on my iPad and would replay it gladly.

Okay folks, I've got 14 replies so far, and two games are tied at first place, so keep those votes coming!!

4dSwissCheese wrote:

I saw Eleima post about this on twitter, and since I've got some of these in my backlog/wishlist already, I figured I'd see about joining in. Voted (for Subsurface Circular, Timbleweed Park, and Gemini Rue).

And you are most welcome.

**QUESTION**FEEDBACK**REQUEST**
So. What do we do if the poll ends and there's a tie for first place? Do you folks want me to kinda make an executive decision? Or a do a second poll with a "one vote per person" rule?

Eleima wrote:

**QUESTION**FEEDBACK**REQUEST**
So. What do we do if the poll ends and there's a tie for first place? Do you folks want me to kinda make an executive decision? Or a do a second poll with a "one vote per person" rule?

Personally, I enjoy the voting process, so I'd be very happy to vote again to pick a winner.

LIES!! No one enjoys SurveyMonkey polls!!!

I gotta say, I was very disappointed this month when I saw that I was "Done", and not "Terminé"...

I played The Sexy Brutale shortly after it came out a couple of years ago, and it is was great (and incredibly difficult for me to figure out). So I might have voted for something else...

Second vote sounds good or you could flip a coin and tell us the result mb.

Stevintendo wrote:

I gotta say, I was very disappointed this month when I saw that I was "Done", and not "Terminé"... :D

I found the setting for that. If you folks really miss it, I can switch it back.
Edit: or pick a random language every month!!!!!!........

Eleima wrote:

So. What do we do if the poll ends and there's a tie for first place? Do you folks want me to kinda make an executive decision? Or a do a second poll with a "one vote per person" rule?

Executive decision!

I'm fine with executive decision or some other arbitrary tie-breaker (tie goes to the older game?). Or a second poll if necessary.

I just can't believe there's a full-fledged Jane Jensen adventure out there that I missed entirely. Going to have to play Gray Matter in the coming months whether it makes it as a club pick or not.

benign1 wrote:

I just can't believe there's a full-fledged Jane Jensen adventure out there that I missed entirely. Going to have to play Gray Matter in the coming months whether it makes it as a club pick or not.

Yes, you really should!!! It’s auper good and I love Sam, she’s a great character!!!

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Executive decision!

Careful... I might go mad with power...

I bought Gray Matter on Amazon *way* back when. I have to see whether it's still there in some sort of downloadable format

Toss a coin Eleima, we trust you.

Just don't go all Thread Emergency on us when Memoria does not win.

I suggest executive decision. Any one of us could decide not to participate, but I expect you would participate regardless of the choice, so it seems fair that you have slightly more say in the matter.