Played the first five so far, looking forward to playing through the rest! Gotta say I LOVE the ui for flipping through the CD binder, nostalgic as heck.
This game only gets more interesting as I play, although I found a few glitches in this video. One where I fall though to the end, one where I can't escape, and one where the game fake loads? best way to explain that last one, but other than that its fun
This game(s)? Is so cool and interesting I cant stop playing I need to know what it's about but, man do I wish some of the titles weren't as difficult as they are
I just have to say this: This is an game that did worth it spend some time to play. The proposal of tell a story in 20 games is very interesting. The only problem that I had is in the 10th game. It's very bugged in my opinion. Despite that, it's a good game. I took the chance to play and record the games for my channel in an episodic format. Kudos to the creators of the games and to the person responsable for the concept.
Really engaging and interesting experiment. The interconnected "telephone" elements really held my interest and I blew through all 20 games in one sitting. Avert Your Eyes was the standout for me, the audio and visual techniques mimicking vertical cellphone videos were impressively fitting and effective.
This is insanely intriguing. I played through the first 5 games in this video, gonna make a series on this! I'm very excited to learn the true nature of the interconnected story! What an awesome concept!
Part 2 of a long series, this game is not short. And thats a good thing, I'm still very confused by whats going on but I am very much enjoying the experience.
WOW, um so I went into this thinking there were only 10 games, not sure where I got that number but I did. So when I found out there are in fact 20 it blew my mind, not only that, the story is very compelling, I need to know whats going on. Even though I suspect this is a game you'll have to play two or three times to fully understand. I will put out a full series on this because this is so interesting and I need a conclusion.
An awesome concept. I like how each developer has their own distinguishable style, meaning that you get a fresh outlook on the plot every couple of minutes. That's also a plus, the game has a storyline to follow. Each game starts where the last game ended, with notes and credit for each game. It is a creative aspect that the games are stored on haunted PS1 discs. I do not think this game would be as good without the suspense, the confusion, and the fresh outlook on the plot every so often. Definitely worth the download, even more so because it is free.
Here is my playthrough if you would like to watch my notes on the game:
I ended up playing a good few more of these and they started off quite tame but game 12 (avert your eyes) is probably one of the creepiest and most disturbing games I've ever played!
THIS IS GREAT. First time I have got a chance to play one of these. I've been spending the passed couple days on this video alone. Please check below and video description for full credit. I would really appreciate it.
Disc 1 - TORCH by Jazz Mickle : 1:50 - "despite everything, we kept searching". TORCH was a great way to start this whole experience. The name and the disc art held my focus on the torch through it all. The music with its mysterious vibes mixed with that squishing sound built a lot of tension as I walked forward. And then that light; this title left me with so many more questions.
Disc 2 - Ms. Blanch, by Adam Pype, Viktor Kraus : 5:51 - "I don't think you're going to need that torch, I assure you." Exposition dump, but done in a way that still leaves me with a lot of question. I really like this games art and overall feel; seeing the an actual hand in distress sat a little different. And what's with this torch.
Disc 3 - the participants by z_bill, DuendeenF : 12:42 - "I killed... a participant". This was my favorite of the bunch. It provided the most direct story explanation as well as unique movement controls and enemy encounters. I started out running into walls but soon enough I was chugging along like a champ. Oh, and our friend the torch makes an special appearance.
Disc 4 - Emerge by Davidrodmad : 25:31 -"PASS THE TEST". Ok so this one is a little different. Full of polygons and bodies. This feels like a dream sequence through and through. Then when you wake up at the end it felt like you were playing a whole different game. Purple body Green Eyes.
Disc 5 - DRiP by Colter Wehmeier, Bill Derrah : 30:54 -"Not when you're so seduced by sleep." Right off the bat you know I went to collect the shiny yellow floaty things. The game mocked me for it lol. I still kept trying just a little bit but honestly the mood changed after the "You're too cute. Really." line. Deeper we go...
Pros and cons are down below) Check out my vid here (likes and subs are highly appreciated, they help out a lot!)):
Revisited the game, so this comment is about the games from 6th to 10th (first comment was about the first 5 games)
Advantages:
1. The games are very unique and intersting. I love how originally the revealing of the story is presented. The 6th and the 7th games impressed me the most out of these 5!
2. I'm trying to pay closer attention to the story and it's very interesting where it is headed at the moment. Can't wait to play more to see more!
Disadvantages:
1. My game crashed 3 times. Though, it was less of a crash and more of the inability to launch the game. So C.H.A.I.N didn't crash but mini games weren't loading. I don't know what happened because the first 5 games loaded just fine, so I decided to let you know.
2. I think the 8th, 9th and the 10th games lacked some kind of background music. I mean, they weren't completely silent but I guess that the games would benefit a lot from more non-intrusive music. Upon editing, it was especially noticable when comparing the games to the previous 2.
3. The 9th game was a bit hard to control. The concept was nice and the story was told in an original manner but the mechanics were a bit weird. The game is still good, don't get me wrong but it was the first one in chain which would cause troubles completing it (took me 6 tries actually).
Overall:
I'd rate this part of the game 4/5 stars as it was still very cool but crashed a lot for me and there were some annoying moments. Can't wait to play more! Will definitely write another comment after I do that.
I absolutely love the design of this game, probably better than a lot of games I have payed for, I really like that there are parts in the game where it describes what happened to test subjects that played it, with snippets of information about the writer describing the test subjects experiences. Even if you aren't a big fan of horror I highly recommend this game to you because it is that good.
Really enjoying these. Having some trouble with 14, though. It shows the godot game engine screen, but change after that, though I can hear inputs and noises.
Pros and cons are down below) Check out my bid (first 5 games here):
I will revisit the game and finish it so right now my opinion is based on the first 5 games I saw. Later I will upload new comments regarding next games in line.
Advantages:
1. The conept of 20 different developers independetly creating games under the same narrative is super cool! I have been through 5 of the games thus far but I am already impressed and can't wait to see the game through till the end.
2. I love how different each game - the style and the mechanics are unique and fresh. It's incredible how they continue the storyline told by the last game previously.
3. Personally, I loved these logs. I think it's a nice charming detail that adds so much authencity to the whole experience!
Disadvantages:
1. Some games sometimes open incorrectly. The 3d game opened in a very small window for me and acted like was full-screen. I don't know what happened but that was a bit weird.
2. It's kinda interesting how each game has it's own little task but it would be so cool to see a bit more details. I think it would make the whole story telling even more fascinating if there would be more details to each game (though it would be much more complicated at the same time). Right now each games separately from the whole story feels a bit empty.
Overall:
I definitely rate this 5/5. All the developers made an incredible work and I will definitely finish playing the game later on the channel! I am very impressed.
Really fun collection of games! Props to all the devs, and hopefully there're more compilations like this in the future.
Ms. Blanch, The Participants, Avert Your Eyes, #13, Abraxas, and 999999 are the standout games to me (with Ms Blanch being my favorite), mostly because they ride that line of surreal horror I'm so fond of, have good atmosphere, and actively build on and expand the story and world of their predecessors. Some of the later games started to feel like they were playing very "safe" when it came to that, falling back on tropes and themes that feel a bit on the generic side.
I do also wish there was a little more cohesion to the compilation as a whole. I know the point was to only let each dev see the previous game, and I really like that idea, but perhaps if there was either an overarching theme that was consistent, or if more of the games expanded directly upon the story of the previous one (such as the ones I mentioned earlier). The narrative would still probably end up playing like a fever dream, but that surrealism could be very appealing.
The framing device used for the menu is wonderful, though. It does a good job pulling you in.
Lastly, and kinda just for funsies; even though no overarching narrative was intentionally written, I wanted to look for one anyway. Here's my take:
There's some kind of "things" that exist outside of our reality (Avert Your Eyes, #13). What exactly, who's to say, but they seem to fester and grow in our world, eventually bringing it to the brink of destruction (Abraxas). There's also been some cult-esque group studying them, and the only way to stop these eldritch beings (or maybe that's just what they want you to think) is by sacrificing yourself to them (#16).
But you don't die. Instead, they take you into their world (999999, Torch up through Organ of Eden), where they pass you through some kind of tests, and then pretty much strip you of who you used to be (Ms. Blanch starts as the main character, then is a secondary one, then disappears altogether).
When you finally emerge, you're back in time, or in a parallel timeline, or something, and this time you ARE the eldritch monster. You spread, and the cycle repeats.
Anyway yeah I know that's a lot of text but you all put this out for free and there are some real gems in here so I figured the least I could do was share some of my thoughts. Again, good job to all the devs, hope to see more soon c:
I thought that this game had a bunch of different art forms and was super interesting to paly through. for the first couple of games I was interested with the story then the Super Monkey Ball clone is when I completely forgot about the first couple of games were about because then the games continued to stray away from what I thought was the original narrative. I stopped playing when I got to the 19th game because I was playing a 3rd slenderman clone. The only thing that was really enjoyable about the games was the different art styles. I get that this is what it was based around to have a bunch of different art styles surrounding one narrative but it lost its value when the games started to derail and became boring to play. I think that this was an amazing idea and it was super fun to play for the first couple of games (even if it was just a walking simulator). It felt like the general story was lost throughout the games. Although it was a super cool idea, I think having 20 different developers working around a (what seemed like) a super vague and unspecified topic to go around, it makes the games feel like cluster of different games that don't go together.
Honestly, overall it's all right for a disjointed collection of games. It doesn't fit together at all, and some of the devs clearly didn't pay attention to the game before theirs, the most annoying part is when Ms Blanche goes from being the main character to a completely different character in a totally different role.
The super monkey ball clone is horrible. Organ of Eden is also trash, you can clip through basically everything and the collision is so janky that there are probably a dozen or more possible softlocks. Otherwise, most of the games are reasonably decent in terms of operation, although some of them are literally 30-second experiences at best.
Thanks for the review, some fair points. But to be fair, the point of the chain was not to have a consistent narrative. You can't expect that from the way we set it up. The point was to see how a story would progress / deteriorate by communicating through games. :) The limit for game length was 10 minutes, but shorter games were encouraged. We really didn't want this to take 5 hours to sit through.
I mean I didn't expect consistency overall, but I did expect each one to at least be consistent with the game before it. Drip is the main problem, where Blanch went from clearly being the test subject to being the person in charge of the tests.
As for the length, I did expect it to be short, but some of them just felt ridiculously so. Swell was just a clone of that agar.io type game and barely lasts long enough to develop atmosphere. 16 was just "walk into the yard and collect 3 plants". Vale you grab two books and then die. Like, I'm not asking for game of the year or anything of course, I know what to expect from game jam-types, but at the very least it should be more than "I made a single room and put some interactables in it", that's bad form. A couple of the "collect x item" games did the same thing but that's already been brought up by other people.
I agree with you about the narrative breakdown; it's clear that some of the devs wanted to try to keep a narrative thread going (like The Participants making a clear effort to refer back to Blanch, the participants and the test) while others didn't seem to make much effort to link at all (Day 11 seems to have zero connection to Organ of Eden).
I didn't really expect much from the length because I see it as a bit like the Haunted PS1 Demo Disc - more about concept and experience. 16 was one of my favourites, despite it's length, because I liked the concept of gathering herbs for a ritual: A longer game with expanded mechanics could be really cool. Likewise, Vale had really good atmosphere which made it far superior to Specimen 15 despite them being very similar in concept.
Though this is a collection of games created by multiple developers, papercookies has yet again succeeded in producing a strange and memorable experience. I highly recommend this title!
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
You guys have made a super cool and unique product, hope you're proud of yourselves!
Thank you!
Thank you so much!!
Played the first five so far, looking forward to playing through the rest! Gotta say I LOVE the ui for flipping through the CD binder, nostalgic as heck.
Papercookies did brilliant work on our binder!
For some reason, I can't walk in 'Torch'. Only if I walk diagonally, I move very slowly.
Hmm, I'll bring this up.
GOTY
:D
Walked into the river and fell through the world on the day 11 disc
Best cadavre exquis in video game history!
Dam how much did thit cost you
It was completely free for us all to make.
haha well tbf, we did spend a bit on the VO for the trailer
I just have to say this: This is an game that did worth it spend some time to play. The proposal of tell a story in 20 games is very interesting. The only problem that I had is in the 10th game. It's very bugged in my opinion. Despite that, it's a good game. I took the chance to play and record the games for my channel in an episodic format. Kudos to the creators of the games and to the person responsable for the concept.
Really engaging and interesting experiment. The interconnected "telephone" elements really held my interest and I blew through all 20 games in one sitting. Avert Your Eyes was the standout for me, the audio and visual techniques mimicking vertical cellphone videos were impressively fitting and effective.
This is insanely intriguing. I played through the first 5 games in this video, gonna make a series on this! I'm very excited to learn the true nature of the interconnected story! What an awesome concept!
Please make a claim option, so it will stay in the Itch app.
The first half is great! Super high quality. However, the second half is hard to follow.
!!!!!!!!!ALSO ELIPSY WARNING!!!!!!!!!
They really should have disclosed this.
Is there a episode 2 in the works?
...nnnno?
It has been discussed! No concrete plans yet.
How did you like the game? Be sure to rate it and check out all the devs other games!
I have rated it, lower down is my game play video :)
Is there any chance to "Claim" the bundle? I'd love to contribute and have it in my library ;)
Absolutely enjoying this!! 10 more games to play and I can't wait :)
An awesome concept. I like how each developer has their own distinguishable style, meaning that you get a fresh outlook on the plot every couple of minutes. That's also a plus, the game has a storyline to follow. Each game starts where the last game ended, with notes and credit for each game. It is a creative aspect that the games are stored on haunted PS1 discs. I do not think this game would be as good without the suspense, the confusion, and the fresh outlook on the plot every so often. Definitely worth the download, even more so because it is free.
Here is my playthrough if you would like to watch my notes on the game:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJgjFRG5RNDWDxUUcCThKw0C6adLBSg2
What an awesome concept for collaboration and brilliantly executed! Hats off to all the devs!
I ended up playing a good few more of these and they started off quite tame but game 12 (avert your eyes) is probably one of the creepiest and most disturbing games I've ever played!
Finally, I was able to test the remaining 10 minigames. Rare is to say little but interesting are all.
THIS IS GREAT. First time I have got a chance to play one of these. I've been spending the passed couple days on this video alone. Please check below and video description for full credit. I would really appreciate it.
Disc 1 - TORCH by Jazz Mickle : 1:50
- "despite everything, we kept searching". TORCH was a great way to start this whole experience. The name and the disc art held my focus on the torch through it all. The music with its mysterious vibes mixed with that squishing sound built a lot of tension as I walked forward. And then that light; this title left me with so many more questions.
Disc 2 - Ms. Blanch, by Adam Pype, Viktor Kraus : 5:51
- "I don't think you're going to need that torch, I assure you." Exposition dump, but done in a way that still leaves me with a lot of question. I really like this games art and overall feel; seeing the an actual hand in distress sat a little different. And what's with this torch.
Disc 3 - the participants by z_bill, DuendeenF : 12:42
- "I killed... a participant". This was my favorite of the bunch. It provided the most direct story explanation as well as unique movement controls and enemy encounters. I started out running into walls but soon enough I was chugging along like a champ. Oh, and our friend the torch makes an special appearance.
Disc 4 - Emerge by Davidrodmad : 25:31
-"PASS THE TEST". Ok so this one is a little different. Full of polygons and bodies. This feels like a dream sequence through and through. Then when you wake up at the end it felt like you were playing a whole different game. Purple body Green Eyes.
Disc 5 - DRiP by Colter Wehmeier, Bill Derrah : 30:54
-"Not when you're so seduced by sleep." Right off the bat you know I went to collect the shiny yellow floaty things. The game mocked me for it lol. I still kept trying just a little bit but honestly the mood changed after the "You're too cute. Really." line. Deeper we go...
I really enjoyed playing it, 👍👍👍
Pros and cons are down below) Check out my vid here (likes and subs are highly appreciated, they help out a lot!)):
Revisited the game, so this comment is about the games from 6th to 10th (first comment was about the first 5 games)Advantages:
1. The games are very unique and intersting. I love how originally the revealing of the story is presented. The 6th and the 7th games impressed me the most out of these 5!
2. I'm trying to pay closer attention to the story and it's very interesting where it is headed at the moment. Can't wait to play more to see more!
Disadvantages:
1. My game crashed 3 times. Though, it was less of a crash and more of the inability to launch the game. So C.H.A.I.N didn't crash but mini games weren't loading. I don't know what happened because the first 5 games loaded just fine, so I decided to let you know.
2. I think the 8th, 9th and the 10th games lacked some kind of background music. I mean, they weren't completely silent but I guess that the games would benefit a lot from more non-intrusive music. Upon editing, it was especially noticable when comparing the games to the previous 2.
3. The 9th game was a bit hard to control. The concept was nice and the story was told in an original manner but the mechanics were a bit weird. The game is still good, don't get me wrong but it was the first one in chain which would cause troubles completing it (took me 6 tries actually).
Overall:
I'd rate this part of the game 4/5 stars as it was still very cool but crashed a lot for me and there were some annoying moments. Can't wait to play more! Will definitely write another comment after I do that.
Hope my feedback was useful!
oh my god
I absolutely love the design of this game, probably better than a lot of games I have payed for, I really like that there are parts in the game where it describes what happened to test subjects that played it, with snippets of information about the writer describing the test subjects experiences. Even if you aren't a big fan of horror I highly recommend this game to you because it is that good.
Really interesting idea! Really digging the SCP style investigation. Played the first 3 games here, looking forward to seeing the rest!
Really enjoying these. Having some trouble with 14, though. It shows the godot game engine screen, but change after that, though I can hear inputs and noises.
Really diggin this so far!
This is amazing!!
I'm really enjoying this, thank you for these amazing games!!Pros and cons are down below) Check out my bid (first 5 games here):
I will revisit the game and finish it so right now my opinion is based on the first 5 games I saw. Later I will upload new comments regarding next games in line.Advantages:
1. The conept of 20 different developers independetly creating games under the same narrative is super cool! I have been through 5 of the games thus far but I am already impressed and can't wait to see the game through till the end.
2. I love how different each game - the style and the mechanics are unique and fresh. It's incredible how they continue the storyline told by the last game previously.
3. Personally, I loved these logs. I think it's a nice charming detail that adds so much authencity to the whole experience!
Disadvantages:
1. Some games sometimes open incorrectly. The 3d game opened in a very small window for me and acted like was full-screen. I don't know what happened but that was a bit weird.
2. It's kinda interesting how each game has it's own little task but it would be so cool to see a bit more details. I think it would make the whole story telling even more fascinating if there would be more details to each game (though it would be much more complicated at the same time). Right now each games separately from the whole story feels a bit empty.
Overall:
I definitely rate this 5/5. All the developers made an incredible work and I will definitely finish playing the game later on the channel! I am very impressed.
Hope my feedback was useful!
Great video!
I Swear I might not sleep well after playing C.H.A.I.N
...the rattling, right?
Really fun collection of games! Props to all the devs, and hopefully there're more compilations like this in the future.
Ms. Blanch, The Participants, Avert Your Eyes, #13, Abraxas, and 999999 are the standout games to me (with Ms Blanch being my favorite), mostly because they ride that line of surreal horror I'm so fond of, have good atmosphere, and actively build on and expand the story and world of their predecessors. Some of the later games started to feel like they were playing very "safe" when it came to that, falling back on tropes and themes that feel a bit on the generic side.
I do also wish there was a little more cohesion to the compilation as a whole. I know the point was to only let each dev see the previous game, and I really like that idea, but perhaps if there was either an overarching theme that was consistent, or if more of the games expanded directly upon the story of the previous one (such as the ones I mentioned earlier). The narrative would still probably end up playing like a fever dream, but that surrealism could be very appealing.
The framing device used for the menu is wonderful, though. It does a good job pulling you in.
Lastly, and kinda just for funsies; even though no overarching narrative was intentionally written, I wanted to look for one anyway. Here's my take:
There's some kind of "things" that exist outside of our reality (Avert Your Eyes, #13). What exactly, who's to say, but they seem to fester and grow in our world, eventually bringing it to the brink of destruction (Abraxas). There's also been some cult-esque group studying them, and the only way to stop these eldritch beings (
or maybe that's just what they want you to think) is by sacrificing yourself to them (#16).But you don't die. Instead, they take you into their world (999999, Torch up through Organ of Eden), where they pass you through some kind of tests, and then pretty much strip you of who you used to be (Ms. Blanch starts as the main character, then is a secondary one, then disappears altogether).
When you finally emerge, you're back in time, or in a parallel timeline, or something, and this time you ARE the eldritch monster. You spread, and the cycle repeats.
Anyway yeah I know that's a lot of text but you all put this out for free and there are some real gems in here so I figured the least I could do was share some of my thoughts. Again, good job to all the devs, hope to see more soon c:
Thanks a lot for your thoughts about Abraxas <3
Really liked some of your takes on the narrative
ooo I really appreciate your thoughts and narrative take!
I thought that this game had a bunch of different art forms and was super interesting to paly through. for the first couple of games I was interested with the story then the Super Monkey Ball clone is when I completely forgot about the first couple of games were about because then the games continued to stray away from what I thought was the original narrative. I stopped playing when I got to the 19th game because I was playing a 3rd slenderman clone. The only thing that was really enjoyable about the games was the different art styles. I get that this is what it was based around to have a bunch of different art styles surrounding one narrative but it lost its value when the games started to derail and became boring to play. I think that this was an amazing idea and it was super fun to play for the first couple of games (even if it was just a walking simulator). It felt like the general story was lost throughout the games. Although it was a super cool idea, I think having 20 different developers working around a (what seemed like) a super vague and unspecified topic to go around, it makes the games feel like cluster of different games that don't go together.
The developers weren't aware of the overall narrative. Every dev only knew about the game what came before it!
Honestly, overall it's all right for a disjointed collection of games. It doesn't fit together at all, and some of the devs clearly didn't pay attention to the game before theirs, the most annoying part is when Ms Blanche goes from being the main character to a completely different character in a totally different role.
The super monkey ball clone is horrible. Organ of Eden is also trash, you can clip through basically everything and the collision is so janky that there are probably a dozen or more possible softlocks. Otherwise, most of the games are reasonably decent in terms of operation, although some of them are literally 30-second experiences at best.
Thanks for the review, some fair points. But to be fair, the point of the chain was not to have a consistent narrative. You can't expect that from the way we set it up. The point was to see how a story would progress / deteriorate by communicating through games. :) The limit for game length was 10 minutes, but shorter games were encouraged. We really didn't want this to take 5 hours to sit through.
I mean I didn't expect consistency overall, but I did expect each one to at least be consistent with the game before it. Drip is the main problem, where Blanch went from clearly being the test subject to being the person in charge of the tests.
As for the length, I did expect it to be short, but some of them just felt ridiculously so. Swell was just a clone of that agar.io type game and barely lasts long enough to develop atmosphere. 16 was just "walk into the yard and collect 3 plants". Vale you grab two books and then die. Like, I'm not asking for game of the year or anything of course, I know what to expect from game jam-types, but at the very least it should be more than "I made a single room and put some interactables in it", that's bad form. A couple of the "collect x item" games did the same thing but that's already been brought up by other people.
I agree with you about the narrative breakdown; it's clear that some of the devs wanted to try to keep a narrative thread going (like The Participants making a clear effort to refer back to Blanch, the participants and the test) while others didn't seem to make much effort to link at all (Day 11 seems to have zero connection to Organ of Eden).
I didn't really expect much from the length because I see it as a bit like the Haunted PS1 Demo Disc - more about concept and experience. 16 was one of my favourites, despite it's length, because I liked the concept of gathering herbs for a ritual: A longer game with expanded mechanics could be really cool. Likewise, Vale had really good atmosphere which made it far superior to Specimen 15 despite them being very similar in concept.
Okay about to start Part 3!! Going Live
interesting style.
Though this is a collection of games created by multiple developers, papercookies has yet again succeeded in producing a strange and memorable experience. I highly recommend this title!
Hi. I leave my little gameplay of the first 10 minigames. I have to play the next 10. An interesting experience.