Borstal is an interesting duo of miniature survival games in which you play as the most fragile human beings on planet earth. Pitched in the description as more interactive novellas, the two scenarios provided play out like only the most classic turn based survival, harkening more to the style of NEO Scavenger than Rust in that the most engaging aspect is the text based story and randomized encounters rather than the graphics and crafting and whatnot.
Even though both scenarios are similar in structure, I feel that they provided such different experiences that I'll be addressing them seperately. You'll understand why in a moment, as I feel this may make or break a purchase, or at the very least provide some input to the developer.
Borstal, the titular title and "main campaign" is one where you play as a young boy who's trying to find his dad that worked at a--you guessed it--borstal, which in american terms is a Juvenial Delinquency center. In the game's world, the borstal is on an otherwise deserted island. Don't ask how this works, because I have no clue, but don't let it ruin the fun either. Every time you start a new game, the map is completely randomized, and there are obstacles and threats around every turn. You can find clues as to what happened to your dad, and encounter rogue bands of kiddies who, depending on what you've found and how good your RNG is can give you good stuff to help you survive or beat your head in. It's constantly raining, and you need a decent stream of sleep and food to survive until you find your dad. The sooner you do, the better the ending, but when you find the borstal and what you've experienced up to that point can influence the turn of events greatly.
Community review by Razorbitz (November 29, 2016)
Lover of Vinesauce, purveyor of Sterling, and worshipper of the Pipo. Plays games a lot, and writes stupid and excessively long user reviews to give myself the illusion of influence and importance. |
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