About This Game AR-K is a classical point and click adventure with an updated twist. IMPORTANT:This pack includes episodes 1 and 2 of AR-KAR-K: Gone With The SphereAR-K: The Girl Who Wasn't ThereEpisode 3 is now available on Steam!AR-K: The Great EscapeAlicia Van Volish is a former cop and current journalism student who wakes up after a one-night stand with a terrible hangover and a lot of questions: How much did she drink? Did she really take that guy home with her? What was his name? And what, exactly, is the Golden Sphere, the mysterious object that seems the source of all Alicia’s woes? 6d5b4406ea Title: AR-KGenre: Adventure, IndieDeveloper:GATO STUDIOPublisher:GATO STUDIORelease Date: 21 Jul, 2014 AR-K Ativador Download [key Serial] I felt compelled to write a review about this game because I have such mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I think the story is wonderful--very unique and interesting with really good voice over work, especially for a kickstarter funded project. On the other hand, this game is so full of bugs that it is barely playable. I have just encountered a game-ruining bug in Chapter 2 that is going to require a complete restart. (Bugs are a really big problem because there is no way to save manually, the game just saves continuously so the only options are "start at the beginning" or "continue.") I just hope the developers will take the time to patch this game or find a way to remedy the bugs that ruin the plot because I think it has potential to be awesome. I'm going to give this a thumbs up because that's how hopeful I am. :). I felt compelled to write a review about this game because I have such mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I think the story is wonderful--very unique and interesting with really good voice over work, especially for a kickstarter funded project. On the other hand, this game is so full of bugs that it is barely playable. I have just encountered a game-ruining bug in Chapter 2 that is going to require a complete restart. (Bugs are a really big problem because there is no way to save manually, the game just saves continuously so the only options are "start at the beginning" or "continue.") I just hope the developers will take the time to patch this game or find a way to remedy the bugs that ruin the plot because I think it has potential to be awesome. I'm going to give this a thumbs up because that's how hopeful I am. :). There's a character in AR-K who force-feeds her roommate vomit, sics her large dog on the same depressed roomie while he's perched on a second story window so that he falls, sleeps with a guy in order to ransack his apartment and kill his pets, and tricks her friend into getting arrested. The villain, you say? Actually, no. It's the protagonist.Another reviewer described the main character, Alicia Von Volish, as unrelatable, but for me it's worse than that. She is manipulative, narcissistic, destructive, petty, condescending, smug, crass, and cruel. The protagonist is a monster.. I've played through chapters 1 and 2 twice each, and grew up playing old Sierra Adventure games. If I could, I'd give this game a rating of "meh." It just doesn't really click. Here are 10 issues I had with it:First, it doesn't really have any kind of tutorial. You're left trying to figure out how to use the interface. Which could use some tweaking. Specifically, the way the inventory works. Getting in and out of the inventory is simple enough, but trying to drag an item out to use in the scene is annoying. Many... many... times I've got the object off the screen, shaking my mouse around, trying to get the inventory to dissappear so I can use the item. The interface was improved slightly for Chapter\/Game 2, but it still left me wanting.Second: When you click to move the character across the screen, all your controlls are locked up. You cannot do *anything* until she stops moving. No changing direction, or bringing up inventory, or even the menu. Not to mention the character is so slow to move about. Some games let you adjust the movement speed, or double-click on an exit to just jump there. Third: The game is incredibly short. There's even an achievement for beating the first chapter under 10 minutes. Fourth: In the second chaper\/game, the devlopers introduced a narator in order to add a bit more color to the game and offer some support to the gamer. Neither really worked out. The narator rarely was funny, nor did he offer any help. Despite claiming I could drop objects on him for hints. Only a few and very specific items could be used in this manner. A poorly implimented feature.Fifht: The developers claim this game contains humor. I didn't see any. Anywhere. Not a single joke.Sixth: Scene exits are not clearly marked. In several scenes I was left randomly clicking about trying to find the exit.Seventh: Character Development. I'm gonna assume this game was made by guys. Especially development of the female characters. It just screamed of guys writing for women who think they know how a woman behaves. For example, her language. I feel like they were trying to make her "edgy" and down-to-earth. And she just comes across as empty.Eight: Voice Acting. Empty. Dead. Phoned in. No emotion.Nineth: Background Story. Where are we? Are we on a planet? A space station? What are we doing there? Where did these aliens come from? You've created this world, but you don't tell us anything about it.Finally: The plot is confusing and difficult to follow. The story jumps, leaving my wondering what I missed. Example, in chapter 2, after launching the table out the window, when you return to the University, you can hear someone screaming in the background and the lead character (I can't even remember her name. Even with 4 play throughs.) commenting on how he must have flown here. WHO? Who flew there? There are other points in the game as well, where you're left wondering what you missed.Overall, I can't really recommend this game. Clunky controls, poor character and background development, and a jumpy storyline. If you pick it up for a buck or two, maybe. Just remember, you'll probably beat the entire thing in an hour.. I NOMINATED THIS GAME FOR:THE \u201cTHE MOST \u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665Y PROTAGONIST\u201d AWARDseriously the main character is just horrible and unlikeable i couldnt play 20mins without wanting to shoot herUpdateStill\u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665. Every game has it's flaws; well, most of them do anyway. This game definitely isn't an exception. The big one is this: some of these puzzles are just not at all intuitive; and if you absolutely refuse to use any guide then you might end up walking away from the game in frustration. I'd definitely wish the game was a little better about the puzzles' being intuitive.In episode 1, it's that clues are really vague and don't really tell you what you need to know... In episode two, some of the puzzle solutions are even less intuitive, but the developer thought it could solve that by adding a narrator. You can ask the narrator to comment on quests or items, but in some cases he'll have nothing to say and in others it kind of remains vague. What's worse though; "asking the narrator" takes you out of the flow of the game, it's not fun and it's the wrong solution for the problem of the first episode.So, that's the big problem with this game... But despite that I still recommend it. Why? Well, the game has a ton of "charm". I really like the visual style, the voice actors\/actresses are good, the game has a really good sense of humor, the characters are fun and all different, it has funny references and the short videos are well placed, humorous and don't take too long.Heck, you know what? In a lot of aspects, this game reminds me of Day of the Tentacle. If you're not familiar with that game, it's one of the best classic games in this genre. The fact that this game (AR-K) reminds me of DOTT I think is indicative of the great atmosphere this game creates with it's scenes and characters.I might not recommend this game if it were an expensive game; but let's be honest. The game is cheap enough that, even if you don't like it, it doesn't hurt the wallet too much. Personally though? I really enjoyed \/ enjoy this game (am currently playing through episode 3).. *Update: I have just been able to finish chapter one, so I've decided to update my review*Having just finished chapter 1, I can say I am pretty happy with this game. If you enjoy older style Point and Click adventure games then this is likely up your alley. It seems very much an homage to the Monkey Island games. I can't directly compare the two, but it has some puzzles very similar to some in those games and even a direct reference in the dialogue at one point. I will say that in comparing it to that, it is very much in the older style point and click games. If vague clues, and running around just trying to combine every item with every other item, or trying to interact every item with every interactable part of the world isn't your thing then you may not enjoy the game. My only real compaints would be it's a tad short, but I've yet to play chapter 2 which is also included so we'll see what that adds to the playtime. As well as mentioned in my original review, that I would of prefered a way to skip through dialogue with the mouse, instead of having to use the escape key. As well as the dialgue ending up being a little hokey at times, with humor being slightly heavy handed. There are still some technical issues I'd run into, the occassional game freeze with certain interactions, the sound sometimes skips or repeats itself or animations could be a little funky but if none of that is deal breaking, i'd say the game is definately an enjoyable experience. As a footnote, I'd like to say a thank you to dev team. One of them had been in contact with me the past couple of days, taking information from me and giving me updates on fixes they had been working on that pertained to my issues. He found the issue with my anti-virus and the games engine, that was causing all the crash issues I was having and got me a workaround so I was able to play. Any dev team willing to help out the playerbase like that deserves recognition.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Keeping my original post here, though most technical issues are no longer appliciable. Ended up being an issue with my anti-virus and the Unity3D engine.*Update: One of the devs has been in contact with me, taken information from me on my issues and said they will be working on trying to fix what they can as soon as possible.*Wish I could recommend this game, but as it currently stands for myself I cant. When it actually works, its a pretty fun retro style point and click adventure. The story seems interesting, the graphic styling is pretty good. Solving things so far hasn't been too over the top as far as I've been able to play. The only real non technical complaints I'd have for the game is the inability to skip dialogue without having to use the escape key, I prefer to play these types of games with only the mouse, so it's a little bit of a pain. As well as the writing being a little hokey, tries a little too hard to inject humor and it falls flat at times.But when it works is not very often, between the game straight up crashing or freezing during interactions. Or the inventory UI becoming totally uninteractable without having to quit out of the game and then restart it, trying to get anything done is super frustrating when almost the entirety of the game is randomly trying to interact objects with things in the environment and its a crap shoot on whether or not the game is going to just freeze or crash every time you do. If they can fix these glaring technical issues, and the game is actually playable I'd be willing to update my review.. There's a character in AR-K who force-feeds her roommate vomit, sics her large dog on the same depressed roomie while he's perched on a second story window so that he falls, sleeps with a guy in order to ransack his apartment and kill his pets, and tricks her friend into getting arrested. The villain, you say? Actually, no. It's the protagonist.Another reviewer described the main character, Alicia Von Volish, as unrelatable, but for me it's worse than that. She is manipulative, narcissistic, destructive, petty, condescending, smug, crass, and cruel. The protagonist is a monster.. This is a classic point & click game with short but interesting story. I'll sum up the game in following points:Pros: Good voice acting Some dialogues were really funny Interesting game setting Game quality overall increases in episode 2 Some interesting puzzlesCons: Some minor bugs (so far in episode 1 I think, but nothing game breaking though) Short game length Game has somewhat unfinished feel as if it was released in a hurry Game renders look a little low resolutionIt feels like the idea for game was really great but technically it wasn't executed that well. This game has 2 episodes. Episode 1 had a slow start, as I didn't exactly knew what exactly was happening around or where exactly I was but as I ended episode 1 and started episode 2, things started to make sense a lot more. And as I already mentioned episode 2 is actually far more interesting than episode 1 with a teaser ending. Now I would be starting the episode 3 to make comparison between these two and third.P.S. I purchased this game on sale, I would suggest others to do the same. Its a good game but with its own downfalls!
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