Recent reviews by STNGTE

Sometimes, it’s not the grand sagas but the quiet, introspective stories that touch us the deepest. A Hint of Purple is exactly that kind of experience, a free visual novel that explores not only art and love but also loss, identity, and the acceptance of a new self, and as a reflection on how we define ourselves, how we navigate change, and how love must adapt when life takes unexpected turns. What makes it special is the way it plays with inner monologues. Maya's conversations with her prefrontal cortex are not just a creative narrative device but also a deep exploration of self-doubt, hope, and the search for meaning. It’s almost like witnessing an internal struggle, one that we all in some way recognize. Sharp dialogue, sometimes witty, sometimes raw and unfiltered, sometimes humorous, sometimes painfully honest, and that’s precisely what makes it so real. All of this contributes to an experience that lingers, much like a painting whose full meaning only reveals itself over time.

In my review of Unheard (The base game) I had written:
"I'm not an achievement hunter, and it seems that the game can only be completed 100% with an additional DLC.
I don't understand why some developers keep doing something like this, keep things simple and ensure that all achievements remain part of the main game!"

I said this because sometimes there are games that generate additional achievements with paid DLCs, and in this case, it is not clearly visible what the situation is. I had read somewhere in the reviews that the DLC with the two extra achievements was only available in Chinese. Apparently, seems it was the case at some point, but it is no longer like that. And since this DLC is free, there is actually nothing to complain about. What I want to express however, is that such things can cause unnecessary confusion and should ideally be avoided. That is why I still stand by my statement, Achievements should always belong to the base game and not necessarily be added by more stuff later.

It could be that NEXT Studios encountered issues during the production phase; otherwise, I fail to understand why this irritation persists. According to Steam, the base game was released on March 29, 2019. Then, on June 14, 2019, the DLC The Lethal Script was released, followed by another DLC on August 15, 2019, which was only available in Chinese, as well as one on January 16, 2020. Why wasn't this all simply made into one game with an emphasis on offering English for all parts? I'm just saying...

The Lethal Script offers another interesting case that could keep you engaged for about 1 to 2 hours. Essentially, you're doing the same thing again, but it's still a bit different. I enjoyed it quite a lot. However, I find it very unfortunate that the other two DLCs will probably never be available in an English version. Well no point dwelling on it, on to the next game!

In Unheard, you take on the role of an Acoustic Detective what was the decisive factor for me in wanting to play this game. Instead of using visual clues, you listen to conversations and try to identify connections. The game features five different locations, each with distinct characters who play an important role. Your task is to listen carefully to them. Based on what is said, you must determine their names, their involvement in the case, and whether they are the culprit, victim or what ever. While playing, you have the ability to take notes, rewind or fast-forward, and pause the recording.

There are multiple endings, though they didn't quite impress me, but they're fine. The stories in general, could have had a bit more depth, but overall, they're still enjoyable. The music, sound effects and atmosphere are also okay, and the voice acting is clear and easy to understand. Listening to the dialogues never became boring. Except when replaying it a few times for the different endings. Because of that, I would have preferred more cases with greater depth and a well-thought-out, solid ending, rather than repeatedly going through the same content just to make a different choice at the end. That doesn’t really seem worthwhile.

I'm not an achievement hunter, and it seems that the game can only be completed 100% with an additional DLC.
I don't understand why some developers keep doing something like this, keep things simple and ensure that all achievements remain part of the main game! Speaking of DLCs, at this moment, there appear to be three, but unfortunately, two of them are only available in Chinese, which makes them unplayable for me. I wouldn't mind at all if I could speak or even understand Chinese, but sadly, that's not the case. So, I'll take a look now at the DLC The Lethal Script, at least it's free and available in English.

Unheard is an innovative detective puzzle game that offers an interesting way to pass some time for about 3, 4, or 5 hours. But that’s pretty much it. For the price it’s reasonable, though I’d say the best way to try it out would be during a sale,
just play through one run, pick an ending and that's it, then it's a worthwhile try. Otherwise, some will feel the same as I did and just end up wasting their time, if I had known beforehand, I would have played it once and then moved on to something else.

I have to admit, I'm somewhat disappointed. LoFi Hotel certainly has its charm, and I really do appreciate the look of the characters and in general, but I was very close to giving it a thumbs down. At this point, I can't help but be brutally honest, though in the end, it's just simply feedback and constructive criticism, also a small reflection of my gaming experience.
That being said, there are certain things players should keep in mind before diving in, cause some of the points I am about to mention made me feel relieved when I was finally done with it.

And dear Danton Freitas aka Enchant Games, since we've already spoken before, I want to make it clear that I bear no grudges against you. I will play Roofcats Band at some point, and I’m also looking forward to Zen Rogue Monks. However, there’s one piece of advice I’d like to give you already: anyone who tries to do too much by himself and doesn’t really accept help from others inevitably makes more mistakes - unnecessary mistakes that could have been avoided.
I've been through that myself.

At a certain point while playing, I had to grab a piece of paper to note down all the malfunctions and bugs I noticed.
Since there were quite a lot, I won’t list them all. Instead, I’ll give a few examples and highlight the aspects that genuinely annoyed me. So the music often just stopped playing. Despite multiple clicks, certain mechanics or commands frequently didn’t work. The whole screen/map would sometimes start to flicker. The turtle often got stuck in the map near the islands. A collected song wasn’t playable for quite a while. And occasionally, there were strange sound issues like stuttering and distortions. It might have been worth considering an additional movement speed or a dash for the owl and turtle, as they move quite slowly. While it's not a major issue, but it’s certainly not ideal either. The text windows didn’t appeal to me at all, I actually found them kinda uncomfortable, especially due to the strange spelling and phrasing errors. Unfortunately, the sound design also didn’t resonate with me; it felt a bit uninspired. For example I would have approached the owl’s wing flaps differently to make them sound more authentic. The music was also a bit too repetitive and could have been mixed more precisely, but that's just my opinion.

All the technical issues and malfunctions set aside, as well as questionable decisions, that's one thing but don’t get me wrong, they’re no small matter. But when you add what I’m about to describe, a thumbs-down would definitely be justified. I really wasn’t a fan of being able to move beyond the edge of the screen and behind certain objects, and I spent a long time searching for the last piece of music. Frustrated and unsure of what else to do, I scoured every hidden corner, which became incredibly annoying. I had really hoped that the final music piece wouldn’t be in an invisible area. And what happened in the end? The last music piece was on some island in the top right, completely hidden behind the edge of the screen, things like this should be avoided at all costs in any game.

After the short credits, there was a reference to Discord, and the game either froze or didn’t give me any option to return to the main menu, I have no idea. I forcibly closed the game and thought to myself: really, really unfortunate! What a pity!
So once again Enchant Games: keep going, but please learn from these mistakes. Maybe consider working with a few more people? Perhaps think about bringing in additional Quality Assurance Testers and Sound Designers? Oh and by the way, could you please clarify the age rating for Shy Cats Hidden Orchestra? It’s not a big deal you know, and a friend of mine would really like to play it and currently can't, since it’s no longer available in the store here in Germany due to the lack of an age rating.

I'm writing a review for the first time while playing the game, which was a spontaneous decision driven by my desire to take some time with it. I actually wanted to play it last year when it was released because the meditative atmosphere combined with a narrative experience and Lo-Fi music appealed to me greatly. However, I never found the right moment for it - until now. So, let's see and let's have some Simpler Times.

First of all, I noticed that the controller functionality has some issues, certain things didn't work as intended.
Thankfully, this is a game where you don't really need a controller, so I set it aside and everything worked flawlessly with the mouse. Then I had to tweak my graphics settings, such as setting the FPS to the lowest value, because my system was working way harder than it should for with a game like this. Finally, I could explore this lovely place, but unfortunately, the next glitch appeared right away: when picking up a certain plush toy it twitches wildly, very unpleasant and something that could definitely use some fixing. (A bit later, you can play a retro game on a handheld console - or maybe not, since the buttons for left, right, up, and down don't work).

I've also already noticed a few spelling mistakes, yea this is nitpicking at a high level, and just to clarify, I've been in that position myself. On a CD of mine, either I or the graphic designer slightly misspelled the name of a contributing artist, and I didn't notice until afterward. I can completely understand how these things happen. However, with a digital medium, it's much easier to correct errors. For example, in the book Laila and the Goose, the word 'had' was printed twice in a row.

Anyone who knows me and has also played the game won't be the least bit surprised by what comes next.
I absolutely love that you can play vinyl records. It's also funny that you can 'manually' stop the record and move it forward and backward. While it doesn't sound entirely authentic, perhaps that's asking a bit too much, but then again, it shouldn't be too complicated to implement. And, I was equally delighted to equip the Walkman with batteries and load a cassette into it, ah yeah the good old times.

I'm always curious about what profile backgrounds and emoticons a game offers, and I appreciate the vinyl record and headphones. However, I find it unfortunate that the opportunity wasn't taken to also offer a picture of the record player and Walkman as background images, that would have been so cool.

So, I just passed the 2-hour mark and treated myself to some new emoticons in the points shop, and no turning back now. Honestly, despite the little issues I mentioned earlier, I never once considered asking for a refund.
I really appreciate the relaxing atmosphere here, and the music by George Pandrea was well crafted for this game. And I really enjoyed the voice acting for Taina, it feelt incredibly natural and authentic, which made the character even more likable for me.

One more thing which is unfortunate and somewhat confusing, is that I can't load specific game sections. In the first scene, I hadn’t even finished packing my boxes before I was suddenly moved to the next scene, it’s not exactly ideal but oh okay well what ever. Overall, Simpler Times is a very sweet one, but for it to be considered truly great, a few things would have needed further optimization. So if you're willing to overlook some imperfections and are seeking an exceptionally cozy experience, Simpler Times is worth your consideration.

Edit (04/27/2025)

After the credits rolled, I got stuck in a scene and couldn’t get out easily at first. I was supposed to play one last record, but nothing happened, and the achievement didn’t pop up either. I just wanted to see if I could somehow restart the story from the beginning. I restarted and reinstalled the game multiple times, which eventually allowed me to switch scenes but didn’t let me properly start the story from scratch again. Some achievements didn’t work right away, even though I did everything correctly, and even now, 2 are still missing, whether I collected all the stickers and apples. With this edit, I just wanted to express how disappointing it is that such charming games can have their experience deeply affected by numerous technical issues and poorly optimized game mechanics. I also did some research, and sure enough, many other players have reported the same problems. It’s also sad that apparently nothing has been done about them since the release.

As I already mentioned, Simpler Times is a sweet one, but due to all the issues, I would have rather watched a video about it and, to be honest, spent the money on a different game.

In 3 Words?

Meow Mawnyah Mrrrrrrrrr

A delightful and thoughtfully crafted hidden-object game with a serene and cozy atmosphere, in which you explore a charming town, searching for hidden cats/water sources and features simple, intuitive controls and calming music, making it an ideal choice for unwinding during a quiet moment.

If you want to play through this free game once, it can be done in 30 to 60 minutes, I personally took 30 minutes on my first attempt. Since the DLC offers a charming nightlife, includes more adorable cats, and the entire proceeds go to a selected cat shelter, I naturally purchased Night Lights as well. I even emailed the developer Devcats, and offered to further support their endeavor and donate an exclusive cozy song or a remix for another DLC, but unfortunately, there was never a response. A little unfortunate, as I believe a social art project that advocates for homeless people, while also not forgetting animals and loving video games, could be a great partner and drive even more good for a noble cause. I wonder if it has something to do with our YouTube channel, what do you think? https://www.youtube.com/@KLTMNSTR

A little funny side story: Today, as I'm writing this, I have a band in my studio that's just starting out in their career and hasn't decided on a name yet. Their top contenders are: Catscratch Fever, Claw & Order, Nine Lives Noise, and The Meow-tley Crüe. Clearly, they're huge cat enthusiasts, and we'll be playing Stray Cats in Cozy Town again. Meow!

Sometimes, or even quite often, music games tend to be mediocre to downright bad, and Rhythm Any Music is unfortunately extremely bad. It felt like the installation took forever, and then it crashed several times. The notes barely match the songs, even with super simple examples like a basic drum track, making it absolutely no fun. Additionally, certain command keys sometimes stop working, and when I reassign them, the symbols don’t align properly. There's so much unfinished work in here, such a product shouldn’t even be sold. Definitely stay away from it!

In 3 Words?

Okayish Arcade Gameplay

And now sing with me:

"...Ooh, everybody's here
This is the jam of the year
Ooh, everybody's here
This is the jam of the year..."

Edit (04/17/2025)

I just had a moment and felt inspired to expand on Prince's song 'Jam of the Year.' This idea would serve as both an homage and a continuation, reimagined with the intention of using it with WEJAM as an engaging exercise for a workshop.


Jam Of The Day

(V1) The night unfolds, like a quest to explore, Levels of sound, unlocking the floor. A pixelated dream, where time doesn't bind, In this endless loop, the groove rewinds.

(PC) Echoes rise like untold lore, it's weaving through dreams we explore. Each rhythm a journey, each chord a choice, dimensions in sound's own voice, where tones construct what words cannot say, a fleeting realm that won't fade away.

(C) It’s the groove of eternity, feel it rise, feel feel it rise. A love symphony under starlit skies. From the jam to the groove, we transcend the years, With every step, may the pain disappear.

(V2) We paint with sound, each jam's a stroke of fire, Every spark we ignite fuels the desire. This world spins fast, but here we remain, shaping echoes of time that defy the mundane.

(C) It’s the groove of eternity, feel it rise, feel feel it rise. A love symphony under starlit skies. From the jam to the groove, we transcend the years, With every step, may the pain disappear.

(B) Tribute the jam, the rhythm divine, endless loops, the groove rewinds. Tribute the jam, the rhythm divine, echoes of time - echoes of time.

(C) It’s the groove of eternity, feel it rise, feel feel it rise. A love symphony under starlit skies. From the jam to the groove, we transcend the years, With every step may the pain disappear.