View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP-c_0RWqxo&ab_channel=SqueaksD%27corgeh
Every once in a while I come across a game that I think more people absolutely need to hear about. This time it's this small indie game made by a solo dev called Shipwrecked 64.
Shipwrecked 64 is supposedly a Nintendo 64 game that was released in 1997 but was immediately taken off shelves after a very limited soft launch. Shipwrecked 64 on Steam is supposed to be a recreation of that game done by the dev with support from some of the original devs. Inside this collection is a faithful recreation based on original design documents and the original game ran through an emulator.
Shipwrecked 64 on Steam
A recovered copy of a lost game from the late 1990s about a Beaver named Bucky and his friends trying to escape from an island they crashed upon.
This is all obviously a lie.
What Shipwrecked 64 is one of the most unique horror games I've ever played using the concept of being a fake N64 game as it's main premise. You may be thinking "oooh so scary, a haunted retro game, so original", and you would be assuming incorrectly cause what this game does both conceptually and story wise is far more interesting. When playing the first time, you get to experience Shipwrecked 64 as it was supposed to be designed, then you get to experience why it was "taken off of store shelves." The game is about figuring out exactly why it was taken off store shelves. And boy the process to figure that out is interesting.
The game is highly inspired by online ARGs. You will be digging deep into the game, figuring out its secrets and solving various puzzles along the way. I will say I think the weakest part and the part that will completely turn some people off is this. The puzzles can be highly complex and frankly, some of them are so obtuse that I got stuck and stopped. Now you may be saying "it's so good yet you stopped?", I'm saying what I played was good enough to say I was 100% satisfied with the experience already. Absolutely loved what I played when I jumped off. I just kind of got annoyed solving it's puzzles, I want to go back and finish it but just haven't yet and I already want to talk about it.
Someone out there will see the puzzles in the game and it will 100% be there shit. I'm hoping someone here will hear about this game, play it, and it will be one of their new favs. It's incredibly unique in the video game space, and if you have ever participated in an ARG before, you will be right at home.
Now for the best part.
The build up of horror in this game is genuinely a masterclass of tension and restraint. It knows how to get you, how to build you up, how to put on the complete edge for the longest time and how to eventually push you off that cliff. The last horror game to get me like this was PT, I think partially because much like when playing PT for the first time, I had no idea what I was getting into. Please try and go into this game with as little knowledge as possible, it makes that experience so much sweeter. The unknown holds so much power in horror and this game is a huge mystery box that you pull back layer by layer. Every new wrinkle it throws at you hits so well, the sound design of this game is utterly brilliant, sound is by far one of the best ways to cause fear and the creator is a sick bastard who understands how to weaponize it. I don't feel like this game has anything even close to "cheap scares" and it does everything in it's power to earn every single one. I truly can't wait to see what the dev does next cause his mastery of horror is astounding.
If you need someone else to convince you, or you just want to watch someone go through play it (I highly discourage this, even if you don't finish cause the feeling of the unknown is so powerful here), Night Mind did an amazing video on it that doubles as a puzzle solution guide.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFHp-4IyIrU&ab_channel=NightMind
Also the game is 8$. It's cheap, support an indie dev. Is this game best game ever, GOTY forever material? Probably not? It is in my current top 5 of the year though and it is 100% worth experiencing.
And to end it, some advice for those who might actually play it. Almost every puzzle solution and hint is directly tied to the area and it is in, you are rarely bringing an answer somewhere else. (this advice would have helped me a ton and saved me time) Failure is also sometimes a success, experimenting is the name of this game. I hope some of you read this and get to enjoy Bucky and his wild little adventure to save his friends. :)
