The titular Violett’s striking purple hair is as vibrant as the world her point and click adventure unfolds in. Having recently moved into a new home in the country with her parents, Violett is drawn to a glowing light in a hole in her bedroom wall. Upon reaching in and retrieving a glowing amulet, she somehow shrinks and finds herself in an otherworldly dimension.

Rife with puzzles and objects to find, collect and interact with, Violett Remastered is a noticeable improvement over its 2013 original and also offers new levels. The point and click adventure still provides a decent challenge for genre fans with its strong and memorable puzzles.

Violett Remastered is a tale told visually, with no text-based dialogue or narration, effectively communicated within the confines of its gorgeous art-style. When Violett and her parents move to an old house in the middle of nowhere, she has no idea that an old necklace hidden in her bedroom wall will send her on a wild, unexpected and puzzling adventure. Magically shrunken, Violett experiences the world from a much smaller perspective, with everything and every creature she encounters feeling larger than life. Over a dozen levels teeming with insects – giant from Violett’s newfound perspective – are also home to some clever and admittedly challenging puzzles.

As a point and click adventure, Violett Remastered certainly delivers in the puzzle department the genre is adored for. Violett is able to move between environments and interact with countless objects and characters that populate them, using them to solve puzzles that increase in complexity with story progression. Some of the interactions are well hidden amidst the vibrant backdrops and sheer density of the artistic landscape, making them difficult to find without through exploration. For players struggling with the puzzles there is an excellent hint function that highlights all possible interactions on-screen.

I am not ashamed to admit I had to use this several times, even though I had played the original title nearly ten years ago. While it highlights the things that can be interacted with it is still up to the player to determine which items from their inventory need to be used with other objects or characters to keep the story moving. This guided assistance certainly helps and when all else fails, trying everything within the inventory with all of the points of interest identified by the hint function will eventually get even the most casual of puzzle players through.

The areas Violett journeys through are so diverse and interesting, ranging from the likes of libraries, caverns, volcanos, islands and many more clever takes on the world from a smaller perspective. These locations are vibrant, exciting and cleverly designed.

The playful interactions and animations breathe life into this micro-world and it’s fun to have to put in the work to progress and see more of it. Playful sound design and an enchanting score keeps the atmosphere light and fun, a welcome approach to the presentation to compliment the potentially stressful puzzle-solving.

Violett Remastered is a genuine improvement over the original and a faithful representation of the beloved point and click genre. Casual and franchise fans can enjoy the experience at their own pace with the invaluable hint system available if things feel a little tough. The charming visuals in the delightful micro-world Violett finds herself in keep each location interesting and unique, a playful distraction to the increasingly complex puzzles standing in the way of progression.

+ Fun art and level design

+ Genuinely challenging puzzles

+ Excellent hint system

– Story is minimalistic

– No character development

– No replay value

Developed by: Forever Entertainment

Published by: Forever Entertainment

Release Date: June 4 2021

Platforms: Xbox One/Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch and PC

 * A digital code was kindly provided by the Publisher for the purpose of this review *

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The post Violett Remastered Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Loosely based on the actual events surrounding the nuclear powered Russian submarine known as the K-141 Kursk, developer Jujubee have endeavored to tell this tale in what they’ve marketed as “the first adventure and documentary video game inspired by real events” with Kursk.

Playing out as a first person adventure title with puzzles to solve, clues to find and conspiracies to uncover and execute, the player assumes the role of an American spy tasked with sabotaging the submarine during its secretive Summer X war exercises.

Kursk is a narrative driven adventure full of twists and turns and a cast of historically inspired figures that were instrumental to the testing of the powerful titular nuclear submarine. Gaining the trust of the crew, gathering intelligence and ultimately fighting for survival is essentially the premise of Kursk. Taking place almost entirely on the submarine itself, with the exception of a handful of flashback sequences, backtracking with new items and story progression are key to opening up more of the submarine to explore.

Witnessing this significant historical event unfold takes around three hours but the playtime could easily be extended with extensive exploration, searching for interesting documents that reveal further backstory to the event and a few mini-games to name just a few distractions.

Unfortunately for Kursk, despite taking place in a surprisingly detailed environment within the massive submarine, the gameplay is pretty brutal. It’s incredibly slow and clunky whether walking, running or swimming.  Simple tasks like walking around an object can be daunting as a box for instance can feel like it has an invisible barrier twice its size that prevents passing for a few attempts.

Interaction is another function that is painstakingly realised. Activating a switch or a lever, opening a door or interacting with just about anything has to be done at such specific angles. Looking at a door handle isn’t good enough but rather looking at a specific point of the handle from an equally specific angle is the key. As the game is largely based around walking, exploration and interaction it is painful for that to be and feel as cumbersome as it does. It’s such a shame as the story itself is genuinely interesting but the gameplay execution significantly hinders the experience.

Kursk is full of characters based on their historical counterparts and what they have to say, as well as the actual story is interesting. The world Jujubee have developed feels fleshed out and genuine but the mechanics within that world in regards to the gameplay are severely at odds with the narrative vision. Kursk isn’t a bad game, it just has bad gameplay.

The visual detail is quite impressive within the submarine. It’s huge, full of rooms and areas to explore and interact with and populated by people who admittedly move around as though they are made of wood. Environmental design is certainly the most impressive visual aspect of Kursk and the sound design is appropriately dramatic and tense.

Kursk is an ambitious project when considering the marketing as the “first documentary video game inspired by real events”. It feels as though Kursk would work a lot better as a documentary when considering the poor execution of essentially all aspects of the gameplay.

The story is interesting and even at its short length it feels like just the right amount of time to tell it. Unfortunately the cumbersome gameplay constantly holds back the narrative flow and any sense of pacing fails to gain momentum as a result.

+ Submarine is surprisingly detailed

+ Genuinely interesting and historically inspired story

+ Lots of secrets to find

– Slow, clunky and tedious gameplay

– Unresponsive interactions

– Poor character models and animations

– No replay value

Developed by: Jujubee

Published by: Forever Entertainment

Release Date: May 7 2021

Platforms: Xbox One/Series X/S, PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch and PC

* A digital code was kindly provided by the Publisher for the purpose of this review * 

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The post Kursk Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Set in a cyberpunk-themed world where technology rules the day, Danger Scavenger is an action packed roguelite that puts players in the role of one of four Scavengers as they attempt to survive and explore the sprawling skyline of a digital metropolis.

Defeat sends the player back to start all over again, placing a sense of urgency in the player and their survival instincts while encouraging the calculated risk vs reward dilemma that make or break the playthrough. With satisfying gameplay and an increasing difficulty challenge, Danger Scavenger takes dungeon crawling to the skyline with its cyber action.

The Star Drifters developed title seamlessly blends the fast pacing of twin-stick shooters with dungeon crawlers in the cyberpunk setting with ease. Surviving the dystopian skyline has that typical roguelite balance of enjoyment vs frustration with losing it all upon defeat. Survival is satisfying and though defeat means back to square one, the lessons learned prove useful in making future runs more successful and therefore increase the enjoyability. While the plot itself leaves a little to be desired, the premise of a world taken over by AI that uses its legions of robot armies to enforce their rule works well enough with the gameplay to provide context as to why the player, known as a Scavenger, is raging against the machines either alone or with one other player.

Each run starts with the player selecting their Scavenger from one of four, with each Scavenger bringing unique skills to the table that encourage experimentation and replayability to see who works best for your preferred play style. With no tutorial of any kind, the player is dropped in a fight or flight situation to figure things out on the fly.

The game is played from a top-down isometric perspective in levels that consist of small areas that connect to the primary path, allowing the player to choose branching paths on their ascent to the top of the tower. These areas contain varying enemies and objectives, ranging from wave based encounters requiring survival while a computer hacks a server, typical enemy clearing areas and boss fights against elite enemies and their mechanical goons. The aim of the game is to simply survive the ascent of the tower while defeating every enemy and completing every objective along the way.

An impressive variety of ranged and melee weapons can be found and switched at will that keep the combat interesting and engaging. Completing a level allows any scrap collected throughout, as dropped resources or from environmental exploration, and used to upgrade equipment from the workbench in the hub area in between levels in preparation for the next. Defeat will result in all obtained items being lost and having to start from scratch. Danger Scavenger will certainly test player patience, particularly for casual players. Failure allows familiarity of the gameplay and areas which makes future attempts a little easier though overall it’s quite a difficult experience.

Visually Danger Scavenger is vibrant and appropriately dystopian, complemented wonderfully by a techno style score. The overall presentation compliments the pacing of the gameplay.

Danger Scavenger is a decent addition to the genre and offers a challenge that is likely to divide players. Those familiar with genre will enjoy the difficulty but frustration is all but guaranteed for casual genre players like myself. A diverse arsenal and wide variety of enemies keep the experience interesting and successful runs feel very rewarding. The cyberpunk theme is consistently presented visually and in its sound design to feel like a refreshing change of scenery for the genre.

+ Cyberpunk setting is well presented

+ Weapon variety keeps things interesting

+ Enemy diversity

+ Fast paced action

– Quite difficult for casual players of the genre

– Lack of story

– Shallow character development

Developed by: Star Drifters
Published by: Forever Entertainment
Release Date: March 25 2021
Platforms: Nintendo Switch and PC

* A digital code was kindly provided by the Publisher for the purpose of this review *

– Additional Links –

For more of my reviews, click HERE.

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All digital photography was captured by Games of DAYNE in-game on Xbox Series X.

The post Danger Scavenger Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.