else Heart.Break()

If you are a programmer, born in the 1970s or 80s, love old-skool adventures and are looking for a challenge: get this game immediatety! If you always wanted to learn how to code but never found an entry point into this bizarre world of weird syntax: get this game immediately! If you are just a puzzle-maniac and want to try your brain on something comepletely different: get this game immediately! I loved everything about else Heart.Break(). The graphics, the sound, the minimalistic approach to everything, the tons of explorable areas, the way you are forced to break the rules in order to advance through the game. I just loved everything about it. You won't get too far in this game if you stick to the "main story" that is presented right from the start. But if you carefully examine the world, you will soon find the "real" story, and that is where the fun really starts. Of course it helps if you already have some programming knowledge. You should know how to mark text and do the inevitable copying and pasting by just using the keyboard, otherwise this game will frustrate you. But as soon as you find out that you can copy/paste even into your favourite text-editor (eg. NP++ or something the like), the only limit are your coding skills. The one downside to this game might be the price. At currently 21€, eH.B()might sound a bit expensive. But considering the many hours of fun I had trying to circumvent the "regular" ending of the game (and coding my own little Operating System along the way), it was money well spent. For the german audience out there: I wrote an extensive and nearly spoiler-free review of this game here: http://blog.todamax.net/2016/else-heart-break/

Good: The central game mechanic, that of hacking the game from inside the game, is one of the best ideas ever. Honestly great for people who are looking for a fun way to start learning to program. Bad: The plot is pretty boring - the characters are shallow and the story moves along at a glacial pace. The biggest shame is that the plot is mostly running around, not doing that much programming. Ugly: When you actually have to program your way out of a bug. Or, wait, maybe that's a plus...

Else Heart.Break() is a beautiful game, both aesthetically and mechanically, and is completely deserving of your time. Although a little slow to start, Else Heart.Break() picks up dramatically once the programming and code aspects are discovered. Upon acquiring a “modifier”, the player character can waltz around the small town of Dorisburg changing the functionality of various objects and interactions found within the world. From hacking coffee to top-secret computer mainframes, the game’s coding system provides an interesting means of progressing its story. This code system is so robust that it allows for multiple solutions to many of the plot points that you’ll run into, allowing you to stretch your creativity and solve challenges in a personalized manner. This hacking system lends itself well to the narrative of the game, as nearly every major plot point requires you to go out and find it yourself. You’ll often find yourself running around town talking to every NPC imaginable, attempting to find some hint or direction to advance the story. Although this can be frustrating at times, the majority of the time I found exploring Dorisburg and learning about its characters to be exciting and fun. This game rewards you for delving into its secrets by presenting you with humourous side-stories or new functions to augment your programs and hacking ability. It is extremely satisfying to work off of a small hint given to you by an NPC and hack your way to the next objective. That said, if you are looking at this game as a non-programmer, your experience with this game may be completely different than mine. Although this game does a good job of introducing you to the concepts needed to use its language (if you manage to find the floppy disks ridden about the world), it may be a bit overwhelming to wrap your head around. It doesn’t take much hacking to advance through the plot and beat the game, however, I think that a major part of the experience lies in exploring the hacking system and messing around in the digital playground that the game gives you. Additionally, the dialogue system that the game revolves around is extremely rudimentary. Although you are presented with many options to choose from when conversing with NPCs, I found that not many of my decisions actually mattered. The way that NPCs would interact with my character was hardly different based on the decision I made, aside from a few lines of dialogue. This definitely detracts from the overall experience of the game, as you’ll be encountering a heavy amount of dialogue. These gripes aside, I believe that Else Heart.Break() is a fantastic game that is worth every bit of time that you put into it. Dorisburg is a lovingly-crafted playground that begs to be explored.

If you are interested in learning any programming or are curious and wish to take a peak at what it's like, you can't go wrong by playing through this game! It will take a little bit to get a hack-dev (a hacking tool that lets you program) to hack objects in the game world, unless you know exactly where to go and only takes a couple of minutes to get one. You can alter in-game mechanics to your advantage like statistics of objects, yourself or other people, to sound effects of objects, music, doors, keys, and you can even make your own entire video game! Yes, you read that correctly! The plot gets pretty interesting and leaves you wanting more, but the world the developers give you to play around in makes up more than enough for it! I highly recommend this game if you are curious of trying programming or just want a decent point-and-click adventure game if you'e not. Also, for those who want to make video games or applications, operating systems, etc. inside the game and wish to share it - as well checking out other people's creations, check out "The Secret Arcade" on Facebook. Have fun!

I immensely enjoyed the psychedelic art style, dark atmosphere, catchy soundtrack and unique sandbox/puzzle/programming gameplay. However, the clunky controls and camera didn't work too well with the point-and-click aspects and could've been improved if options for standard WASD controls and other view modes were also available. The in-game editor was cumbersome as well. The writing was somewhat underwhelming, but the game files can be edited, added and improved on which is nice. That said, it's probably the best game in the programming genre, so well worth a buy.