Oct 162015
People say you shouldn’t trust reviews, but make your own decisions about games.
I’m not entirely on board with that (reviews can be quite useful), but I like several games that received medicore or bad reviews. For example, Fragile Dreams, Amy…
…and The Starship Damrey.
The Starship Damrey is part of the Guild series, smaller games with no connection to one another released by Level-5. With a style reminiscent of survival horror, The Starship Damrey interested me from the start, and I bought it shortly after it released on the 3DS eShop.
It begins with a warning that “This game contains no tutorials or explanations,” and gives you no further guidance throughout the game. The puzzles never become overly complex, although one optional puzzle required to unlock additional dialogue in the ending might give you some trouble.
While not explicitly horror, The Starship Damrey has a tense, unsettling atmosphere and simple mechanics straight from the survival horror genre.
You’ll solve puzzles, open doors, and backtrack with items to open new paths. Through it all, you slowly learn the story of what happened on the ship.
One downside is that the game is short. You can complete everything in 3 hours or less. However, the concept intrigued me and I wanted to learn more. I played the game in a single sitting, although I went back later for the bonus ending.
It’s short and simple, but its unguided presentation and creepy plot should appeal to many survival horror fans. If you’re in the mood for a few tense hours with your 3DS, go to the eShop and delve into the mysteries of The Starship Damrey.
“The Starship Damrey is part of the Guild series, smaller games with no connection to one another released by Level-5.”
wot
Are you asking because the sentence is unclear? Level-5 has released several games collectively known as the “Guild” games, even though they have no connection to one another, and aren’t actually a series.
So is this like a Final Fantasy kind of a thing? Are these games even the same genre?
Nope. It’s even less of a series than Final Fantasy. The best way to think of the Guild “series” would be… a term given to these games because it’s easier to say “Guild” than to say “short standalone games from Level-5 created with the help of other designers.”
I think that’s the big unifying element of the games under the Guild name–rather than be developed entirely by Level-5, outside designers helped. Bugs vs. Tanks, for example, was designed by Inafune.
So basically shit Level-5 helped publish for other dudes?
No, because they played a role in the development, too. Here, this should help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_(series)
So the Guild is basically a compilation of games by star developers who wouldn’t do well on their own.
That sounds good. XD
I’ve only played three of them. Damrey (obviously) and Attack of the Friday Monsters I enjoyed. I’ve had trouble getting into Crimson Shroud.