Mr. Skeltal's thoughts deposit

During the sixth generation of video games, the most popular genre at the time was the linear action adventure game, almost every title that was released belonged to this genre. Despite not reaching the popularity of others, Enclave is part of this category. Aesthetics Despite the age, it's possible to admire charming visuals The pure graphics are child of the sixth generation, with a graphical style influenced by the most typical fantasy, this isn't bad since it gives the game enjoyable scenes despite the texture being a bit low resolution. A small note, rise the brightness a lot, sometimes it becomes so dark to strain the eyes. The particle effects are ok, they are not the most pronounced but not invisible either. The animations are janky, they aren't ...

In the last years, point and click adventure games have fallen out of popularity, bested by titles that mix intriguing narratives with more elaborated game mechanics. This doesn't stop independent developers in trying to reinvigorate the genre with their productions or create love letters in the name of the titles of the past. Detective Gallo belongs to the second category. To stay up to date, follow me on steam or twitter . Aesthetics It's a quiet night in the knives district The game utilizes bi-dimensional graphics with a style vaguely reminiscent of Mickey Mouse comic books with protagonist either Donald Duck or Scrooge McDuck It's nice to see, functional, and it gives a nice cartoon effect to everything. The animations are fine, there isn't much to say, they do the neces...

Sometimes it happens that a title gets lost in a period of releases of similar games of the same genre in a short span of time and it gets forgotten. Rising Kingdoms is one such a game, but it doesn't mean it should be ignored.  Aesthetics You must always be ready to battle The game utilizes bi-dimensional graphics with pre-rendered sprites and saturated colors, a bit out of the norm for 2005, since almost all developers had switched to the use of 3D polygons, but it is curated enough to not be a negative. The particle effects are a bit underwhelming, it can happen that you are not able to see them in the heat of battle. It is a bad thing when they must depict important actions like healing. The animations are ok, with the ones dedicated to the destruction of structures particularly well de...

Frequently it can happen that you exit a game wishing to have experienced a bit more, to have had the chance to see for a little while longer and to have explored more. Clam man suffers from this despite the contents present being good. To stay up to date, follow me on steam or twitter . Aesthetics “Evil doers,  repent! The duck is nigh”. The bi-dimensional graphics are done with a hand-drawn style.  The drawings are nicely colorful, with some visual gags here and there. In addition, the images of the characters are mainly caricatures of various tropes, giving them a unique and recognizable look. The animations lack some frame and come across as a bit janky. They are not ugly, but...

A movement I support is the recent trend of some indie developers to create games loosely based on popular retro titles. I like it because, if done well, they can be elevated to the status of sequel that we never got, especially if a particular game doesn't get released in a while, these loosely based games can fill a void both for old fans and for people that have never played the original title. Bug Fables does exactly this and, while I've never played a Paper Mario title despite I recognize the influence, manages to be a unique and enthralling experience. To stay up to date, follow me on steam or twitter . Aesthetics A moment of respite before starting the adventure The graphics are well curated, with a mix between bi-dimensional images and three-dimensional structures, with the sprites having a cutout effect that gets emphasized when they turn or ...

Mech focused action games are not really popular today. That typology of games having shooter aspects, but that focalise on piloting a mechanical vehicle adding complexity and tools with unique and customizable properties. If you ever feel the desire for such a game then you should take a look at Battle Engine Aquila. To stay up to date, follow me on steam or twitter . Aesthetics Fighting to guarantee a bridgehead The game, released in 2003, uses standard graphics for the age, with an average number of polygons for the models and textures with saturated colors. Furthermore, the game doesn't go for a realistic style, but for a colorful almost comic book one, very popular during the 6th generations of video games. The particles effects are on point, but I do wish that they lasted longer, especially since the debris don't stay on the battlefield f...

A colorful graphic style may bring one to believe that a game is aimed to a casual audience with no appeal to more veteran players, that a simple game is one without any kind of depth or interesting mechanics, but that's not true. Simple does not mean simplistic and Iron Marines demonstrates this. To stay up to date, follow me on steam or twitter . Aesthetics The first of the three worlds in the game Iron Marines uses a lot of very colorful 2D sprites, despite being highly saturated, they have been drawn well enough that everything has a distinct silhouette that helps avoid confusion in the midst of battle. Animations are nice, although some walking upward ones can look a bit jarring since most of the units don't have a back facing sprite when walking, ...