And once again I'm using this opportunity to tell people about "The Cat Lady" and "Cryostasis-Sleep of Reason".
I only stumled on this recently, but apparently "sleep of reason" refers to an etching by Goya, called "The Sleep Of Reason Produces Monsters". Personally I thought the developers did a good job of telling a story about the "human condition" if you will. On the one hand there is the story itself, which is accompanied by "The Flaming Heart of Danko", a fairy tale by Maxim Gorky. In addition there is the environment and the constant battle of heat and cold and the corresponding battle of the protagonist for survival. There is also the design of the opponents which gets weirder as the game progresses. Keys, locks, cages... and the lifesucking chill of their attacks of course. The protagonist's health meter does not get replenished by health packs or something like that, but rather by heat sources. Considering the storyline, I would say they are just as much about human warmth as they are about actual heat. So, some of the reviewers and other people who wondered about the believability of a light bulb giving off so much heat should have maybe considered what it represented. I guess it is fair to say, that people who enjoyed the stories of the "thechinesroom"-games, might also enjoy the story of "Cryostasis". And on top of that it's not actually a "Walking Simulator" ;-) There is also the shooting, great graphics and the fact that the frozen environment is very well done. Give it a try!
"The Cat Lady" is also for people who enjoy a good story. Sure, it has some of the familiar Adventure-gameplay-mechanics, but I felt it was much more about a bleak, hopeless atmosphere and great dialogue delivered by believable characters. It is certainly not for the faint of heart, since the writer did his best to make the game a very dark experience.
Let's just give you an example: When I played the game, after the first stage, which involved suicide, murder and a lot of distrust, Susan (the protagonist) finally gets back to her apartment, but it does not feel like home, it is a dark place full of unbearable but inescapable memories. When I was at this stage in the game I didn't know some of the things I know now, but after all the things I had experienced in the first part... In addition the graphics and ambience made it very clear that this was not just an appartment, but also a state of mind. A very bad state of mind. I felt tense and threatened while exploring. The rising depression meter didn't help at all.
All in all, it's a low-budget production with great writing and characters.
Hopefully this will prompt some people to give one or both of the games a try. Mostly for the story and atmosphere, I would say.