Bermuda

Bermuda is a hidden gem that I had the pleasure of finding long ago on Desura (platform no longer exists) and later aquired it on Steam as well.

The story of it is really interesting. In short a group of friends gets abducted by Aliens that live in the seas and the goal of the group is to escape their ship.

All of that followed by great music, well designed characters, additonally some stealth mini-games and voice acting.

The game might be short, but for the price it’s offered, it’s definitely worth giving it a chance.

Played it long time ago on YouTube.

An OK Visual Novel about an Aqua-Alien-Abduction of a group of three surface dwellers.
Will Eddie, the protagonist find his way back ashore?
If you don't expect too much (one man team, no triple a title) you might just like it.

Can expect about an hour worth of play, also after the linear story without decision making is trough,
there is no replayability for this title (but check out the other work of Invert Mouse Studio).

Cons:
1.) No Achievements,
2.) No Steam-Overlay,
3.) Settings not saved between sessions,
4.) Music is pretty decent, but gets repetitive
5.) Stealth-Minigames mostly boring and too easy / short
(seem like pointless filler episodes most of the time, though not necessarily always)
6.) no real gameplay
7.) we never learn what happened to HER or what would become of the romantic angle,
especially after HIS death

Pros:
1.) Story & Characters intriguing, albeit not so deep
2.) Nice Intro with integrated Credits
3.) cheap (although for the short duration and old age you may want to wait for a sale)
4.) fits in neatly with the other works by invert mouse, giving some fresh breath from consecutive titles
5.) (very much more or less) happy ending

Bermuda does something that either enhances visual novels or dooms them: it offers some actual game play. Done right it can add to an already great game but done poorly and it can sink it. The game is broken up in that you get told the story through a kinetic novel format and after that the story has made it necessary for you to navigate the ship without getting caught. This part is a side scrolling stealth game akin to Gunpoint minus the ability to knock people out. You can turn off lights; sound alarms; disable shields; hide in the bathroom; etc. The idea is to try to herd the guards where you want them to get to where you need to go. To add variety some levels have a different goal such as turn off all the lights or lure all of the guards to the first floor. The mechanics are not bad. They can be annoying or frustrating at times but the game gives you all the tools you need it just requires more patience then I sometimes have. The guards on the other hand will never see you, even if you are right in front of them, unless you touch them. This feels like a cop out and unrealistic but given my already love/hate relationship with the game play maybe it saved me from liking the game less. On that note though guards also will walk right into a teleportation beam without asking any questions like “why is this beam here all of a sudden ?”. On the story side the novel format is kinetic as I said so there are no choices to be made and no way to impact the story. That being said the story is decent, especially near the end. There is full voice acting and it is also pretty good. The opening credits are another high point and I wish more visual novels had ones this good. The art isn’t the best I have seen, it lacks detail on characters but it is far from the worst I have seen.

I played Bermuda on Linux. It never crashed on me and I didn’t notice any spelling errors or glitches. The game has no graphics options at all. Alt-Tab didn’t work. There is no save system of any kind so each level must be played from start to finish. Strangely you can play any for the levels right from the start without having to beat them in order. So in theory if one only wanted the story you could read all the conversations and skip the game play. The game did have some noticeable lag at times that lasted for a few seconds but none of my FPS software worked which means I could never see what the frame rate was. You can’t adjust the controls at all although you use W; A; and D for everything so it’s not a big deal.

Disk Space Used: 244 MB
Input Used: Keyboard

CPU Usage: 4-37 %
RAM Usage: 2.5-2.8 GB

Overall the game play is good enough to serve it’s purpose. The art is good enough to not hate it. The voice acting is good enough to not turn it off. The story is good enough to keep playing. In no category does Bermuda blow me away but it is solid across the board and worth a play. I paid $3.39 CAD for it and feel that is worth the money. I finished the game in just about two hours.

My Score: 7/10

My System:

Intel I7-4770 | 16GB DDR3-2133 CL9 | Intel HD 4600 1536MB | Mesa 20.0.8 | Samsung 850 Evo 250GB | Trisquel 9.0 | Mate 1.20.0 | Kernel 5.10.15-gnu

First off, I am giving this an up vote, despite the fact that if there was a neutral option, I'd be going there. Would I really recommend this game? No, but I enjoy VNs, and I've really enjoyed some of the makers other offerings. I consider this as much an investment in keeping the company making enjoyable VNs as anything. It would be great if Steam would implement a neutral option for people to review a game without negatively affecting a company. Anyway...

Really short (less than an hour), kinetic visual novel by the folks at Invert Mouse. There is also a mini-game that's sort of like a boring hide and seek, that is skippable (fortunately). The story itself is about the abduction of three people from the mainland by an "alien" spaceship/submarine, and the interations of two of those characters with the "aliens" after the device that is used to return them to land malfunctions. The story is, well... ok. It has some nice messages, but it's hard to get very attached to characters in one hour. A little preachy with as much mention of God/faith in so short a read. The music was... ok. The art was probably the VNs best asset, but wasn't anything to write home about. Voice acting was pretty bland for a couple characters, but was good for others. It was fully voice acted. Inexpensive, so even if you're disappointed, you aren't gut punched by the price.

So, in short. Buy it if you are a lover of VNs and have run out of other titles, or if you are just looking for a way to support the Mice. If you go in not expecting all that much, you might end up pleasantly suprised. Definately check out some of the other Mouse offerings if you are in search of good VNs, and haven't read them all already.

A solidly "meh" experience. Good artwork, decent premise, flat writing, and poorly thought out characters, hampered by a clunky minigame.

A very short VN, but worth paying the full price in my honest opinion. I love InvertMouse games, and Bermuda is no exception. I found the story rather interesting, the art style is good (the only thing that bothered me was the lack of different facial expressions, but that’s a pet peeve of mine)… BGM was really good, it fits the story nicely. I also enjoyed the mini games.

But here’s the only flaw on this game: the VA. I’m sorry, but it was awful. Sounded like everyone was just reading the script and that’s it…

5/10. A good quick experience overall! I also think it would be awesome to have a DLC of the soundtrack. =)

Good story delivered as a kinetic visual novel with several minigames, some of which appear difficult at first but all of which have very simple and satisfying solutions, the kind that make you smile when you see the solution. The bonus conversations are an interesting way of adding a bit to the story and backstory. InvertMouse games contain some very clever elements that I enjoy very much,

Buy it for the story, not for the gameplay.

Unlike InverMouse's previous major title, Unhack, Bermuda does not attempt to meld its gameplay and visual novel elements together. The entire gameplay consists of exactly one level. The goals and number of guards change, but this does little to make it less boring. It just felt like a tedious stopgap between story segments. The game would undoubtedly have benefited from a more traditional point-and-click or choose-your-own-adventure style to its storytelling.

For being only a 3 dollar title, the story is surprisingly good. It had enough mystery to it to keep me interested, but never seemed like it was making an ass-pull when it threw in plot twists. My only gripe is that Eddie can't seem to go more than a few sentences without throwing in a reference to God, and I'm not saying that just because I'm not religious. Especially once Mukan started angrily declaring that she didn't believe in God, all I could do was roll my eyes. It struck me as trying to insert controversy where none was needed. Leave the battle of the religions to the ass-end of the internet where it belongs; I just want to enjoy a good story.

Gripes aside, I still enjoyed the game. Despite being a weaker entry than Unhack, I would still recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. It's pretty cheap, and while the gameplay is boring, it's not difficult, nor should it take you but a couple minutes to run through.

Bermuda is a mix between escape game and visual novel. The plot of the game is that the characters get abducted by aliens and while aliens were trying to transport them back to earth and wipe their memory, they failed as 2 out of 3 earthians left. I liked the conspect, I was very interested about Finyomu's and Mukan's story. The bonus scenes made me ever more interested. Unfortunatelly my personal liking does not include bad ending. To add the game is very short. Art is ok. Music is ok. Voice acting is ok. Price is quite low. The escape game is ok.

To sum up:

Pluses:

• Full voice acting
  
• Bonus scenes
  
• Interesting characters
  
• Quite cheap price
  

Minuses:

• Very Short
  
• Bad Ending (I do not like bad endings)
  
• No way to alter the ending
  
• Sometimes the voice actors do not show characters' emotions
  
[*]I did not like that character is over religious

Bought this when it was on sale, it was a fun story, would recommend.

The good:
-great visual style, very different from the anime theme that 99% of visual novels have
-fully voice acted
-animations look very polished
-each chapter has optional conversations. While these don't drive the story forward, they are of the same quality as the rest of the game and really give you a better feeling of what each character is like.
-the stealth sections are actually fun and not too punishing if you mess up.

The bad:
-voice acting is at points bad when actors don't use the proper emotion or emphasis
-during most dialogue scenes, character graphics are static even when events occur they are reacting to with voice
-I didn't care much for the story. It was trying to be overly religious without actually doing much with the religious theme. It also seems to skip a few steps.

Overall my experience with this is a positive one. Give it a try if you like visual novels.

This is a reasonable VN. Worth the low cost.

It's linear and there are no choices, but it's an alright story.

I would have liked to see it expanded into a larger game.

I liked Unhack so I was eager to try this title too. Bermuda uses same formula, visual novel mixed with minigames. Stealth puzzles are not hard, which I think is great. They are a fine addition to usual VN reading (or listening - all dialogues are voiced) experience, but do not frustrate players who simply want to enjoy the story. Characters are well developed although the story sometimes felt a bit rushed. Again I liked the art design. I'm not sure if I can pinpoint why I like Bermuda's graphics so much, but the clean design with minimalistic color palette and heavy use of blue together with black backgrounds is somehow just so relaxing to watch. Even if Bermuda is a short VN, it takes about an hour and a half to see the ending, it is more than worth your money. I can easily recommend it and can't wait to see what will InvertMouse bring next.

Interesting gameplay with an interesting story, not the best because of how short and linear it is but I'd still recommend it.

This game could be much more, I love sci-fi VN, there isn't exactly a lot of them out there, but... It is too short, the "sneaky-beaky" parts are repetetive and, frankly, boring, and the VN part... Well, there isn't any VN. It is basically a simplistic stealth game with in-between cutscenes. You have NO options to alter the plot whatsoever, even failing the stealth puzzles doesn't do anything but restart the puzzle. Even the straightest of VNs that I played offered at least two plot choice moments. And the plot itself... Well, as I said before, this game is incredibly short, thus plot is very rushed and cramped together and, well, filled with cliches. More near the end characters feels more and more acting in certain ways not because they would do so, but because the plot demands it from them. The entire finale make me think of only one thing, "What the hell, what are you doing, this isn't making ANY sense!"



If Devs read this, I'm sorry for being so honest)
This still have potential to be a great game, as premise is, while not original, still interesting and not done before.
Make it longer, make characters be fleshed out more, make the player able to affect the story, like any true VN should... Cut out voice acting if it is the reason this is so short, and make at least several stealth-levels, not just one the same.

I love visual novels quite a bit. So when an visual novels come to Steam, I usually purchase them to support said games. It doesn't help that I this game was made by the same people who did "Unhack," a game which I adore immensely. However, the problem lies in multiple aspects, making it confused as to what the true culprit is which makes this game not pass.

Let's break down the elements on the game, starting with the music. This section will be short because, to be frank, the music is pretty forgettable. Normally, with another game, I wouldn't focus to heavily on this but, with a visual novel, there is a lot more riding on the music, It conveys what the game can't so the music needs to convey every emotion just as well as the character's dialogue and voice cast, if there is one. With "Bermuda," the music felt static. It never felt like it was anything special and, once the scene was over, the music vanished both from the game and my memory.

Next, let's look at the story. The story provided is rather silly in concept and is too rushed to be anything special. It also doesn't help that this seems to be a character driven story but fails in execution, which I will discuss later. The plot is sort of there because it needed to be, that's all.

Before moving onto the characters in question, let's address one of the major problems with the game: the gameplay. To be fair, not many visual novels have a gameplay aspect so, the fact that this one does makes it a tad more interesting for having one. With that said, the gameplay is boring. If it was difficult but well-made, I wouldn't be able to complain. If it was very easy but well-made, I'd complain on difficulty but that's it. However, "Bermuda"'s gameplay finds a way to be simple, boring, and pathetically easily. You move the main character, Edward, on the same map, accomplishing whatever goal is given to you. Whether that be going to the top floor, buying time for someone, or bringing guards to their untimely demise. The problem is that it's the same thing, not really changing at all. It's boring is the best way to put it.

The last point and the largest problem are the characters. There are only about five major characters, not discussing one for spoiler reasons. The first is Finyomu, the acting commander of the ship. She's only about seven years old but acts much older than that. She wishes to know more about the surface world, studying humans to learn more about them. Besides some things that come up later, that's pretty much it. She's a basic character, as if copy and pasted. The second-in-command, Mukan, has even less character. She's the atypical tomboy, liking girly things (poetry, romance novels, etc.) but having to be a hard ass on the ship. She's overly protective of Finyomu though she is her best friend. That's it. Then the human characters. First up is Paul. He's a tough guy who went to jail for protecting another character, Joanna, and is currently in a relationship with her. He's the guy who the reader might identify with in this situation. He happens to also be the most developed character in the story. The second human is Joanna. I hate this character. She's barely in the story but has such a pull on the Paul and Edward. She is clearly in love with Edward but is dating Paul because he asked. She is the only human teleported back to the surface before something goes wrong . That's all we know! Lastly, we have Edward/Eddie, the main character. He's bare bones, nothing special to him at all. Though he loves God...a lot. Exaggerating here but it's almost like every other sentence is about God. That bothered me immensely and made me start to hate him a bit. It's tiresome, hearing about God non-stop. That's all there is to it.

In case you couldn't tell, the main point in that massive section above was this. The story is too short for the characters to shine. No matter how bland a character might be, they can be exciting in some way throughout the story. Especially in a character driven story, the length can hinder the characters. Many stories, however, don't have this problem but I finished this game in just under two hours. That's too short. Visual novels like "Saya no Uta" or "Little Busters!" thrive on their characters. Though the latter is muchy longer, the former visual novel is fairly short, only about two to ten hours as listen on VNDB. However, unlike this game, "Saya no Uta" has characters which can shine, even if they aren't the best or most well-written. This game just didn't take the time so the characters fall flat, killing it along with it.

One last point before the wrap-up: the voice acting. Though these voice actors are amazing, having a deep love for Christina Vee and Kyle Herbert, the acting is fairly stiff. I don't know if it's because of the material given but there's something off with these performances. Well, except Christina Vee, who sounds very good and emotional. Everyone else is stiff.

"Bermuda" is a game which I wouldn't recommend. If you happen to have it through a friend or in a bundle you were gonna buy anyway, give it a run through. It most definitely isn't the worst thing out there. However, don't purchase it. Instead, buy "Unhack," which is by the same people and does everything this game should have done but better.

Cute and short game. Good story with an heartwrenching ending. The minigames (stealth mini-missions) included in every scene are not bad. Great athmosphere, very good art. The aliens are interesting. There are too many mentions of God/Christ/Church for my own taste (this is several times per scene, and scenes are short; I don't believe in God, but they obviously do, good for them).

Considering the small price and the short time it takes to complete the story (about 2 hours?), I'd definitely advise you to play it: If that intrigues you, just see for yourself, I expect you'll like it. This is a good visual novel in my book (or rather a good "visual short story" in that case).

A very quick VN type game that doesn't overstay it's story's welcome.

Strangely religious. Mentions God in every one of its acts. It was a fun bit of distraction though. :)

Bermuda is a game for 3$ lasts about hour and half. It's really nicely put together game that's fully voiced with somewhat stealth sections in middle of each dialogue. The stealth part can be random at times but really easy. I really enjoy my time with the game and would reccomend it to anyone