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Nightmare Frames (from the creator of Urban Witch Story) just released!
all that will change a lot, and the fear will begin…
right on the money!
Nice to see a small game like this get a positive review on Polygon.
With respect to the discussion in the review thread this part stood out: “With some (not all!) contemporary point-and-clicks, the first hour is often a reasonable indicator of whether a story is built around senseless masturbatory nostalgia for the days of LucasArts and Sierra.”
Even though we all love those old games I think it’s important to criticize new adventure games for not bringing anything new to the table in the reviews instead of rewarding it. Though, that’s more of a discussion for the other thread.
I loved the writing in Urban Witch Story so I had high hopes for this game and so far it is delivering even though I’ve only played an hour so far.
I’m excited to see where the game will go.
Devs who feel the need to prove their credentials in the genre by inserting tired Sierra/Lucas Arts ‘in’ jokes in their games are, at this point, like the people who try too hard dressing up for concerts and festivals, or just to go shopping in a specific place. Those who belong usually don’t feel the need to prove that they belong.
The LucasArts and Sierra stuff was cute for a while, but jiminy Christmas, nowadays 95% of them just degrade the quality of the writing and take me out of what might be an otherwise excellent experience.
Precisely this! I like that Nightmare Frames has an Urban Witch Story reference since that makes sense for the dev to reference their own game, but referencing other people’s games so much is not a good look. There’s a game on kickstarter now, A Twisted Tale, that had so many references in the first scene I couldn’t continue.
Well, as much as it’s great for the game to get such a good review it’s a shame that it’s from a site like polygon (look it up!!!) & it had to be so crude + disrespectful.
Hmm, I looked and didn’t see anything about Polygon doing something more terrible than the usual with respect to mainstream gaming sites. Maybe my expectations are low or I didn’t find what you were referring to.
Even though we all love those old games I think it’s important to criticize new adventure games for not bringing anything new to the table in the reviews instead of rewarding it. Though, that’s more of a discussion for the other thread.
Games in my mind should be assessed on the quality of their content so I disagree strongly with criticising the lack of novel aspects although if included should be credited.
I guess my point here was more with respect to humor and writing. I actually don’t mind if games don’t innovate on gameplay, because the classic point and click gameplay is still compelling. It’s when the writing sounds like it’s trying too hard to sound like the classics that really bothers me.
Interesting, I thought this game would be more your style, Dcast.
I agree with you to some extent, though I love the amount of things the protagonist can check out. The occasional snide comments made me laugh, or roll my eyes, but they did make me appreciate the character more. Not always in the form of liking him, but I think I kind of got him.
He was a bit petulant, though.
Well, I think that’s the point and why the main character is so well written: you are not supossed to like him, at least from the beginning. He is a sort of Barton Fink.
Currently translating Strangeland into Spanish. Wish me luck, or send me money to my Paypal haha
walas74 you almost convinced me 
and you definitely intrigued me!
Let me read a few more opinions and, maybe, VP’s review, and I might just get it.
VP, it’s strange - I read a lot in regular life so, for some unexplained reasons, when it comes to adventures, it manifests itself in not wanting to wade through copious amounts of dialogues and descriptions unless it comes with a heavy interactive element. It’s like my brain tells me “you are already doing enough of that - can we do something different?”
That’s what I’m trying to gauge here, I suppose - how fulfilling is the interactive element, how much of this game do you get to actually play through as oppose to “read through”, if that makes sense. Is it “spent a long time talking to everyone and reading a bunch of descriptions” then do a simple puzzle quickly and go back to talking and reading a bunch?
Similar reasons NORCO didn’t quite work for me - not enough neuron activity for my brain. I remember reading a random Steam review where someone said something along the lines of “I am a monkey. I love me a good story and writing, but I also want some banana” - which about sums up my feelings.
That make sense.
I do think the game might fall short for you in that respect: it’s mostly a novel in a point & click adventure game. And it’s very Hollywood, so if that’s something you have enough of outside of adventure games, it might not be as interesting a subject as it is for someone like me.
About the references: I’d argue there’s a huge difference between a random name-drop and a cleverly and appropriately placed shoutout or tribute to another piece of media. And a lot of space in between.
It might take some attentive design to pull off. Maybe skip the obvious candidates. But it can be used in ways that add something to a game.
walas74 you almost convinced me
Let me read a few more opinions and, maybe, VP’s review, and I might just get it.
VP, it’s strange - I read a lot in regular life so, for some unexplained reasons, when it comes to adventures, it manifests itself in not wanting to wade through copious amounts of dialogues and descriptions unless it comes with a heavy interactive element. It’s like my brain tells me “you are already doing enough of that - can we do something different?”
That’s what I’m trying to gauge here, I suppose - how fulfilling is the interactive element, how much of this game do you get to actually play through as oppose to “read through”, if that makes sense. Is it “spent a long time talking to everyone and reading a bunch of descriptions” then do a simple puzzle quickly and go back to talking and reading a bunch?
Similar reasons NORCO didn’t quite work for me - not enough neuron activity for my brain. I remember reading a random Steam review where someone said something along the lines of “I am a monkey. I love me a good story and writing, but I also want some banana” - which about sums up my feelings.
Im with you on norco totally, i dont get they hype, from the demo. I tried it twice bc planetx liked the game so much, but it did not connect for me much at all.
i am enjoying the dialogue itself, it is so witty!, but hating the double description, it’s a bit too much, that is why voice acting release one player from the burden of reading too much and sometimes useless ‘words’.. hope this problem gets better as I advance into the adventure.
My Steam review (without spoilers)
Since I played Urban Witch Story by Postmodern Adventures (a must-play game available for free at itch.io) and I heard that their next game would be a commercial release called “Nightmare Frames”, I couldn’t wait to play it. Now that I have finished it, I can write a complete review.
In my reviews I don’t like to write spoilers about the story, so I will begin saying that the main character, Alan, is an scriptwriter for horror movies in the 80’s Hollywood. Yeah, that out of control Hollywood. We will realize immediately that Alan is an egocentric prick who wants to win an Oscar at all costs and be renowned, and after being nominated for a “serious” movie, he is now frustrated because now he only writes scripts for slasher movies. We won’t like Alan from the beginning and that’s is ok, one can see clearly that’s what the game developer wants. He is a very well written character, who we won’t empathize at first, but hey, I don’t believe we empathize with Rufus from Deponia or Simon the Sorcerer.
There comes a time when Alan will have to look for the last movie by Edward Keller, a director who only made one horror movie which caused much of a stir. And It seems this lost movie was going to be the scariest movie ever. And that’s all I should tell you not to spoiler the game.
There are many adventure games that play the card of nostalgia and their sales spitch is like “inspired by the classics by Lucas Arts and Sierra”. So it is pleasent that someone looks for a different path, with and adult adventure game, astoundingly written, with credible characters and one you can’t stop playing to know what will happen next.
Hollywood’s world is brilliantly described, the game aptly criticizes the flaws of that world, there are many cinephile references and one can notice the love and care from the developer for cinema in general and horror movies in particular. We will see some sort of mocking reference to Scientology, we will have the chance to play an arcade with a couple of quiz games, and during our adventure we will have the pleasure of listening Claire de Lune by Debussy.
Alan is the main character, but there is some kind of omniscient narrator who will tell us the stories of the characters we will meet in our way, and who Alan will interact with sometimes, providing very funny moments. Descriptions of everything are written way above average aventure games do, dialogs are superb and you can feel that the game consider you seriously.
Regarding to puzzles, there are not too many and not too hard, but that’s the idea: not interrupting the unraveling of the plot. The puzzles present are logical, there is no pixel hunting, I don’t think you will get stuck for a long time nor you will have to use a walkthrough to continue.
And when the horror makes its appearence… well, it would be better for you to enjoy for yourself, with lights off and with headphones, as sound effects are spectacular.
In a year when we have the return of Syberia and Monkey Island, I dare to say that Nightmare Frames will be a tough contender for Best Adventure Game of the Year.
Currently translating Strangeland into Spanish. Wish me luck, or send me money to my Paypal haha
Was gonna hold off on playing this because I’m day one for AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative this Friday, and didn’t want to start the story and drop it midway. But after checking some Steam reviews and seeing that most people’s playtime winded up being ~7 hrs I figured I could get through it quick enough.
I played the demo for this a few months back and the writing really impressed me, and guess what? It still impresses me. It takes good writing chops to have this kind of bitter and opinionated protagonist still come across likable, and often funny. You can very easily drift off into Nathan from VirtuaVerse territory. It helps that while Alan quips about the stupidity of the average horror movie fan, he hasn’t yet treated another character you interact with badly, keeping it at the level of a spicy or sarcastic comment. Writing a likable curmudgeon is a tightrope walk and so far Nightmare Frames is maintaining the balance.
I’m also loving the detail of the hotspot reads and how they flesh out Nightmare Frame’s version of 80’s Hollywood through Alan’s perspective. The depth and wit reminds me of games from Legend Entertainment, like Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon (or Policenauts). Good thing, too, because Nightmare Frames (as of this writing) is a very narrative driven adventure game. I think I’ve played for an hour, picked up two items, and haven’t solved a single puzzle. But I don’t mind so long as what the game is giving me keeps me entertained, and so far I am.
Just finished this up and I love the game, man what a wild ride, I especially loved the team up with Alan and Rick Bowman in Serena. I don’t want to speak too soon but I feel like Serena could go on to be a classic adventure game setting.How every inch of it is dotted with some interesting tragedy, and how the interconnectedness of the town’s misfortune eventually reveals itself it a completely believable way. Great stuff.
Everything I mentioned previously about the writing held true to the end, it’s fantastic. Puzzle-wise it does beef up a little bit in the game’s latter half. With the puzzles ranging from hum-drum to fairly decent IMO, but they get the job done. I think the game’s first half, which is essentially comprised of detective work, would have benefited from taking a page off the book of Japanese adventures, or recent experimental indies, by making problem solving challenges out of character interaction rather than item use puzzles based on physical interactions. Something in the vein of the tape recorder puzzles in NORCO, where you use characters words against them. Or manipulating emotions to get information in The Red Strings Club. A unique system like that tailored to Alan’s personality would have been more interesting to me. For instance, I can easily imagine a dialogue puzzle with the pedophile photographer. Where you have to think logically to make him slip-up and accidentally mention his crimes while tape recording it. Something in that style would elevate the narrative more than getting photos with gum and a paintbrush IMO.
But, ultimately, the fact that the puzzles are merely okay doesn’t harm how great of an experience Nightmare Frames is. I love games like this, that feel like they’re driven by a singular creative vision and are willing to take big risks for big payoffs. And the story of Nightmare Frames has some big payoffs. I was engrossed the whole way through, will be recommending this to friends, and will play anything Postmodern Adventures cooks up in the future. Another serious AOTY contender in a great year for adventure games.
great review Veggie man, love it, short and very objective..
the style is 100% adventuregamers review, so it is very coherent to the site, i myself would love to see reviews in points (one day) as it was with PCGamers-magazine back in the days, but please don’t give any weight to these words, i am just being truthful to myself.
“it makes the remarks made by an omnipresent narrator blend in with the main character’s more mundane and ego-driven quips and observations.”
loved this line, really echoed my thoughts while playing, being sometimes lost in defining the written lines, between the character’s dialogues and the narrator’s.
do you think if the game had Voice acting it would have maybe deserved half a star more? or this production value(s) should not interfere with any game rating or judgment?
I can’t see the review yet 
I gave it myself 4 stars.
Currently translating Strangeland into Spanish. Wish me luck, or send me money to my Paypal haha
it was there for a while and then disappeared, but here is the link i have found it at my ‘history’
it was there for a while and then disappeared, but here is the link i have found it at my ‘history’
Thank! Maybe VP wants to change something about the review.
Currently translating Strangeland into Spanish. Wish me luck, or send me money to my Paypal haha
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