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The opening cinematic did a nice job of setting the tone of the game. It's the summer of 1980 in Texas, and you're in charge of a pair of survivors trying to make it through a zombie apocalypse. Your goal is to manage your safe house, scavenge for supplies and complete "leads" quests which seem mostly to be environmental storytelling moments. The gameplay alternates between day and night, where you queue up tasks for your survivors to perform.

Scavenging is a key part of the game, and while it's engaging, it can feel a bit limiting. For example, I was specifically hunting for cloth to build a medical station, but I kept coming up empty. Because of this all my survivors were low health and I had no way of actually healing them.

The reason they were low health is because the combat is not very enjoyable or interesting. You can sneak up on a zombie and insta-kill (insta-re-kill?) them but if you're facing one, you just hit 'm a few times until they are down, while they get some hits on you. Weapons would also break way too soon, so you're constantly at risk of having no weapon. Some balancing is definitely required, still.

Back at the shelter, you tend to your characters by cooking meals, repairing barricades, and giving them time to rest and relax. All to make sure they are healthy and sane enough to go on another scavenge run and keep on surviving.

The game heavily reminds me of This War of Mine, which is a game where you have to survive in a war-torn environment, both in mechanics, UI and general vibes. Into the Dead is a bit more combat heavy and it doesn't have the same emotional impact. (Sidenote: if you've never played TWoM, go pick it up. Games are art, and TWoM is one of those).

Where it is different is mostly the combat and exploration mechanics, and I am unsure if those differences are actually interesting enough to keep playing. All things considered, it mostly just made me want to play This War of Mine again.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26494852

Bread & Fred looks like a fun game, but I'm a little bummed out.

This was supposed to be published by Apogee but I guess they sold the rights to Atari, which is publishing this under their Infrogrames label.

Might sound silly, but I really wanted Apogee to start publishing these quirky little indie games again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2kPf5ohFsI

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Music while reading: https://c418.bandcamp.com/track/wanderstop

I didn't have much time playing everything last week, so I'm slowly working my way through and sharing my thoughts.

I have to admit, with Davey Wreden (the mind behind The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's Guide) directing Wanderstop and C418 (of Minecraft fame) handling the music, my expectations were sky-high for this demo.

The opening cutscene didn't blow me away, but the story quickly got real as it delved into the struggle of pushing through despite your health and sanity. I won't spoil everything, but the theme of burnout was a constant presence throughout the demo. Upon meeting Boro, you agree to help out with his tea shop until you are ready to pursue your life goals again.

The central gameplay loop is about making tea for customers. You gather tea leaves, dry them, grow fruits and other plants in the tea shop garden and then infuse the tea with a quirky machine that adds to the whimsical vibes. It's all very cute and visually appealing, with some interesting grid-based mechanics for growing specific types of plants based on how you plant them.

The story could have benefited from more voice acting, but perhaps this is different in the full game. There was a tiny bit of VA present and this really enhanced the experience for me. And of course, this is what I was used to with The Stanley Parable.

All in all, it was short and had more dialogue than gameplay, but for once I did not mind this. This game releases in 4 days (11th of March 2025) and I can't wait to see reviews of the full experience.

Demo trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH9c4TJhAyw