Posted on: January 5, 2024
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Verified ownerGames: Reviews: 124
Beautiful style but lacking substance
I really enjoyed Detective Grimoire, which was a cheap and short and linear but stylistic little game for $6.99 base (which is often on sale for much much less). Here's the developer's second game, a bigger endeavor with a bigger price tag at $19.99 base. Is it indeed bigger and better? Well...no. This is stylistically an absolutely gorgeous game, with a lot of heart and well designed characters and animations, much like in the first game. The rooms are absolutely beautiful and I spent a lot of time soaking in each scene. Happily you can click almost anything unique-looking in a room and there will usually be unique dialogue for it. So the art is A+. Unfortunately the plot is completely lacking. When you transition from a small 'finger food' game to a bigger game with a bigger pricetag, there's an expectation for something more, some replayability, some plot intrigue that sticks in your mind, something. And this is where the linear aspect of this game and its predecessor Detective Grimoire really drags the experience down. If a game has player choice where you can 'fail' and achieve a bad ending by accusing the wrong person, then you are going to create your own engagement because you don't want to 'fail'! You're going to be poring over snippets of text and replaying conversations like you're with the NSA. But if a game is totally linear where no matter what the player chooses or thinks you are going to be funneled to the 1 predetermined ending, then player engagement is innately less so it HAS to have a stellar and thought-provoking plot. Unfortunately, this plot and the final reveals about the 'villains' and their motivations or lack thereof are so bizarre and poorly supported that the only thought it provoked in me was "what in the world was that." I enjoy this developer's work and can't wait for their next game, but I think it's clear that they would benefit from hiring better writers and/or focusing more on player choice.
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