Whispers of a Machine

The best part is it's not based on moon logic and all choices are logical. There were times when I've had to peek into a walkthrough, but in the end I just wasn't attentive enough, otherwise it's possible to complete everything without the typical "just click on everything" method. Also, a great part is that every dialogue is voiced over which adds a lot to the overall experience.

Whispers of a Machine was a really fun experience for me. The point and click gameplay was easy to grasp and there is the ability to get certain unique powers depending on certain choices you make which adds a little bit of replay value. The puzzle aspect was well designed to me; Not too complex that you're going crazy trying to solve things, but not spoon-feeding you everything as well. The only thing I was a little upset about was that certain mechanics were introduced and only used once or twice which made them feel a little unnecessary in the grand scheme. The plot is a simple, but interesting murder mystery situation. If you've ever scene Blade Runner then you'll be familiar with a lot of themes discussed in this game. Its not something incredibly profound but its certain enjoyable and gives you a few things to think about. All and all, its a very pleasing game. I would highly recommend it to anyone, especially if you love Point and Click style games or Blade Runner/Cyberpunk themed stories.

Story: 4/5 Worldbuilding: 5/5 Art Design: 4/5 Graphics: 4/5 Sound: 4/5 Gameplay: 5/5

I liked this game a lot, even though I don't really care for post-apocalyptic or futuristic settings. But the story was good, voice acting was great and the puzzles were not brain-dead easy or silly cat-mustache moon logic. They all made sense, were not just clicking on things until something works and some really made me pause and think for a while. I am not a fan of pixel art games and especially the character faces were very hard to make out on screen. But at least you got detailed face views during conversation, albeit without moving lips. The ending was a bit rushed and it was overall too short (took me about 10 hours), but that just means I really didn't want the game to end.

I bought this game because I loved Kathy Rain, but to my surprise it's full of stuff that Kathy successfully avoided. Like boring characters and annoying puzzles. You can influence the character of Vera (protagonist) but whatever you do, she's still just dull and uninteresting with a cliched backstory I never cared about. The game is competent, looks good, sounds good, it's well acted and somewhere there must be a good reason why so many people like it. For me, there never was a moment of magic or emotional connection. Should you buy it? If you like adventure games - probably yes, especially on sale. But if you don't feel engaged after 30 minutes, move on to something else and don't think it will get better.