Whispers of a Machine

I'll be brief with my critique. - The story is pretty good, although too short for my taste. - The ambient music is OK, but far from memorable (I'd already forgot how it sounds, and it's been just 30 minutes since I finished it). - I'd say that its most disapointing aspect is its graphic art. I'm not talking about the low resolution, but to other aspects that indicate clear lack of polish: - plenty of noise artifacts in surfaces that should be "plain" - the excessive posterisation applied to the game characters to reduce the color palette looks like a quick job made without much care. - bad "animations". It can be seen when the train arrives to the station, or when characters are walking (they seem to slide instead of walk; same applies to the changes in size due to perspective, they are not performed nicely). Other than that, I really don't like not being able to save my game at a specific point so I can continue from there later. Having to play the whole game again to explore other branches is quite unappealing.

Retro-style adventures need some extra spice to not come out as dry and formulaic. Whispers of a Machine has that spice, in the form of Vera's augmentations. The augmentations mechanics works really well and sets the game apart from other retro-adventures that are limited to the tried-and-tested approach of controlling multiple characters (Blackwell, I'm looking at you). Moreover, they give a fair amount of replayability to the game. Yes, it is true that the game is kind of short. But I don't think that takes away from the game. It's better to have a short and tight game, rather than one padded with extra puzzles, just to extend the gameplay time. Having said that, try to buy the game on a discount, so you won't feel cheated in the end :).

Fantastic game, and incredible representative of its genre. It has a solid story, and tastefully challenging puzzles. Some might consider it short (I finished it start to finish in about two evenings) but I feel like it told the story it needed to and didn't overstay its welcome at all. Throw in three distinct play styles with different results, and it has plenty of replay value. All in all, well worth the money if you're even mildly interested in this style.

This is a point-and-click adventure game that hits all the right notes. It's got that refined, but old school look, good clean puzzles (no moon logic), solid writing, compelling voice acting, some modern mechanics that vary up the game, and multiple endings. It's not a terribly long game, I think it took me about 10 hours or so, but that can be a good thing. Especially with replay to get different achievements or endings. Only one or two puzzles gave me issues, but I pushed through them after a bit. I liked the plot and the world and would love to see a sequel or different story set in the same setting. Overall I'd say this is a good, solid addition to any point-and-click fan's collection.

Let's start with the pros: - The story is interesting and well written. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, where you're a special agent that has to solve several crimes while dealing with her own personal ghosts. - The dialogs are quite reach (of Wadjet Eye quality) and the system of having a notebook from where to pick topics during the interrogations works quite well. - The idea of having three paths to choose from is really cool. As a special agent, you have some special abilities and you can develop new ones, according to the path you're choosing, that will affect the course of the game. Now, time for the cons: - The pixelart, although of nice quality, looks uninspired. I mean, it's too good to remind the '90s, which kind of defeat the purpose of the pixelart itself. They could have just used modern graphics. - The gameplay is quite linear: you will face only a puzzle at a time. Your character will often refuse to visit a location or interact with some object until you until you performe a given action. One would think this would ease the difficulty, but in reality it makes the game even more frustrating. Each time you get stuck in a puzzle, there isn't much else you can do until you solve it, so you'll often find yourself tediously wandering around without a real purpose. - The idea of the special abilities, although cool, isn't as relevant as one would expect. It only changes the way you're supposed to solve some puzzle a couple of times, that's it. It doesn't really alter the course of the story in any way. - The game itself is quite short. I've finished it in a couple of days and I have to say I'm unimpressed by the overall experience. All considered, it's a decent game. Nonetheless, I wouldn't recommend it if you're not a fan of point-and-click adventures.