Please check out Zeno Clash

[lugaru]

I pre-purchased the game for $15 since I like to support foreign game studios (this one is from Argentina) and so far it is amazing. Think of it as a mix of punch out, Dave McKean art and Half Life 2. After killing the Mother/Father, your monstrous crow like parent, you are on the run from your other siblings and bounty hunters. The story is told forward as you flee but also in flashbacks as you tell your story to your companion.

The game plays like a mix of a first person shooter and a fighting game, sometimes you have weird weapons that you use to shoot monsters and sometimes you are beating up strange and insane opponents. The narrative and dialog has a little bit of philosophy, poetry and psychology worked into it so it feels like some crazy student film cast as a first person brawler. I'm 2 hours in and totally psyched, even if the next person I fight is the last I feel that I at least got the enjoyment of a movie ticket out of this.

Oh, and be careful with the blind sniper and his dynamite strapped squirrels.

http://www.zenoclash.com/

[Volsung]

I bought it yesterday and enjoyed it. It's quite fascinating

[detourne_me]

I was thinking about getting this one,  but i saw it wasn't available yet on steam... i got Merchants of Brooklyn instead,  which is complete crap.. can you get refunds from steam?

[lugaru]

What is merchants of Brooklyn?

As for Zeno Clash I'm about 2/3rds I guess and so far I can say it is very fun but very linear, if you buy it put yourself in the mindframe that you just purchased a DVD of a 4 hour movie. It also contains challenge modes and achievements though, so I might be selling it's replayability short. Game is gorgeous too, and very inventive.

Rain or shine I'll have a full review by the weekend, I just need to finish the game first.

[detourne_me]

Well I'll see how my finances are next month.  I've been buying quite a few games on steam...
Audiosurf, Penny Arcade 1 & 2, Merchants of Brooklyn (UGH!), and Watchmen

Merchants of brooklyn looked like zeno clash, thats why i got it,  but all of the character models are pretty much the same, and it's really buggy.  its a first person post-apocalyptic urban sci-fi game.  but it's mainly fighting and not shooting.

I saw some freaky looking screens from Zeno Clash, and i was wondering if it's scary at all (i don't really like scary games,  left 4 dead is pretty much my limit, Dead Rising got a bit too disturbing for me)

[Volsung]

It's not scary, and yet it's quite disturbing 

[lugaru]

Yeah, Zeno never tries to be scary... I would compare it to something like Aeon Flux or Laberynth in that it is less "boo!" and more "what the heck is that!?".

I think I'm really close to the ending and I've realized that the plot is a bit political, based off something that happened in Argentina.

Spoiler

I think it is about the Desaparecidos and their children... basically enemies of the state where kidnapped and tortured to death and their children where placed with high ranking members of the state. I think FatherMother kidnaps children so it can have a big clan who is loyal because it raises them as its own

[detourne_me]

Aeon Flux?  I think you just got me to buy the game.

[lugaru]

http://www.theconnoisseurs.com/zenoclash.html

Did a review this weekend.

[detourne_me]

Concise review Lugaru.
I find the artwork to be a lot like MirrorMask if you've ever seen it (The Neil Gaiman Movie)

I've bought it


ps.  do you guys use the Steam community stuff at all?  I believe my user name is detourne_me on steam as well.