The Procession to Calvary: Revels with Pythons

 

Played this on my X-Box, and it was lots of fun simply because it's an excellent tribute to Monty Python. As a game, use a walkthrough, unless you enjoy testing every node and possibility. The puzzles in this game are simply as convoluted as a typical Monty Python sketch, with the outcomes just as unpredictable. Do not succumb to frustration. Look it up.

However, the style of the game is so enjoyable that I don't care about the obscure puzzles. The artwork is real artwork, taken from famous paintings (which are collected in a gallery in the game). The music on every screen is real classical music, with the attribution given if you click on the musicians. 

The animation is simply a cutout of the main character moving across the screen. Yes, you can double-click to run, thank goodness. The story involves murder, and the main character lusts after killing people. If you do that, however, you won't really be able to play the game. So, suspend your bloodlust. Example: I got a pair of crutches I needed by hacking down the cripple who was using them. Fair enough, I got the crutches. But I later learned that nobody would talk to me because of my bloodthirsty ways. 

You'll have plenty of characters to murder in the endgame. Hold off until then and find other ways to get your items.

The game is simply insane, and that's why it's fun. If you love Monty Python, you have to play it. If not, you're not going to get the joke.

I loved it!

Call of the Sea: Lovecraftian Puzzler

 

Have been gone for awhile due to a bad medical diagnosis, but I acquired an X-Box Series S, which I'm really enjoying. The X-Box can take screenshots, but I haven't figured all of that out yet. I will be playing more games directly on my computer, which will allow me to insert screenshots, but I'll just summarize my playthrough here because I've finished the game anyway.

Didn't know what to expect from this. It was about to leave Game Pass when I played it, so I shamelessly used walkthroughs for a lot of it in order to finish before it went. Sorry I did that now because I could have figured most of it out myself. When I gave up the WTs I had more fun.

The story, which turns Lovecraftian before the halfway point, takes place in the 1930s, which I find fun. They did the time period quite well. The main character has some kind of obscure fatal disease, and her husband has traveled to the South Pacific in an attempt to find a cure. (Why? That's never explained. Hey, it's a good setting for a game.) He's been gone too long, so we go to find him. Following his trail eventually answers the question about the fatal, obscure disease. As a plot, it works.

It's a good game! Really solid adventure with excellent puzzles. A few are a bit too detailed for my taste, but you can find clues to most of it. I had a bit of trouble with navigation--the game doesn't hold your hand with that--and that was frustrating at one point when I couldn't find an exit and wound up just floating through mostly nothingness. A couple of times, though, the game takes you on a rollercoaster ride through the sea and it's fun!

The graphics are outstanding. The voice acting is outstanding (the lead character is the same actress who voices the female character in The Long Dark). It has six chapters, all quite distinct and engrossing. I wasn't fond of Chapter Three, which takes you to a shipwreck. You have to put together lots of little clues, all involving a lot of back-and-forth travel, to solve the puzzle. I'm not sorry I went to the WT for that one. There's a big payoff once the puzzle is finished, though.

Actually, the game gives excellent payoffs to all the main puzzles. These really make this game stand out.

The game gives you fair warning that there are two possible endings so you can save appropriately. However, it has an excellent autosave feature that will always take you to a recent point without having to replay tons of stuff. With that you don't really need to do hard saves, but I did anyway.

I really enjoyed this and I highly recommend it. It was an excellent return to adventure gaming for me. Great stuff!