Twinworld Game Reviews

Posts Tagged ‘Ratalaika Games’

Indie publisher Ratalaika Games, joins together with Brazilian Studio Fractal Projects, in announcing Save Room out on the 11th November 2022 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch, priced at $4.99 EU 4.99. This Puzzle Inventory Management challenge has drawn inspiration from a giant of a game and has been acclaimed by a number of media for its simplicity, inventiveness, addictabilty and above all fun!

A touch of Evil to inspire

Fractal Projects, who have released a number of puzzle games, explained that this was created by their programmer who focused on the Resident Evil 4’s inventory system as his main inspiration. ‘Everyone that played RE4 remembers how fun it was to organise your items to fit in your suitcase. So I imagined that a short game with that mechanic could be a good project. What makes the game unique is this nostalgic feeling. The goal/aim is to make all the items fit in your inventory, while your guns are loaded and your life is not too low.’

Organization

When you enter a ‘save room’ you know you are safe, no danger can come to you, you can relax. Take advantage of this short period of time to organize your inventory, heal your wounds and reload your weapons. Can you make all the items fit in your inventory?

40 levels make up the game and the objective is really simple, you just need to arrange the items you are presented with and then fit them into your inventory space. You can move, rotate and combine the items. Also, all your weapons need to be reloaded and your life can be in a dangerous state so keep your eye on the screen!

The difficult curve is progressive, so in the first ten levels the player only needs to fit the items and reload their weapons. At levels 11 to 25 the player will have to use and combine healing items to keep the health metre away from the danger state. After that, a mechanism of combining gunpowder to create ammunition is presented. In the final levels………… (surprises!)

As the developer explained, ‘The gameplay mechanics are introduced at a pace that is easy for everyone and players who are familiar with RE4 find them very intuitive. When someone gets stuck on a level he just needs to restart and try to organize the items in a different way.’

Relax and Progress

There is no timer at all, and as many gamers have found out from the successful PC release, Save Room has a relaxing approach that is very calming, so the player can just relax and solve the puzzle at his own pace. Each level must be completed to unlock the next one, and the game has many achievements that encourage the player to complete levels and try new things.

Crafty idea!

Save Room blends puzzles within its puzzles, like when you begin crafting: using different vials of gunpowder to fashion specific ammo types, combining herbs to make healing items. The developer expanded on this, ‘As in Resident Evil games it’s common to combine herbs and gunpowder, I figured having some mechanics like that would bring back a lot of nostalgic memories. So, in Save Room, the player will need to combine herbs to create potent healing items and mix the right gunpowders to create specific ammunition. And when you combine items, you create more free space in your inventory, which is the key to solving some levels.

Source: PR Email

Leon, Spain — Ratalaika Games and Petite Games are proud to announce that Bones of Halloween will be released onto Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4/5 consoles on October 28th 2022 for a price of just $5/€5!

Bones of Halloween is a small but spooky first person shooter full of thrills and chills, just in time for your favourite holiday! You awaken in a dark forest near a castle, and quickly realize that you’re being hunted by grotesque pumpkin skeletons risen from the grave, and they’re after more than just your candy. Shoot down as many enemies as you can while you are still alive! You’ll have to deal with a myriad of monster attacks including arrows, lasers, fire, and explosions. Choose from multiple gameplay modes and difficulty settings, and gain access to powerful weapons. Fortune cards will have either good or bad effects on your fate.

Features:

• Halloween-themed first person shooter
• Grotesque Halloween monsters
• Multiple game modes, difficulty settings, and weapons

How long can you survive the terror?

Source: PR Email

September 30th, 2022 – Indie publisher Ratalaika Games, together with Indie developer Kikai Digital, join forces to celebrate today’s (30th Sept) Caffeine: Victoria’s Legacy, a choice rich, fantasy visual novel, set in a steampunk Victorian alternative reality, where coffee is all that matters! Released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch, priced at €17.99 / $17.99, this is one to check out!

Features, facts and fantasy!

• Appealing and engaging story!
• Beautiful graphics.
• Over 25 hours of gameplay
• Four romanceable routes with one true ending.
• Voices characters.
• 450,000 word visual novel.
• Hundreds of choices.
• Original Music
• Animated CG scenes.
• A rollercoaster of romance
• Plus more

Source: PR Email

September 23rd, 2022 – Indie publisher Ratalaika Games, together with Indie developer Kikai Digital, join forces and announce the up and coming release of Caffeine: Victoria’s Legacy, a choice rich, fantasy visual novel, set in a punk cyber victorian alternative reality, where coffee is all that matters!

Out on the 30th September for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch, priced at €17.99 / $17.99, this is one to check out!

Setting the scene

The backdrop story and focus to Caffeine: Victoria’s Legacy is about Taka, who, while trying to investigate the whereabouts of his mother, is mysteriously sent to a parallel world where caffeine has magical powers and technological advancement is set still at the age of steam. Taka has lost all memories of his past and his only memory is a little coffee house in the corner of an alley, where his parents happily brewed coffee and served customers from all walks of life. Whilst on a plane journey to his mum’s homeland, he mysteriously falls off the plane and finds himself in the city of Victoria, staring at a coffee house named ‘Taka Coffee House’, the same coffee house that he remembered so fondly during his childhood…

Caffeine: Victoria’s Legacy is an exciting visual novel where you have to make choices along the way to uncover the true mystery behind Taka’s history and the workings of this world. Depending on the choices you make throughout the game, you may reach the individual good and bad endings for each of the 4 romanceable characters. After completing their routes, the true ending will unlock which goes on to uncover the secrets behind the whole story. With its unique story full of plot twists and intricate world building, those who stay till the end of the journey will be rewarded handsomely.

When caffeine is consumed, it gives the drinker powers which they call ‘Caffeine’. This makes coffee beans and other caffeinated products like tea a valuable commodity, making the city which Taka ends up in one of the richest in the world. But as the story progresses, it’s also pointed out that with new technological advancements coming up, the appeal of caffeine will diminish and thus there is a danger that those who rely on caffeine powers will become irrelevant.

We won’t spoil things by giving too much detail so delve into this enticing story and see for yourself!

Source: PR Email

16th September 2022 – Indie publisher Ratalaika Games, together with Start Warp and Meridian4, today release The Dark Prophecy – a 2D pixel art, Point & Click, 90s retro inspired adventure game. Coming on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch, priced at $9.99 / €9.99.

Features & Facts:

• explore the environment and find solutions to move the plot forward.
• try to touch everything that you meet on the way.
• start dialogues with other characters, choose answer options in dialogues,
• make the main character go somewhere, and let the story unfold.
• use items from your inventory on environmental items or on each other.
• solve puzzles and become entwined in the story.
• great replayability, with loads to see and do
• visit 18 locations – stunning, interesting and enchanting.

A mediaeval adventure story with plenty to do, explore and interact with, bringing back the best and ‘feel’ of the heydays of the 90s gaming scene.

A Brilliant spiritual successor to the classic 90s adventure games!

Source: PR Email

8th September 2022 – Indie publisher Ratalaika Games, joins together with Start Warp and Meridian4, to announce the up and coming release of The Dark Prophecy – a 2D pixel art, Point & Click, 90s retro inspired adventure game. Due out on the 16th September 2022 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch, priced at $9.99 / €9.99, gamers are welcomed into a peaceful mediaeval village where life is calm and safe, but ominously its about to change, and not in a nice way!

The Dark Prophecy presents an atmospheric classic fantasy tale set in the Middle Ages, featuring magic, witchcraft, wizards, castles, kings and peasants plus a host of interesting cast and features.

At the beginning of the game, the main character, an ordinary village boy called Jacob, accidentally finds himself at the origins of an unusual situation. The goal is to progress through this story to the end, to its logical conclusion. More specifically, to get to the royal magician and talk to him; which is not at all easy for a simple village lad.

And now the adventure begins…

Jacob, sitting by the night lake, receives a message from one of the magicians of the neighbouring kingdoms. He must get to the arch mage of his kingdom, Merlin, in order to convey an important message to him – otherwise, Jacob’s entire kingdom and village will perish within a day. His path to the castle begins very modestly – right in his village. First, he will have to find a way to get into the village witch’s hut and then carefully study the familiar landscape in order to find something new and hidden from public view.

Features & Facts

• As in the good old quests of the 90s, the player can:
• look at something (study visually),
• explore the environment and find solutions to move the plot forward,
• try to touch everything that he meets on the way,
• start dialogues with other characters, choose answer options in dialogues,
• make the main character go somewhere,
• use items from your inventory on environmental items or on each other,
• solve puzzles,
• great replayability,
• visit 18 locations.

“One favourite puzzle is the task of making the best soup in the kingdom, where you have to select a combination of ingredients, and cracking the witch’s chest, where you have to select the correct sequence of water runes to open the lock. There are many on offer!”. Denis, founder of Start Warp

Solving puzzles, understanding and implementing multi dialogue answers is all part of solving and completing the long and challenging journey. With detailed and beautiful locations to explore, including hiding in underground settings and castle grounds, complemented with unique musical themes a wholesome and full experience is presented to the player together with a great story!

Roll back the years and and feel the retro atmosphere of a 90s classic adventure on your console!

Source: PR Email

September 2nd 2022 – Indie publisher Ratalaika Games, joins together with RedBlack Spade, to announce the up and coming release of Catmaze – a metroidvania that’s inspired by Slavic mythology.

Out on the 9th of September for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch, priced at $9.99 / €9.99, secrets, magic and bounding around some enchanting settings are only a few of the compelling challenges on offer.

Variety is the spice of Catmaze

Creatures from Slavic myths cautiously keep their secrets in the magical forests and dense thickets that have become home to geese, kikimora, anchutkas, mermaids and many more mysterious forms. Now is your chance to unveil secrets where hidden paths will become visible and the road between worlds will be intertwined as you set forth…

Go Forth – Be Brave

The player assumes the role of Alesta, a teenage witch who finds her life turned upside down after a rather hapless experience. Wanting to bring her mother back from the world of the dead, Alesta soon enlists the help of cats that form the link between the world of the living and the dead, also known as Yavi and Navi. Alesta is a character with a strong spirit, but sadly not strong muscles, adding to the fact she does not attack monsters herself – others do it for her. All together there are 12 types of creatures in the game: some hit slowly and hard, some are weak and quick and others can poison enemies or freeze them.

Growing, Expanding Moving on

Throughout the game, you’ll explore the world that consists of caves, forest and villages to help her accomplish what initially was thought impossible. As you progress you will gather upgrades and new abilities that let you access previously inaccessible areas. Additional short sections of game mechanics give variety to enhance the experience – ride a wolf or fly on a broomstick, this is much more fun than solely moving all the way on our two legs!

As you advance through the Slavic villages facing some of the craziest, weirdest and spookiest confrontational encounters, ghosts, mean mermaids, bad mushrooms and more!. you must be prepared for the customary end of level big bad loathsome boss confrontations, who are devious and have some clever tactics. Fear not, it’s not called Catmaze for nothing, for some cute pussies, hedgehogs, and even birds will assist you!

Features and Facts

• Use Spells
• New Enhancements for Killing
• High Replay Ability
• Inventive Map to assist
• Hidden Rooms
• Save Feature
• Side Quests
• Platforming and action feast
• Top soundtrack
• Story branching
• Endearing Story and Cast

Catmaze is a pixel perfect mixture of fun and challenges to moving and jumping on mushrooms, and to deep and thought provoking puzzles within a huge play area.

Source: PR Email

26th August, 2022 – Indie publisher Ratalaika Games, together with SoftColors, look forward to gamers checking out this beautiful story driven visual novel that garnered plenty of attention on its PC release a little while back.

Today sees the console release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch ($19.99/€19.99).

Aquadine is a beautiful kinetic visual novel where most of the crafted story is straightforward yet totally immersive. Players will initially learn more about Aquadine’s characters and culture, giving everyone a chance to see which characters they may like to follow in a casual environment before the story gets more serious.

Source: PR Email

17th August, 2022 – Indie publisher Ratalaika Games, together with SoftColors, is happy to announce the upcoming release of Aquadine which has already been described by the media as ‘amazing’ when released on PC Steam last year. The 26th August 2022 sees the console release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch ($19.99/€19.99) for a really exciting visual novel experience!

Aquadine is a beautiful kinetic visual novel where most of the crafted story is pretty straightforward and totally immersive. Players will initially learn more about Aquadine’s characters and culture, giving everyone a chance to see which characters they may like to follow in a casual environment before the story gets more serious.

Setting the Scene

A character select screen will then appear that depicts four main characters: Anya, Diana, Cameron and Elisabeth. Clicking any of them will lead players to that route, and they can be read in any order. If all four are cleared, an epilogue titled Memories will be unlocked at the start screen. That is the true ending of the story.

Each of the main characters are memorable in their distinct personalities, their speech patterns, and their own stories. There are many fun scenarios where the main cast interacts with each other in the common route and while players are experiencing one route at a time, the other main characters may still be important to them. Everyone is connected, and reading all four will unlock the important epilogue.

The Setting

Aquadine is a very special town where one could take a vacation and really embrace the beautiful scenery. It’s rich in culture and mythology while inhabited by many lovable characters. The most unique feature of this visual novel would have to be the town of Aquadine itself.

While this setting draws much inspiration from Venice, the mythology is actually about an ancient merfolk civilization. Players will witness how this intertwines with the modern day setting and the importance to the overall plot. The protagonist’s mother also has a very strange combination of symptoms that has never been seen before.

The Game

As players go deeper into the story, they’ll slowly uncover the many secrets inside. One of the most memorable early scenes is an encounter with a beautiful mermaid. But much like Ciel, she also has her own secrets. Players will learn a bit more about her before the heroine routes diverge into four different options. There are too many memorable scenarios to list. They’ll discover the mermaid’s true identity, enjoy Diana finally bonding with her excessively strict mother, witness Cameron savagely beat the living crap out of her martial arts team, learn how Elisabeth comes to terms with her trauma, and feel how desperate Ciel is as he does whatever it takes to save his mother.

And there is more…………

“With the exception of the epilogue, Aquadine is written in third-person perspective which allows additional scenes from the heroines’ private lives, especially with family, and it wouldn’t feel natural if the main character is always present. Visual novels are traditionally told in first-person so the readers could immerse themselves through the main character’s eyes and make choices, but we wanted to explore other options. This approach itself is a challenge, because it can be risky to commit to something different from what’s expected. The third-person narrative without choices enabled the flexibility to flesh out major characters much deeper than what can be told in a simulation.” Brian Trieu, Director of Aquadine

Fact and features

• Four heroine routes
• Stunning visuals
• Gallery feature allows players to relive their favourite art and music
• 25 Songs
• Partial voice acting
• Sound preferences
• Anime influence
• Impacting story
• And much, much more…

Summing up!

Aquadine is about a gondolier boy who works to save money for his mother’s hospital bills; however, she has a very strange disease that none of the doctors know what it could be.

Source: PR Email

12th August 2022 – Indie publisher Ratalaika Games, together with Venturous, is happy to announce today the release of Voyage, a relaxing and beautiful cinematic journey of exploration for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch, priced at $14.99 / €14.99. This imaginative, eye-catching cooperative adventure game is one not to miss which is already grabbing some really amazing quotes and review scores!

A long-forgotten past

Billed as a side-scrolling casual adventure, Voyage offers much more with its aesthetics and ongoing changing settings, following two survivors who find themselves on an unknown planet. Their travels, whether you decide to play by yourself or cooperatively, will consist of many obstacles that halt and hinder their ability to progress forward. Experience the journey, piece together memories through broken statues and interpret murals to unravel a mystery of the past.

Shared Exploration

When playing Voyage in single-player mode, as opposed to two player cooperatively, one of the two protagonists in the game acts as an AI companion as if you were to play the game with a friend. You can choose which of the characters to control at any given time, interact with objects and climb together, tell each other to follow or stay put and even hug. This shared experience is an integral part to the narrative as the journey will revolve around two survivors in search for answers of a long-forgotten past. Embark on a voyage, unravel a mystery and find a way home together.

Features

• Shared experience – Work alone or with a friend to guide two survivors and explore the world of Voyage in a seamless cooperative experience
• Hand-painted – Lose yourself in Voyage’s sprawling hand-painted environments.
• Wordless narrative – Seek answers in a mysterious, wordless journey
• Non-violent – With an emphasis on exploration over violence, Voyage can be enjoyed by anyone without much difficulty
• Immersive soundscape – Music and sound by Calum Bowen, composer for Snipperclips, Pikuniku and Lovely Planet

Unique – Ready to Captivate a broad audience

Voyage has already been described as unique, delightful and mesmerising. With a completely wordless narrative accompanied by a soothing soundscape it opens up a fascinating way to observe and play. With simple controls, focus is squarely toward the visual delights on offer and the events that unfold as you are instantly pulled into this beautifully crafted world!

Source: PR Email