Mandatum374

It has been a long time since I wrote something on this account. I haven't been doing much art lately, and more writing for classes I hope will develop the skills further. Any who, I have been playing some new games to get a feel for something different than my usual picks that I felt were interesting to mention in terms of art/visual or soundtrack:

1. Cris Tales: This game caught my interest last year when the release trailer first dropped. It did suffer a release delay like most games due to COVID, which was a bummer (all the way to this past summer). The game follows Crisbell, a young lady with the unique power to see into the past and future sets off to save her world from destruction at the hands of the Time Empress with a unique cast of heroes. Though I feel that the plot could've been better, and maybe some of the controls could be better, the thing that will really stand out is the 2D animated feel of the world, the places visited in the game are visually stunning; the forests, cities, and the underground ruins, all of which are influenced by South American imagery. There are also some characters that stand out from the rest that I would think some people would find a hoot backed by some excellent voice talents. The soundtrack is also great, a lot of instrumental, nothing really electric. I would love to see another game done in their style in the future.

2. No Straight Roads (NSR): Another game that was released in 2020, and that one also suffered some delays, but not like Cris Tales. It has been a while since I played a game like Kingdom Hearts that felt open world with a colorful cast assortment, literally. You play as two rockers Mayday and Zuke who want the right to play their music in Vinyl City, a place that prefers EDM over any other kind of music. They must defeat the city's five EDM artists and their rock-hating superior Tatiana in order to do so. The visuals and dialogue were not the only thing that caught my attention, it was mainly the music. The plot was easy to assume from the trailer right off, Rock vs. EDM, but how it comes together in the end was something that I believe caught some people off guard. I certainly envy the Encore Edition that was released on Steam a few days ago, which improves the sounds, graphics and more (and I felt they did the final boss's stage, sound, and graphics justice this time around).

3. Lost in Random: This game was a random find, literally. I was looking through some game trailers on YouTube, which led me to find this game. The story follows a girl named Even who sets off on an adventure through the world of Random to rescue her sister Odd from an Evil Queen who manipulates the world and its people with the role of a dark dice. With the help of a living dice Even names Dicey, they battle their way through the dark forces brought upon Random by the Queen to reach her realm and save her sister. After seeing the design of the world and characters I instantly thought about ParaNorman and Tim Burton stop motion films, which I have an appreciation of. Anyone a fan of Mr. Burton or Laika Studios films will enjoy the visuals this game has to offer. Examples would be the toothpick like limbs of most characters, the surreal look of the cities and roads that are oddly bent and curve in. On another note in terms of gameplay, it is unique from anything I have played in the past. The game uses a card system to fight enemies, which is accessed by the roll of a dice. Depending on the number rolled, that is the 'energy' you can spend to activate a card(s) that can manifest a weapon, a bomb, etc.