Whispers of a Machine

It may be a linear point and click story but the story is greast. It's very topical. I didn't agree with the conclusion on my first playthrough, that AI is scary, but I'm hopeful a different playthrough ending will provide a more optimistic view.

9/10. Was a bit short but the writing and graphics were wonderful. My only complaints were 2 or 3 sections that were I did not follow the game's logic at all. Easily on par with the Wadjet Eye games and Kathy Rain.

If there's any criticism to be had it's that I'd have enjoyed playing it for longer! Very good point and click. Nothing is illogical if you pay sufficient attention to clues. Great characters. The addition of techno-powers is quite good and adds a little variety to the usual point and click recipe.

'Whispers of a machine' is a point-and-click game with an RPG-ish twist. As you progress through the game, the protagonist Vera develops a personality based on your choices in dialogue and gameplay, and that personality affects what special abilities she gains. The story masterfully mixes a dry Nordic detective and personal drama of the main hero. Set in post-apocalyptic future where computer technology is shunned it poses questions about current state of our world. There are a few twists along the way, some more obvious to me than others. Same can be said about gameplay and puzzles -- enjoyable, straight-faced with little to no moon logic. In my playthrough I was only stumped a few times, mostly because of object-hunting. I enjoyed the game's responses to 'almost right' solutions -- they are commended and more information is given to push the player in the right direction. The personality mechanic does not change a classic point-and-click gameplay much, and at times seems like a Buzzfeed test with clear outcome for your input, but it is still a nice innovation. Characters react differently to different personalities, and as the game progresses, puzzles have very different solutions for each personality. One other thing that I felt strongly about the game is that it is touching on many hot topics of today. It features comments on environment, equality, religion, etc. The game is unashamedly progressive in its views, so that might ruffle some feathers. What bugged me is that even as I agree on many things said it still feels both shallow and heavy-handed at times. The comments are given once and not really explored any further. And that, in fact, is what I felt as I watched the end credits. 'Whispers of a machine' does a lot of things right, and touches on many fascinating topics, but it left me wanting a deeper dive into most of them. It is still a solid adventure game that I would recommend playing through. After all, it is quite short, too. 4.5/5

I liked the puzzles, story, setting, music and environments. Length is good. Not too long, not too short. The things that stand out is the world itself. It's nice to see such a different take on a science fiction story. Rather than high tech it's semi-crumbled and for good reasons. Puzzles are great too. For me the biggest flaw was the personality system. It's mostly (entirely?) based on dialogue options. I wouldn't mind, except that it's so obvious which option is connected to a certain trait. For intelligence, use the smart line. For charisma, use the leader line. For strength or whatever the third one was, use the cool reply. It feels like the character is 3 entirely different persons at once and it breaks the immersion and flattens the main character. I think they could have done it better. Like lets say you enter a crime scene, find someone hurt and you call the ambulance before you pick up a certain item - maybe it could give a + on kindness or whatever. Just choosing between three different dialogue options feels a bit like it does more harm than good. It gives some variability at the expense of other things. Almost a 4.