Paratopic

 PC
User Score
5.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 25 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 25
  3. Negative: 9 out of 25

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  1. TitaniumDragon
    Jun 7, 2019
    0
    Paralogic is a surrealistic walking simulator. The story is told out of order, with the end coming at the start, and then the rest of the plot showing how you got there. It’s a truly strange piece, and nothing in the story is really explained to the player. There’s a few NPCs, but none of them are particularly forthcoming in terms of the plot, and while there are dialogue trees, whatParalogic is a surrealistic walking simulator. The story is told out of order, with the end coming at the start, and then the rest of the plot showing how you got there. It’s a truly strange piece, and nothing in the story is really explained to the player. There’s a few NPCs, but none of them are particularly forthcoming in terms of the plot, and while there are dialogue trees, what little roleplaying you do is pretty limited and had no obvious consequences.

    It’s really hard to describe Paralogic as anything other than “borderline incoherent”; there are some mysterious tapes you’ve been hired to take somewhere, and you’re not supposed to watch them or else bad things™ happen. There isn’t really much more to Paralogic than that; there is no significant “gameplay” to speak of, and no challenges. You skip between various locations and events, and it isn’t even always clear when in the plot a particular event is happening, or even if you’re playing the same character in some of the scenes. There are a small number of low-fi locations, and the overall low fidelity of the graphics of Paralogic is played up deliberately to make the whole thing feel even stranger and more disconnected.

    I didn’t really ultimately feel like I engaged with this; I basically played it because I got it in the Humble Monthly and it was supposedly pretty short, which it was - despite the ostensible 2 hours of playtime Steam says I spent on this, it was really closer to 30-40 minutes. There’s some achievements for doing some random things during the story, and none of them felt really important or significant.

    On the whole, it’s hard for me to really say anything terribly positive about this piece. Paralogic felt like it was weird for the sake of being weird, and it didn’t feel like it had any sort of point to it. I never connected with it.    … Expand
  2. stefonlewis32
    May 9, 2021
    0
    DO NOT BUY. It's a complete waste of money. Boring walking simulator. Game has tons of glitches and a bad story with a writer who has no idea what they're doing. The game would highly benefit from someone who actually understands storytelling and how to write a GOOD story. This game is completely awful. DO NOT BUY
  3. ultraviper
    Apr 2, 2022
    3
    Only 40 minutes long. Waited for it to get fun but it never got there. Seems to be going for "it doesn't have to be fun because it's so ARTSY"
  4. THEMETALLEGEND
    Aug 29, 2020
    5
    What this game does, and does nice - is it takes a player in a well lo-fi ps1-silent-hill-like environment.
    Frankly - that's about it. Some critics say that the narrative part of the game is what REALLY distinguishes it from the others. Complete the game and find out that it's bullcrap. Non-linear story with no beginning or end about mysterious tapes that cannot be watched. I think I've    What this game does, and does nice - is it takes a player in a well lo-fi ps1-silent-hill-like environment.
    Frankly - that's about it. Some critics say that the narrative part of the game is what REALLY distinguishes it from the others. Complete the game and find out that it's bullcrap. Non-linear story with no beginning or end about mysterious tapes that cannot be watched. I think I've seen this somewhere...
    Long story short. I was amazingly disappointed with absolutely everything in this game. It has no good story, no horror component (one jumpscare in the ending doesn't count), no gameplay whatsoever.
    It's really a shame because this game has a lot of potential. Skip this one and head directly to the original silent hill.    … Expand
  5. Reeg
    Dec 18, 2020
    0
    Don't be disillusioned into thinking this is a good game. It's just not worth it. Watch some gameplay footage on YouTube if your unsure.
  6. KrakenOfPepsi
    Oct 14, 2019
    8
    Gripping atmosphere and an unforgettable art style. This game is short but the experience I had was worth more than what I paid. It's a unique walking sim with some exploration elements and a mysterious story that's told in a very interesting way. A clear David Lynch influence can be seen in the games narrative and pacing, minus the overbearing pretentiousness. Throughout the game there'sGripping atmosphere and an unforgettable art style. This game is short but the experience I had was worth more than what I paid. It's a unique walking sim with some exploration elements and a mysterious story that's told in a very interesting way. A clear David Lynch influence can be seen in the games narrative and pacing, minus the overbearing pretentiousness. Throughout the game there's lots of beautiful settings and bizarre characters to interact with, apart from some driving sequences which drag on for too long, this game is perfect in terms of what it tries to achieve. It's best to go in blind, but just know there's no save feature so the game must be completed in one sitting (which I think is a great idea anyways). For those who are easily spooked don't worry, there's only one moment that's close to a jump scare and its not that bad. I recommend this game to anyone looking for a good horror game or an overall unique experience. By no means a traditional video game or narrative, so if walking sims or story heavy games aren't your thing, maybe pass on this one.… Expand
  7. wokenoodle
    Oct 26, 2021
    8
    Bizzare, surreal, and vivid experience giving strong Lynchian vibes, crafted with an astonishingly deep understanding of suspense and uncanny. This is the closest equivalent of an art-house short film I've ever played.
  8. gameon1973
    Jul 31, 2022
    0
    Unbelievable that this piece of crap gets any positive reviews. This is not a game, nor a walking simulator. Boring and ugly. Only positive remark I can make is that it is short.
  9. PublicNuisance
    Apr 24, 2021
    6
    I thought Paratopic would be right up my alley because I enjoy weird games that use non linear storytelling and frequent point of view shifts such as Gravity Bone; Thirty Flights of Loving; and Virginia. Things started off great as I was getting into the story and atmosphere. The game uses a lot of what I would describe as “filler” though. For instance there are couple sequences where youI thought Paratopic would be right up my alley because I enjoy weird games that use non linear storytelling and frequent point of view shifts such as Gravity Bone; Thirty Flights of Loving; and Virginia. Things started off great as I was getting into the story and atmosphere. The game uses a lot of what I would describe as “filler” though. For instance there are couple sequences where you are driving a car. Just driving a car. It is incredibly detailed mind you, you can steer, accelerate/decelerate; turn on the radio; change stations but the sequence is just that: driving with no purpose or anything going on. There is also a section in the woods that while it provides significant plot importance the few minutes leading up to that are just walking there with nothing happening. When a game is short to begin with wasting precious minutes with nothing going on is a bad idea. This is where the above games shined was that they made every moment, of their short run times, count. This aside I loved the story of Paratopic and the atmosphere. It was a blend of creepy and dystopian with a hint of humour. The graphics were poor though, no beating around the bush. I don’t care if this is the PSX style or not. If you don’t want to make graphics with good detail then you better work on a good art style but Paratopic had neither. Everything is blurry and low poly. The music was good and well used though.

    I played Paratopic on Linux. It never crashed on me and I didn’t notice any bugs or spelling mistakes. There is no save system at all but the game is short. Alt-Tab didn’t work. There is an FOV slider that goes from 65-105 although above 85 it looks a bit weird and the game does warn about this. There are no other graphics options.

    Game Engine: Unity
    Save System: None
    Disk Space Used: 404MB

    Settings Used: 1080P and 85 FOV
    GPU Usage: 8-33 %
    VRAM Usage: 593-766 MB
    CPU Usage: 4-16 %
    RAM Usage: 2.4-2.5 GB
    Frame Rate: 139-144 FPS

    As I said I tried to enjoy Paratopic. I thought it did a lot of things well but it also wasted my time and had terrible graphics. There are worse games out there but also much better. I paid $8.99 USD for the game and finished it in 39 minutes which I felt was fair value despite my issues with it.

    My Score: 6.5/10

    My System:

    AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | 16GB DDR4-3000 CL15 | MSI RX 580 8GB Gaming X | Mesa 21.0.2 | Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB | Manjaro 21.0.2 | Mate 1.24.1 | Kernel 5.11.14-1-MANJARO    … Expand
  10. Goiti_2002
    Nov 3, 2022
    8
    El Paratopic es una experiencia.
    Es un juego bueno pero corto.
    Se supone que es un juego de terror o de miedo, la vedad es que no. Tómatelo como un Fire whatch pero mas siniestro y muchísimo mas corto (dura como 1 hora) No tengo que decir nada más. Me ha encantado. Muy recomendado. El diseño artístico me parece precioso. Es una pena que el juego este solo en ingles, pero es un ingles    El Paratopic es una experiencia.
    Es un juego bueno pero corto.
    Se supone que es un juego de terror o de miedo, la vedad es que no. Tómatelo como un Fire whatch pero mas siniestro y muchísimo mas corto (dura como 1 hora)
    No tengo que decir nada más.
    Me ha encantado. Muy recomendado. El diseño artístico me parece precioso. Es una pena que el juego este solo en ingles, pero es un ingles fácil de entender y se puede auto traducir de forma muy cómoda con una herramienta que se obtiene de internet. La música también me parece que esta muy bien empleada.
    Recomendaría este juego a cualquier persona que le gusten las aventuras gráficas, los gráficos de PSX, los juegos con ambiente turbio y quiera pasarse una hora y media interesante.
    Otros aspecto a destacar puede ser que el juego por su estilo artístico, funciona bien en cualquier ordenador sencillo.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. PLAY! Zine
    Mar 6, 2019
    75
    Paratopic is a lo-fi horror game that represents golden PS1 era with its style, graphics and ability to complete it in one sitting.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    Feb 13, 2019
    80
    An experiment developed with virtually non-existent budget and a very specific intention: to expose players to an unpredictable, disturbing nightmare born in a mind consumed by fever. [12/2018, p.77]
  3. GameCritics
    Mar 28, 2018
    80
    Paratopic‘s unique approach to storytelling and its unsettling content come together in a lo-fi, short experience that left me wanting more of this world and this story. But seriously, don’t watch the tapes.
    Read full review