First of all, congratulations to you, the intrepid goat who has decided to read the walkthrough. If you are here and have not played "When Goats Join Cults," then you should play the game.

Also: check out our Kickstarter.

Ending 1: Boom! Roasted

Head to the room on the lower right and sit down at the table. At that point, you're locked into this ending.

Ending 2: Make Love, Not Goats

Go to the Library, the room in the lower left corner. Interrupt the Montathin and Corpulet having sex by jumping on top of them. They will say a few lines of dialogue and then kick you away.

Don't be discouraged. Keep approaching them and eventually you'll be offered an invitation you can't refuse.

Ending 3: You Are Naked And Stupid

Go to the Initiation Chamber on the lower right and jump over the table. (Make sure you don't touch it, as this will force you into the first ending.) Push the box onto the Corpulet's head and leave the room.

Bob will warn you of his plans to investigate soon. Visit one more room and return to the starting area.

Ending 4: So Close

Go the Library – bottom left – and jump on the bookcase next to where the Corpulet and Montathin and are enjoying each other. After they shout out some passionate dialogue, a box will fly out of the bookcase.

Pick up the book and take it to the Armory in the top right corner. When Gretchen tries to kick you out, offer the book. Then walk past her and don a uniform.

Return to the Initiation Chamber and push the box onto Tim's head. Leave the room, listen to Bob's warning, go to one other room, and then you'll be left with this ending.

Ending 5: Hooray?

Get the uniform (as described in the fourth ending) and return to the Initiation Chamber. Push the box onto Tim's head and then, while he's unconscious, go the ladder leaning against the right wall and take it with you.

Walk past Bob and the ladder will appear, granting you access to the Forbidden Room. Climb the ladder and enter. Walk over to Murphy, who will mention the secret handshake.

If you performed the secret handshake using the numbers he says, you'll get this ending.


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By raising $11,000 on Indiegogo, Tormentum: Dark Sorrow proves that point and click adventure games still have an audience. And at first glance, it's easy to see why: not only did OhNoo Studio create a hellishly beautiful game, they lowered the puzzle difficulty so as to appeal to a larger audience.

This puzzle is actually just glorified matching.

Speaking of puzzles, let's talk about game design. In Tormentum, players do not control their avatar directly; instead, they click left, right, up or down in order to progress through a series of moderately interactive screens. As to the puzzles themselves, they appear in two forms. The first requires players search for a particular object, such as a bone to appease a hungry animal or a key to unlock a prison cell. Secondly, Tormentum is filled with mini-games. These mini games often possess puzzle elements—for example, adjusting a set of gears to open a door—but not always.



Experienced point and click adventure fans may have noticed that I didn't mention item combinations. That's because there aren't any. OhNoo Studio ditches item combinations in order to lower their game's difficulty while providing a minimalistic inventory system. Does this decision pay off? In the end, I have to say no. The puzzle design in Tormentum never strays too far from easy, and genre veterans will breeze through this game.

I know everything is burning, but I'm more concerned about the dude on the piano. 

That said, easy puzzles shouldn't distract from the game's biggest triumph: tone. All of the art in Tormentum is hand-drawn and disturbingly ghoulish, with many monsters seemingly torn from the pages of a H.P. Lovecraft novel. The world alternates between horrible, bleak, and ravaged. No one finds goodness in Tormentum, a sentiment echoed by the game's ominous and occasionally plaintive soundtrack.

With decent gameplay and strong art, I'd consider recommending Tormentum were it not for the game's terrible story. OhNoo Studio bundles two video game clichés with a vague plot and obvious morality system. Amnesiac protagonist? Check. Absolving murderers good and killing innocents bad? Check. The nail in the coffin is the game's English translation: though Tormentum is more or less devoid of blatant errors, several awkward phrases took me out of the story.

From a grammatical standpoint, it's fine. But seriously, who talks like this?

When I think of Tormentum, I think of missed opportunity. What if this game had put a price on being good, encouraging the player to make the evil choice instead? What if the developers had fleshed out the plot? While Tormentum: Dark Sorrow could have left me contemplating life, OhNoo Studio settled for style over substance. This point and click adventure will have its fans, but don't count me among them.

SUBPAR

+Great art design
+Good music

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

-Clichéd story
-Very easy
-Uninteresting morality system

Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this game from the developer.

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David. theoretically combines addictive gameplay with artistic vision. Reality, however, dictates otherwise: with a frustrating central mechanic and a bland story, David. needs significant refinement before it reaches the heights the developer intended.


The brief tutorial introduces players to two problems in this game. The first is the story, which can be summarized as "small square fights evil." The square is named David, but don't expect any more details than that. What evil? Why this particular square? Who knows. I understand that the story is intended to be cute and abstract, but this barebones plot doesn't cut it.

The second and more important problem lies in the game's main mechanic. Attacking requires that you click on David until several spheres cluster together, at which point you aim at enemies by jerking the mouse in their direction. Although time slows down as you gather the spheres, this surprisingly complex mechanic still suffers from some issues. Because players do not regain control of David until slightly after the move has finished, I experienced many unfair deaths. Yet controlling David was often the least of my problems; instead, I repeatedly died because I did not know where the enemies were. That's right—the screen does not expand to include enemies. I understand the reasoning behind this decision, as zooming out would have made David too small to click with any sort of consistency. As is, however, enemies sometimes flew onto the screen out of nowhere and killed David before I noticed them.

This level is titled 'Anger.' It's an emotion you'll experience frequently in David.

Still, I admit I enjoyed messing around with David's attack. I often stayed in slow-motion throughout entire levels in order to win. Sometimes I would enter slow-motion for some epic Matrix style dodges and then, once I had fired my spheres, escape by sprinting away. This mechanic is more versatile than it might seem in the first hour or so of playing. It's also relatively novel; perhaps that's why it remains so unbalanced.

My third issue with David. arises in the game's controls. David. is not a traditional platformer, but it borrows enough elements from that genre that it needs to handle well. This is not the case, as David carries momentum like no other. I also don't know why the developers included a jump button—considering players possess an unlimited number of jumps, it would have made much more sense to allow the square to fly.

Choose wisely—as in always choose "Okay."

If David. were a more casual game, I might forgive the subpar controls. Alas, David. is quite punishing. The game has two difficulty modes, "Okay" and "Very." In the first, I blundered my way through all of the levels with relative ease. As a result, I was less aware of how my character floated across the screen and how his attack often caused me to take damage.



Because the second difficulty mode only gives the player a single hit point, my concerns about the inferior controls and inherently flawed attack mechanic were suddenly amplified. And it's not as though "Very" is impossible; rather, it's that the majority of my deaths were cheap, many occurring seconds after I spawned. David. is no doubt a tough game to beat, but too much of that toughness comes from poor design. In some cases, beating a level felt more like luck than skill.

Speaking of luck, it was really hard to get this screenshot.

Despite the deficiencies in David.'s gameplay, Fermenter Games worked hard to make this game as beautiful as possible. The minimalist art style reminds me of a more colorful Thomas Was Alone, and the aggressive electronic music suits David. I also appreciated how the music slowed down whenever I began to charge my attack.

As much as I enjoyed the art and music of David., my favorite aspect of the game was the varied levels. Instead of jamming dozens of near identical levels into David., Fermenter Games spent time thinking of many different ways to engage the player. During my time with David., I navigated a maze, fled as I was chased, battled an underwater monster, and more. One of the best levels required that I destroy a thick wall while dodging incoming bullets. Yes, there are only eleven levels, but each introduces new concepts. The fantastic level design doesn't make up for inherently flawed mechanics, but it goes a long way in alleviating the pain.

David. has a second mode that works as an arcade shoot-em-up with the mechanics I have already described. Because this mode plays out the same every time, I found myself less engaged by it than by the campaign. Some may be attracted to its score-attack feel; I was not.

I died immediately after this. I'm still not sure how.

With interesting levels, good music, and beautiful style, David. has potential. To find that potential, however, you'll need to look past the malfunctioning attack mechanic, a nonexistent story, and an inadequate control scheme.

MEDIOCRE

+Beautiful art and sound design
+Excellent level design

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

-Subpar controls
-Essentially no story
-Flawed core mechanic

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The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a remake of Edmund McMillen's The Binding of Isaac, a flash game that was released in 2011. While both titles feature procedural generation, Rebirth also includes dozens of new enemy types and over one hundred and fifty new items. Rebirth also offers a better engine, fixing the slowdown problems and occasional crashes players experienced in the original.


For fans of the 2011 game, I recommend Rebirth without hesitation. Learning the game's new mechanics and unlocking all of the expanded content will require untold hours of play. The rest of this review is for those of you who never played the first but are considering purchasing the second.

Few things are more evil than making a deal with the Devil.

From a story standpoint, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth parodies the Biblical tale of Isaac. After receiving a message from God, Isaac's mother attempts to sacrifice her son. Isaac escapes her by fleeing into the basement, where he faces hordes of indescribable monstrosities. Those looking for an involved story will be disappointed, but Rebirth nonetheless creates an appropriately disturbing tone through brief cutscenes, evocative music, and a simple but creepy pixelated art style.  





That said, most people interested in Rebirth aren't looking for a complex story; instead, Rebirth's appeal lies in its gameplay. Players take the role of Isaac as he navigates his way to his mother by shooting his own tears at enemies. Runs take between twenty-five minutes to slightly over an hour, and during this time you will find yourself cursing at the game's difficulty. Despite investing thirty hours into the experience, I find myself unable to win with much consistency. Players willing to work through the challenge, however, will discover a game with incredible depth. Strategies abound in this roguelike, and certain item combinations lead to particularly unique fighting styles.


You'll have to uncover these combinations on your own, as a significant portion of the fun comes from self-discovery. Learning the varied uses of an item can be very enjoyable, and you'll occasionally have a 'eureka' moment where you either feel like a genius or an idiot. Still, this process is a double-edged sword—sometimes, I found myself completely at a loss while trying to figure out the exact effect of a power-up. 

For example, I have no idea what's happening in this image.

Theoretically, this roguelike has near infinite replayability. Because of the vast collection of items, one could devote dozens and dozens of hours to this game without experiencing everything it has to offer. As of the publication of this review, less than two percent of Rebirth owners have unlocked every single item in the game.


You may have noticed I used the word 'theoretically' when describing replayability. Despite the potential for variety, many of my runs felt very similar. Because of the nature of the game—namely, that it can be beaten in under an hour—you'll be traversing the same areas over and over again. And even though I lack the skill to defeat them, I recognize all of the enemies. Finally, because the most awesome power-ups are also the most rare, most of my runs seem to take from a smaller pool of more common items.

Isaac, I feel your pain.

Of the games I've reviewed for this site, I've spent by far the most time with The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. To some extent, this is because I've heard so much about this title—for example, one popular Youtuber has uploaded more than three hundred Rebirth episodes to his channel. Unfortunately, I don't understand the praise: although I appreciate Rebirth's challenge, the occasional monotony and complete lack of instruction started to grate on me after a few hours of play. 

GOOD

+High replayability
+Good art and sound design
+Complex and difficult gameplay

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

-'Discovery' occasionally feels like floundering in the dark
-Many runs are similar

-Barebones story

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Though Terry Cavanagh rose to indie fame through VVVVVV, a difficult platformer built around the player's ability to alter gravity, my favorite game of his remains Don't Look Back. In retelling the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, this free flash game combines a subtle story with a unique platforming gimmick in order to create a deeply impactful experience. 

Because the rest of this article contains heavy spoilers, I advise you to play the game before continuing to read. 



At first, Don't Look Back appears to be a simple revenge fantasy. After introducing the protagonist as a man in mourning, the player grabs a pistol and heads to the underworld to avenge the death of his wife. From here Don't Look Back progresses in a fairly standard way: the player fights through waves of monsters before finally reaching—and killing—Hades himself.

Then things get interesting.

Few things are sexier than having a floating ghost companion.

Once the player encounters the spirit of his wife, he cannot look at her without causing her to disintegrate into nothing. Cavanagh went to great pains in order to incoporate this feature in Don't Look Back. For example, take this screenshot to the right: it seems as though the player can easily avoid the obstacles by turning around and climbing the rope on the ledge. Doing so, however, will require him to face his wife and thus doom her to an eternity in the underworld. Platforming challenges like this arise frequently as the player makes his way back to the surface.



At this point, gameplay and title have been tied to each other in a unique fashion. The title, essentially, serves as the only instruction offered throughout the game. Don't Look Back, Cavanagh insists. When the player does, he is punished by needing to replay whatever screen he was on.

Although some find the 'title as instruction' gimmick intriguing, it is the story of Don't Look Back that establishes this game as a notch above the rest. During the game's first two phases of action-platformer and rescue mission, story takes a backseat to gameplay. In the ending, however, plot takes charge.

The only thing worse than watching your wife disintegrate is turning around and realizing she disintegrated without you noticing.

The player's wife disappears even though the player remains facing her grave. Although this ending is ambiguous, it suggests that none of what was played actually happened; that the entire game takes place inside the mind of a depressed husband. Suddenly, the title is a second type of instruction, insisting that we need to move on from our loss. After all, the protagonist of Don't Look Back is clearly trapped in a cycle of mourning: he dreams about rescuing his wife from the clutches of Hades instead of accepting her death and learning to cope.

Don't Look Back is not the most beautiful game, certainly, and at times the platforming leaves something to be desired. Still, Cavanagh's clever connections between story, title, and gameplay make this art game one worth experiencing. 




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