South of the Circle

This is a visual novel with some interactive elements. The good: - Voice acting (range and emotions) - Motion capture makes human movements look natural - Art style - Unique idea for selecting dialogue choices The bad: - Every character is either a stereotype or a jerk (or perhaps a stereotype and a jerk); seriously, I disliked all the characters without exception - It's very male-centric, with only two female characters (one is a love interest) - Choices seem to have little to no impact on the story progression - even if you make "morally decent" choices, you end up with a sour ending - It lacks the exploratory charm of other "walking simulators" I got this free in a GOG deal, and would've been upset if I've parted with cash for it.

Wish choices mattered more than it looks like they do.

Interesting setting, good story, solid music, and solid voice acting. Perfect if you’re in the mood more to listen and lightly interact than if you’re hoping to actively choose your own adventure - and that isn’t a bad thing, just differing tastes. Have to admit I didn’t fully understand the nuance until reading a Reddit post. Some may not care for it at all. I enjoyed it and would recommend to friends who enjoy reading and older action movies.

Nice art, nice story and nice narration. At the beginning I tried to figure out what exactly the protagonist was intend to do, but as details and clues gathering, I was fascinated in the complicated social environment around him. Then my focus gradually turned to how the story was going to unfold till the end. That is the same feeling as reading interesting novels. I understand that some would critizise the game lack of interactions or various routes and endings, however dark history, dirty politics, intrigues and intensity in this thriller have already satiated my apetite. Therefore I would rather rate it 9/10.

Let's get rid of the cons first. This is not the typical videogame, and not even a point and click adventure. South of the circle is first and foremost a story presented as a videogame. You can choose the tone of your answers, but that's about it, the story will go one only way, so in terms of replayability there's not much. That said, this is not the first videogame of the kind (not for me at least), and for that kind, the story is usually the point of the whole experience. SOTC is no exception. The setting and the overall plot is very well thought and I'd say aimed to an adult public, while the characters are nuanced and credible. The artwork is peculiar, perhaps not the most advanced, but fitting nonetheless֫. It gives this title a sort of graphic novel vibe. I really liked it!