Eastward? I actually learned about this game on lemmy a year or two ago.
I thought the pixel graphics were incredible, gave the game such a beautifully creepy atmosphere when it needed it. Even though I was really disappointed that the game just ended without tying any of the story together, I did think the story was great before I finished it. At times the game was unsettling and eerie and at other times it was heartwarming, and the dialogue throughout seemed very well-written.
I’ve watched Exam, I forgot to include it but you’re right, same genre. I’ve watched The Game but I’m going to rewatch it with my adult son who hasn’t seen it to feel out there similarities you’re getting.
1) Hybrid visual novels (ie visual novels with some gameplay element, be it some basic adventure/exploration/mystery mechanics like the Ace Attorney series, RPG or Tactical RPG elements, management, deckbuilding or whatever) that have very good writing (think something like Roadwarden or Citizen Sleeper) and/or a loveable cast of characters (like Ace Attorney).
2) Sci-fi and/or fantasy books that have good writing (by which I mean not that hollow, mass-produced, repetitive, overly simple YA-style prose —don’t want to offend YA lovers, I’m just tired of it). Bonus points if they have some elements of social criticism, and even more bonus points if they have very compelling worldbuilding and characters. I’m thinking of stuff like Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness and Rocannon’s World, Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Ted Chiang’s short story “Story of Your Life”, most of Jorge Luis Borges’ short stories, Angélica Gorodischer’s Kalpa Imperial, Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice, Dino Buzzati’s short story “The Seven Messengers”, Ursula Vernon’s webcomic Digger, Winston Rowntree’s webcomic Watching, Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, etc.
3) Logical puzzle games that have the same quality of atmosphere and setting as Return of the Obra Dinn.
4) Turn-based videogames (they can be RPGs, roguelites, management games, visual novels, text adventures or whatever else as long as it’s not action-focused, based on reflexes or time-sensitive without pause) that have very strong setting, atmosphere and writing (if they don’t have a traditional story, at least good writing in the occasional dialogue lines). Some preferred settings are:
Decadent worlds (like Darkest Dungeon, Dredge, Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Cultist Simulator, Book of Hours, The Shrouded Isle)
18th to 20th century history/alternate history (like The Great Ace Attorney, The Lion’s Song, The Last Door, Amnesia: Rebirth, Return of the Obra Dinn)
Sci-fi in general —can be cyberpunk but not necessary— (like Citizen Sleeper, Tacoma, Soma, The Talos Principle, The Red Strings Club, Chrono Trigger, 2064: Read Only Memories, Subnautica, Stellaris)
Very current (as in 2020s or close) focused settings (like Unpacking, Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You, one night hot springs, missed messages., What Remains of Edith Finch)
Traditional and/or generic fantasy but well written (like Roadwarden, Wildermyth, Final Fantasy Tactics, Legend of Mana, The Banner Saga, Suikoden II, Terranigma, Grandia, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, Alundra… many of these I played young so their writing might not be as good as I remember)
Other historical/alternate history settings previous to 18th century as long as they’re well written (like King of Dragon Pass, Landnama)
But I’m also open to anything I’m not used to in videogames as long as it has those elements (strong writing, setting, atmosphere), like urban fantasy/new weird/fantastic realism type of stuff like Disco Elysium, whimsical settings a la Undertale/Deltarune or ambiguous mindscapes like in Celeste and Gris.
5) Mechanically speaking, something that reaches the same heights as Slay the Spire. I don’t know what it is, I’ve played many other deckbuilding roguelites and/or roguelites with a tree-style map chasing that same high. And some were better than others (I guess shout-out to Monster Train, FTL, Pirates Outlaws, Griftlands, Roguebook, Iris and the Giant, Dicey Dungeons, Star Renegades). But none have absorbed me like it did despite it having uninteresting (to me) writing and visuals. Maybe it was just because it was my first with those ideas.
6) I was exposed to a lot of anime/manga when I was a teen and even if I never feel like I want to watch/read most of them these years, I still have some lingering weakness for some of its tropes and aesthetics when applied to videogames. I’m talking about trainwreck-style games that are awful and strangely compelling at the same time, like Danganronpa and Zero Escape. Or, to speak of one that feels much higher quality while still having some puzzling choices, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. It’s hard to describe this vibe (maybe “anime aesthetics, very ambitious in some ways but messy and still beholden to certain clichés, occasionally managing to be deep but usually just coasting on pseudo-philosophical anime bullshit”) and I really never feel like actually playing these games but once a year or so when there comes a day I just don’t feel like doing anything I don’t mind laying in my bed watching full no-commentary gameplays of these kinds of games. So if you know of something similar to those I’d like to bookmark that for the future.
On 5, have you heard of Crying Suns? Crying Suns is more in the vein of FTL, so not a deckbuilder, but if memory serves I think it has the branching map to it.
It’s received some praise for its setting from what I gather, but I haven’t gotten around to seriously playing it, so can’t speak much to that.
If you read or listen to sci-fi books i highly highly recommend the latest book from Andy Weir. It’s called project hail Mary and it’s fucking amazing. The main character never swears when stuff goes wrong, which is kinda weird at first until you learn that he was a school teacher, but that is the biggest criticism I have of the book. It isn’t even a real criticism either. It’s an amazing book imo.
I started listening to Look Mum No Computer after watching some of his tech videos on YT, he does a lot of synth stuff and it opened up a whole new world of music that I’ve been loving. If anyone has some similar stuff let me know!
HP Lovecraft’s way of conveying old and decrepit settings, threaded with veins of natural beauty that encompass the horrors lurking within them. He had a particular knack for inspiring imagery that is both vividly moving and unsettling. For a specific example, scope out the first few paragraphs of A Color Out of Space
The first couple of paragraphs of The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath serves as a testiment to the sense of majesty he could impart to the reader, but it was also (in my opinion) the last of his older, flowery, and overly-poetic style of writing before he hit a home run and found a new rhythm with A Colour Out of Space and everything thereafter. I personally was not a huge fan of The Dream Quest, but he certainly knew how to describe a triumphant city.
NOTE: I recently watched the new Color Out of Space film immediately after finishing the short story, and in my opinion the short story is infinitely better. It’s more subtle, much creepier, far more detailed, and takes place 150 years earlier (1880s). It has an entirely different vibe that I found to be far more isolating and less obnoxious than the film.
I recently played Battle Chasers: Nightwar and was reminded how much I enjoy turn based combat where you can see and manipulate the turn order, like in FFX and an Atelier game I played on PS2. Any modern games, preferably available on Switch, like that?
On a similar subject I’m currently playing Tactics Ogre: Reborn, and there aren’t any Final Fantasy Tactics, FFT:A, or FFT:A2 remakes currently out, so I’m looking for anything that uses the same combat system as them, again on Switch.
I’m not familiar with the games you’ve mentioned but I believe Fire Emblem: Three Houses might be relevant (on Switch). My sister in law was playing it one time we were staying at theirs. I was encouraged to give it a whirl. Had several very late nights honing my team.
I can’t remember if Octopath Traveler lets you manipulate the turn order, but regardless it is in the same genre, available on switch, and is just a really good game.
A big part of the battle system in the Trails series is seeing and manipulating the turn order, but only some of those games are on the Switch, in the West at least.
On a similar subject I’m currently playing Tactics Ogre: Reborn, and there aren’t any Final Fantasy Tactics, FFT:A, or FFT:A2 remakes currently out, so I’m looking for anything that uses the same combat system as them, again on Switch.
Seconded the Fire Emblem and Fell Seal recommendations, and adding in Front Mission, which has remakes on Switch.
I love Hilda. The Netflix series. It has this feeling of adventure, an ubiquitous optimism and (and this is where it really gets difficult) combines this with a mixture of fast and slow pacing and (almost) traditional 2d animation. I haven’t found anything similar. Friends recommended gravity falls and adventure time, but I didn’t really like the faster pacing and American slapstick humour. The only thing that really ever came close was the ghibli adaptation of Ronja, which had this off-putting uncanny 3d cell shaded look of the characters but which I still enjoyed due to the writing (but which has disappeared from streaming services in Europe since).
Hilda is kind of like star trek tng, with episodes being not too connected and the protagonists mastering their challenges without antagonising their adversaries or resorting to violence as the solution (the final movie being the exception here, which was really weird imho).
Ha, good one… Watched that already though. Also doesn’t really match this universal optimism. Over the garden wall was great but is to hilda what American McGee’s Alice is to Disney’s Alice, kind of. That world is morbid. Thanks for the recommendation though!
The Owl House might be simillar, the world is like a Hieronymus Bosch painting and past the first season the overarching story picks up, but there’s a consistent undertone of optimism throughout.
I can’t really remember Hilda but I remember liking it. I think these recommendations are a similar vibe. I also did not like Gravity Falls but should probably give it another try since I didn’t give it a fair shot.
Dara, Steven Universe, Bee and Puppycat would be my recommendations.** I’ve ranted about them below trying to describe them but honestly you should probably just ignore my rant and watch some episodes since they are all short.**
It’s been a while since I’ve watched Dara so I can remember deets but it’s a cute and chill show.
Steven Universe is possibly my favourite show, 12 min episodes so really easy to consume. It’s dorky (especially at first) and takes a while to get going. But when it does it has a lot going for it. Action, adventure, humour, all with an upbeat and warm tone. It tackles some pretty deep topics but can be a little on the nose sometimes. The character arcs are satisfying and the whole plot feels very intentional and comes to a close satisfyingly. Who am I kidding it’s definitely my favourite show. If you’ve seen ATLA I think they are quite similar in plot and episode structure, but SU has more adult themes, better humour & character arcs, and a better plot overall. (IMO, don’t yell at me ATLA fans).
Bee and Puppycat has two runs, a YouTube one then a sort of remake on Netflix, it’s confusing and idk which one to recommend, I like the both though. So far it seems quite similar to SU except much less structured. It’s very cutesy and fun but I feel like there’s some ADHD vibes in terms of writing and the main character (I don’t mean this in an entirely bad way, I have ADHD). It just feels a bit scatterbrained at times. That being said I really like it and I’m hoping the creator gets more seasons approved.
It’s very much aimed at kids, but you might enjoy Sarah and Duck, it has some similarities IMO. It’s upbeat and fun, and just a little bit weird, with some strange world logic. And it’s brilliantly narrated by Roger Allam.
I like time-loop movies, groundhog Day being there most notable. My favorite is probably Triangle. I’ve seen Timecrimes, Happy Death Day (& 2U), Edge of tomorrow,
Give it a couple of episodes to see if you like it. The first episode spends a lot of time setting things up, but the main character doesn’t come across as very likeable at first IMO. Once you get into the next couple of episodes, and she starts actually using her brain to try and understand what’s happening to her, she becomes a lot more likeable as a character.
I don’t read much fiction, but I quite enjoyed the book Edge of Tomorrow was based on: All You Need Is Kill. The plots only overlap at a very high level, if that, so no worries on having it spoiled for you. It’s fun reading the protagonist’s thought process and I think the book does a far better job at making the aliens scary, the war desperate.
It’s not a movie, but I just binged the anime Erased and it would be right up that alley! It’s only 12 episodes long with great pacing and its what I would describe as a non-anime persons type of anime
Give the Netflix show “Dark” a try. Incredibly well written, everything fits together at the end, and it touches on this topic in an interesting and unique way!
I watched HDD and then 2U on a glowing recommendation I knew it was positioned as a horror but damn I didn’t know what I was getting into and they’re two of the funnest movies I’ve seen in years. My only regret is not seeing them in the theatre as they come across as movies people would be yelling at the screen which is the best kind of movie IMHO
I loved to play uncharted (for pc, I don’t have a ps) and I am searching for similar games. I still have not played the second part of the “master of thieves collection” on steam.
Any recommendations? Lara croft is fun, but not as mysterious and does not have such a fun story imo.
And also I loved all of the broken sword games. I can highly recommend them! Any alternatives I could try?
Hmmmm… Adventurous third person action game with a sense of mystery and strong scripting? Is that it?
Horizon: zero dawn or forbidden west? That’s more on the open world side of things though.
What about God of war or maybe shadow of the colossus?
A little shorter and not so much on the adventure side but very mysterious and very intense: hellblade - senua’s sacrifice. That’s quite dark though, missing some of those feelgood indy vibes.
😁 Well people act as (evil, bad, stupid, capricious, vicious, power hungry, but also good in lots of ways) people do and the world itself is quite well built IMO.
Yeah I have one or two Robin Hobb, IIRC it was like okay but a bit meh, I’ll check it out again.
Discworld is sometimes compared to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That's to say they're both heavily tongue-in-cheek, not "hard" scifi/fantasy. HGTTG is "hard" scifi in the same way Rincewind is Gandalf - ie not at all. They're running more on Rule of Funny, and it works pretty well. Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams were both English, of course, and have quite a bit of overlap in their humor, commentary and writing style.
I’ll check him out, read some pages of Sirens of Titans and weeelll it feels a tad old if you get what I mean, like even if it was a really good book then, the tropes have worn out now. Will check out though!
My favorite bands are queens of the stone age, sea wolf, M.Ward, big thief, califone, jam2go, iron & wine, and the white stripes. What else should I try? I really struggle getting into new music.
Having being obsessed with QOTSA for half a year or so, I moved too some of Josh Homme’s other project: Them Crooked Vultures, and Desert Sessions.
Other artists I would recommend are Wolfmother, Death From Above 1979, and Royal Blood.
If you want something thats a bit more rythmicly and melodically playful, I would highly recommend most albums by the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Their two most recent releases I haven’t enjoyed so much, but the rest is golden. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard is good of you find the right albums. Personally I really like Nonagon Infinity, PetroDragonic Apocalypse, as well as their microtonal series of albums: Flying Microtonal Banana, KG, and LW.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyuss was an American rock band, formed in Palm Desert, California,[5] in 1987. The band disbanded in 1995,[6][7][8] and since then, members of Kyuss have gone on to form or play in several notable bands including Queens of the Stone Age, Screaming Trees, Fu Manchu, Dwarves, Eagles of Death Metal, Mondo Generator, Hermano, Unida, Slo Burn and Them Crooked Vultures.
Waxahatchee, Amanda Shires, Father John Misty, yes to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, I don’t love Queens of the Stone age but the rest of your list I like. Are you trying to branch out in genres too? Listen to Sturgill Simpson’s rock album Sound and Fury, to Yola, and Janelle Monae.
Muse, AWOLNATION, and the Black Keys are mainstream but so good too.
If I like whimsical, visually-imaginative adventure films with lots of practical effects like ‘Baron Munchaesen’, ‘Brazil’, ‘Delicatassen’, and ‘City of Lost Children’, what other films might I like?
Well, I was just talking about Dark City in my own sub thread, and to me it’s very similar to Brazil in tone and imagery. Not sure how much of it is practical effects but given the era I’m guessing that most of it is.
With The congress and Eternal sunshine of a spotless mind, you’re in for a treat. I think Tideland checks the box as well. They are not exactly a narrative happening in another world, but the feeling of strangeness is good enough imo.
Honorable mention to the french odd ball named “la planete sauvage”, though it is an animation film.
Merci beaucoup! Mes amis aiment les animations francaises, mais je ne trouvais pas les filmes interessantes sans leur assistance. Je suis vraiment excitee!
My pleasure, I’m also very fond of this genre :)
If you are curious of french animation films, I just remembered “Le roi et l’oiseau”. It was my favorite as a kid. And if you liked the city of lost children, it will feel familiar. Sort of the same melancholia. m.imdb.com/video/vi896380441/?playlistId=tt007982…
I assume it will be hard to find, sadly. There is this version on archive.org, though, if you can understand french or spanish. archive.org/details/LeRoiEtLOiseau_201709
I think these all merit a mention given what you're looking for. Whether or not they hit square is up to you.
The Fall (2006) - A bit flat in the story department, but this was clearly a film focused on being a feast for the eyes. It succeeds in that handily.
The Great Yokai War - Ever wondered what would happen if Takashi Miike directed The Never Ending Story? This is something like that.
Tuvalu - Almost like if you smashed the aesthetics of Jean Pierre Jeunet and Guy Maddin together. The dialogue is hyper-minimal, but it you can get on board with the overall approach this film is a gem.
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