Playing DrawManEater's point-and-click adventure Nekra Psaria is weird, mostly because Nekra Psaria is really weird. And surreal. And sort of disturbing. It calls itself an escape game, though that might be only in the loosest sense. See, you're watching television when your generator quits on you, and you need to find fuel for it. You know this because your generator is an enormous talking head. It is at this point you might find yourself channeling Mabel Pines as you nervously chuckle to yourself, "What is haaaaappening here?", but you'll have to press on and explore one seriously strange city in order to win. To play, all you need to do is click on zones that highlight to show you can interact with them. If you need to use an item from your inventory, just click it at the top of the screen, and it'll automatically be used if you're in the correct location. In some cases you can find notes scattered around to help you figure out what to do, or a character might tell you what they want, but largely you're left to explore on your own. Search every scene and every angle, pay attention to your environment, and tell me I'm not the only one who suddenly feels like it's the nineties and we're watching MTV Animation again.
When I tell you Nekra Psaria is weird, I need you to imagine me grabbing you by the shoulders and saying it in the tone of voice generally reserved for the call is coming from inside the house. It sort of feels like Mateusz Skutnik by way of Eric Fogel and the sort of dreams you only get when your fever's spiked. The environments are all dirty and carry a vague sense of unease, and the characters are just as unsettling. It's rare that the game wants you to do something as straight-forward as, say, collecting water in a jar and giving it to someone who's thirsty, but somehow the game actually manages to be surprisingly intuitive despite its setting. It helps that you don't have to go on a pixel hunt thanks to the interactive highlights, and the automatic item use if you're looking at the correct screen means it's easy to find out if you're on the right track rather than hoping you're clicking on the precise spot other games might require. It's not a particularly long game, and it ends on an unexpected cliff-hanger, but weird and creepy as it may be, Nekra Psaria feels like it has a lot of potential, and it's something we'll look forward to seeing where it takes us in the long run... even if that means we'll be looking askance at it the whole time.
...well, that was interesting. And I managed to beat it with no assistance. Got stuck once or twice, but only briefly.
Haha. This is something else. Didn't take me very long to solve it, and I never really felt like I was stuck. I had several correct hunches on what I needed to use, and one such hunch that allowed me to forgo looking at the clue again because I don't have a photographic memory. Apparently I operate very well on fever dream logic, and I don't know if I should be concerned about that. :P
Wasn't hard, but certainly interesting...lol
That. Was awesome. I did momentarily miss a
stray board
Fishy fishy! That hit of violence was also quite satisfying.
Hmm... So there's no way to combine things, right?
I seem to be stuck.
What I possess and have not used:
a board, a severed head, a needle and thread, and some sort of pink thing (a scarf? some guts? I have no idea what it is).
nekra psaria means dead fish
Never mind, got it. Pretty much went to every single scene and clicked everything in my inventory until something worked. Then I realized I should have figured it out from a clue...
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrd.
@balleydonk
Yeah
the clue for the perfect guy is a picture of him with a board on his face. :-O
This felt like a Mateusz Skutnik-directed nightmare. O_o;
Can't wait for part 2.
Heh, fun game. Don't think it needs a walkthrough.
I like offbeat or unusually creepy things, so this was a treat for me.
I actually kind of liked the slightly dodgy translation because it made the game feel all the more foreign. The art was fantastic, almost like Dali sketches but darker.
I would love to see a part 2 as well.
Oh, that was great. Whatever it was.
There's a couple of lovely Dr. Seuss moments in there!
That gives me a happy. It's just delightfully strange, artfully odd. It's not weird, it's deranged. Here's hoping whoever made it does continue the story.
I was looking for a horror game but that sort of satisfied what I was looking for even if it wasn't.
Apparently, some items have more than one use. Just needed to chime that in.
I enjoyed the game and thought the animation and navigation was good. My only complaint is with the item usage interface. I would have preferred if you had to drag an item onto an object to use it, rather than just clicking on the item. The way it is now makes it so that you don't need to actually try to figure out what to do, you just need to click on each inventory item on each screen and eventually you'll win.
Very well done. Had a bit of trouble
finding the knobs on the stove in the Fuel Store. a bit too small of a mouse-over area for that one.
Aside from that, it was a well-designed, surreally beautiful point-and-click adventure.
...
detorou would be proud
... but in what language?
The language of fish.
looks like a cool game. I hoe a walkthrough is in the works.
Not bad, but I far prefer Skutnik... and YES it did remind me of MTV Animation! (*cough* old *cough*)
Too much back-and-forth -- lots of screens between where you found something and where you used it.
Found a video walkthrough, and honestly it plays better as a video!
This was an interesting game. I liked the navigation and the use of items. My problem was that I was unable to recognize what some of the items were so that I didn't know where to use them without trial and error. Labels would have helped.
no walkthrough yet? :)
@Shudog
Fishies?
It's impressive how the scenes are so sparse, but I've still not managed to find the board. Where is it?
ooh what an interesitng game! this was difficult because it was kind of off-kilter, but it's actually quite simple and intuitive.
i always enjoy creepily themed games that aren't actually horror.
pick up the board that falls when you open the boarded up door.
Oooh, this was quite fun! I enjoyed exploring and interacting with this almost-disturbingly strange world. :)
This flowed so easil. The clues being both simple and weird made them easier for me to remember or something. Also, knowing what item to use (to me it was like putting fairly obvious puzzle pieces together) was largely highly intuitive. Looking forward to the next one, though I don't even normally like this kind of atmosphere. (Despite *ahem* also having watched those MTV animations...)
What was the reason for the train like thing (that flew through the sky) and the person you watching it? I felt like there was something to do there, maybe an optional task for a different ending?!
If you find that to be the case, then by all means do say something. I only remember that train because it scared the bleep out of me the first time I heard/saw it coming. I don't think it was supposed to be a jump scare but it may as well have been one for me. I figured it was about the "ambience." :'D
Here's a walk through of this game.
Click TV set
Click on note to read it. Go back
Pick up EMPTY JAR. Go back
Go right
Click on garbage bags
Pick up CROWBAR. Go back twice (and out of your house)
Click on the box outside home
Pick up the ROPE
Go back
Go left twice
Click on path in front of home
Click on door
Use crowbar on door
Pick up BOARD
Click on the door to go inside
Click on top of stairs to go up
Once up, go left
Click on the box
Grab COCKROACH and put it in the jar (just click on the jar)
Go back and then down. Go back again to go outside
Go back twice and then right thrice
Give the ‘roach to the weird man
Pick up the pink GRABBING TOOL he leaves behind
Go back and right once
Click on the ditch
Use rope on the bar
Click on the hanging rope to go down
Go right once. Click on the box
Use crowbar on box
Pick up head
Go back and then right twice
Click on the hooded man
Put board over his face and get KEY from him
Go back and left four times
Click on the door to go inside building
Click on the inside door to go inside further (there’s a room to the right, ignore it for now)
Go inside again by clicking on the third door. There are two figures in this hall way, ignore them
To go the bathroom on the left
Click on sink and turn on the water
Fill your empty jar with WATER
Go back twice
Go to the room on the right
Click on the door to go outside
Go down the road and then into the park (just click on the path twice)
Go left and click on the cupboard
Click on its keyholes to open it
Pick up the can of BUG SPRAY
Go back five times. You should be back inside the hall with the two figures
Click on the door in the centre to go inside
Click on the box and then on its top
Use the insect spray on the insects
Pick up the WHEEL(or valve handle)
Go back thrice
To go the right room (which we had ignored earlier)
Use wheel to open the door and go inside
Click on the mummy guy and give him water from your jar. A branch will stem out of him
Go back and go up the branch
Click on the door and go inside
Use the grabbing tool on the cockroach man
Click on the table in the back and then on the serving dish cover
Pick up the NEEDLE & THREAD
Go back twice and then down
Now go back four times. You should be out of the building
Go right and then up the rope
Get back and go left four times
Go inside the shack again and up the ladder
Click on the door to the right
Use key given by the hooded man on the door
Put head on body and then stitch it up using the needle and thread
Take TICKET
Get back and go down
Then go back three times and right five times until you reach then fish tunnel
Click on the fish tunnel to go inside and again on the centre to go further
Give ticket to the fish guy
Go inside further
Click on the middle door of the bus twice
Go right
Click on the door of the fuel station twice to get inside
Click on the door to the right
Click on the oven knobs and then use bug spray to create huge fire
Then click on the grabbing tool to remove the burly guy away
Pick up the ROBOT HEAD left behind and go out
Click on the window in the middle
Give the robot its head and pick up the FUEL
Go back thrice and then left
Click on the bus door
Go back thrice now and then left four times
Give the fuel to the generator
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