Ratings by Lizard of Oz

I followed the game almost from the very beginning, and I could not wait to get my hands on it. But while I really enjoyed the game’s artwork and atmosphere, I never felt any of the sense of desolation and fear that was part of the protagonist’s experience, and I was unable to relate to the tragedy that unfolded, even though it was all visible on my screen. Maybe that’s because the game was completely predictable for anyone with a passing interest in sci-fi/horror. Finished the game because it was technically so excellent and visually stunning, and I do hope the creators will make something great next time

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Time Played: Under 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy

A lovely game with rather unique mechanics that manages to tell a touching story without a single word. I played this alone, and then I watched my seven year old son play this game, helping him out here and there, but mostly enjoying his sense of discovery and how happy it made him (he’s usually stressed after playing computer games for more than 30 minutes). Can’t recommend this enough.

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Time Played: 2-5 hours
Difficulty: Easy

Allow me to point out that I do like the absurd, the quirky and whimsical, and the last adventure game I thoroughly enjoyed was Resonance.

A friend who backed Thimbleweed Park recommended it to me as one of the greatest games ever made, so I decided to check it out.

I liked the pixel arts, but the chaotic gameplay, the muddled story and the complete relatable characters led me uninstall the game after a couple of hours.

Maybe the ambition to be funny (in a teenage movie kind of way) gets in the way of telling a meaningful story, and I found the characters annoying, one-dimensional and boring.

I’m not a fan of Monkey Island and the cult around Lucas Arts games (the only one I could ever be bothered to finish was The Dig), so having dialog options about them did not add to the game for me.

What really gets me is that I could have known all this before. It was in the reviews. It was clear from the way the game was described on GOG. I decided to ignore this, because I wanted to like it. My own fault entirely. I could have read the sings.

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Time Played: 5-10 hours

When I started playing Goetia, everything seemed spot on: the artwork, the setting, the atmosphere. But after a few hours it became really tedious traveling to various locations over and over, which was necessary to connect the dots and and to figure out how to make use of a very limited set of abilities. I understand that is the essence of adventure games, however after a couple of hours I decided to stop it and uninstall the Goetia. It was not that the game was too difficult, but I was unable to relate to the story unfolding in a way that kept me engaged.

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Time Played: 5-10 hours
Difficulty: Just Right