The Shrouded Isle - Lovecraftian KoDP

[tgb]

The Shrouded Isle releases today. I had my eye on it a while back but had forgotten all about it.

From what I can tell from this playthrough of the Android version is appears to be King of Dragon Pass meets Lovecraft.

First review is pretty positive so I'm sure I'll be picking it up.

[killbot737]

Looks interesting, don't know if I could stand the newborn shit colors for more than a few minutes. Do they have other color options?

[tgb]

Looks interesting, don't know if I could stand the newborn shit colors for more than a few minutes. Do they have other color options?

I was just looking at the latest patch notes and apparently they added a couple of different (optional) palettes. Also tool tips (yay).

[Sepiche]

Looks interesting, thanks for the heads up.

I'll probably give it a try this weekend.

[tgb]

Here's a much better example of game play

I'm sold.

[LordMortis]

I need a longer show of the game or a better description. It seems like there should be more of that there should be end game to plan for and I'm not seeing it.

I see proof of an interesting game mechanic but something that feels like it should be part of a larger over all game. 20 minutes of balancing the rise of some stats at the cost of others feels like constantly playing one screen from most 4x games.

I do like the animation though.

[Holman]

I'll wait for reviews, but I'm very intrigued.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention!

[Sepiche]

I see proof of an interesting game mechanic but something that feels like it should be part of a larger over all game. 20 minutes of balancing the rise of some stats at the cost of others feels like constantly playing one screen from most 4x games.

After about a half hour with this, that's pretty much my take. It's a series of decisions, often hard ones, based on a number of different factors you have to keep in balance. On the whole though I'm finding it pretty dull. I love the production values, and it oozes style, but this feels kind of like King of Dragon Pass if you only had access to the farm planning tab and maybe the events.

[tgb]

I see proof of an interesting game mechanic but something that feels like it should be part of a larger over all game. 20 minutes of balancing the rise of some stats at the cost of others feels like constantly playing one screen from most 4x games.

After about a half hour with this, that's pretty much my take. It's a series of decisions, often hard ones, based on a number of different factors you have to keep in balance. On the whole though I'm finding it pretty dull. I love the production values, and it oozes style, but this feels kind of like King of Dragon Pass if you only had access to the farm planning tab and maybe the events.

Not only that but it seems ridiculously easy. 2/3 through my first game, with no idea of what I was doing for most of that, and there's been no challenge. Unless there's a monkey wrench towards the end, I don't see how I could lose.

Disappointing.

[tgb]

And as it turned out, I posted prematurely with absolutely no idea of what the hell I was talking about (typical). I assumed all i had to do was survive the 3 years with positive relationships with the 5 families and all meters in the black. I did, and got booted out of town for my troubles. It was only after going to the Steam forum that I learned you have to identify and sacrifice the 9 heretics to actually "win".

Someone on Steam commented that this is essentially Werewolf, and that seems a fitting description.

[LordMortis]

And as it turned out, I posted prematurely with absolutely no idea of what the hell I was talking about (typical). I assumed all i had to do was survive the 3 years with positive relationships with the 5 families and all meters in the black. I did, and got booted out of town for my troubles. It was only after going to the Steam forum that I learned you have to identify and sacrifice the 9 heretics to actually "win".

Someone on Steam commented that this is essentially Werewolf, and that seems a fitting description.

That's more of a game and unclear in the video or steam page. I'm not sure how I fee about it. 12 shots to get 9 heretics, wherein you need to luck into the finding them. And if it weren't based on luck I think the game would feel like a mechanical truth table.

I really like the way they do bar balance but again it seems like it should be a mechanic of a larger game. The larger game at play here doesn't sound interesting at all.

but I do really like animation. Too Bad. Maybe when it hits sub $5, I'll get it as a timewaster.

[tgb]

That's more of a game and unclear in the video or steam page. I'm not sure how I fee about it. 12 shots to get 9 heretics, wherein you need to luck into the finding them. And if it weren't based on luck I think the game would feel like a mechanical truth table.

I really like the way they do bar balance but again it seems like it should be a mechanic of a larger game. The larger game at play here doesn't sound interesting at all.

but I do really like animation. Too Bad. Maybe when it hits sub $5, I'll get it as a timewaster.

It's not entirely by luck. There's a lot of deduction involved, and it's often not that hard to figure out which characters are heretics.. My problem is that I didn't grok it until the end of my game, and while on the last turn I was able to identify 3 of them, I could only sacrifice 1.

[GreenGoo]

Here's a much better example of game play

I'm sold.

goty potential!

[tgb]

Here's a much better example of game play

I'm sold.

goty potential!

Norabunga!

[dfs]

yeah. This is good and it is HARD.

You learn to skip the hokey animations and the images could be cleaner, but the gameplay is darned good.

[Daehawk]

Here's a much better example of game play

I'm sold.

Ive watch a ton of videos of that guy over the year.

[dbemont]

I've been giving this one a try, and it is interesting and more complicated than it first appears. And it certainly has atmosphere.

Some odd things about the game, though.
* You have to sacrifice a citizen every season... but your choice of citizen causes great distress. Unless you have solid proof against a citizen, you get a ton of blowback. Good for gameplay, but odd for a community that is supposedly built on human sacrifice and deeply into obedience, discipline, etc. In fact, it seems to be an unwritten rule that you cannot sacrifice twice in a row from the same clan, or you lose.
* The result is to subtly change the focus to that of a detective game. You need evidence to sacrifice, and you must keep sacrificing, so the detective work is your primary concern, with the instilling of fervor, obedience, ignorance, etc. feeling secondary.
* Oddest of all, you must make someone an advisor in order to sacrifice them. "Hmmm, I think you are dangerous sinner who might lead us astray, so I better give you power."

Of course, Civ and Endless Space have some pretty big holes in their logic, too. Games are about gameplay, not overall realism. Still, it is too bad to have great atmosphere and then have the logic of the game pull the player away from that atmosphere.

[tgb]

All valid points. After a while games all start to feel the same. I've certainly gotten my $9 worth out of it, but I have no desire to play it again.