Albatroz: Lost in The Wilderness

 

Developer: Among Giants

Publisher: SOEDESCO

Available Platforms: PS5, Steam, XBox Series X|S

Review Platform: PS5

Genre: Survival RPG

Trailblazing Or Stumble into The Abyss

Albatroz combines RPG, survival, narrative, and open world into what it describes itself as a “Backpacking RPG”. Journeying as Isla, in search of her brother, retracing trails he loved to traverse. Along the way companions accompanying us in our quest. Has the developers, Among Giants, produced a captivating hiking adventure or is it a misstep off a ravine?

Beautiful But Flawed Journey

As I progressed through the game, I often found myself pausing to take in the breath-taking scenery, captivated by the stunning vistas before me. Immense care and effort went into capturing the natural beauty, reminding us why we venture into the wilderness to be awed by such moments.

However, despite the voice acting brilliantly bringing the characters to life, the music and sound effects sometimes detracted from the experience. Sudden and misplaced sound effects would physically make me jump at the unexpected loudness, while music triggered at certain points would clash with the ambient background music as the ambient music failed to stop playing. This left me marvelling at the landscapes while gritting my teeth at the jarring audio.

Mystical Lore and Personal Quest

The storytelling truly excels in Albatroz, whether it be understanding Isla’s personal story or uncovering the rich folklore of the land. Isla’s search for answers and her path to accepting what has occurred are beautifully woven through flashbacks that provide crucial context and interactions with the companions she meets along the way.

Sence, a wannabe shaman, adds a mystical layer to the world, sharing tales that intertwine with the main narrative, and her light-hearted banter often provides much-needed comic relief. The final companion, Serpi, unfortunately, feels a bit underutilized and forgettable, like the NPCs in the villages.

Despite these flaws, the game offers an engaging and intriguing storyline that kept me invested.

Survival Shenanigans

Personally, I found numerous issues with the mechanics and gameplay loop. The survival component felt unnecessary and often got in the way. While you and your companions have different abilities intended to ease progression, I quickly realized they were redundant. The stats only decreased for the character you were controlling, so if your hunger was causing health to drop, you could just switch to another character. This made the game feel like a brute force exercise, leaving little incentive to upgrade skills.

Additionally, the immersion was broken during interactions when you had to eat, drink, or use a companion's ability due to low stats. Albatroz encourages exploration, but the survival mechanics clash with this, as limited resources discourage straying from the designated path. A more linear approach, focusing on the storyline and environmental puzzles to reach the next plot point, would have been more effective.

Glitchy Adventure

From the get-go, it was clear that the game lacked polish, and the bugs and glitches only worsened as I delved deeper. The framerate struggled consistently in both cutscenes and gameplay, making navigation, especially while driving, a unique challenge. I lost track of how many times I had to reload a save after getting stuck in the environment, being flung into the air, and becoming stuck like a scene from "The Matrix," or finding myself spawned inside an object after a cutscene. Some overlays would stubbornly remain, rendering the game unplayable.

Now, I understand why there was no autosave feature and why you had to find a save point, the whole survival aspect, but it quickly became frustrating when I had to reload and lose considerable progress. To their credit, Among Giants reached out and asked me to provide a list of issues, and they have been diligently patching the game.

Stunning Yet Lacking

This project is clearly a labour of love, infused with time, passion, and dedication. However, despite its stunning visuals and compelling story, it falls short of greatness. The console release needed more time to iron out its faults. Coupled with a significantly higher price tag than on Steam, it is hard to justify the purchase. A more compact, streamlined, and linear game would have been preferable to the open-world survival version we ended up with.

Pros

• Gripping Storyline
• Stunning Scenery

Cons

• Very Buggy
• Survival Mechanics

Score: 5/10 – Enchants with its gorgeous views and storytelling but stumbles with unnecessary survival elements and glitches

Bloomtown: Bloom or Gloom?

Developer: Lazy Bear/Different Sense Games

Publisher: Twin Sails Interactive

Available Platforms: PS4 & PS5, Steam, Switch, Xbox One & Series X|S

Review Platform: PS5

Genre: JRPG Life Sim

A Summer Adventure with a Supernatural Twist

From the creators of Graveyard Keeper, Lazy Bear Games presents their latest offering, a blend of life sim and JRPG set against the backdrop of 1960s America, with a supernatural element. In Bloomtown: A Different Story, you step into the shoes of Emily, who, along with her brother Chester, embarks on a summer adventure to their grandpa’s house following their parents’ separation. Is it a delightful escape from reality or merely the humdrum of mundane life? 

Symphony of Pixels and Tunes

Visually and aurally, Bloomtown shines within its genre and setting. The pixel art style, while familiar to fans of cosy Life Sim games, also evokes the charm of classic JRPGs, updated for the modern era to vividly express the characters’ emotions. The weather visuals in Bloomtown are particularly delightful, adding an immersive touch. Musically, the game draws inspiration from JRPGs like Persona, yet it seamlessly fits the 1960s backdrop. Together, the graphics and music beautifully complement both the genres and the era.

Summer Joys and Mystical Thrills

Set in the 1960s, the developers have cleverly sidestepped the era’s contentious issues, instead weaving a tale of kids blissfully enjoying their summer holidays, oblivious to the global politics swirling around them. The narrative does delve into the characters’ personal traumas without becoming too intense or heavy. However, some movie and video game references miss the mark, as they are from decades after the game’s setting. Despite this, the story remains charming, never overstaying its welcome, and concludes a satisfactory ending.

Exploring the town is an engaging experience, as we encounter a variety of residents, each with their own unique personalities and quirks. These characters offer tasks that feel perfectly suited for a child’s summer holiday, while also unwittingly aiding in the game’s supernatural elements. Emily quickly gathers a diverse group of allies to help her combat the town’s evil, though the ensemble sometimes feels reminiscent of a Scooby-Doo knockoff. The sibling banter and bickering between Emily and Chester feels authentic, and their candid discussions about their parents’ separation add depth as they navigate their new reality. Emily’s interactions with Ramona can be a bit awkward, but they share a hilarious moment trying on makeup for the first time. Hugo, the talking dog, rounds out the gang, reinforcing the Scooby-Doo vibe as they face the town’s dark forces together.

A Light-hearted Journey with Depth and Charm

Bloomtown fuses two game genres, resulting in a mix that feels like a lighter version of both. This duality is both a blessing and a curse. On the positive side, it never becomes too complex or tedious, but it also leaves you craving a bit more depth. It would have been exciting to see some innovation to make it stand out. While it does not aim to rival giants like Persona, the life sim genre is a staple in indie games, and a fresh twist could have added a unique flair. On the bright side, the game excels in introducing and integrating its mechanics, culminating in a satisfying final act.

Your main activity is battling demons, like in Persona, you can choose to defeat or capture demons. Capturing them allows you to add new demons to your team or fuse them with others to level up. It would have been nice when levelling up demons that their new abilities were predetermined rather than based on a percentage chance of acquiring new abilities or resistances.

As you explore, you will encounter various activities that help level up Emily’s skills, crucial for various aspects of the game. Skill levels influence your success in skill checks during interactions and demon captures. However, there are missed opportunities: being Smart does not make crossword puzzles easier, and Proficiency does not speed up task completion. Investing time in building friendships is worthwhile, adding depth to characters and providing useful battle perks.

Bloomtown offers a variety of activities, but you do not need to do everything to complete the game. If something does not appeal to you, you can simply move on to other tasks.

The American Dream Is Far from Perfect

During my playthrough, I encountered a few hiccups. Some fish seemed impossible to catch, hinting at bugs that need fixing. At times, it was challenging to tell which character was speaking, especially when they were close together. I also spotted several typos and issues with the English localization, though nothing that made the dialogue incomprehensible. Quest markers occasionally pointed to the wrong locations, and quest updates could lag on the screen. While these bugs did not stop me from finishing the game, they were frustrating and wasted my time.

Slice of Americana or Backwater Trailer Trash?

I thoroughly enjoyed the game, it was solid, with a compelling story that reached a satisfying conclusion. However, I wish it had introduced something new to revitalize the genres. The visuals and audio were perfectly suited to the genres and period, and there was a good variety of activities to keep you engaged. That said, they do need to fix a few annoying bugs.

Pros

• Gripping story
• Graphics & music in harmony
• Variety of activities

Cons

• Lacks Innovation
• Annoying bugs

Score: 7/10 – A solid game that required a unique twist to truly shine.

Caravan SandWitch: Oasis or Sandstorm?

 

Developer: Studio Plane Toast

Publisher: Dear Villagers

Available Platforms: Epic, PS5, Steam & Switch

Review Platform: PS5

Genre: Exploration Adventure

Introduction

Embark on a journey with Caravan SandWitch, an exploration adventure from Studio Plane Toast with their debut game.

After receiving a mysterious signal six years after your sister’s disappearance, you return to your home planet and travelling in van, you begin your search for her.

Epic road trip or tragic roadkill?

Graphics & Sound

One of the standout features of Caravan SandWitch is its visual and musical harmony during the experience.

The art style, crisp and reminiscent of RIME, beautifully captures the desolate landscape and the NPCs residing in the world. However, our protagonist, Sauge has an issue with her facial features which occasionally look out of synch with the otherwise cohesive art style.

The music is tremendous, perfectly enhancing the cutscenes and providing relaxing music on the journey.

Narrative & Characters

Unfortunately, Caravan SandWitch falls short on weaving an emotional tale akin to Journey or Abzu, nor delve into character depth like the game Tacoma.

This is disheartening, given the rich narrative potential of the protagonist searching for her sister on a planet abandoned by a resource-exploiting mega-corporation. While the game attempts humour, it often misses, save for the lactose-intolerant baby with an insatiable craving for cheese. Typically, game endings ramp up the tempo as players are primed for its climax. Oddly, Caravan SandWitch momentarily slows its pace during the revelation of the SandWitch’s identity, providing additional details which at that point feel irrelevant.

Caravan SandWitch merely skims the surface when it comes to character development, offering generic NPCs that fail to leave a lasting impression. They lack the qualities to make them endearing or relatable.

Gameplay Loop & Mechanics

Gameplay loop and mechanics is where Caravan SandWitch struggles and truly unravels.

The lack of variety quickly turns it into a monotonous grind. The van, equipped with only two tools, that are only upgraded once, offers minimal excitement. Whilst the scanner being functional, it is uninspiring even after the hacking upgrade. The grappling hook, while more enjoyable, only becomes more fun once the zipline ability is unlocked, sadly it isn’t until around the halfway point of the game when this happens.

Side quests are mostly mundane fetch quests, lacking any meaningful impact on the world. Collecting cuddly toys was a rare highlight, though thankfully limited to just six, as I feel if there were more it would have become a chore to find them. Hacking the terminals provided brief glimpses into past conversations of the residents but added little to the unfolding story. More could have been done with vehicle customisation, allowing players to pimp their ride to how they wanted it to look rather than the vehicle appearance changing through story progression.

Curiously, Sauge is invincible, I tested this by making her fall from great heights, only to be able continue unscathed. This immortality feels out of place, as early on a character nearly dies from dehydration and exposure to the harsh conditions on the planet.

Bugs/Glitches

Every game has its share of bugs and glitches, and Caravan SandWitch is not an exception. While most issues are minor and not game-breaking, they are still annoying at times.

The camera, for instance, often shakes as if colliding with an object in the environment but in most cases can be remedied by moving the camera. Floating rocks/pebbles were a common sight during my exploration. Also, some missions require the player to follow a highlighted route, and the mission would restart occasionally even though I never left the designated path. Musical and sound glitches occurred, with the game falling eerily silent before the music abruptly kicked in. During the replay for an alternative ending, the sound and music were almost non-existent detracting from the experience.

On the bright side, if you find yourself stuck in the landscape, you can quickly teleport back to the van. Similarly, if the van gets stuck, you can quickly return to the garage. This is a handy failsafe.

My Thoughts

Did I enjoy the game? Not really. Did I hate the game? Not at all. It just didn’t quite hit the mark and left me feeling indifferent towards it. Caravan SandWitch fails to provide a strong narrative, well-developed characters and engaging gameplay, which leads to a flat experience that is neither good nor bad.

I find the price tag for Caravan SandWitch a bit too high. While the game length isn’t an issue, the quality leaves much to be desired, making it not worth the cost to purchase.

Pros

• Visually stunning
• Music that captures the essence of the world
• Helpful failsafe on potential game breaking glitch

Cons

• Generic Characters
• Unremarkable Narrative
• Boring & Repetitive

Score: 5/10 – Stuck in the grey zone of mediocrity, neither here nor there.