Vintage Year

About

"Vintage Year" is a narrative-driven, choice-based game set in a small vineyard town. Players uncover secrets and build relationships as they navigate through the story, making decisions that impact the outcome. The game features a unique blend of mystery, romance, and drama, providing a rich and immersive storytelling experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

82%

Audience ScoreBased on 66 reviews

gameplay7 positive mentions

music3 negative mentions

Vintage Year offers a unique blend of strategic gameplay and fast-paced shooting, requiring players to think carefully about their actions and resource management.
The game features a charming pixel art style and an intriguing atmosphere, enhanced by creepy sounds and music that keep players engaged.
With a variety of characters, weapons, and randomly generated levels, Vintage Year provides good replayability and a fun challenge for fans of roguelike shooters.

The game suffers from some technical issues, including unclear enemy shooting mechanics and occasional bugs that can disrupt gameplay.
Many players find the controls awkward and the lack of remappable keys frustrating, which can hinder the overall experience.
Some aspects of the game, such as the minimal UI and short story mode levels, leave players wanting more depth and polish.

gameplay
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
52%
14%
The gameplay is characterized by a mix of intuitive controls, engaging mechanics, and a blend of shooting and strategic elements, such as lighting dark areas for added atmosphere. While the game offers replayability through procedurally generated levels and player unlocks, some players find it overly simplistic and repetitive over time, with issues like enemy pathfinding and a slow tutorial detracting from the experience. Overall, it combines addictive, fast-paced action reminiscent of titles like "Nuclear Throne" and "The Binding of Isaac," but may not appeal to everyone due to its simplicity and occasional technical flaws.
- “The game also adds player skins, different opening skills, and other gameplay elements, all of which enrich the playability of the game.”
- “Not only is the game challenging, rewarding, and addictive, it has an interesting mechanic centered around lighting dark portions of the map that adds additional strategy and much-needed atmosphere to a game that's really pretty bland visually.”
- “It offers a good amount of replayability through procedurally generated levels, challenging gameplay, and many player unlocks.”
- “But it seems that the gameplay is a little bit too simple, and after playing for a long time, it feels like it's just repeat and repeat.”
- “I felt that I was thrown into it with no knowledge or even any idea of what was happening, gameplay-wise.”
- “The game immediately forces you through a tutorial with text that appears too slowly before you can even get to the menu, and the gameplay is simplistic and kind of crap.”
graphics
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
31%
23%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the pixel art style and its thematic appeal, while others criticize it for lacking creativity and quality. Many feel that the retro aesthetic is a poor substitute for more contemporary visuals, leading to issues with legibility and overall enjoyment. Despite the divisive opinions, the game's atmosphere and mechanics are noted as strengths that somewhat compensate for its graphical shortcomings.
- “I like the pixel art style and the game style.”
- “The art style was very appealing.”
- “This rogue-like game has a great standard of shooting and mechanics, combined with a classic roguelike art style.”
- “Instead of some dungeon it's a wine cellar, but it's really hard to tell because of the awful graphics.”
- “It's a matter of opinion, but when I see asset/template flips, retro pixel 'art' being used instead of developers bothering to hire someone with enough talent to produce contemporary video game visuals, and procedural generation being used as a copout for having to dedicate much more time and effort, which is certainly needed to add rich content to a game, I see that as lazy.”
- “The text has legibility problems due to the extreme 'retro' 'I have no skill as an artist' graphics, and honestly I just did not enjoy it at all.”
story
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The game's story is perceived as underwhelming, primarily serving as a basic framework for gameplay rather than a compelling narrative, with a main plot revolving around a fetch quest for wine. While the story mode is well-developed and features character progression, many players feel it lacks depth and would benefit from more engaging arcade-style modes. Overall, the reliance on procedural generation for level design has led to criticisms regarding the game's storytelling and content quality.
- “Moral of the story: you never know what life has in store for you, and if I had given up when all odds were against me, I wouldn't be where I am today.”
- “This game had good graphics, and the story mode was well developed.”
- “Story mode: choose a character, and keep on playing from level to level to reach the ending (not gonna spoil).”
- “I think this game would be better if it had other modes other than a story.”
- “The levels are procedurally generated because the developer lacked the talent to produce meaningful story, content, or level design, so they use algorithms as a substitute for competence.”
- “Main plot is a fetch quest for wine.”
music
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
50%
30%
The music in the game is generally well-received, enhancing the atmosphere with a fittingly creepy and thematic soundtrack that complements the gameplay. While some players appreciate the ambiance and find it relaxing or immersive, others note that the music loops frequently and may not always align perfectly with the game's tone. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a strong aspect, though opinions on its effectiveness can vary.
- “The music and the ambiance are very well done.”
- “As a fan of many roguelikes, this game is very well-rounded and checks all the boxes: a clean art style, thematic soundtrack, diverse weaponry, and plenty of replayability.”
- “The creepy sounds and music put the player on edge as they make their way through dimly lit, cult-infested levels.”
- “Limited sampling for music means lots of looping.”
- “The soundtrack I'm not that into; it gives the game this spooky factor, yes, but it does not feel right for the game. Most of it is good, but there are some parts that just don't feel good for it (in my own opinion).”
atmosphere
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
44%
33%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its immersive and chilling qualities, effectively enhancing the gameplay experience despite its visually bland pixel art. Players appreciate the strategic use of lighting mechanics and stealth tactics, which contribute to a dark, eerie ambiance reminiscent of the Cthulhu mythos. Overall, the atmosphere is described as a key element that elevates the game, making it a unique and engaging experience.
- “It might not be the kind of game you want to pick up every day, but when you really let yourself get immersed in the atmosphere, this game is truly special.”
- “Not only is the game challenging, rewarding, and addictive, it has an interesting mechanic centered around lighting dark portions of the map that adds additional strategy and much-needed atmosphere to a game that's really pretty bland visually.”
- “Graphically, the pixel sprites lack the creativity and charm that Nuclear Throne manages to capture, but the developer, Nooner Bear, makes up for it with a chilling atmosphere that keeps the player on their toes.”
- “Standard top-down shooter with an eerie atmosphere, intensified by your need to put down candles in order to see your foes (which, by the way, you have a limited number of).”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
17%
33%
Overall, the game is praised for its strong replayability, attributed to its clean art style, thematic soundtrack, diverse weaponry, and procedurally generated levels. However, some players feel that the lack of achievements diminishes the replay value, as the unlocks do not significantly enhance progression. Despite this, many agree that the game offers good replay value for its price, making it a solid choice for fans of roguelikes.
- “As a fan of many roguelikes, this game is very well-rounded and checks all the boxes: a clean art style, thematic soundtrack, diverse weaponry, and plenty of replayability.”
- “For its $5 price, Vintage Year offers a good amount of replay value.”
- “It offers a good amount of replayability through procedurally generated levels, challenging gameplay, and many player unlocks.”
- “Normally I don't care about achievements in video games, but as this is a roguelike, having no achievements severely reduces the game's replayability.”
- “This isn't a terrible flaw, but its implementation feels more like an in-game currency DLC store than a true progression system, in that the things you unlock may not help you get further in the game at all, and are simply alternate options to enhance replayability.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a humorous tone, highlighted by its quirky character names inspired by wine and a variety of amusing weapons, all set within a comedic top-down shooter format.
- “There are plenty of characters and cosmetics to unlock (all with funny wine names!) as well as plenty of weapons to be found throughout the levels.”
- “A funny top-down shooter.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
300%
The monetization aspect is praised for its integrity, emphasizing that it avoids cash grabs and low-quality offerings, instead focusing on high-quality games developed by dedicated professionals.
- “No compromises, no cash grabs from academic side projects that got dumped into seedy game bundles, but only games that are of the highest quality made by professional, dedicated game developers who don't make compromises.”
- “The monetization model feels exploitative, with constant prompts to spend money on in-game items that should be earnable through gameplay.”
- “It's frustrating to see a game that could be great overshadowed by aggressive monetization tactics that prioritize profit over player experience.”
- “The reliance on microtransactions makes it hard to enjoy the game without feeling pressured to spend more money.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is marred by occasional bugs, including issues with players getting stuck in walls and inconsistent hitboxes for spike traps.
- “Some parts are a little buggy, such as sometimes getting stuck inside walls and strange spike trap hitboxes.”