Short description:

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments is a single player adventure mystery video game where the player will control mainly Sherlock Holmes,along with other characters to solve six complicated cases. Players will explore and gather clues from different locations and make deductions. Interactive and interesting illustrations and puzzles were also provided for each case to guide the players to figure out the culprit. At the end of each case, the player would get to make a moral choice to either absolve or condemn the culprits which will led to different endings.

Website: http://store.steampowered.com/app/241260/

Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXXHbbpHCJI

Elemental Tetrad

Aesthetics:

• I like the overall look of the game as the characters are detailed and realistic. Players can easily identify the character’s thoughts and mood through the expressive facial animations and the tone of the voice over.
• The setting of the game is in 19th century London which matches with the original Sherlock Holmes stories. This helps players to relate to the characters and be immersed in the familiar setting.
• Text are provided at the bottom to help players understand what the character is saying. The other purpose of the text is to show the character’s thoughts while making deductions. 
• The aesthetic for the ‘deduction board’ is similar to neurons in the brain and they connect with one another when there is an idea. This is a good illustration showing what happens when a person is thinking and connecting ideas.

Deduction Board

Technology:

• The game is available for Windows, PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, making it convenient for several types of players.
• This game is developed on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3.

Mechanics:

• An interesting mechanic of this game is the ‘Sherlock Vision’. This vision helps the player to obtain important clues that may not seem as obvious and allows players to watch how events happened in the correct sequence. This makes the game more interesting and different from the usual point and click adventure games.

Scanning other characters for information

• There is a special camera view whenever Sherlock Holmes interact with other characters. The view allows the players stand in Sherlock’s point of view as Sherlock observes other characters to gather more information. These clues are also useful in telling whether the characters are telling the truth.   
• Other than finding and examining clues, there are several puzzles throughout the cases that the player must solve to obtain the clues. While some puzzles are repetitive such as unlocking a lock, there are many interesting puzzles that vary for each case.  

Deduction Board

• After players gathered enough clues, they would go to the ‘deduction board’ to link pieces of information together and make deductions. Some deductions would require the player to make a decision based on their judgment and interpretation. These deductions would lead to different endings. 
• At the end of each case, the player gets to make a decision to either condemn or absolve the culprit. Following that, the game would show what happens based on the player’s decision. There would also be a ‘case statistics’ shown to the player to show the percentage of the players that made the same decision. 

Story:

• There are a total of six separate cases and some are adaptations from Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories. The plot for the cases are rather complicated and intriguing which makes it fun for the players as they attempt to solve the cases. Furthermore, it is difficult to guess the culprit in at first glance and this motivates players to continue playing and gather more clues.   
• There are a number of different endings for each case depending on the player’s decision. I enjoy seeing the alternative endings as it is interesting how different decisions lead to different fates for the characters. Also, the good thing about the game is that players do not need to replay the whole case to see alternative endings.

Lens #4: Lens of Curiosity

• As the cases mostly start off with the crime, it invokes the player’s curiosity as there are many unanswered questions and several suspects. Players would want to know howh the crimes are committed and the motives behind it. 
• Players will also be interested to find out how the different clues gathered are connected with one another. This helps them to see the full picture and understand the case.
• The game reveals pieces of information and new locations one at a time throughout the investigation, this keeps the players excited and motivate them to continue playing. 

Chemistry Puzzle

Lens #31: Lens of Challenge

• There are many different types of puzzle that the players need to solve to proceed. Some of these puzzles are quite challenging as it requires players to think and see the pattern. There are subtle hints near the puzzles that can help the players. 
• There were some challenges at the ‘deduction board’ as some deductions require the player to choose one option out of the two. Players may not know which one to choose based on the information they gathered so far. Moreover, new evidence may appear and challenge their current views. 
• When exploring the crime scenes to obtain clues, some may feel that it is not challenging enough as the game would indicate to the player which are the important items. However, I feel that this feature is important as it makes sure that players would not miss out any evidence. Without this feature, players may be confuse and unable to search all the clues required. 

Making the moral choice

Lens #32: Lens of Meaningful Choices

• Players need to make a moral choice to either condemn or absolve the culprit at the end of each case. I find this meaningful as it depends on the player’s values and thoughts to make the decision. For certain cases whereby the culprit did the crime due to self-defense or with valid reasons, I feel that the culprit should be given another chance. But others may not feel this way since the culprits did commit a crime. There are no wrong choices but it is interesting to see what happens in the different endings. 
• As there are several suspects for each case, players are also given the choice to choose whom they think are the culprits. This provides the players an opportunity to look at all the clues gathered and make a logical decision. 
• Players can also choose how they want to dress up the characters to ensure that they are in the right disguise and suitable for the situation.  

Lens #5: Lens of Endogenous Value

• Clues and items gained from each crime scenes are essential to solve the crime.
• Some items could be used to unlock puzzles or new clues, allowing the players to move on with the game.
• Interactions with the eye witnesses and victims have a meaningful value as it helps the players to better understand the type of person the suspects are or gain information about the flow of events.

Lens #25: Lens of Goals

• It is clear to the players that the ultimate goal of the game is to find the culprit for each case. The objectives for the cases would also be in the ‘case book’ for the players to know. 
• During each case, there are several objectives that the players need to complete in order to proceed with the game. Some minor goals include unlocking a lock in order to obtain an evidence or gain access to another location. There are also many mini puzzle games that the players need to solve to gain crucial information. These puzzles are often associated with the context and characters of the case.

Mini Puzzle Game

Description

Don’t Starve Together is the standalone multiplayer expansion of the uncompromising wilderness survival game, Don’t Starve. It is a survival game full of science and magic created by KLEI Entertainment. In this expansion, players are required to work together in order to survive by gathering resources. There are multiple characters available and it is possible for players to choose the same character. Each character has their own traits, giving the players a different experience for each character they have chosen. There is no limit to how long the players can survive, thus the players are able to keep on playing forever, provided they have the capabilities to survive that long.

Game website: https://www.kleientertainment.com/games/dont-starve-together

Game trailer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVbyn7c1X6E

Lens of Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics

The objective of this game is to survive. There are 3 core stats a player must maintain, namely Hunger, Health and Sanity. These stats change accordingly to the environment, which include seasonal changes, and the players’ actions. In order to maintain these stats, players are required to search for resources which are scattered around the entire world map. Using these resources, players are able to get food, build structures, farming and even making weapons for combat.

Aesthetics

Don’t Starve Together generally has a decolourized graphics. The game is generally dark, making players feel more connected to the game in terms of survival. In addition to the colours, the music and sound of the game changes as the day and location changes. As a result, it is easier for me to feel immersed into the game. For me, I personally really like when the characters’ expressions change along with the day, actions or even the environment changes. By looking at these characters’ expressions and actions, it makes me feel as if I am inside the game itself.

Technology

Don’t Starve Together is available on the PC, unlike Don’t Starve which is available on mobile as well. The game looks as if it is 2D, but it is considered more as a 2.5D game – everything in the game is aligned on a plane (2D), but rendered as 3D. It is relatively easy to control the character in the game. It is just simply either WASD and Space bar to walk and action, or just by mouse left and right click, making the game easy to play with just one hand.

Story

There is no storyline to Don’t Starve Together, as it is just players coming together and trying to survive and fight off monsters. The game begins with the players all spawning at the same area, and everyone goes out to find resources and help one another to survive the entire game. It is easier for these type of survival games to not have a storyline, as everyone will be on the same page all the time.

Lens of Problem Solving

This game has different seasons, and there is a boss that appears at different seasons. Some bosses are more aggressive; thus, they will run to the players and attack them. However, there are actually ways to get rid of these bosses – either by engaging a fight with them, bring them to fight other monsters or even bringing them to far away that is not near the players’ bases. For example, during the winter season, a boss named Deerclops will definitely appear. If we do not properly resolve the problem of Deerclops, it will kill all the players and destroy our base. There are also other problems of maintaining hunger, health and sanity, whereby planning and gathering of resources is required.

Lens of Challenge

The first challenge players face is the beginning of the game. Players are being thrown straight into the game without any guide or help to make the players’ life easier. Instead, players are expected to play without any help and they are required to trial and error during the start of the game if they are playing by themselves. This learning process is painful as it can take a long process to learn. When people are just catching how to play the game, they will most likely be on the verge of dying.

Since Don’t Starve Together is an extension of Don’t Starve, the map is bigger and the bosses also have much more health as compared to the ones in Don’t Starve. This makes the challenge of the game more balanced and just right. Since there are more people in the game, the challenge brought by the boss is just right as the bosses now have more health. This is good as if they just maintain the original health, it makes the boss too easy to kill, and there will not be any challenge in playing the game.

Lens of Cooperation

Don’t Starve Together goes well with teamwork and communication. As the map is way larger and there is more people, it is more efficient if the team communicates and let each other know where each individual will be going. Also, through communication, players are able to allocate roles to each other. For instance, some people will be in charge of farming, some in charge of mining or some are even in charge of fighting monsters. It is essential for players to work together to avoid double work being done, and to increase chances of survival.

Lens of Punishment

Don’t Starve Together is harsh on players when they die, and especially when there are no living characters in the game anymore. When all the players that exist in the world are dead, the world will reset and randomly generate a new world. Imagine if the players have played very far into the game, and all their efforts are gone when everyone dies. This can be very depressing to players that have spent a very long time in player that world.

Another punishment in the game that might be a little harsh is the death of the player. When the player dies, all the items and equipment drops at the spot of death, and they need to find means to revive. Once revived, the max amount of health drops – causing the player to have lower health when they start again.

Game: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Relevant DLC: The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth (Released in 2016), Afterbirth+ (Latest DLC, which was released on 4 Jan 2017)

Blog (upload news and latest issues): http://bindingofisaac.com/

Wiki: http://bindingofisaacrebirth.gamepedia.com/Binding_of_Isaac:_Rebirth_Wiki

Youtube play demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV-w-Zf-mc8                                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_S2zDEMTG8

Description:

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a remake of the game: The Binding of Isaac. It is an action RPG shooter game with randomly generated floors, monsters and items. Players will play the roll of Isaac(or other characters) to explore rooms, collect items, fight with monsters and go to deeper floors to beat fearsome bosses. The attributes of the character, as well as the appearance and attacking styles will change when player gets different items, trinkets, pills or cards. When the player has beaten the final boss, the ending of the game will be shown on the screen, to tell you the sad and dark truth of Isaac.

Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics:

The character has its attribute board, where each attributes will be changed by the items player picks up. Player needs to explore rooms to beat monsters, collect items to strength attributes and finally beat the boss of that floor to get into the deeper floor. Players can choose to go to Sheol or Cathedral after the Womb floor. Final boss and ending will base on the player’s choice.

Aesthetic:

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a 2D pixelated game. Although the storyline is sad and dark, the hand-painted art style makes the game unique and cute. There are 42 monsters and more than 10 bosses with different appearance and movement animations. All the monsters have their own sounds and attacking sound effects. And the background music changes according to floors and rooms. All these designs show the great work and effort put in the game.

Technology:

Players use keyboard to control the character and attacking directions. There are keys to use cards, items, bombs and to show maps and attribute board.

The most important technology in the rebirth is its randomisation mechanism. Each run of the game has a unique seed to generate the whole map, items, pickups and monsters.

The AI of the monsters is also wisely designed to increase the difficulty of playing.

Story:

Apart from the randomisation, the background story is another important element of this game. Rebirth’s story is based on the Biblical tale of the Binding of Isaac. It tells about a young boy named Isaac, to escape from his mom who wants to sacrifice him for God, jumps into the basement (which is the first floor of the game), starts to fight with horrible monsters, using his tears as the weapon.

When analysing this game with its background story, everything will have a deeper meaning and the game itself become more thought-provoking. The level settings of the game, as well as the monsters, for example, angles and demons, are relevant to the story. Besides, all characters in the game are related to Biblical tale as well, such as Magdalene, Cain, Eve, Judas. There are 11 endings and also one hidden character: Lost for players to explore in the Rebirth.

In summary, the story supports the gameplay and make the game more engaging and meaningful.

Lens 1: Essential Experience

The essential experience of a player when playing the game is to grow stronger and to survive when facing all kinds of monsters and boss to reach the last level. Players should consider the effect of the items they collect, the use of money, bombs and keys, and the attacking styles of different monsters to survive the game. The other experience is to unlock achievements by reaching certain milestones, hidden goals or unlocking items. There are hundreds of unlockable achievements designed for users. The achievement system in the game is an effective way to encourage players to play the game.

Lens 2: Surprise & Fun

The charm of The binding of Isaac: Rebirth is its randomisation mechanics, which provides great surprise and fun for players. On each floor, enemies and bosses are randomly generated. Moreover, The game has a huge item pool and all the items player will get in treasure room and boss room in each floor are random. Thus, there are hundreds of, or even more combinations of these items, which will make every single run of the game become totally different as game progresses. That is the reason why many users have hundreds of hours in this game without feeling bored. (Personally, I’ve played this game for 400+ hours and I’m still holding a strong passion on it. :D)

Lens 3: Challenge

It is not easy to win the game. Player is required to get used to the controls and be familiar with hundreds of items and monsters. Furthermore, the difficulty will increase as the game progresses. The deeper the floor is, the more rooms there are and the more difficult to beat the monsters. So it will be hard for new players. Players can select difficulty before starting: normal or hard, which reduces the difficulty to some degree. And for the skilled players, the game is rather enjoyable than challenging. ‘Hard’ mode will have more champion types of monsters and a higher chance of getting cursed on each floor.

Lens 4: Competition

In Rebirth, there is a daily run mode. Everyday the daily run will generate a seed and a role for players to play. Players will be ranked globally according to their final scores. The seed controls the items, rooms and pickups dropped. Players will get penalty of scores when play time increases, getting hurts and collecting items. Killing monsters and getting pickups will increase the score.

Therefore the measurement is fair, as all players will start with exactly the same condition and the only way to get high score is the good skills to reach the goal faster with less damage. Also, as the rank is among global users, higher rank will provide a feeling of achievement and proud. Thus, this kind of competition is meaningful and attractive to players.