Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure

I enjoyed being given the chance to figure everything out without it being impossible like in many other games. The story was really good and more positive than I think I expected. I was constantly expecting to be punished for trusting people but it always turned out well in the end and I was happy about that. Many choices had nice small effects going forward which is also rare in choice based games. The art, music, and everything else just really made for a great experience. Highly reccomended!

To start off with, yes it's fairly short (I clocked 5 1/2 hours) but I think that's in its favor. In a era of AAA devs padding out their games with grindy mechanics in super long stretches between dribbles of story because they think longer playing time = better game + better profits, this is a breath of fresh air. It was more like an interactive movie but also not really because you're the one looking around and doing the thinking. Every decision you make is pleasantly weighed and valid, it doesn't steamroll you into "fake choices" like some games do by presenting a dialogue choice where the unacceptable answer just leads into the choice again, but it does give you the chance to change your mind. Some questions will actually lock out others, and create a more dynamic and natural conversations with other characters. There's also actual investigating and YOU, the player, have to figure out exactly what the right answer is but there's always that degree of uncertainty until the results of the investigation pay off and confirm you were right or wrong. Depending on what you choose you can uncover more clues or miss them entirely which might affect your decisions in what to submit in investigation reports (sheets, in game). If you don't get all of the information you need it will handicap you in your investigation, so you have to employ some real thought into it and be very thorough. The only con I can think of is the walking speed is pretty slow, which can be kind of annoying in spots but also lets you get into the moody noir vibe better as well and take in those pretty amazing pixel environments. So it's a good-thing-bad-thing in the end. And the story is actually well thought out. It doesn't have a whole jumble of disperate things, everything leads back to the main root and is part of each other with small, personal actions at the bottom, and large, interplanetary complications.

The Good -Great Soundtrack -Great Artwork The Bad - Hit, or miss voice acting - Audio has some really bad hiccups sometimes - No skippable cutscenes combined with very uneccessary walking sequences you also can't skip - Most decisions don't really affect the game - Decisions that impact the game aren't very clear and are seemingly random - No ability to reload saves - Every Character is unmemorable and is bland, or a generic stereotype of detective movies - Puzzles, and the entire game is just a text dump - Over 8 endings that are not needed for the game *Spoilers* Every situation is going back to read through dialogues to answer multiple choice questions. Its homework, and not being a detective. Which is very much not a coincidence as they introduce you to the games mechanics in the by making you do literal schoolwork. The game feels like a chore with your reward being a very mopey, monotone detective who is trying to sound like Adam Jenson from Deus Ex, with poor dialogue delivery. Usually its okay, but certain moments like, "Campbell, Liam. Fucking. Campbell," stick out like a sore thumb. There are moments like in the Sakura Hotel where you go up the elevator. The waterfall fountain is so much louder than everything else. 8 endings and no way to reload saves in this game, or skip any cutscenes. I played through the game 4 times and the only thing that changes are a few lines of dialogue at the end of the story Almost none of the choices you make even matter until the very end of the game. This game has so many scenarios where your choice is an illusion. They take this whole president being shot causing a potential intergalactic war thing way too lightly. It's considered a bad ending for using your authority while a shooter is potentially getting away, and potentially kill more people. The game tries to cover too many heavy topics in a short time with no understanding of the nuiances its basically just labelled good, or bad.

Wow, what a ride! If you love adventure titles, then this one is definitely for you! - Very unique in its style - NO inventory-based system - NO need of a walkthrough - Absolutely great and intense story - Superb visuals, pixel art done right - Amazing soundtrack - Choices DO matter, so there is some replayability there Don't hesitate, do yourself a favor and pick this one up, you can't regret it!

Devs should NOT care about X hours to finish a game. So they put a moderate amount of walking long distances to add X hours to the game -- alleviated somewhat by narration while traversing those distances. But I rather do away with the dead time walking portions. I want to replay the game, to discover what I missed, but due to this aforementioned dead time traversing, I am too impatient and just watched alternate routes played by other players on YouTube. By contrast, another game Dex has fast travel, and made me want to replay. Fast reload, etc. Again, Devs shouldn't artificially extend time to complete game by long traversing. I could have played more -- and actually increase hours played -- but the thought of walking those distances again dissuaded me. Still, 4/5 as I enjoyed the game in one playthrough and that's it, on to the next game.