KickStarter STASIS 2: BONE TOTEM - new isometric adventure in Stasis universe set in deep sea installation

[Cyberarmy]

I liked the original Stasis.

Than don't wait to grab this one. Their best game till today and an upgrade to first game in every way.

 

[Zarniwoop]

I liked the original Stasis.

Than don't wait to grab this one. Their best game till today and an upgrade to first game in every way.

It's better than the first Stasis, but definitely no Beautiful Desolation.

The weirdness and world building in that one is on another level.

 

[Jenkem]

I don't remember why I didn't like BD, I think it was probably the ending or overall story that ruined it for me

 

[Zarniwoop]

I don't remember why I didn't like BD, I think it was probably the ending or overall story that ruined it for me

Yeah that was a bit of a downer. I was expecting a lot more of the backstory to be revealed, how the world got the way it is, etc, which never happened.

I was googling for the different endings and found this gem:

Reddit was a mistake.

 

[Kaidanovsky]

I played this for a while. Got tired of all the "remember this pattern" type of puzzles. Do they eventually improve?

 

[Dumle]

I played this for a while. Got tired of all the "remember this pattern" type of puzzles. Do they eventually improve?

Well, that type of puzzle keeps repeating throughout the game from start to finish. However, it's worth keep playing for the story, atmosphere, and the general grossness of the body horror. And Mose, of course.

 

[Kaidanovsky]

I played this for a while. Got tired of all the "remember this pattern" type of puzzles. Do they eventually improve?

Well, that type of puzzle keeps repeating throughout the game from start to finish. However, it's worth keep playing for the story, atmosphere, and the general grossness of the body horror. And Mose, of course.

Too bad. I don't remember the first Stasis having those types of puzzles, but it's been a while.

I'd rather just play a walking simulation. It's too disruptive to the flow of the game for a filler, especially since I end up looking at a guide. I can't be bothered to go back and check the pattern.

 

[lightbane]

I don't get how Moses got so much love, poor thing is fuck-ugly and his EA version was cuter and better IMO.

 

[Alienman]

I don't get how Moses got so much love, poor thing is fuck-ugly and his EA version was cuter and better IMO.

Because he is pure and innocent, I assume.

 

[agris]

Hey Pyke - QQ for ya

I recently rewatched The 13th Warrior. When they sneak into the Eaters of the Dead’s cave, I got some end-stage Bone Totem vibes.

Any inspiration there?

 

[Pyke]

Ive never actualy seen The 13th Warrior - but I read Eaters of the Dead when I was about 10 (I went on a Michael Crichton kick after Jurassic Park) - so it wouldnt surprise me if it mushed into my brain and came out in Bone Totem. :D

 

[kangaxx]

I am going to give this a whirl.

Edit: it's ages since I played Sanitarium, but this game brings it to mind in a good way.

 

[Cyberarmy]

We may be a little quiet for a while about our next project - but it's VERY exciting. :D

Any news my good sir?

 

[Pyke]

None yet.
We were gonna do a small announcement - but decided to hold back until we have a little more to show.

I did just get a story treatment back today, and the words "Holy shit" were uttered... so its good stuff!

 

[kangaxx]

Very nice game, kudos to the devs frankly. Just finished it.

I find deep sea stuff pretty nightmarish at the best of times, but even putting that aside I felt very "immersed" (har har) in the oppressive atmosphere they've crafted. Goes to show that you don't need a big budget to create a good stage. Really impressive.

Also enjoyed the point and click adventure aspect, a genre I played a lot as a kid but am somewhat starved of now. I thought the puzzles were about right, maybe on the easy side and with a few too many pattern based ones for my taste though? I'd have loved to see some "red herring" items, and ramped up the smart-usage-of-object-type-puzzles.. they were the best ones IMO.

My only real gripe is that some of the dialogue drags when you want to get on with the game, especially near the end. It's true that you can skip it, especially if like me you don't care about trophies. However I think they should show all the text at once rather than revealing it "slightly" faster than the character says the lines. It would mean you could read it fast and then skip, rather than being forced to listen to quite a lot of it while the text is revealed before skipping.

Anyway, definitely glad I played it! Good stuff.

 

[Barbarian]

Very nice game. The first decent adventure game I have played in a score of years.

I have played the PS5 version and there was a weird bug with controller vibration, otherwise I loved the plot and characters and off course the game itself. Well designed puzzles.

Congratulations and look forward to your next game Pyke

 

[Pyke]

Very nice game, kudos to the devs frankly. Just finished it.

I find deep sea stuff pretty nightmarish at the best of times, but even putting that aside I felt very "immersed" (har har) in the oppressive atmosphere they've crafted. Goes to show that you don't need a big budget to create a good stage. Really impressive.

Also enjoyed the point and click adventure aspect, a genre I played a lot as a kid but am somewhat starved of now. I thought the puzzles were about right, maybe on the easy side and with a few too many pattern based ones for my taste though? I'd have loved to see some "red herring" items, and ramped up the smart-usage-of-object-type-puzzles.. they were the best ones IMO.

My only real gripe is that some of the dialogue drags when you want to get on with the game, especially near the end. It's true that you can skip it, especially if like me you don't care about trophies. However I think they should show all the text at once rather than revealing it "slightly" faster than the character says the lines. It would mean you could read it fast and then skip, rather than being forced to listen to quite a lot of it while the text is revealed before skipping.

Anyway, definitely glad I played it! Good stuff.

Ah man - I actually had a note to reply to this.. :D

Thanks for this! Really glad you enjoyed it!
Noted with the dialogue - I think in the next game we're gonna put in some options for how its displayed!

Very nice game. The first decent adventure game I have played in a score of years.

I have played the PS5 version and there was a weird bug with controller vibration, otherwise I loved the plot and characters and off course the game itself. Well designed puzzles.

Congratulations and look forward to your next game Pyke

Ah thanks! I'll hit up the console guys and see if they can do a test on the controller vibration. :D

Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[Desman]

Do you need to play the first stasis or can you start with the sequel ?

 

[Barbarian]

Do you need to play the first stasis or can you start with the sequel ?

I haven't played the first yet and enjoyed this game quite a lot.

I was a bit confused by "Cayne" and all the futuristic pseudo-religious talk from the setting at first but had it all figured out midway through the game. There is a lot of exposition throughout the game with the journals/notes you find and the conversations between the 3 protagonists.

 

[Barbarian]

"Beautiful Desolation" is also on the PS store. It is on my "to play" list. How does it compare to this game?

 

[Lyre Mors]

"Beautiful Desolation" is also on the PS store. It is on my "to play" list. How does it compare to this game?

Truly beautiful, with an incredibly unique setting, decent exploration, alright gameplay, and an honestly pretty forgettable main storyline. Worth a play, but probably a bit of a downgrade from STASIS 2.

 

[None]

Do you need to play the first stasis or can you start with the sequel ?

I started with the sequel and was fine. Think of it as a continuation of the last game's setting, and not its plot.

 

[gooseman]

Playing through this one. I really like it so far. One thing that stands out are the environment descriptions, I think there's way too many of them and they are so badly written and most things they describe are visible. People said they were written by a d*sco elysium writer, which explains a lot. Unlike item descriptions, they are also completely disconnected from the characters.

 

[Pyke]

The environmental descriptions werent written by a Disco writer. One of the Disco writers was our editor tho.

The environmental descriptions were written by a guy who makes Pen and Paper RPG campaigns in his spare time - ( https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/322831/bloom ). I think he now works for Tuesday Knight Games.
I've always liked the idea of finding people outside of the gamedev industry to work with us. I specifically told him to write them as overly lovecraftian and flowery as possible - the idea was for them to act like a 'narrator' - to give the exploration the feel of a novel, rather than *just* flavour text.

It worked for some people, and didnt work for others - But it was a conscious (experimental) choice!

Glad you're enjoying it!

 

[gooseman]

Didn't expect a developer response, this is really cool.
To me this writing comes off as tryhard. And it's extra jarring when every sentence tries to one up the previous one, but then you have stuff like this:

Overly long sentences, the word slowly is repeated 3 times, etc. All to describe mud on the floor. It's a chore to read, so I mostly gave up. If it was limited to just the spooky stuff, it could be fine, but even the most mundane things are described this way. It would be really cool if things were described from character's point of view, like the items are.
This is a nitpick in the grand scheme of things and I'm still enjoying this great game.