Posted on: March 7, 2025
A.G.B.
Games: 825 Reviews: 84
They just keep getting better and better
I'll try not to restate what I said in my reviews of the first 2 and instead focus on how this builds on them. Similar to Hotel this is set over multiple days in a row. Where that one was a bunch of individual rooms this one is set on an island, the titular Paradise. At first it looks like you have a lot of freedom of movement but that is purposefully deceptive; a major theme here is the illusion of choice. It doesn't take long before you can access most areas and so each level sees you visiting the different ones, dealing with the recurring cast of characters that you all have some personal relationship with, and witnessing the distinct difference that the plagues cause. It's used rather well. The fact that you are essentially the prodigal son makes it more emotionally engaging; you're not just delivering room service like in the original. And while I admire the ambition of the second one I did think the ensemble cast got to a point where at least I couldn't keep track of everyone much less get involved in their lives. The drip feed of information for the mystery is enhanced on account of this creative decision. I really badly wanted to find out the truth and I was quite satisfied with it. There is an air of Grecian tragedy here. You will see at least some things coming but you are powerless to stop them. This one further fleshes out the core concept of the franchise up to this point and answers at least one burning question. It does not bring in new features the way that Roots introduced drag, albeit I did appreciate the increased number of voice lines including in puzzles. This one also does better at not having too many times where you end up trying to manipulate one thing with the mouse and accidentally doing another. There is still room to improve but maybe they got all the way there in one of the ones to come after this one. And certainly there was never a time where I accidentally screwed up the solution on account of two items being too close to each other.
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