ISOLAND4: The Anchor of Memory

Aside from a few inventory glitches that can potentially softlock the game, it's my second favorite game from the developer in terms of being emotionally charged, and even though it didn't hit me as hard as The Elevator, it's still a philosophical experience with enjoyable escapism. You could try restarting the game and doing the battery puzzle again to see if you can fix it, try not doing any unnecessary actions.

This time the game is structured as a surreal maze and even has a depressing vibe to it which I really liked, you can also teleport between explored areas for convenience. It's not very long, maybe 1 to 2 hours with no guide, with each scene usually being some type of metaphor. The puzzles had surreal logic for which Cotton Game is known for, and for the most part, I thought the hints were intuitive, I don't mind dreamy puzzles as long as I can figure them out without too much frustration. I liked how the game played around with backtracking, I think many of the puzzles were very rewarding and would encourage you to explore and pay attention.

For the price, the game is nicely animated and arguably looks a bit better than previous releases, feels like it has more movement and more personality to it, as well as a lot of creative locations. I am not sure if the soundtrack is original to the game, but I also really enjoyed the chill music, nice and relaxing with a bit of melancholy to it.

Cotton Game is one of those developers on Steam that feels like they have been around forever, one of the most productive small developers out there, usually making pretty good quality games, admittedly with occasional glitches, and I always appreciated the fair pricing. It's almost a routine for me at this point, there are only a couple of devs that are this persistent, so I am just so happy to see them, not all of their games are great, but occasionally we do get gems like this one.

Pros:

(+) I thought the narrative was very thought-provoking without being too complicated, nice balance between text and visual storytelling. Personally, I found the story very relatable, very much on point with getting older and looking back at how you got to this point in your life.

(+) As usual Cotton Game sets a very low price for how much work they do, many enjoyable locations with nice art style, and a lot of cute animations to experience.

(+) Loved the soundtrack, the chill vibes and the melancholy were perfect for the story. Not sure if it's original, if it is then absolutely wonderful, if not, still a good choice.

(+) Nice achievement support for funky actions.

Feedback:

My only problem is that sometimes the game has inventory glitches, you might be able to work around some of them by re-entering the game. I was able to complete the game after a bit of struggle. They don't happen often, like I know there is one at the start of the game though, literally the first puzzle.

Overall Thoughts: 8/10

Always happy to support Cotton Game, very low price for how much effort they put into these. Overall nice entry-level puzzle game, surreal but also not too difficult. Occasionally they make these deep and thought-provoking games, and this one is no exception. Hopefully, they fix those glitches, although they are usually very slow to react, aside from that I didn't have any significant issues.

Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/

This is some good stuff. The art is unique and the rather mysterious environment puts in you in a different place. I'd say 3-5 hours of gameplay depending on how good you are at solving puzzles, so you're absolutely getting your moneys worth of entertainment. You'll easely get 100% achievement for the completionist. My favorite clicker series by far.

This is an awesome puzzle game. Somewhat difficult sometimes, and the storyline is quite interesting. As always, I enjoyed the hand-drawn scenes and the mystery behind the puzzles, but with this instalment of the franchise I really missed the option to create notes. I loved that about the previous games! The interactive map is definitely a win, however.