Oddly-named ‘Judging’ sections have you pick a reaction to a piece of dialogue, influencing your relationship with that character. There are several points at which you are challenged and can influence the story. While the plot is reasonably engaging, it smacks of imperfect translation and comes across as a little juvenile in its writing. It’s a lengthy experience for a visual novel, taking an hour or two to properly get started and clocking in at around 20 hours overall. Spirit Hunter: NG is a horror visual novel that has you getting tangled up in a web of vengeful spirits and their curses, in order to rescue your kidnapped little sister. With it being Halloween, we had to throw a spooky game into the mix somewhere. The campaign scenarios introduce you to all of its systems very gradually, and there’s plenty of freedom to customise your aquariums exactly how you please – even if they’re arguably not as interesting to build and look at as theme parks and cities. That said, it’s otherwise a fairly tight and enjoyable sim. Determining appropriate combinations of fish that won’t fight or eat each other is a crucial aspect of the game, and it’s a bit of a headache to do so in this version. There are a lot of menus to wade through in Megaquarium, and predictably, this isn’t as smooth without a keyboard and mouse. The UI, however, is where things get a little slippier. The already simple visuals have taken a further downgrade to achieve this – arguably a worthwhile tradeoff, even if it does look a little crude in places. I found the framerate to be consistently smooth in both handheld and docked mode. So how does Megaquarium on Switch hold up? It works, on a fundamental level at least. Because Switch ports are practically the law nowadays, it was inevitable that it would make its way over to Nintendo’s popular hybrid console. When Megaquarium released as the first aquarium simulator of its kind just over a year ago, then, it was actually a pretty tame idea – and a generally well-received one, too. If the last few years have shown us anything, it’s that you really can make a simulation game about anything. Manifold Garden isn’t a particularly challenging puzzle experience, but it’s an awe-inspiring and memorable one. Many of the puzzles revolve around manipulating corresponding coloured blocks in order to trigger changes in the level to let you progress. You have to witness it in person.Īs if that wasn’t mind-boggling enough, you can freely alter your gravitational pull in six directions, with each orientation smartly colouring the platform to help you maintain some semblance of direction. It blew my mind the first time I experienced it, and it never got old. Walk off a ledge and you’ll fall forever, the platforms repeating themselves. What’s truly staggering, however, is that these levels loop infinitely. Its environments are vast, psychedelic spaces of abstract architecture, with more than a hint of M.C. Manifold Garden is a remarkable piece of design, one of the best-looking puzzlers I’ve played in years. I’m thankful to say this theoretical situation absolutely does not apply here. Imagine spending such a portion of your life on something for it to not come to fruition in the end. Manifold Garden is a clear labour of love, a project that’s taken its solo developer, William Chyr, seven years to make. Read on to find which are worth playing and which are best left uninstalled. This month, we’ve got everything from a horror visual novel to an aquarium simulator and a puzzler about starting your own band. It’s time for our monthly review roundup, which means we’ve got a bunch of weird and wonderful indie games for you to check out.
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