Bahnsen Knights

[h2] 我操，这他妈才是真正的写作！[/h2] 如果你不知道什么是”让读者在阅读中不自觉屏住呼吸“的讲故事能力，你就应该玩玩这个游戏。

I played the first three Pixel Pulp games and this is the best so far. Now let's get to Grizzly Man!

With the exception of the Via Crucis Solitaire minigame that I hated with every fiber of my being, I enjoyed this game quite a bit. Unfortunately beating the world's worst minigame (it's 95% luck/RNG and not even remotely fun in any way) is required to get 100% achievements, but if you look past that this was a well written immersive visual novel with stylized retro graphics that fit the setting perfectly. If you don't care about achievements I'd strongly recommend it for the story and experience. If you do, I'd still recommend it but with the warning that you'll probably need to spend 1-2 hours battling RNG hell for one of them. The game takes roughly 2-3 hours to play through so it might be a bit overpriced for the amount of content it has. If you wait for a sale it's definitely worth picking up though.

Did not like this one. We were given no background information on who this cult was, what their motivations were, why they needed to be investigated, and how did Boulder enter the cult. And the "cult" was more like a gang. Why did they care about F5 tornadoes? How does the leader being a used car salesman factor into this other than the weird ass barn full of imported Ford Sierras. The man character wallows on and on about his wife, child, and dead friend, and this would be fine if it didn't take up what felt like over half the game. He is suppose to be a professional, but can barely keep his act together, risking everything. I just don't get it. We didn't get to know him or build any sort of connection. I just saw him as rash, unfocused, and irrational. We weren't told a story either. It felt more like a slideshow of different events that happened while Boulder is in this cult. I didn't understand the underlying connection or what I was suppose to be getting out of these scenes. There just ended up being so much dead conversations that didn't matter or add anything to the narrative, and half of the time Boulder wouldn't even contribute to conversation. It was always "........" while the other character rambles on about some unrelated whatever. I feel like I played only half of the game with all the important scenes removed. There were so many questions and narrative points that are never expanded upon, and it makes for a very annoying read.

[h3]Gasoline & Static[/h3] [b]Bahnsen Knights[/b] is what happens when a doomsday cult gets really into muscle cars and weather metaphors. You’re undercover, stuck in tornado country with a group that thinks God speaks through combustion engines. You talk. You lie. You drive into storms. Occasionally, you play cursed solitaire. It’s [b]short, stylish, and strange[/b]. Conversations are the gameplay, backed by a suspicion meter that’s constantly sweating. Say the wrong thing and someone might bless you with a tire iron. [b]Mechanics are light but tense.[/b] Dialogue drives everything. Minigames shake it up just enough. The branching is subtle, but when a moment lands, it hits. [b]A pixel pulp joyride.[/b] [i]Just don’t stall out.[/i]

Good purchase for an hr or two if it’s on sale. I wouldn’t pay $10.

Got hooked on LCB games from the very start. The Grizzly Man has the most straightforward story compared to other installments, with easy to follow game mechanics, but at the same time, it pushes pixel-based content to new heights, with easily the most visually rich delivery so far. Despite being a slasher story, it had a perfect blend of gritty and beautiful elements and delivered an overall very satisfying experience. Bahnsen Knights, on the other hand, felt much darker and oppressive, with a strong immersive atmosphere, some of the most ingenious mechanics in similar games, and great dialogue writing. Following on to Varney Lake, which strongly reminded me of Stephen King's The Body, was the most light-hearted story, a nostalgically moody coming-of-age story, but slightly less memorable than the other LCB stories. Lastly, I reviewed these games in the reverse order in which they were played, Mothmen 1966. It felt like something out of the X-Files, and being my first LCB game left me curious and excited to try the other developments. In retrospect, I appreciate how LCB continued to improve and refine their approach to storytelling, use of visuals and creative game mechanics; there’s a lot of thinking and passion poured into these games. Oh, and did I mention that all of LCB's games have banging soundtracks and audio effects? If you grew up playing video games in the '80s - '90s, you’ll love it. PS, this was intended for The Grizzly Man, but Steam bugged out and only recorded 1minute of gameplay instead of ~2hrs, not allowing me to review it.