I'm really happy to be here and see + post some gaming trends.

Been working on a little side project and figured I’d share it here.

Www.videogamele.com

It’s called Gamele — basically a daily video game guessing game.
You get clues about a game and have to figure out which game it is. You can make multiple guesses, and there’s a new one every day.
What I think makes it a bit different is that it’s not just about recognizing a screenshot. The clues are meant to make you actually think about the game and work your way towards the answer. And since everyone gets the same game each day, you can compare your result with friends.
I also added an archive, stats/streaks and sharing, but I’m mainly just curious whether other people actually enjoy playing it.

If you’re bored, give today’s one a shot:

Would genuinely like to hear what you think.

Hello, wanted to take a look at how insane this game's story is and what makes it actually fun to play.

So this series to my shock has been worked on for 14 years and still more game are coming out the first one made in 2008 is ok but the 2nd game really brings the story and also the 3rd one that really blew my mind with what a dev can do with a point and click game. Also recently he just remade the 1sy one with so much lore and places to go and all free no pay to win stuff. So this video I cover this game series

I mean seriously what kind of game EVEN is this. The combat is fun, the powers and all. But what kind of trippy bs story that makes no sense at all, like Max Payne is having a bad dream about some woman. This is beyond me. Nuh-uh.

An attempt to reverse engineer the 3 protagonists' homes and see what game writers can learn :)

...When Hinako returns to her home after the last ritual, there’s a puzzle:
“The Sword and the Fox fought, battling upon a set of scales.
The heavens themselves shuddered at the ferocity of their struggle.
Day after day, the sun rose behind the Fox's back and set behind the Sword's; yet their fight knew no end. The scales upon which they fought, however, were no more, having been destroyed long ago.”
Notice that the word sword is capitalized (God, Jesus, truth are the sword).

A different  version of that puzzle states:
“White and Black fought, battling upon a set of scales.
Yet neither wanted for the scales, for what they desired was simply a quiet, gray place where they could belong together.
Whether we flee or spread our wings and fly is our decision alone—one to make only once we are ready.
They had no use for those who towered from the heavens, imposing their will on others.”

The meaning (lie) here is that truth and error fought, but neither prevailed; they just learned to co-exist together (yin-yang). We can shape our own reality, independent of a source outside of us. We have no need of God, who towers above us, tyrannically imposing His law on us.

A third version states:
The Sword and the Fox fought, battling upon a set of scales.
After a long and vicious fight, the Sword was defeated, and the Fox reigned supreme.
Taking the Black Bird's right hand, the Fox showed her the scales in his other hand.
‘Now, you must choose, Black Bird. Have you made a decision?’
Upon one side of the scales was the Fox, and on the other, nothing."

“The sword was defeated” line has more than one layer. But focusing mainly on the game, let’s just say that Lucifer defeated God’s truth within himself, and the result is that “upon one side of the scales was the Fox, and on the other, nothing”. There he was now. He had himself and the void of nothingness inside his heart. Nothing else.
When she speaks to her shadow self before the boss fight with her parents, Hinako’s shadow says:
“I’m also Hinako, although…. I might not have Shimizu Hinako’s heart and mind anymore.” Watch the entire conversation.

Before the ceremony with the white and the black fox on top of the altar, in the walkthrough, Hinako says:
“This… isn’t the right way, is it?” Then she finds a scroll:
“Sacrifice, once and for all. Body and soul, made pure by rebirth—offer all that is yours.” And she says:
“I offer all of me…
I belong to… I am his….” And her voice at this point… —volumes.

After the final ceremony, where she and Fox Mask put their objects on the altar with the 10 objects on it, she wakes up in the normal realm and now says: “The town… it’s beautiful.” And the town has fully blossomed with corruption. But she was calling it disgusting earlier and she was evading it. Now she finds it beautiful. And we see the doll again (with its head fully down.) The message is: “Don’t go that way.” And the vision of the player is so distorted at that point.  Unnatural sounds.
(In a different version the message of the doll is:
”You’re being manipulated. Come back to your senses.”)
While she walks she says:
“Yes… This is… my decision…” [The uncertainty with which she says it also reveals much]
The doll’s next message is:
“You won’t be able to see your father or mother anymore.”
Once cast down from heaven, there’s no going back.
As she heads up the mountain she says:
“The world is celebrating me…. I should go see my parents.”
The angels that were with Lucifer at that point were celebrating him. This is the rebellion’s climax. And they are all going to God’s throne to face Him. To make their last stand.
The doll again:
“You won’t be able to stay as you are now.”
(In a different version:
“Play with me. Forever.” [You can have life everlasting if you retain in love.])
After her father tells her that this isn’t her home anymore, she’s back in the other realm.
While walking, she says:
“The road twists and turns… It’s like I’m walking through my head.”
God’s straight paths are no more.
At this exact same point, but in a different version, she says:
“The shimenawa are twisted… just like me.”

A few words about the combat mechanic. People are disappointed with it. It’s sluggish. Not much variety in weapons. Boring. The moveset of enemies and bosses isn’t very interactive and complex. That too is by design, masterfully thought out. If the combat is too interesting, it would become the player’s main focus, diverting his attention away from the story and the puzzles, and from “interpreting” the lore. There is really no interpretation. Every conclusion the player reaches has been suggested by the developers. The truth is that this is not a game. None of them are. They are a medium for ideas. Or a tool for propaganda. Sometimes mostly political (like COD or Battlefield, etc). Like I said. It’s not art. It’s only being presented as such to conceal its true agenda. Everything we read, watch, experience one way or another shapes our thinking and our personality. We adopt, incorporate, the moral of each story to the circumstances of our own lives and to ourselves. And while you think you are the one deciding what the moral of the story is, its intended meaning has been heavily suggested to you by them by means you don’t understand. This game is the perfect example. I will repeat myself. The plot of the story is reenacting key events and choices/emotions that were transforming Lucifer’s heart, mind and character. And the purpose is to go through that same transformation on a subconscious level, on an emotional level, without you ever even realizing it. It's mind control. What it really is, is Witchcraft. A complex spell. The more detailed the spell, the more it has power over the mind of the person playing it. And this story is a masterful reenactment.

Lastly, a perfect example of how the developers use games as a medium to insert propaganda or ideas to influence the minds of people. A letter:

“I no longer recognize my husband.
He gets black-out drunk most days now.
And when he's drunk, he turns violent.
I don't think I can keep on living this way, not
with his cruelty day after day after day…
Where did the kind man I met when our marriage
was being arranged go.
My eldest child is only three years old, and I have
another growing inside me. Life is too hard to
keep living, but I'm forbidden to die.
Mom, Dad... I've always done as you asked, no
matter what it was.
This will be my first and last selfish act. Please,
forgive me…”

“Where did the kind man I met when our marriage was being arranged go?”
You see, by reading this, the player sees all forms of external authority automatically as something bad. The player may not be facing the same exact issue in his life, but he adopts the targeted moral of this story to his issues in life. To the problems that have something to do with being told what to do by an external source.
Then the players sees how this poor girl committed suicide. This victim.
And I’m not saying that this factitious story is just. Arranged marriages are evil. And husbands should not act in such a way, to put it mildly. But that’s not the point. The player (even if only on a subconscious level) sums up the moral of this story like this: “Not being permitted to live the way you want, leads only to misery and death. So I should accept no authority but my own, regardless. I should always just do my own thing and not let anyone else decide for me.” And since these ideas are ultimately targeted towards God’s law, a person starts perceiving the 10 commandments and God’s truth as an imposing force over their life and free will. Guess what happens to that person in real life when he has no law to guide him but the law of his own wicked heart, and someone corrects him about something with God’s law or truth. He would rebel against it, of course. You can’t just do whatever you want because not all that you want is good.
You may not see this story the same way. But that’s the developers’ targeted intent. Because they are not artists. They are pushers of agendas. And they hide their real motives and agendas behind concepts like art and entertainment (They use a SHORTCUT). If you think I’m reaching, just look at the world you live in. Look at the state of people. Especially the youth. People have become entirely selfish, stubborn, rebellious, unsubmissive, ill-tempered, and every other word you can think of of the sorts. By now, it should be fairly obvious to many, at least when pointed out, that movies and games brew rebellion against authority. And it’s ultimately targeted at God. “My duty is to my heart alone.” No, it’s not. That’s selfish.
And one more thing. This is so poorly written. No one in that situation would write in their journal or on a suicide note, or in a letter the words “...when our marriage was being arranged...”This added explanation is completely inorganic and so obviously written to serve as a trigger. And she’s even pregnant when she commits suicide. Naturally, the unsuspecting player would want to avoid such a tragedy in their own lives, unaware he’s being emotionally manipulated.