2014 In Review: Stand

[Gizmog]

There really isn't much content to this game and I'm not sure why it isn't on the tech demo list. Still, what we've got is a promising start with a lot more polish than you'd usually expect. It's the rather short story of a young man in a mining village on a stormy night. Men have become trapped in the mine, and you go down to save them. On the way there something spooky happens, and once the miners are saved they'll agree to help you investigate out of gratitude. As near as I can figure, this is the end of demo as I was unable to advance beyond this point. You can double trigger the "Yay! You saved the miners" textbox, though interestingly you cannot triple trigger it.

Stand is a game that really tries to be different. It utilizes a sidecrolling view and a unique battle engine. So far the battles seem limited it to one on one combat, but it works fairly smoothly and the jerkiness of the earlier demos sprinting and ladder climbing has been resolved. There's still some minor annoyances, it's really easy to skip over a textbox you wanted to read and you can't always get the NPC to repeat themself. The "spooky stuff" did some double triggering and stuttering though it's hard tot ell if this is an actual glitch or attempting to be spooky.

Supposedly the chief librarian had something to say to me, but I couldn't get him to do anything but ask "Read any good books lately?". I assume that's related to my inability to progress. Not worth playing yet, but the hard work is over with and now the guy should be able to just pour content into this lovely shell. By this time next year, it'll probably be a hell of a game. (I say that all the time, and it never is. Be the game to prove me wrong, Stand!)