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Out now on Steam for PC, Mac and Linux Steam | Website Launch trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLqHUSefBjw Neverending Nightmares is a horror game that uses a very unique visual style to explore themes of mental illness, specifically depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This was a passion project done by independent developer Matt Gilgenbach, who made the reverse rhythm shooter Retro/Grade which consumed four years of his life to develop but ended up being a huge flop financially. Neverending Nightmares is partly about exploring the depression this sent him spiraling back into. Kickstarter The game was successfully Kickstarted last October, after a last minute funding mishap involving commas and decimal points. That issue was sorted out and the game still ended up exceeding its goal. Gameplay You play Thomas, a man who wakes into a series of increasingly worse nightmares. Your goal is to make your way through them and try to figure out what's real. The game uses a completely immersive visual style without inventory systems or onscreen UI elements. There's no combat or puzzles, instead it focuses on slow building psychological horror, and does it very well. There are three different endings to be found in the game, and each of them are equally ambiguous. This is one of the many ways it channels Silent Hill, in addition to the fantastic music and bizarre dreamlike dialogue. I backed it at the alpha testing level, and I've been playing all the builds as they've released, which is where these screenshots come from. Some of the art may have been tweaked since then. Currently the game is nearing the end of beta and all the content is in, and it's something really unique and special. RightClickSaveAs fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Oct 3, 2014 |
# ? Sep 14, 2014 22:21 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 01:05 |
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The game had its 100th Kickstarter update today. I think that's some kind of record, I know other bigger projects have more but they're usually in development longer. I've read every one, the openness and community involvement is a big part of what sold me on the game. More screenshots showing off the lighting system Each light source on the wall is casting a shadow from the player model
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# ? Sep 16, 2014 04:10 |
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If there are any aspiring Youtube superstars out there (even if you don't want to admit it here), the creator Matt has said he's willing to give out keys to pretty much anyone with at least 1,000 subscribers. He's really trying to get the word out about the game through whatever channels are available. Fire him an email or drop by the forums if you're interested.
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# ? Sep 17, 2014 06:03 |
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I am all over this thing when it comes out and will unashamedly scream like a baby the whole time.
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# ? Sep 17, 2014 18:21 |
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The game launches in a week, the price isn't listed yet but it's going to be $14.99, with a 10% launch discount putting it at $13.49.
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# ? Sep 19, 2014 16:55 |
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Never heard of this before but holy poo poo that art style. Excited as hell for this now.
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# ? Sep 19, 2014 17:17 |
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Awesome Welles posted:Never heard of this before but holy poo poo that art style. Release candidate 1 was pushed out today, Kickstarter beta backers can play through what's basically the full game now, and it will be going out to press and streamers. If you plan on playing the game, I'd suggest against watching much of it on streams first though, you get the best experience playing it yourself with headphones on (it uses some really cool positional audio) and in the dark.
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# ? Sep 20, 2014 04:00 |
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Just watched the trailer with my headphones on and the lights off, this thing is all freaked up. Can't wait for it to come out, I love games that try to create a headspace for the player to inhabit and not go for cheap jump shocks. Well, not just jump shocks.
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# ? Sep 21, 2014 08:22 |
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McSpanky posted:Just watched the trailer with my headphones on and the lights off, this thing is all freaked up. Can't wait for it to come out, I love games that try to create a headspace for the player to inhabit and not go for cheap jump shocks. Well, not just jump shocks. To illustrate how great the music is, here's one of my favorite tracks from the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEBNrhNQ1z8 Not to overuse the comparison, but it reminds me of Silent Hill in the best way.
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# ? Sep 22, 2014 00:28 |
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The game's up on Steam now.
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# ? Sep 26, 2014 17:42 |
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McSpanky posted:Just watched the trailer with my headphones on and the lights off, this thing is all freaked up. Can't wait for it to come out, I love games that try to create a headspace for the player to inhabit and not go for cheap jump shocks. Well, not just jump shocks. I played the demo some time ago and it was more about being unnerving and building tension than cheap scares. It felt like a game that rewards you for being observant while playing. Every time you wake up things slightly change and at one point I found myself unsure of whether something in the house was actually changing or if my memory was wrong.
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# ? Sep 26, 2014 18:11 |
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RightClickSaveAs posted:
Only two of them are casting shadows, but there's five sources of light in that picture. source: I've read highlights for kids.
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# ? Sep 26, 2014 18:17 |
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Normal Adult Human posted:Only two of them are casting shadows, but there's five sources of light in that picture. source: I've read highlights for kids.
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# ? Sep 26, 2014 19:14 |
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Giant Bomb's got a Quick Look up where they play through the first 2 3/4 levels: http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/quick-look-neverending-nightmares/2300-9504/ To answer the question they ask at one point it's definitely a Gone Home style "play through in a couple hours in one sitting" type of game rather than a puzzle or combat game. Not a lot of reviews out yet, but the consensus so far seems to be great atmosphere and sound but limited "gameplay" in the traditional sense and it's short (around 2 hours for a run with one of the endings, if you find all the branches it's 3-3.5 hours.
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# ? Sep 27, 2014 02:22 |
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This looks really cool, but I am a big baby when it comes to horror so I'll just wait until a Let's Play most likely.
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# ? Sep 27, 2014 02:42 |
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I've finished the three endings, I liked it, and I was hoping to read some discussion on putting together the jumbled jigsaw pieces of plot the game throws at you. But since no one seems to be playing this game yet, I guess I'll have to start. There's a lot of confusion and dream logic that Thomas goes through, but I think there's enough evidence to believe that most of the events he encounters (deaths aside) did actually happen to him at one point or another. If that's the case, the timeline of his life is approximately this: He grows up in a household with a very austere family, but he happens to be very close to his sister. At one point or another, his sister dies--it's not really clear how, there's reason to believe she either died while out in the forest as a child, or she committed suicide as an adult, but in either case Thomas also seems to blame himself for her death on at least some level. Eventually, he gets married and has a daughter, who also dies, and this causes him to lapse into depression and obsession over his lost sister, which manifests in what you see in the game. He has delusions, hurts himself, and most likely tries to commit suicide a few times before his wife eventually leaves him. There's a few events that suggest that he might have actually been romantically attached to his sister--he either married someone who looks exactly like her, or he just associates his actual wife with her enough that he pictures his sister in her place. And this is assuming that the wife isn't just some made-up fantasy that he came up with; if you assume the ending with the goodbye letter is just another delusion, then it's also possible that he just came up with a dream world where his sister was his wife instead of his sister. However, it's also possible that he doesn't actually hold those types of feelings toward his sister initially, but he did marry someone with the same name, and he started conflating the two at some point after the fact (and never told his wife about his sister). Outside of that, there are a bunch of recurring themes that are obviously important for one reason or another, but it's never really clear how. Someone gets stabbed in the gut at some point, either Thomas, his sister, or his daughter, or possibly two or more of them. Christian imagery appears more than once, in the form of stained glass windows, Latin Bibles, and "My God, why have you forsaken me?". There's a lot of guts, disemboweled people and animals, and it's not clear whether these are just manifestations of Thomas's suicidal obsessions or if he just had a bad experience in a meat locker at one point. He at least seems to KNOW someone who hunts, given the bear and the mounted skulls he comes across. The giant malformed babies and one other scene suggest that Thomas's wife may have had trouble during childbirth, but I'm not sure that's how his daughter died, since I'm pretty sure she appears as an older child in a portrait at the ending where she's actually relevant. I also think that, whether his sister died at that point or not, something bad happened in the forest either in or near the cemetery when Thomas was a child. I'm wondering if he and Gabriella went into the mausoleum or some cavern, and there was a cave-in afterwards, given how Thomas occasionally encounters piles of broken lumber or holes in the floor that prevent him from making progress. I'm sure there's some scenes I either missed or overlooked that might help piece things together some more. In particular, I'd like to see that gravestone at the beginning again, to see how old Gabriella was when she died--although it will be hard to know whether that information is actually reliable. The years might at least be helpful in picking out hints on when the game takes place, or even what order certain events happen in, if years are shown at any other point in the game. tl;dr: Dude has unresolved issues with probably dead sister. Also, WHO ARE THE PEOPLE IN ALL THOSE PORTRAITS
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# ? Sep 27, 2014 13:59 |
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I was waiting for more people to play it and kick the discussion off. I've played it more than a few times over the course of development but I really can't say I have more insight than you. The most common recurring theme seems to be the death of a child, so like you, I'm guessing his sister died at an early age. My personal interpretation is she died due to an accident that he feels guilty about not being able to prevent. There's one branch in the story where they're both little kids and he's running after her in the forest, but he has asthma and can never keep up. When he finally gets to her, she's lying dead with a knife stuck in her. Knives are involved in a few scenes, but I don't know if that's just manifestations of depression/guilt or representative of something that actually happened. Also, that particular branch can end in two ways, which further confuses things. What did you think of the "Wayward Dreamer" ending? That's the one where it ends with both of them as children, him finding her asleep in the bedroom, he gives her a kiss, and then walks away. Like the other endings it seems contradictory in a lot of ways, but I took it as him finally making peace with whatever happened. Wanton Spoon posted:In particular, I'd like to see that gravestone at the beginning again, to see how old Gabriella was when she died--although it will be hard to know whether that information is actually reliable. The years might at least be helpful in picking out hints on when the game takes place, or even what order certain events happen in, if years are shown at any other point in the game. The people in the paintings are Kickstarter backers who did the $500 tier, that probably doesn't need to be spoiled but they're kinda funny red herrings if you don't know why you keep seeing these random peoples' portraits all over the house. I think one of them is Phil Fish maybe? The Giant Bomb guys mentioned that in their video. There are a lot of underlying themes going on in this game and I think it was smart to keep it ambiguous and weird in the best dream-sequence way possible. I just hope people take the time to check out all the endings, it doesn't take long and they're well worth seeing, even though a couple can be a pain to find.
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# ? Sep 27, 2014 17:19 |
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There's a 4K LP without commentary series that's started to go up on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8b54Kajgak 4K made my internet connection choke and I only have a 1080p monitor anyway, but cool to know that's out there.
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# ? Sep 28, 2014 02:19 |
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Whew! Just finished it. Oh, man. For any of you guys tantalized by that neat art style thinking of picking this up - don't. Don't do it. This thing is so extraordinarily bad it's almost kind of pitiful, and I hardly ever use language like that to describe games anymore. I don't remember the last time I went through something so dire. 95% of it is spent slooowly walking to the right through empty corridors until a Scary Thing happens. The Scary Things are not very scary even if you're not a big horror buff (my heart rate didn't even go up, but I know I'm an outlier since horror fans build up a tolerance to that sort of thing quickly). That lovely art style is squandered on two straight hours of reused assets copy-pasted ad infinitum through the corridors. Sometimes you see a monster, but they're so easily evaded (probably owing to your limited mobility) that they quickly turn into one more dull piece of set dressing. At one point I walked down a corridor for fifteen minutes, and then had to walk down the same corridor, but in the dark. The design is so inept! It's hilarious! If the ideas behind the gameplay were solid I'd still probably be going to the barricades for it, but the plot is a complete waste; I don't know what the marketing pitch for it was (there's at least a few genuine dream-analysis images, though nothing ever comes of them), but the plot, such as it is, resembles nothing so much as a Fisher-Price edition of Jacob's Ladder. The symbolism veers between blindingly obvious or completely misleading, the voice acting is terrible (minor quibble, honestly, horror-game voice acting is usually super-stilted anyway), the lines themselves are dull and lifeless, and past the first Scary Thing they're all so rote and obvious that they fail to even serve as a reason for you to keep plodding through those corridors. I got the Destroyed Dreamer ending and started cracking up in helpless laughter when the credits started to roll, which is probably not the intended effect. Maybe the other two endings are better! They're not worth going down those hallways again. So there's one impression from a person who does not like it. I'd recommend Knock-Knock instead; it's also a game that consists of you walking slowly through a scary house that may or may not be a psycho-architectural metaphor for mental illness, but at least when Icepick Lodge are being desperately obtuse I'm fairly certain it's on purpose.
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# ? Sep 28, 2014 03:12 |
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I never thought of it as being scary or really even trying to be, apart from a few well placed jump scares, rather the goal all along is to create an uncomfortable and depressing atmosphere, which it does really well. I feel almost the opposite regarding Knock-knock too, although I liked the game well enough for what it is, I found Knock-knock to be an exercise in tedium once you start to figure out the mechanics (although to be fair, just figuring out the mechanics is a big part of the experience).
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# ? Sep 28, 2014 06:47 |
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Although I see where the comparison to Knock-Knock comes from, I feel like it's kind of missing the point of both games. Yes, both of them involve walking slowly through a dilapidated house that keeps changing from day to day, and both involve hiding from or otherwise evading monsters. And Knock-Knock does treat this as more of a challenge than Neverending Nightmares does. But I don't think the focus of either game is on the gameplay, because the gameplay isn't fun in either one. And I don't think the focus of either game is to be scary, because neither game is, particularly. Rather, both games are focused on creating an oppressive and unsettling atmosphere, using scares as just one method out of many in order to achieve this. And both games are focused on doing this using a unique visual style. The difference is the style of oppressive atmosphere each game is going for; Neverending Nightmares is about depression and self-loathing, Knock-Knock is about paranoid schizophrenia, and I think they both achieve what they were aiming for in their own ways. Neither game has a complex story or symbolism that all effectively comes together and has an explanation in the end, so I'm not sure why Neverending Nightmares deserves criticism for this where Knock-Knock doesn't. Neither game's story needs to be complex or cohesive because they're both about protagonists who are obsessing over one or two simple things and confused by everything else in their world. What's more important is that whatever imagery is in the game, whether it's meaningless or not, contributes to the atmosphere and aesthetics established by the game. So while some of the symbolism may be "misleading", I don't think any of it is out of place--to use the religious imagery as an example, although I never saw exactly where it fit into Neverending Nightmares in terms of the story, it makes perfect sense to me that the protagonist would be obsessing over it regardless, considering the fact that it was as central to his family as it was. I can definitely see why Neverending Nightmares wouldn't appeal to everyone. I can't even think of how I would sell this game on anyone in particular. There's nothing in this game that can be used as a selling point, except for bits and pieces of story or mechanics that aren't intended to hold up on their own. This game's appeal comes from the fact that it is a story that is personal to the author, an emotional landscape that was put together through intuition rather than logic. It either works for you or it doesn't. So I totally understand if someone hates this game, but I think it does a disservice to the game to compare its structure to the accepted standardized guidelines of engaging gameplay and/or creative writing as the explanation for why.
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# ? Sep 28, 2014 11:14 |
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Oxxidation posted:Whew! Just finished it. Oh, man. For any of you guys tantalized by that neat art style thinking of picking this up - don't. Don't do it. This thing is so extraordinarily bad it's almost kind of pitiful, and I hardly ever use language like that to describe games anymore. I don't remember the last time I went through something so dire. This is pretty much my opinion as well. With so few interaction points in the world, both from a narrative and gameplay perspective, this is one of the most boring games I've played in quite awhile. There's exceedingly little here to engage me, and without touchpoints in the world it really did feel like I was walking down a repetitive corridor for far, far too long. The pacing is generally atrocious. I will say I thought the sound design was pretty cool, but that's about the only positive thing I would say.
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# ? Sep 28, 2014 22:06 |
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I had a feeling this was going to be one of those lame-rear end Art Games with a focus on "Art" more than "Game", glad I didn't have to spend 14 bucks on finding out.
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# ? Sep 28, 2014 22:53 |
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For those of you who didn't like it, do you think it's a problem of expectations? I Kickstarted it and played early builds so I knew exactly what the game was going to be, and I'm wondering if people who don't like it were expecting puzzles or other types of more traditional gameplay. This is breaking away from the standard ideas of a game in a few ways, but it really couldn't have been what it is if it added those gameplay elements. I don't feel that puzzles, inventories and especially combat would have worked within the context of the overall experience. It's not long enough to be boring, I agree some sections stretch out more than others (the asylum seems to be a particular problem talked about in reviews), but I've played far more repetitive games, they were just better at making you think you were accomplishing something while you did the same things over and over. This game is something you experience rather than win so I think some people feel like they're not involved enough maybe? Babe Magnet posted:I had a feeling this was going to be one of those lame-rear end Art Games with a focus on "Art" more than "Game", glad I didn't have to spend 14 bucks on finding out.
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# ? Sep 29, 2014 01:16 |
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RightClickSaveAs posted:For those of you who didn't like it, do you think it's a problem of expectations? I Kickstarted it and played early builds so I knew exactly what the game was going to be, and I'm wondering if people who don't like it were expecting puzzles or other types of more traditional gameplay. This is breaking away from the standard ideas of a game in a few ways, but it really couldn't have been what it is if it added those gameplay elements. I don't feel that puzzles, inventories and especially combat would have worked within the context of the overall experience. It has nothing to do with expectations, genre, or mechanics. It's not a bad horror game, it's not a bad atmospheric game, it's just bad. It fails to entertain, to invoke, or to create thought. Its every asset is padded out for ten times longer than it should have been, its ideas are trite and shallow, its story is a joke (and becomes a tragically funny joke when you find out it's meant to be an allegory for how Sad the dev was when his last title bombed, which in light of the quality of this one isn't much of a surprise). Gone Home at least had a neat, nuanced little setting and its storytelling was effective even if it wasn't what people were expecting. This thing says nothing, means nothing, basically is nothing, which is not the best way to spend two hours. My language here is unusually charged, but Neverending Nightmares is a perfect example of what I hate most in media - a cliche, insubstantial, haphazard mess that only gains a sliver of acclaim because it tricks some people into thinking, however briefly, that it's clever and that they're clever for experiencing it. The Path is probably the closest example I can think of, it's even got the same "glacial-slow walking around nowhere followed by a Scary Thing" structure.
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# ? Sep 29, 2014 01:41 |
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RightClickSaveAs posted:do you consider Gone Home to be a "game"? I wouldn't touch this question with a 50 foot pole lol
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# ? Sep 29, 2014 05:13 |
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Oxxidation posted:It has nothing to do with expectations, genre, or mechanics. It's not a bad horror game, it's not a bad atmospheric game, it's just bad. It fails to entertain, to invoke, or to create thought. Its every asset is padded out for ten times longer than it should have been, its ideas are trite and shallow, its story is a joke (and becomes a tragically funny joke when you find out it's meant to be an allegory for how Sad the dev was when his last title bombed, which in light of the quality of this one isn't much of a surprise). Gone Home at least had a neat, nuanced little setting and its storytelling was effective even if it wasn't what people were expecting. This thing says nothing, means nothing, basically is nothing, which is not the best way to spend two hours.
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# ? Sep 29, 2014 06:09 |
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Am i the only one who doesn't like the way this game looks? It sort of reminds me of a flash game.
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# ? Sep 29, 2014 06:36 |
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In my opinion, it looks nice in stills, but it looks like utter balls in motion. Everything is really stiff, especially leg/arm movement.
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# ? Sep 29, 2014 06:42 |
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I just played this for half an hour yesterday evening, to be honest I don't know if I actually reached the genuinely horror bits yet but so far I'm not particularly impressed. I found a candle and then an axe, suddenly the main character starts pulling his veins out??? and then I have to walk the same corridors. Does this get any better soon? I also just noticed the running mechanic will make your character pant for more than 5 seconds after and I'm suspecting it may be an annoying gimmick.
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# ? Sep 29, 2014 06:52 |
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It feels like game does some neat stuff to show what the guy's struggles with mental illness were like, and then he tried to make a horror game out of it. The art does not do horror stuff well, the jump scares are laughable, and I feel like the game is yelling "Blood! Isn't that scary? Well here's MORE BLOOD. Blood blood blood! We got gallons of the poo poo!" If it was more of an unsettling or just uncomfortable tour inside this guy's psyche then it probably would have been more successful. Since his last game was a flop, maybe he threw the horror elements in there in the hopes that it would sell more copies? I dunno. quote:I also just noticed the running mechanic will make your character pant for more than 5 seconds after and I'm suspecting it may be an annoying gimmick. Pants Donkey fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Sep 29, 2014 |
# ? Sep 29, 2014 06:53 |
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I don't think Neverending Nightmares reaches anywhere near Tales of Tales level of pretention. Certainly you could try to piece together a narrative out of what the game shows you and say that this represents that etcetera, but I think it's an okay game just to go along for the ride. It's not exactly fun to play, but it managed to make me feel tense during certain segments and just felt generally oppressive. I also liked the art, but I'm the sort of person who doesn't mind things being a little rough and sketchy looking. It kind of reminded me of Jiro Matsumoto's style of drawing manga(example). It also complemented the surreality of what the protagonist experiences throughout the game. However I can't really recommend it at its current price. I got it with trading card profits, so I'm not really holding that against it too much, but it really does feel more like a five dollar game that you play through once or maybe twice if you want to see a different ending.
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# ? Sep 29, 2014 20:36 |
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FruitPunchSamurai posted:I don't think Neverending Nightmares reaches anywhere near Tales of Tales level of pretention. Certainly you could try to piece together a narrative out of what the game shows you and say that this represents that etcetera, but I think it's an okay game just to go along for the ride. It's not exactly fun to play, but it managed to make me feel tense during certain segments and just felt generally oppressive. When done well ambiguity is pretty fantastic but there's a fine line between ambiguous storytelling and pretentious garbage. I think the Tales of Tales games are definitely the latter.
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# ? Sep 30, 2014 06:19 |
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Just beat the game with the kiss your sister/doll ending (WayWard Dreamer) and...it was okay I guess? I love the look of the game and the sound and music are fantastic but man there's not a lot here in the way of interaction. I liked what little dialog was in the game but I feel like there needed to be more of it and more things to interact with and maybe more puzzles. There were a few right at the beginning of the game and then pretty much nothing other than the simple dodge the blind patients. I guess I'll go back and try for the other two endings but man I'm a little disappointed. e: found the Destroyed Dreams ending and that segment was a hell of a lot more interesting and fun than the rest of the game. it actually felt like there was a sense of urgency which isn't present in any of the other chapters, though I guess now there are two more I haven't seen. gotta figure out how to get those Yodzilla fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Oct 14, 2014 |
# ? Oct 14, 2014 00:54 |
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Yodzilla posted:Just beat the game with the kiss your sister/doll ending (WayWard Dreamer) and...it was okay I guess? I love the look of the game and the sound and music are fantastic but man there's not a lot here in the way of interaction. I liked what little dialog was in the game but I feel like there needed to be more of it and more things to interact with and maybe more puzzles. There were a few right at the beginning of the game and then pretty much nothing other than the simple dodge the blind patients. Here's a general hint: at the end of Insanity (the asylum level), don't jump off the edge. More specifically, you need to turn around and go back in the door you just came out of. That takes you to Together at Last, and the default path through that level ends up at Final Descent. Wayward Dreamer was my favorite ending, but I played it last, so I'd already seen the others. The others seem to end a little more in line with the rest of the story, and also have some really strong sections that make great use of the candle and lighting.
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# ? Oct 14, 2014 02:48 |
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poo poo I'm glad I moused over that spoiler, I probably wouldn't have tried that.
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# ? Oct 14, 2014 03:30 |
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Got all of the endings! Welp. My biggest takeaway is that a good deal of the paintings in the background remind me of when Shmorky draws "realistic" people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI2feuCt730 And here Matt Gilgenbach talks about interactivity or the lack thereof. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSN_PTm9Vok Not sure I agree with his ideas.
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# ? Oct 15, 2014 01:07 |
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The game's on sale on Steam for $11.24 for Halloween. It's also worth mentioning that the awesome soundtrack is available on Bandcamp now: https://skylermcglothlin.bandcamp.com/album/neverending-nightmares-soundtrack
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# ? Nov 1, 2014 01:26 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 01:05 |
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Now on sale, buried somewhere under the piles of other sales, for $9 on Steam and the Humble Store.
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# ? Nov 27, 2014 16:26 |