Atmospheric

Remothered: Broken Porcelain Review

October 31, 2024November 11, 2025HalsdollLeave a comment

If I have to summarize the plot of this game, I probably couldn’t, and it was not as if there wasn’t a story. There was so much telling and less showing that I started to daydream midway. Just imagine listening to a dry history class lecture. Are you going to retain any information? Probably not unless it affects you in some way.

You see, I don’t know what it’s like to have a bad father. The dad in this game is SUPER EVIL. But I do know what it’s like not to “have” a dad presence around. That doesn’t make him evil. For this reason, I didn’t find the plot mind-boggling. However, I do agree with the story that there’s a monster in every businessman.

What’s funny is that I didn’t quite grasp the story until playing the second installment. I suppose the developer decided to lay out the story because the first one wasn’t clear. From the beginning, we get a recap of the first game. After that, the evil dad kept divulging his dirty laundry to the protagonist. Is it Jennifer or Celeste? I don’t know what the real name of the protagonist is anymore. Despite my dissatisfaction with the story, I still enjoyed Remothered: Broken Porcelain. The hide-and-seek portion was fun. I like exploring the hotel and having a female best friend. You know, being a delinquent adolescent, having dreams, and breaking the norm. It’s a euphoric feeling.

Unfortunately, I don’t classify myself as being a part of the LGBT community. So, the romantic scene in this game didn’t really mean anything to me. However, I appreciate it because we don’t see a lot of this type of narrative in video games.

As far as the gameplay, I mentioned briefly that I enjoyed the hiding and exploring part. This was until I unlocked the special “moth” power. This power puts players into first-person view. It reminded me of the game, Amy, where you control things with your mind. I don’t like first-person view games. That’s why I was a little disappointed in the game.

So, if the story and gameplay are okay, what makes this game special? The answer is the artwork. I like the monster and character designs. I like the atmosphere of the game. Lastly, I like collecting the trading cards. I have a few more to collect.

Overall, the game was enjoyable, but it would have been great if it was more suspenseful and mysterious. So, if you are a true survival horror fan, you should still check it out.

Strange Horticulture (PC) Review

November 17, 2023December 14, 2023Halsdoll1 Comment

Decades ago, when nongamers thought about video games two things came to mind: 1) it’s for kids and 2) it’s violent. Well, it looks like an article titled Some developers are pushing back against violent video games from the Economist is actually finally catching up. Any passionate gamer would know that video game is such a broad term like music that not all games fall into the violent category, and so I would like to introduce my readers to a relaxing game called Strange Horticulture, a game developed by Bad Viking, published by Iceberg Interactive.

When I initially watched the trailer, I was attracted to the variety of plants* but had my doubts about playing a game that requires players to label and manage an inventory of plants. That sounds kind of boring. How could that possibly be relaxing? To my surprise, the game is properly advertised. It’s atmospheric and relaxing. It’s dark and mysterious but not overbearingly gloomy. To some of us, the sound of rain is quite soothing to the mind, especially for those of us who suffer from anxiety. But what I enjoyed most about the game is the actual gameplay. It was fun navigating the map, reading through letters, and solving clue cards to locate plants. When you successfully locate the plants on the map, you are rewarded with a text that reveals more about the story and its characters. It reminds me of reading a novel. I like that. As the game progresses, the puzzles become more difficult but not to the point where it’s frustrating. I ended up playing the game twice and unlocked 3 endings out of 8 (You can reload your save points, so you don’t have to play from the beginning to get different endings). So, replay value is decent for those who want 100 % achievement. It’s not overly difficult as I am currently 3 achievements shy from 100% game completion.

I also enjoyed the game’s soundtrack which I found out through reading an article from soundwave-sound.com that the tracks aren’t original. The developer states in the article that it would be too expensive to hire a composer for the game, which is understandable for a small game developer. Strangely, this notion makes me happy because it’s a win-win situation for everyone. If I never played Strange Horticulture, I would have never discovered new music. You see, you don’t have to break the bank to find some enjoyment in life. Do you want to worry less? Here is a Worryless plant for you! That’s exactly what I got out of this game!

P.S.

I thought of a funny joke while playing this game on how it can turn from relaxing into a horror game. Well, it’s quite simple, it involves putting a price tag on plants because as we know, inflation is currently quite high.

Note: I used the term plants* instead of flowers because they are the same to me–however scientifically it’s not the case.