High time to publish another YvoCaro plays! With all the reviews we’ve been doing lately I’d almost forget to put my unedited thoughts to paper. Not that they are much different from the well thought about wording of the games I reviewed. But my mind sometimes takes some unexpected turns. Some game related, some not really!
Valthirian Arc and the Lost Wallet
At the moment I’m giving Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story a spin. This is a game I very much wanted to review: when they promise questing, crafting and building in a simulation game, I’m all ears. I’m still finding my way around however, I’m not sure how this will eventually pan out. It looks good and plays smoothly. But somehow I can’t escape the feeling that the game was originally designed to be a town builder on mobile. Nothing wrong with that, just hadn’t expected it.
And another thing I did notice from the first: how many times can a student lose a wallet? Especially since I only have 8 students at the moment? Every time I have to choose whether I be honest and bring it to the lost and found, or if I’ll keep it. Of course being miss Goodie two Shoes, I give it back. But a bit more variance would be welcome!
Playing with others One Hour One Life can be challenging
I hugely like playing mobile game One Hour One Life. It’s one of the first MMO games I’ve played ( which means Massively Multiplayer Online). I gave the game an I Like it a Lot, and came very close to giving it a Two Thumbs Up ( my review is here)
Playing together with others brings unexpected elements in a game. For instance I was born as a 15 years old girl, a role I love most. Because then I get to populate my family tree while caring for babies. And this time I came to life on a reasonably well established settlement too, with all kinds of utensils lying in rows, and the farm started. Which meant, being the novice I am, that I didn’t know exactly what to do. Luckily my first born, a boy I named Max, knew exactly what to do. And his sister apparently knew too. So I started to experiment, I wanted to try and make clothing from rabbit fur. And as there was a needle and thread at the ready I did exactly that. Only to be scolded by my son that I shouldn’t waste…which took the fun out of it for me…
And in another case I was born as a baby boy in a settlement that was doing well. To my surprise they left me standing there, and starving to death. Because in One hour One Life you have to be fed the first 4 days (so 4 minutes) of your life, as a babies can’t feed themselves. One of them typed: come back as a girl….So I tried again, and as a player has no say in the gender, I was a boy again. They typed: we need girls! Now I’m all about feminism, but this stung!
But I also experienced how it can be very positive. In one game I was the matriarch of the family tree and lovelingly nurtured my kids. My oldest daughter Lien was a serious player too and together we made real progress. By the time I drew near to being 60 and was close to death she typed: stay warm near the fire. So that’s what I did, staying warm and cosy while the kids brought me food. And then she typed: “ thanks for everything mum”. Call me silly, but that almost choked me up!
My Brother Rabbit
I’ve finished Switch game My Brother Rabbit and a review will be along shortly. Not a long game, but I was practically glued to the screen the whole time. The people over at Artifex Mundi really brought the point and click adventure genre to a whole new level.
The game tells the story of a little girl falling seriously ill while her brother tries to help her by creating this fantasy world featuring her favorite toy, a stuffed rabbit. All of this is told without words, just brief drawn images of the family’s sorrow. But the game scenes tie in so well! Anyway, my review will tell you more soon.
Enough for now I think. These thoughts just seem to flow so easily to the keyboard! Thank you for reading, as always! And if you like these thoughts, you can find the collection here.