Joyfess Ep1: Martin's Secret Recipe

I am a huge fan of point-and-click adventures and of Monkey Island games in particular (not so much of the Telltale Games' stab at it), so I was sure I was going to like this one. Alas, I wasn't able to. The art style is great... and that's the only thing I was able to enjoy about the game. The writing is bad, the humor felt forced and never funny to me. Also, the game has nothing on the atmosphere of the Monkey Island games. For a slightly lower price you can get The Secrets of Jesus (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1142230/The_Secrets_of_Jesus/) point-and-click adventure game. Despite having a more simplistic art and no voice-overs, it has much better writing, puzzles and overall story - and these things are the most important for a point-and-click adventure, in my opinion. It is also extremely funny. Oh, and it's a complete game (unlike this one).

I enjoyed the first chapter and am looking forward to the next episode. The puzzles are logical and I was able to figure them all out without the help of walkthroughs etc. I found the nods to the other adventure games charming but not overbearing. I love the art style and am looking forward to more. All point and click adventure fans should be happy with this one.

Really nice environments. It tickles my Monkey Island nerve. And I did have some good moments with it. Unfortunately, the negatives outweigh the positives. Pros: Great environments. Most puzzles are logical and satisfying. Amusing. Cons: *Completed the game in 2.8 hours, and I payed 12.50 £ for that....I'm sorry but that is just too little game for my money. Potential spoiler: *[spoiler] Some puzzles are a bit flawed. There was some ingredient I needed and I found something similar, which the character said would work since he was wasn't able to get the real one. Which I did not understand as I had not been presented with any info about that. It wasn't until later that I unlocked and got to a new area, that I found out why that was. And the method of unlocking this area was basically to ask the right person about the ingredient. But I din't ask anyone about it since the character had already found a replacement for it. So I was stuck for quite some time until I had to watch a walkt...

Bought the game for its obvious Monkey Island references. Graphics are nice, animations bearable, voice acting not too bad. It has voice acting, that's a serious plus nowadays. But the writing... Nothing makes sense. So there's this chef who invented a famous dish, wrote the recipe down, lost the sheet with the recipe, and now he can't cook the dish any more? Right at the beginning every single dialogue lets you scratch your head because logic is stretched to the max like in the above example. Will give it another chance but the first encounter made want to get a refund.

It's a nice game. Nothing exceptional, but it's not that bad either. I like its art style a lot. The puzzles are easy, but a few may require some thought. The dialogues are a bit funny from time to time. But the game includes only the first episode and I sincerely doubt we'll ever see the rest of the episodes. Additionally, the game is quite short. Still, the game is quite cheap, so I bought it to support the developers and I don't regret it at all, since I enjoyed it. Till next time, don't forget to point & click.

[h1]"That won't work, that won't work, THAT WON'T WORK! " [/h1] Once again, I wish there was a [h3][b]Neutral option[/b][/h3], but since this is cute project done by a small team, I can't compare them to massive studios' titles, nor can I give it a thumbs up in case I discourage them to try again. PROS: - Cute, hand drawn animations. Don't expect Deponia, but the two artists gave their best. - Lovely setting, beautiful backgrounds. - Story is interesting enough to keep me playing, the jokes are alright, lots of references to other more famous video games. - Walking is fast, the world is easy to navigate in. OBVIOUS CONS: - It's super short (thank God I bought it when it was on Sale). - Unfinished plot, with little chance of getting a sequel (but you never know). CONS that really bugged me on a personal level and I hope the creator will take them as constructive criticism/suggestions for their next game/ chapter, because they are super talented and need to keep creating more ga...

-Pros Nice art style Good controls, entirely playable with mouse. Decent voice acting Standard point and click puzzle design, inventory based for the most part. Interesting characters Humorous story and dialog -Cons No hot-spot reveal tool, although to be fair there is very little (if any) pixel hunting. Short Not a complete story, only episode one of a planned two patter. In fairness this should be fairly obvious from the game title. Overall recommended.

Very good but short

A very nice and entertaining inventory-based adventure game, in the best tradition of the genre. Nice graphics, funny story, not too difficult, nor too easy, no silly QTE''s (they dont belong in REAL adventure games). A bit on the short side, but looking forward to ep. 2, hopefully on its way ?

[h3] Overpriced and unfinished !!! [/h3] [b] This is the first (short) chapter of an ongoing story that is no longer being developed. [/b] The humour, voice acting and graphic style are well done. This could have been a really good game if it had been concluded.