A visually gorgeous surreal adventure (in more or less the same vein as the first Discolored game, but this time with optional enemies and bosses), in which we are trying to return color to an entire world rendered completely gray and almost lifeless by a malicious organization.
After a very promising demo/prologue (The Lost Family), the Markus Ritter storyline now continues with the main game, Ghosts of the Past. A lovingly conceived, beautifully designed and executed tribute to Jane Jensen's iconic Gabriel Knight universe, the Markus Ritter games feature the eponymous character and his estranged cousin, Roberta - another honorable allusion to full motion video (FMV) game pioneer and Jensen's early collaborator, Roberta Williams.
Very beautifully designed, as all the games in this series, based (albeit somewhat loosely) on historical figures and facts. Game mechanics are reasonable but also challenging and a thoroughly researched blend of history and fiction is always a treat for the players who enjoy this kind of plot.
Endearingly pretty design, reasonable (for a change) puzzles, an engaging story. In all, an enjoyable, challenging enough indie game, which keeps the player's interest alive till the end.
A very well made, interesting and enjoyable tribute to one of the beloved, iconic games in the adventure genre - Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within - with full motion video (FMV) starring real actors.
Not the (rather incomprehensible) recent remake, but Dario Argento's original 1970 masterpiece about a ballet student arriving at a dance academy which is actually a witch coven. Keepsake is a lovely vintage adeventure game that seems to be using an engine similar to the one another, older classic game, Sanitarium, was made with. Throughout the evolution of the plot, there are many winks at Argento's visionary thriller, although the general atmosphere and spirit are quite different.
A nice, atmospheric little game telling the story of a failed writer who finds himself locked in a wooden house in the forest, unable to remember his recent past. An exploration of his surroundings gives him some clues which make him doubt his own actions and motives. Serena seems to be his wife, who has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. But what exactly happened to her, and why?
Inspired by Beethoven's only opera, as also suggested by its title, The Fidelio Incident recounts a plane accident that ends up separating a young couple, Stanley and Leonore, in a vast snow-covered landscape littered with half-dead jellyfish and giant animal skeletons. During a desperate search for his beloved wife, Stanley's apparently lost memories gradually resurface, painting a not so rosy picture of his past...
A young couple, Victor and pregnant Alicia, move to a somewhat decrepit urban apartment building, only to find out that their elderly landlord, lonely and mysterious Mr. Morton, is spying on them and the other tenants through a sophisticated surveillance system. In an attempt to catch him red-handed, Victor stumbles upon an unimaginable discovery...
A neat, prettily designed short game without much action besides walking on a strange island, discovering half-ruined landmarks and reminiscing on your relationship with a sinister woman whose influence on your life has been disastrous. The deeper nature of the narrator's feelings for and about her are gradually revealed in voiceover as he stumbles upon each key location.
The NADI Project is a very nice little game, with pretty graphics and a good story. A lot more sophisticated and beautifully accomplished than one might expect from a free game, which brilliantly proves that lack of financial means is not an excuse for lack of quality.
In a world where the ease and safety of ephemeral standards imposes a more and more alarming uniformity in artistic expression, inspiration drawn from purer, time-resisting sources can make a notable difference. South Korea based singer/songwriter Tim Haagenson (T-Ho) from Minneapolis proves that when stylistic "loans" and influences from the past are dexterously molded into a modern perspective, they can play a crucial part in the creation of a personal signature.
A composer of prodigious talent and impressive musical inventiveness, Nehoryn offers a "retrospective" of his earlier compositions in a 12-track collection by the eloquent title of Memory's Garden. It is always exciting to observe how an artist's work has evolved with time, what elements and influences determined its development, which of them were left behind for good and which were the crucial ones to remain and mature into something even richer and more accomplished.
Golden Hyphen is the latest album by Nehoryn, accompanied by a lovely printable booklet that contains the song lyrics and images eloquently illustrating the artist's universe, from the deft confrontation of colour with black & white to the touches of light bursting through the dominant darkness.
In the materialistic, hypocritical apathy of our century, Ralph Buckley is one of those stubborn voices of protest - a modern troubadour of freedom (which in itself has ended up being a fairly relative concept, especially considering the way this world has turned out and what it threatens to become in the future).
Sensitive acoustic rock ballads with well-written lyrics and this slightly scorched, unpretentiously appealing voice that conveys pure and sincere emotion. The title, Spanish for "wretched one", adds a touch of mystery but also determines the entire album's tone and mood.
There is no "immaculate conception" in art any more, but on the other hand there is an abyssal gap between this undeniable fact and the currently dominant mentality in the music industry, according to which everything new that is created has to be an almost identical copy of something already known and "officially recognised", so that it "has the right" to fit into a strictly defined category or genre. But genuine music (and art in general) is, and should be, what defines, redefines and/or defies the existing genres and categories; totally indifferent to the established "rules", it forms its own if necessary, only to do away with them when they are no longer needed.
As is the case with many fortunate events in life, my discovery of Betty Donelly and her universe was exclusively due to chance. While running a search for songs with the word "belladonna" in the title (for some reason that is of no importance at the moment), I came across one entitled The Belladonna Saucer Eyes. The melody and accompaniment brought memories of Marc Almond back in his glorious Mother Fist & Her Five Daughters days, while the vocals and singing style were reminiscent of The Cure - but still, the originality of the result as a total could account for a really unique musical identity. The voice had something tormented yet powerful in its "texture", the lyrics told a strange, melancholy story, an unexpected melodic twist in the last phrases of the refrain took me completely by surprise. I was hooked.
After his rather self-explanatory album Fuck the War (which included a little jewel entitled Butterflies), Ralph Buckley makes a spectacular comeback with an album that bears a deceptively colourful cartoon figure on the cover, and the equally deceptive title cocoa krispies & lucky charms.
