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Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The Neverhood & Armikrog

Welcome to my first game review! I've decided to do a review on a game that scarred me as a child is a large piece of my childhood, and then talk about it's soon to be Successor, coming out... soon... Woo hoo! But first, to get the full experience, I suggest you listen to this on repeat whilst reading the entire post. Fair warning, there are... spoilers... in this post. If you can call them that. It's not exactly one of those kinds of games.

The Neverhood is a point and click adventure game, made entirely of clay. It originally came out in 1996. Being the crazy adventurous child I was, the game interested me greatly. I found it fascinating, though rather scary. The story, puzzles, and plot are incredible. Much like the story of good and evil from the Bible. But I've never been a fan of... claymation. I mean it's amazing that the game was made piece by piece like that. No doubt that it took a lot of work and all. But when put together, and with the style of the game, it's just kinda scarry.

A more specific summary of the Neverhood goes as follows: (as taken from the IMDb)
Long ago, a mysterious being known as Hoborg created a world called the Neverhood, made entirely of an odd substance known as "Klay." However, Hoborg was lonely and, using a mystical "life seed", created a "Klay man" that he called Klogg. Klogg was evil, however, and stole Hoborg's mystical crown,which was his secret to life; without it, he fell into a deep sleep! Luckily, Willie Trombone and his pal, Big Robot Bill, used a "life seed" to create Klaymen. Now, Klaymen must journey throughout the mysterious world that is the Neverhood, solve puzzles, dethrone Klogg, revive Hoborg from his long sleep, and save the Neverhood!
Overall I really love this game. The puzzles are pretty tough, the story well put together, and the animation rather amazing. Sure, the music is beyond strange at times. There are some really tense moments, and others where you can be just confused. But it's truly an amazing game. I would now like to share some screenshots of the game I've found, and share some of my thoughts. It's a wonderful glimpse into this creepy world.

He looks so carefree and happy...
And you thought that button opened the door

Okay... this room guys. It's gonna be the death of me, I mean it's so funny and annoying at the same time! See, throughout the entire game you must collect video tapes to understand your mission. They are extremely important, and you must find them all no matter how hard they are to obtain. This screenshot depicts one of over seventy shots of the same room. I counted once, though I forgot the exact amount. I'm guessing around 93 panels to get to the end of the room for one single tape. All along the way there's the entire history of the Neverhood. How it took that much wall space, I'll never know. Then of course once you reach the end of the room, you must go back. And Klaymen is no fast mover either.


These cart things are... kinda annoying. It takes forever to get around in them. Wait... that's basically the whole game. Everything is slow.

Part of one of the video tapes you find.


This puzzle always stumped me...


This is equally creepy as it is entertaining. This is a drain at the bottom of an empty lake. And you can choose to jump down it. And die. Through the whole game Klaymen says one thing. His name. But there are two times you can make him scream. Either choose the path of darkness, and he'll do this evil scream laugh that sends chills down my spine, or jump down this drain and he'll scream as he eternally falls.


*jumping up and down and screaming* Ahhhh, my childhood in a picture! This screenshot is one of the strongest pictures in my head from this game. Also a very strong childhood memory. Little Tiana and I in the computer room (which is now my bedroom), crowded around either her computer or mine. I forgot which (probably mine). We're approaching the music box. We've played the beginning of the game what feels like a million times, and we know what's coming. And we're terrified. We approach that symbol in the background, and press it. Nothing happens. We press it like a million times before we realise we need to go to the music box. Maybe we don't know this game as well as we thought. We start the music box scenario. Ahh, the memories


I don't know how many times I got stuck in this room for a long time after growing to normal size, but it was too many.

Did I mention there are teleporters in this game? That's what the machine on the left is. Also, do you know how long it took to get to this room?! How much playing time and hard work and cheating it took?! Too much! Ahahahaha, this game... this game man.


So I made this and I call it Klaymen in a nutshell. This is basically the whole game. Okay not really. But it basically outlines Klaymen.


And finally my larger collage of different parts of the game.

Now before I launch into part two, I want to say something. Sometime in the near future I am going to do a walkthrough / playthrough of this game. You will get to hear me babbling about the game, and all the memories and creepiness as I go through and try to beat the game for a second time. The only thing holding me back from doing this sooner, is I don't have the money to buy the program. But when I do, a playthrough of this game is in order.

Next stop, Armikrog!

Not much has been revealed about Armikrog, The Neverhood's spiritual successor, mostly because it's was supposed to come out today.  Due to the need of various bug fixes, the release date has been pushed back to September 8th. But here's what I do know. It follows Tommynaut and his blind alien dog Beak-Beak. They crash land in a fortress called Armikrog, and must find a way to escape. I think they might be trying to steal a powersource to save their planet, though I could be a little bit off about that.

It differs from The Neverhood in various ways, such as:

-The characters speak quite regularly
-The picture quality is better
-More detail in the game

When I finally come into possession of this game (which I suspect will happen soon after it comes out) I'm planning on doing a blind playthrough, with commentary as I go through the game. So be excited for that, cause I know I sure am.

Now let's look through some screenshots that they've released so far, shall we?






Whoa. Just whoa. I am so excited for this game. Look at the incredible design, which is all handmade. All of it's classic claymation. Everything is sporting the classic black sky, and familiar design, but it's new and fresh.

Seriously so excited for this game. Who else is excited for this game? Is anybody out there excited for my blind playthrough? Or my walkthrough? Lemme know in the comments guys.

1 comment:

  1. I seriously need to find the Neverhood, and then Armikrog.

    ReplyDelete