Posted on: February 1, 2015

Hanglyman

Games: 444 Reviews: 141

Could be improved, but enjoyable.

Pros: Good graphics and some very atmospheric scenery. Nice that they didn't feel the need to make it 3D in any way- this really feels like it's right out of the golden age of adventure games. The story is interesting and keeps you moving along, and the contrast between the realistic 1980s setting and the fairy tale fantasy adds variety. The puzzles are exactly right, difficult enough that the solution isn't immediately obvious, but not hard enough to get you stuck or frustrated. The music is pleasant, if not particularly memorable. There is a side quest of sorts involving watering a plant that doesn't actually do anything gameplay-wise, but parallels the main character's own return to life and happiness, which is a nice bit of attention to detail. Cons: The voice acting leaves a lot to be desired. I don't think I heard any character pronounce someone's name the same way as another character (and sometimes they weren't even consistent in their own dialogue), and there are a few instances where they obviously messed up their lines but it was left in, as well as a line that was accidentally repeated, and many lines that didn't quite match the text. The acting talent is passable, but the dialogue is rather stilted and unnatural, as well as a bit bland, which makes it hard to connect emotionally with any of the characters. The ending, while pleasantly unexpected, is a bit jarring and seems to be a little rushed, as though a few minutes of the game are missing. The game is a bit shallow, and while several interesting themes are touched upon, they're not explored very well. It's definitely worth playing, and maybe even worth $10, but is rather short and leaves one feeling like there was some wasted potential. Still, it's great to see someone making decent old-school adventure games in the modern age.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: July 9, 2014

nonhoration

Games: 643 Reviews: 2

Some good ideas, but flawed execution

I liked most of the game while I was playing it, particularly the mystery elements and the fantasy story in the novel, but the game drops the ball completely on the way that it handles some pretty heavy subject matter near the end and that kind of soured the whole game experience for me.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: May 4, 2025

ShinoPuppy

Verified owner

Games: 12 Reviews: 2

Mediocre point-and-click, garbage ending

For about 2/3 of the game I was on board, no pun intended. For the most part, it's your typical 90s-style point-and-click adventure game, with near-impossible-to-find pixelated objects and sketchy logic puzzles. But that's part of the genre so with the help of a guide I'm making progress. But the end of the story, well, without spoiling it… I found both the story itself, and the way it played out in-game to be deeply unpleasant, to the point of wishing I hadn't played through to the end. Needless to say I won't be recommending this one.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: March 3, 2018

PonyFlare

Verified owner

Games: 203 Reviews: 18

Good start, but...

While mostly a good game and story, however I have a real issue with part of it. Without going into detail, and thus spoilers, I'll say that the first two parts of the quest were good and made logical sense and could be expected to be solved under normal circumstances. The third and final part, however, had many variables that had to line up just right for it to be possible to complete, and therefore not a logical puzzle that would/could have been set up. I removed 2 stars for this.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: February 8, 2017

ratkorga

Verified owner

Games: 298 Reviews: 7

Too many issues

Critical objects needed for puzzles are not readily discerned against their backgrounds, and finding them is a pixel hunt. Scraping the screen is unpleasant. A pattern of this stuff makes timed puzzles unpleasant, and these timed puzzles were already so. Goals were unclear more often than not, and environmental hints were reliably disorganized. For a spoiler-free example, a scenario where an environmental hint said something like 'that won't get the smell in the other room' and that's how I figured out, since there hadn't been anything indicating a current smell, that I needed something with a smell AND whatever it was that would get the smell in the other room. Some objects seemed like they were supposed to provide important information or story or something and they just didn't. Solving puzzles rarely felt rewarding, just relieving that I could continue on to something else happening, so I pretty quickly moved to using a walkthrough anytime I wasn't sure of my current goal: it wasn't worth wandering around hoping I'd come across something. The pacing of puzzles vs story is bad, and the interface design is terrible -- make sure to look up the manual, which is not included in this version on GOG. To save, press F5. To load a save game, press F7. To bring up the inventory, move the cursor to the bottom of the screen, and then curse a whole lot at the presence of important hot spots at the bottom of the screen. To quit, press Alt + Q, or bring up the inventory, click the crossed tools button, click the red X button in this new menu, and when it asks if you want to quit, click the red X again, NOT the green arrow button that looks like a symbol for 'continue with the quitting thing'. Don't press escape, which sometimes causes the game to crash. Also, content warning for incest. The art is nice, the story has interesting things it is trying to do, and the puzzles are sometimes a little different. Nothing is particularly successful but it's not a disaster.

Is this helpful to you?

Discover CD PROJEKT RED games

Highlights

Featured

Close, but not an exact hit

The Samaritan Paradox

Other ratings

Add a review

Edit a review

Delete this review?

Report this review

Additional Details (required):

Report this review