@Balta666 my votes would go for Jusant and Planet of lana. I'm playing my way through the dead space remake now but at the speed I'm going at, I might be able to still join in if its December's game 🙈. Will be interested to hear folks thoughts on Cocoon, I finished a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed my time.
So I finally played Psychonauts a mere 18 years after release and 2 years after y'all played it here. I really enjoyed going back and reading all your responses to it. I hope you don't mind I necroed this and tagged some of you in it 2+ years later. Sorry, not sorry
This is one of those games I wished I played nearer release. Plenty to love, but judged by todays standards the gameplay, camera and more were, more often than not, frustrating.
So what did I love? There is so much unique creativity in this game, and it makes me a little sad that there is little else like it today. Visually thanks to the upgrade on XSX it still looks great even now, only the pre-rendered cutscenes look kinda 'bad'. But there is more creativity in those blurry textures than most games today. I love the oddball Frankenstein / Nightmare before Christmas stylings of the characters, they really stand out when compared to the cookie cutter stuff we get nowadays.
I also enjoyed the artistic style and the wide variety in all the levels, especially those inside people minds which allowed them to really go wild and zany. It just felt so unique, fresh and vibrant compared to our serious and grounded worlds in most games nowadays. @LtSarge@ralphdibny your references to Destroy all Humans, Kingdom Hearts, Toy Story 2 and more all rang true here.
The writing is utterly fantastic too, so much humour, clever scenarios and carefully handling of delicate subjects. All this goofy, childish and vibrant aesthetic was a perfect cover to hide deeper meanings.
I adored the underlying theme of mental health and it's impact on us all. I thought they handled this deftly and with care. Though I completely agree with @nessisonett that it got dark fast. There were some moments that by todays standards I wonder would even be allowed, or the censors missed. This is a kids summer camp remember and two children tried to commit suicide by jumping off a roof. When you restore one of the children's brains and ask her why she jumped off the roof she responds "because the poison didn't work" in an offhand, vaguely humorous way. It isn't at all preachy about all this and I suspect this could even fly under the radar for many, but I thought it dealt with some seriously deep issues with charm, love and care. Excellent work Tim Schafer & Double Fine!
I loved all the symbolism of it all, again linked to mental health. The collectibles were figments of our imagination, emotional baggage, mental cobwebs, memory vaults etc. The sketchbook like collectibles showing pivotal moment of the characters lives that moulded them into what they are today all super dark, but again handled carefully. Often it was the unsaid thing that was most powerful. I was glad there weren't achievements, it irked me at first, but I might have been compelled to collect them ALL and would have had a worse experience for it. Addiction and compulsion eh? But there were nice rewards related to levelling up, so I collected some. Smart design.
So what didn't I like? I wish I had read @LtSarge notes before playing it because I had exactly the same issue with the Milkman level, where you had to find disguises. I got completely stuck, had no idea you could attack parked cars to open the boot to find the item you need... because they never told you. Even the smelling salts item, which bought the professor our of your ear to give you hints was no help. I eventually had to look up a guide. This hearkened back to the days when it wasn't always obvious what to do. I always complain when games hold us by the hand too much nowadays, but frankly this game reminded me that the opposite was often worse. Several times I got frustrated and had to look up a solution online. Objectively that is bad game design.
The gameplay was similarly frustrating, cumbersome platforming, too many insta-fails, clumsy camera, bosses often cheap, and the last level was just annoyingly hard trying to figure out where to go and with limited time. I can't understate how much these gameplay frustrations impacted my playthrough. I've actually been playing it for several weeks, but didn't want to play long stints because it was so annoying in places. I would have given up on a lesser game, but there was enough I loved that I wanted to finish it. But by the end I just wanted it to end.
Final thoughts: There is so much to love in terms of artistry, creative design, that Double Fine humour and more but playing it today is a struggle in places. The gameplay design just feels very antiquated and rough by todays standards. It was a game I wanted to love, and did at times, but struggled with at other times... my own mental journey on this one was a rollercoaster. I imagine my view would have been almost all full of praise had I played it 18 years ago, but playing it now I feel very mixed.
My Score: 6.5 / 10. A wonderfully creative game seriously hampered by gameplay that hasn't aged well
P.S. Looking forward to Psychonauts 2... eventually... I did just watch the intro cinematic of that and was confused that Raz said they already rescued Lili's father, which was the cliff hanger from this game... but I forgot about Rhombus of Ruin. Doh!
@themightyant Psychonauts 2 was the first game I played in the club and my favourite game from 2021. After it I went back to play the OG and overall I have enjoyed it although it is definitely a product of its time specially on the platforming side.
Was also completely stuck in the milkman, (and to my surprise as it was the level I allways heard people tak about) it is easily my least favourite in the game.
Regarding getting stuck is something that I definitely enjoy that it no longer a thing but that does not bother me that much also. Some games I adore have that issue. The first that comes to mind is Ocarina of Time in which the first playthrough you can go around and around and not understanding how to move forward.
@Balta666 High praise indeed! There was so much I loved in Psychonauts I really wanted to score it higher, the best bits were at least a 9 for me. But I couldn't ignore the frustrations I had, I wrestled hard on my final score but when I looked back at other scores i'd given here - Atomic Heart a 6, Deathloop a 7.5 - a 6.5 or 7 seemed fair. It was the final level and boss that marked it down! (EDIT: Though as I've said previously perhaps I judged Deathloop a little harshly, perhaps I will feel the same here)
The good news is that almost all the things I disliked about Psychonauts 1 are a product of it's time. I imagine/hope most of these things will be irrelevant/fixed in the sequel, which should allow the greatness to shine. I look forward to playing the sequel and forming my own view soon.
I agree that some games I love don't always tell you what to do, but they often give you some hints or pointers. Outer Wilds is a game I absolutely adore for this and wish more gamers were like it. But it's specifically a game about exploration and there is a system in place on your ship to give you hints to guide you. Psychonauts didn't do that, it was a platformer that suddenly switched up styles. No problem with that if done well, but the hints system - smelling salts - didn't work and you were left running back and forth getting more and more frustrated. The fact almost all of us had the same issue is staggering, it wouldn't fly on todays more playtested games.
I also think our tolerance to things like this had significantly diminished. I look back to when I used to play platformers like Wonderboy or Megaman, one mistake, one jump a few pixels too early or late and you return to the start of the level to do it all again. Make too many mistakes and you have to start the game again. We just don't accept that is a good experience anymore for all but the more hardcore/self flagellating gamers. Of course these games were often super short if you COULD get through, often 20 - 60 minutes and it was this twitch gamer difficulty and repetition that prolonged their game time and made a sub-section of gamers want to keep perfecting it, many more switched off eventually.
Cocoon is a clever puzzle game with an Inception (yes, the movie) gameplay mechanic. I do like point and click (adventure) games but mostly for the funny narrative and stories and not so much for the puzzles as I tend to get frustrated fairly easily. In a way they are the blocks in the "fun".
Cocoon does not have a story whatsoever, or even a single line of dialogue. As a rule if I am stuck in a game for longer than 5min with nothing else to do (like a sidequest) I use a walkthrough... In this case I had to use it 5 or so times. Due to that I probably would never had finish the game if not for the Club as I was never fully invest in just the gameplay.
I am fine with some games without story, like platformers for example, where the gameplay excel but not in this case. However anyone that enjoys puzzles the most will have a great time with this one.
I decided to have also a go at Limbo and Inside as they looked a bit more storytelling focused (I have allways skipped them as Limbo looked too dark for my taste). In the end I played Limbo and throughout the game I was happy to see that at least had a bit of a narrative in everyone being hostile against you but was really annoyed to see such an inconclusive ending. It was to the point that I deleted Inside before playing it...
@Balta666 I did find that the variety of puzzles and mechanics they manage to layer on for what is effectively a one button game is pretty impressive. The art style is really strong but I got absolutely no hint as to what was going on with regards to story! I'm glad it's not just me. It's a shame you played limbo rather than inside, while I like both inside feels like a far more fleshed out what they were trying to do with a more satisfying conclusion.
@Balta666 Inception is a great reference especially for the final puzzle. Mind bending.
Aside: The site logged me out and deleted my whole review as I tried to post it. (Minor raging) 2nd attempt!
My Cocoon Review
I finished Cocoon in only two sittings, it's only around 5 hours long, and enjoyed it start to finish. Didn't even leave me time to leave my impressions. I though the puzzle design was truly excellent and was tailored to just the right difficulty... for me anyway. There was no tutorial or manual, the whole game was the tutorial, you just learned as you went along. I never needed a walkthrough, though there were times I was briefly stumped and thought about looking up the solution, but every time if I just stuck with it a little longer and tried something else... EUREKA! It's a brilliant feeling, it makes you feel smart.
But credit here really has to go to Jeppe Carlsen the genius puzzle designer. He elegantly leads you from puzzle to puzzle, each building on the last, constructing a design language so that you are rarely overwhelmed. That's exceptionally hard to do. The few times I was stuck, usually when an entirely new mechanic was introduced or several had to be combined in a novel way, he cleverly closed down the playable area, trapping you, so that there were very few options. If you just stuck with it, and kept trying, you would likely have that EUREKA moment and figure it out. Truly brilliant design, all the way to the final head scratcher of a puzzle. A world within a world within a world within a world within a world
I also loved the visuals, the atmosphere and the organic nature of the world. Though very different, it reminded me a little of Scorn, but it was counterpointed here with sci-fi machine parts and metal elements which all seemed to build into the themes of the game. Every orb and biome felt unique.
The level design was also very clever with a lot of foreshadowing and loop backs. Many times you would wonder; what is that black diamond? or how do I get to that path over there? Like Dark Souls you would loop back and find yourself back on that path, this time with a new power and able to proceed where you couldn't before. All very satisfying. The whole game just felt very efficient, trimmed of fat, very little repeating of mechanics, ideas or animations. Hell, even the doors were wonderful, and often unique, I marvelled at the intricate ways these opened. I didn't think I would be praising doors, but here we are. lol
I had a few smaller complaints. There was quite a lot of backtracking and running in circles to solve puzzles, this wasn't always fun, especially if you were stuck.
While the difficulty felt perfectly tailored to me, there were still times I was stuck for a little bit but I was obstinate enough to keep going and eventually figured out the solution. In part this was because I was aware they were carefully leading us to the solution, so I had more faith in THEM to guide me, than I did myself, but between us we solved it. But I can see how this would be frustrating if you truly get stuck, can't solve it, or get overwhelmed - it is mind bending at times - but if you have to look it up online you miss a part of the thrill in this game.
The bosses were often 'dodge for X seconds waiting for an attack which you can counter' which I am not a huge fan of. And the earlier bosses were better than the later ones, which is always a little disappointing.
Lastly the game seemed like it had something profound to say, yet it didn't really get this message across clearly, to me anyway. Themes of regeneration, cycles of life, alpha & omega but it didn't really make this clear, and i'm not really sure what it was trying to say or what it was about. Anyone have any good theories, or want to explain it to me? I feel I was missing something and may have enjoyed it even more if this hit better.
These are all relatively minor quibbles, but did bring it down a little. I still think it's a truly excellent puzzler.
My Score: 8.5 / 10
Post Script. That's my second game club review of the week! On a roll, what's next on the backlog
I also finished Jusant. Like Cocoon it's only around 5 hours. I absolutely loved it and although i've now played it would absolutely recommend it for Game Club. I might even play it again.
@Balta666 I agree with @R1spam and think Inside is the much better game. But if you didn't like Limbo maybe you won't like it either. They have a lot of commonalities, Inside is just a better all round package.
All these games have inconclusive endings to me, or perhaps i'm just not sharp enough to get all the subtext and obfuscated meanings. But I don't think all games/art should be explicit in what it's about. Sometimes one of the great things is to just discuss what YOU took from it and how it makes you FEEL.
But it depends on the individual piece and how it's presented. Something like Scorn, which was a trippy mess the whole way through, I had no problem with it giving no answers only vague themes and ideas. It falls right into that classic art category and "How did it make you feel?". For all it's glaring flaws I loved that game.
But then I recently played Signalis and was frustrated that there was no conclusion, no explanation at all. I think the difference was they had built it up, in my mind anyway, that there WAS going to be a pay off. It's a game with dialogue and notes, and hints of a story being drip-fed. There is even a really bad fake out ending that makes you even more frustrated when the game STILL doesn't deliver at the end. I found that disappointing.
For me Limbo, Inside and now Cocoon all fall into the first category, they are just art, and it's really up to us to interpret the meaning for ourselves. But it can be a little frustrating sometimes, as I mentioned in my review.
@themightyant this is very much a ME thing but I do hate inconclusive endings in everything (books, movies, games, etc). I want the responsible for the product to have the balls to give an explanation for it. I will give you a movie example that I love but it has a controversial conclusion. I am talking about Interstellar that in the last third ignores physics and goes for entering black holes and time travelling which I am fine as I got to the end and I understand it (even though I know it is factually BS).
@Balta666 I fully get that, I am similar a lot of the time. I like things to be tied up in neat bows at the end to have satisfying conclusions and not leave threads unanswered.
But not always, like I said in my Scorn and Signalis examples it depends on the piece of art, sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.
For games I guess it depends if I think the game is trying to present a narrative that requires a conclusion or is just being a game. I felt Cocoon was TRYING to say something, perhaps about the meaning of life, or maybe even the meaningless of life in the grander scheme of the universe... or perhaps it was about machinery taking over. lol. I'm really not sure. And I guess that's why I marked it down. If you want to say something, say it more clearly, don't loosely obfuscate!
@NintendoByNature right!! Actually one thing I liked is that I got the 1000GS on the first playthrough (but you can easily reload to previous chapters too) and as long as you explore you will find the "secret sidequests".
I played about 35-40 min. It's very intuitive and unique. Love the artstyle and gameplay so far. The first boss was fun to figure out, and the puzzles are clever. So far so good. I'll keep at it and finish this one for sure. The only thing I can't figure out is how to manually save or if it automatically saves. I didn't see any auto save icon so I'm not sure.
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