@fitscotgaymer
Since you haven’t played many Hosted Games, I suggest Zombie Exodus, Sabres of Infinity, Way Walkers, and Life of a Wizard
@fitscotgaymer If apex patrol is the only hosted game you’ve played you’re missing out some of the best and worst games on this site are the hosted games. Essentially I agree with young I posts before I saw his sorry
@817819
I can definitely agree with that. CoG is generally average, but most HG are either amazing or meh
I’d agree of course COG occasionally throws out a really good game too
Choice of dragon and choice of deathless come to mind
@817819
Oh definitely! Choice of the Dragon, Choice of Broadsides, Choice of Romance, Choice of the Deathless, and Choice of the Star Captain.
“Best and worst games”
That’s kinda why I avoided them lol. I assumed most of them would suck.
Apex Patrol is good, especially the romance choice.
I’d suggest Paradox Factor. I loved Paradox Factor. It is, admittedly, short, but I think it’s just as long as it needs to be and the puzzle elements lengthen it. It’s such a clever game.
Beyond that it depends on what you like in games. Zombie Exodus is extremely long, as well as so large in scope. There’s plenty of choice and piles of branches.
Of the rest, Unnatural, Waywalkers University, Sabres of Infinity, Life of a Wizard, are the must plays of the Hosted Games. Although it does depend on what you enjoy.
As for Slammed, there is branching there. You’ve a choice of what you do during your ‘break’ from wrestling. You’ve a choice of three ways to deal with JJ, be that face, heel, or real, and there’s various choices within that. There’s also a big branch near the end that leads to the multiple endings. I loved Slammed!
The thing with the Hosted Games is I don’t think there’s much in the way of quality control there. They’re also written by amateurs. I think all of the writers should be celebrated for actually getting something finished. It’s definitely an achievement to be proud of. It’s also important to remember that those first games were made just for the sheer love of it, with no thought to any financial reward. There’s little way for them to even get praise. I don’t think there was even a forum back then for them to speak to others and get feedback. I could, of course, be wrong.
I think the quality of the Hosted Games has definitely increased by leaps and bounds. I’d like to think part of that is the beta testing many of them undergo and the extremely valuable feedback they get on the forums. There’s also been much more time to actually write games, since choicescript isn’t all that old. Those first games were made without the benefit of many of the resources we now have.
@FairyGodfeather
I wrote Trial of the Demon Hunter as a labor of love, but also with financial compensation as a goal, too.
Out of curiosity where can I find trial of the demon hunter? It sounds cool butmi haven’t seen anything about it on the forum
That’s what I meant. There is branching but its limited because of the fairly linear storyline; it isn’t necessarily a criticism as such. Heroes Rise is my favourite of the CoGs and its easily the most linear and railroaded of the games.
It was more like an observation really.
I say that because the storyline itself had the potential to, and almost seemed to cry out, for it to be less linear than it is - more so than most of the CoGs. I understand why the author didn’t do that cos its a behemoth of a CoG as it is without more extensive branching.
I think perhaps the reason it flagged for me in my head was because I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did, I actually enjoy it as much as Heroes Rise, and when I discovered how good it was (and it’s very very good) I guess I was expecting just a bit more. Unfair perhaps I know.
I played Life of a Wizard now as per your suggestion.
I confess that my first shot of it - I don’t like it. It’s plenty long but I didn’t really enjoy the style of writing.
It’s chronicle style which comes off a bit primary/elementary school at times. “I did that on wednesday. And then I did this on thursday. And then on friday I took all my friends down the woods!”
At the risk of sounding unkind, it got very boring.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if characters in the game, and events in the game, were a bit more fleshed out and involved but as with the above it was a bit like hitting a check list “A happened, then B, then we did C to make D occur.”
The game suffers from the problem of “telling” us things and not “showing” us things ie. “This is Lucy. She is my friend. I knew her at the Academy. I like her.” but doesn’t actually show any moments with “Lucy” that make you go “oh yeah I do like her!”
Maybe I am just picky lol.
Definitely unfair. 
Although understandable. I loved Slammed! I didn’t expect to either since I’ve little interest in wrestling. I think Paolo did a fantastic job of plotting, and building characters. I loved all the twists and turns of the plot. It was already huge by the end. I’m not actually sure if there’s much more I’d have asked for in it.
I think Life of a Wizard isn’t Lucid’s best work. It’s his first published Choice game and I found what I played of it rather generic in a D&D sort of way. I think it offered far too much choice, which scratches an itch for those who like that sort of thing, but it sacrificed character in the process. So it wasn’t quite the game for me. I love Paradox Factor though, for all that there’s never really any chance to explore the characters. And I think Lucid’s next game is even better. I can’t wait for him to finish it. He’s growing and learning and becoming a much better writer. Life of a Wizard is vast in scope though, and great for that.
And Heroes Rise isn’t the most linear or railroaded of the games. It’s not even close. I do like Heroes Rise too.
Life of a wizard is all about the achievements and playing the stats. Definitely not the characters. It’s the CoG I’ve played the most times by a factor of 10 or so.
I should have said that it was the most linear and railroaded of the CoGs I have played lol.
Yeah. It’s not the most linear of them, and it’s definitely up there as one of the best. I suppose I’m off topic now since my favourite games are the popular ones. I like Slammed! Heroes Rise, Choice of Deathless, as well as the original four.
I found Reckless Space Pirates and Showdown at Willow Creek enjoyable, although not on the level of the others. I’d have liked to have seen them expanded on a bit, given some more room to breathe.
The good hosted games tend to be far less linear and with more choices that matter.
@Havenstone I’ll maybe try it again later. I did like the idea of it. I don’t think I get achievements on the chrome version though? Or I don’t know since I’ve never actually played it to the end.
@fitscotgaymer zombie exodus then . that’s probably what people should have recommend anyway life of a wizard is one way or the other but zombie exodusis just great. Plus chapters one and two are free even though those two chapters end the same way the choices made until that point all have an effect on each of the story arcs starting in chapter three but not really becoming apparent until chapter four. I believe there are six chapters
@817819
I had a demo and beta discussion for it, but I took the links down because it’ll published within the next few weeks.
@fitscotgaymer
I can understand that. But like others have said, it’s less about the characters and more about the stats, achievements and replayability.
I think Eerie Estate Agent and Star Captain are underrated (especially the former – where are the Scots contingent for this hilarious Edinburgher gem?) but I wouldn’t call them unpopular.
Of the genuinely unpopular ones, Cloud City is the one I enjoyed most. But then, I was a social science grad student. I’m the target demographic. And I agree on the weaknesses in the game; I wouldn’t call it one of my favorites.
With Life of a Wizard, when I got to the end the first time, having failed to either conquer the world or usher in a Golden Age… and saw that I could become the Archdruid, Archbishop, Archmage, or Archlich… and got challenged to make the “perfect party”… yeah, it grew on me. The affectless “chronicle” tone would be terrible for a novel, but it works just fine for a game.
I did find it very funny on a recent playthrough when I became an evil, murderous, all-conquering immortal lich, and my final recap was still in essence the same warm and fuzzy family-photo as ever: “I married my girlfriend and had a kid. I rode my horse Blaze, who is still alive because of my magic. Eventually I resigned and handed over the job of royal wizard to my friend. Sometimes I wonder if I could have done things differently”… but then I return to eating the souls of captured eldritch beings to increase my own unspeakable power while roasting my enemies on spits.
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Eerie Estate Agent never really appealed to me. I haven’t seen much mention of it on the forums either. I never even tried the demo, but I’m about to rectify that. I do love Edinburgh.
Okay played the demo a bit and it is actually really well-written, and quirky. I’m enjoying it. I shall add it to my list of games to buy when I have money again.