Serena

 PC
User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 55 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 55
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 55
  3. Negative: 8 out of 55

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  1. pppjjst
    Feb 5, 2014
    6
    this is game have endless imagination.
    But except that imagination,there is no entertainment.
    This is one of the major drawback of this game.
    sound:8 story:8 funny:3 grapic:5
  2. CaKeS
    Aug 20, 2018
    5
    While the story was moderately interesting it wasn't worth listening to the protagonist incessantly complain to experience it. All progress is found by randomly spam clicking objects and exhausting every complaint the protagonist had about every object in the room, one interesting discovery (which I won't mention as it's a spoiler) is the only moment I thought things were starting toWhile the story was moderately interesting it wasn't worth listening to the protagonist incessantly complain to experience it. All progress is found by randomly spam clicking objects and exhausting every complaint the protagonist had about every object in the room, one interesting discovery (which I won't mention as it's a spoiler) is the only moment I thought things were starting to happen, but alas 5 minutes later after more complaining the game ended. The ending twist was decent, and the idea of Serena in whole was alright, but the gameplay is atrocious, and the narration is annoying at best, which is the only stimulus you receive.

    Unfortunately I can't recommend this even if it's free, because it just plainly offers nothing interesting as an experience. This could've been made into an actual experience with a bit more effort and interaction, and this is coming from someone that really doesn't mind "artsy walking simulators"; this one just happened to be increasingly dull in the short 30 minutes it took.    … Expand
  3. Grismar
    Nov 16, 2014
    5
    Considering that it's free and takes about 30-60 minutes to complete, you can't say that it's a waste of either money or time. There are some nice ideas in it, visually it is very well done and the genre isn't overpopulated just yet, so there's room for titles like Serena.

    But if you like unsettling horror adventure games, both Gone Home and Dear Esther offer a better experience. The    Considering that it's free and takes about 30-60 minutes to complete, you can't say that it's a waste of either money or time. There are some nice ideas in it, visually it is very well done and the genre isn't overpopulated just yet, so there's room for titles like Serena.

    But if you like unsettling horror adventure games, both Gone Home and Dear Esther offer a better experience. The immersion in Serena just isn't there; too many goofy references to gaming history on the bookshelf that have no place in the game and clash with the atmosphere. The voice acting of the main character isn't the worst, but since it conveys half the story, it could have been far better.

    And as a game it fails because you feel yourself stumbling through the story more than finding your way, play Stanley's Parable for a game that shows you what can be done in that sense.

    There's a few nice moments in here and the price is right, but if you have a long backlog of unplayed adventure games, odds are most of them will be more rewarding.    … Expand
  4. gamebumper
    Feb 17, 2014
    7
    Serena é um jogo com um conceito muito básico, és um homem que esta numa cabana numa floresta e não te lembras da Serena, a tua mulher.

    Tropecei neste jogo por estar à procura de algo gratuito para jogar na steam e decidi experimentar, nunca tinha ouvido falar, não sabia do que se tratava, fiz download e joguei. É um jogo pequeno que demorei cerca de uma hora a terminar, onde andamos    Serena é um jogo com um conceito muito básico, és um homem que esta numa cabana numa floresta e não te lembras da Serena, a tua mulher.

    Tropecei neste jogo por estar à procura de algo gratuito para jogar na steam e decidi experimentar, nunca tinha ouvido falar, não sabia do que se tratava, fiz download e joguei. É um jogo pequeno que demorei cerca de uma hora a terminar, onde andamos por uma pequena cabana de madeira à procura de pistas para nos relembrarmos de Serena.

    Visualmente não é nada do outro mundo, é tudo muito estático e bonito com umas partículas a flutuar no ar e basicamente a única coisa que se move é o relógio, mas mesmo assim consegue criar um ambiente intimo e reservado para contar a sua historia, que é narrada cada vez que interagimos com um objecto sempre dando mais detalhes sobre o que se passou e quem era a Serena.

    É uma historia que muda de direcção algumas vezes durante a nossa estadia na cabana e que acaba de uma forma inesperada.

    Apesar de no principio andar perdido numa cabana com duas divisões e sem saber o que fazer, depois de começar a interagir com os objectos e a historia se começar a desenrolar não consegui resistir de jogar até ao fim. Aconselho a quem tenha uma horinha livre a ir passa-la para esta cabana e descobrir o que se passou com Serena.

    Esta Review também se encontra em
    http://gamebumper.blogspot.pt/2014/02/review-serena.html    … Expand
  5. PublicNuisance
    Jul 18, 2022
    5
    I really liked the story to Serena and thought it had some good twists but I really disliked the game play. It all takes place in one room and you basically find items you can click on that will reveal story details and allow you to click on other items. My issue is that after you are done all of them there will be subsequent details available from some of the other items but you neverI really liked the story to Serena and thought it had some good twists but I really disliked the game play. It all takes place in one room and you basically find items you can click on that will reveal story details and allow you to click on other items. My issue is that after you are done all of them there will be subsequent details available from some of the other items but you never know which one so you have to go clicking on them all to see what has new info. There are no clues given nor is there any real logical reason that these items now have new info as they aren’t referenced by any of the preceding dialogue. Once you have clicked on enough of them enough times the game allows you to open certain things like an armoire and a chest. One again there is no reason why you couldn’t open them before as none of the dialogue explains why you can suddenly do these things. There are no puzzles or conversation choices or anything else at all to do except click on random items and try to progress the story. I think the game would have worked out better as a kinetic visual novel than what we got. The voice acting is alright but nothing special. The graphics are much the same. I wouldn’t call them bad but they didn’t wow me at all even taking into account the release date of the game.

    I played Serena on Linux. It never crashed and I didn’t notice any bugs or glitches. I was really disappointed in the game when it came to the nitty gritty. There are no options at all, not for sound or graphics or controls or anything else. In fact unlike most games where pressing the “Esc” key brings up a menu screen where you can choose various options, in Serena pressing “Esc” closes the game. This is an even bigger issue when you realize there is no save option. This is a short game but the fact that pressing a key that in any other game would be normal will now exit your game without any option to save is just plain stupid design. Alt-Tab works. Performance was fantastic but given the visual quality I wasn’t shocked. The game has built in V-sync as it respected my 144 Hz monitor.

    Graphics Engine: Dagon Engine
    Graphics API: OpenGL
    Disk Space Used: 367 MB

    GPU Usage: 0-77 %
    VRAM Usage: 679-846 MB
    CPU Usage: 7-18 %
    RAM Usage: 2.6-2.8 GB
    Frame Rate: 143-144 FPS

    The great story and free price tag didn’t make up for the annoying game play or the terrible design choices. Overall there are much better out there even for free games. I finished Serena in forty three minutes.

    My score: 5.5/10

    My System:

    AMD FX-9590 | 16GB DDR3-2133 | MSI RX 580 8GB Gaming X | Mesa 22.1.3 | Manjaro 21.3.4 | Mate 1.26.0 | Kernel 5.18.12-3-MANJARO | AOC G2460P 1920*1080 @ 144hz    … Expand
  6. ThePCGamer101
    Jun 24, 2015
    6
    A very nice little short point-and-click adventure game, very nice story, very nice plot twist, good voice acting and nice graphics. I recommend people who like a good story or point-and-click games should get this game, and best of all it's free!
  7. jessicadennis
    Oct 17, 2014
    7
    Such mixed feelings about this game. Teasing out the story is interesting and engaging, and the voice acting and visuals are solid, but sometimes the "click on all the things until dialog is exhausted, then click on all the things again" gameplay sometimes felt like a bit of a drag. And I was caught by the utter lack of a menu or saving system: I stupidly hit the escape key and got dumpedSuch mixed feelings about this game. Teasing out the story is interesting and engaging, and the voice acting and visuals are solid, but sometimes the "click on all the things until dialog is exhausted, then click on all the things again" gameplay sometimes felt like a bit of a drag. And I was caught by the utter lack of a menu or saving system: I stupidly hit the escape key and got dumped out of the game, losing 63 minutes of progress (I was very close to the end, too). Irritating. Plus I found out from LP's that it's possible to trigger the ending without having experienced the entire story: disapprove. So, conditional recommend?… Expand
  8. beeanadou
    May 19, 2019
    5
    Half and half. The beginning was fine but later developed so patchy; background music and narrator were fine, though.
  9. Kelen
    Sep 4, 2021
    6
    6/10 - Nice game.
    (after 1.2 hours of playing and completing the game)

    Very short, free, simple game. Lots of reading. It has a cool vibe

Critic Reviews

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  1. 4P.de
    Feb 12, 2014
    40
    The beginning is interesting, the storytelling experiment works well. But technical and design flaws make this tale terrifying for the wrong reasons.
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