The 5Th Anniversary, Oceanhorn 2 And A New Website

We know, we know – there hasn't been a blog update in a long time, but we're making up for it! Today marks the 5th anniversary of Oceanhorn first launch on iOS, the perfect occasion for a few things. First of all, we'd like to say 'thank you' to our incredible community – over the years and for each platform release we've seen an incredible amount of passion and support for the world we created. We wouldn't be here without you, and we'll always keep that in mind.

Solve the mysteries of the ancient Arcadians in Oceanhorn 2

It's also an excellent time to talk about Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm. The game is coming along great, and we're confident it will be worth the wait! We are targeting 2019 for the announced iOS release. Over the next few months we'll have updates on various aspects of the game, but for now, you can feast your eyes on the brand new Oceanhorn website we are launching today. It features never-before-seen screenshots and info about Oceanhorn 2, with more to come. If you'd like to cover the game in one of your channels, head to the Press page and download our Press Kit.

Oh, one last thing: we're also setting up an Oceanhorn newsletter, where we plan to send updates on the game before they become public and celebrate the fifth anniversary this whole year in one way or another. If you want to be the first to know what we are up to, make sure you sign up on oceanhorn.com homepage!

Until next time!
oceanhorn.com

Oceanhorn 5th Anniversary label! Let's celebrate the whole year!

Rucksack, Game Review

Have you ever thought what it would be like to be like MacGyver? You dump out your rucksack to see what you have available and then make it through whatever situation you are faced with. You might not have all of the characteristics of MacGyver, but then again, he was a made up character for a TV show (wiki link). But Grumpy Spider Games gives you a way to get through a sticky situation with a rucksack full of odds and ends.

Rucksack is a story telling game designed by Joel David and published by Grumpy Spider Games (website). It is designed for 4–8 players of ages 12+. A game is expected to last 30–60 minutes. I was given a copy of Rucksack for review purposes.

Scenarios

Everyone is presented with a scenario. There are 50 scenario cards. The situation the players are surviving are determined randomly at the start. The variation of events can be grand adventures like, "Journey the entire length of the Amazon River" to more direct events like, "Survive a plane crash." Everyone is working on the same story scenario, but the items they have in their rucksack are different.

There are 100 item cards in Rucksack. You get a little bit of say in which items you have, but just a little. The first player draws a card from the top of the Items deck, without knowing what that card is. They can keep the card or put it face up in the discard pile. When a player discards their draw they draw and keep the next card off the top of the top of the Items Deck. That unknown card may or may not be a good one, but that is what is in your rucksack.

The next player now has an additional option. They can take the top card from the discard pile or draw the next random item. If they take the discard, their turn is over. If they draw, they have the same option of discarding and taking the next card.

Play continues in this manner until all players have five Item Cards. Now the storytelling begins. You tell how you accomplish the scenario by using all five items.

Some Items

You have a captive audience because everyone gets a concealed vote on who told the best story. You do this for three rounds of tales and then tally up the votes.

I pulled together a group of writers and gamers to see what they would come up with in this game of creative planning designs. Some of those plans were quite outrageous and everyone enjoyed what came out of the challenges.

On another occasion, we had a group of younger players, below the suggested age. We didn't worry about voting on who had the best story, just enjoyed the  crazy ideas that came from it.

Overall

Rucksack is a great game for anyone interested in creating plans that you usually only see coming from fictional characters in outlandish situations. Being the size of about three decks of playing cards Rucksack is easy to pack away and have available as a cabin game (something to break out when stuck inside while camping, etc.). You don't need a lot of space to play so it is easy to set up and start sharing how you MacGyver'd the situation.

More Items

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Spirit Of The North Review (NSW)

Written by Patrick Orquia

Title: Spirit of the North
Developer: Infuse Studio
Publisher: Merge Games
Genre: Adventure, Platformer, Puzzle
Number of Players: 1
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: May 07, 2020
Price: $24.99

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Spirit of the North is an adventure game where you play as a red fox following the titular Spirt of the North in a big adventure that will have you solving puzzles in order for you to traverse a land and solve its mysteries. It has beautiful visuals in its backdrop and overall aesthetics and has a hauntingly relaxing musical score. The game has been released on other platforms already and this port on Switch is not the best-looking and not smoothest in terms of performance, as expected, but it still is a worthwhile game to play.

The game doesn't use any form of voiced narration; the storytelling presented mostly in symbols and hints in the environment. The game is also very linear, but with the lack of signposting, could be a bit confusing and will make you get lost, but you will surely find your way again if you know where to look at and what to look for. The game is divided into 8 chapters, and each of them can be selected on the main menu and replayed once you have completed them.

At the start of the game, you meet the Spirit of the North which encourages you to go through a journey across the land that is probably inspired by some old Scandinavian country with its glaciers and mountains and rivers with a few broken down stone fortresses scattered throughout. Your goal is to reach a faraway mountain top that emits a red fume that slowly poisons the land. You start on a wide open snow field and soon transition to other types of environment, like caverns, grasslands, rivers, etc. On the way to the mountain, you will have to solve area puzzles for you to be able to progress from one area to the next. You can run and jump and bark, and as you progress further into the game, you get to acquire new abilities, like ability to carry and transfer light, rid certain areas of corruption, ability to conjure ice spirits, dash, and ride the wind. The light transferring mechanic is the main ability that you will learn early in the game. You carry and transfer light to pillars, murals, switches, and doors that comprise the area puzzles. The chapter gets completed when you have solved all the puzzles within it, and you transition to the next chapter right away. 

The main gameplay is very similar to that of the Zelda games but with a big caveat: there is no combat in the game. Despite that, solving the puzzles can be quite fun and could be a bit challenging at times, especially in the latter chapters. The puzzles are not too difficult to figure out in general, despite the lack instructions and narration. You just have to be very observant of your environment and let your deductive reasoning skills work overtime. Aside from the puzzles, you can also try to unite staffs found on your journey with their dead shaman owners scattered across the land, most of them hidden. There are 28 in total, and you get unlockable skins for the fox. The skins are purely cosmetic, but this is the only collectible in the game and it could give you a respite from the puzzles, since they can get really tricky due to the lack of handholding in the game.

Overall, Spirit of the North is a beautiful game, with its breath-taking visuals and hauntingly beautiful musical score. I felt happy and relaxed upon finishing the game. I didn't really get what the story is about, but I guess it is the journey and not the destination that matters. This game is quite an experience for me, and it is easy to recommend to others. Well, maybe wait for a sale, as it is quite expensive for its length (the game can be completed in about 5 hours) and this version on Switch has quite a few technical issues here and there and is not as good-looking as the versions on other platforms. But regardless of how you get it and where you play it on, I hope that you have a wonderful time playing the game like I did. Let the fox in you roam free!

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REPLAY VALUE: Medium

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PROS

• Beautiful, sublime visuals
• Hauntingly relaxing musical score
• Challenging puzzles
• Short in length but well-paced
• Unusual yet engaging storytelling
• Button prompts are presented to assist the player in interacting with the environment

CONS

• Frequent pop-ins
• Frequent frame rate drops
• Quite expensive for its length
• Floaty controls
• The animation look rough at times (at least on the Switch version)
• Frustrating platforming sections
• Wide open spaces are wasted since the game is very linear

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RATING: 3.5/5 Foxes in ice and fire

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