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Voices in the mist, secrets among the rocks.

Montague's Mount, a chilling trip to a dark Irish coastal island in search of your memories, sanity, and meaning, is available for Windows and Mac OS X on GOG.com, for only $9.99.

The mixture of cold Atlantic water and coarse sand in your mouth brings you back from unconsciousness. The wreckage of a boat’s hull that surrounds you, leads you to a solitary assumption; your vessel has been torn apart by the submerged rocks. The secrets of the island must be uncovered if you are ever going to find a way off. Where is everyone; is the island really uninhabited; what is lurking within the isolated caves; and what is that building on top of Montague’s Mount?

Montague's Mount is an atmospheric first-person perspective horror game, that draws its thrills not from cheap tricks but ambiance and narrative. If you played Dear Esther and thought it could use a story and some more interactivity, here's what you bargained for. The game presents an intriguing and haunting narrative through the protagonist's comments (voiced by Derek Riddell), notes, and pieces of text. It's worth noting, that Montague's Mount might be the first game to extensively use the Gaeilge language, native to Ireland. With lots of intriguing puzzles, immersive gameplay, and chilling atmosphere, this title is a must have for all mystery and horror fans.

Do you think you can face the mysterious island's madness and terror without losing your own sanity? We dare you to explore Montague's Mount, for only $9.99 on GOG.com.
I agree, in a former post, GOG said it was a complete game and that the episodic format was dropped. Now I cannot trust GOG games again when it comes to the possibility of episodic games.
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Cormoran: To be honest without this being mentioned (there's no mention of this on MM's GOG page as there's no mention of the same for the fall on the ios app store) I find it quite disingenuous of whoever is in charge of telling us this. If it's episodic then we should know, if it's unfinished then we should know.
GOG apparently was under the impression that the game's previously planned episodic structure had been dropped, and the game would be complete. However, after playing it, it looks like the only thing that was dropped was the "Episode 1" in the title. I have listed the "evidence" in a post in the pre-release thread, if you're interested in the details. It's reasonably spoiler-free I think, but don't read it if you currently enjoy the uncertainty.

I think episodic content or even cliffhangers aren't always bad, but I agree that customer should be told about such things beforehand, especially if a game provides so little in terms of closure.
Post edited October 10, 2013 by Psyringe
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Cormoran: To be honest without this being mentioned (there's no mention of this on MM's GOG page as there's no mention of the same for the fall on the ios app store) I find it quite disingenuous of whoever is in charge of telling us this. If it's episodic then we should know, if it's unfinished then we should know.
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Psyringe: GOG apparently was under the impression that the game's previously planned episodic structure had been dropped, and the game would be complete. However, after playing it, it looks like the only thing that was dropped was the "Episode 1" in the title. I have listed the "evidence" in a post in the pre-release thread, if you're interested in the details. It's reasonably spoiler-free I think, but don't read it if you currently enjoy the uncertainty.

I think episodic content or even cliffhangers aren't always bad, but I agree that customer should be told about such things beforehand, especially if a game provides so little in terms of closure.
Yeah, I read that after I posted hehe. I certainly don't blame GOG for the situation, they were told it was a full game and I really don't expect them to play through every game before they sell it (I wouldn't expect this of any retailer) I figure the people at GOG were deceived just as I was.
How is it given the title of the game no one has made any porno jokes yet?
If GOG is seriously selling a single episode of a series as a whole game, they badly need to rectify this situation; when I said that I didn't mind them selling episodic games, the situation I had in mind was not "pay ten dollars for an interesting looking horror game ha ha tricked you buy episode 2 when it comes out!"

I like GOG, and am perfectly willing to believe that this is an honest mistake, although you do claim to fully play-test all your games before you release them, which must not be true for this to have happened. But if they continue to knowingly misrepresent this game on its gamecard ... well, I'll like them a lot less then I do now.
Post edited October 11, 2013 by BadDecissions
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tinyE: How is it given the title of the game no one has made any porno jokes yet?
Because they're leaving the job to you ;)
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BadDecissions: If GOG is seriously selling a single episode of a series as a whole game, they badly need to rectify this situation; when I said that I didn't mind them selling episodic games, the situation I had in mind was not "pay ten dollars for an interesting looking horror game ha ha tricked you buy episode 2 when it comes out!"

I like GOG, and am perfectly willing to believe that this is an honest mistake, although you do claim to fully play-test all your games before you release them, which must not be true for this to have happened. But if they continue to knowingly misrepresent this game on its gamecard ... well, I'll like them a lot less then I do now.
I've found this post on the Greenlight forum from one of the devs (after a customer complained about the lack of ending):
"Hi miraQix,

Our apologies you feel like you haven't had a good experience with the game, we would like to take the chance to explain the end.

Montague's Mount was always conceived as an episodic indie series. We have combined those episodes into Montague's Mount as it is today. We potentially have more story to tell, but we don't know whether Montague's Mount will be a success and if people will want to know more. We have tried to leave it on a cliffhanger and stir up some interest in a further game; we are waiting to see what the response will be.

Kind regards,

Mastertronic / PolyPusher"

Because of this, I believe the good people at our favorite online games depo were duped as well. It certainly seems like they were led to believe that this was the full game ("full" meaning, "it was three parts, and now it's one"). And the fact that they actually combined three planned episodes into one and it's still only a five hour game is just ludicrous. I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger on this one, but I'm sorry that others have.

I do give them credit for publicly acknowledging customers' concerns, though.

(The post can be seen at http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/146521424/792923683675464016/ )

EDIT to add: The more I think about this dev's reply, though, the angrier I get. "We potentially have more story to tell, but we don't know whether Montague's Mount will be a success and if people will want to know more." This isn't the genre to try a partial game on. So, what, if enough copies don't sell, then nobody gets the answers to the questions the game itself posits? That's just a slap in the face of your potential customers. I get it if your game is a shmup or something without a plot...wait, actually, no I don't. Finish your game before trying to make a profit! After seeing this unfold, and after my own experiences with the Cognition series, I'm definitely put off of ever buying episodic games again.
Post edited October 12, 2013 by SpiderFighter
If they want to do the right thing, perhaps they'll offer a discount when/if a followup game is made. In any case, the game looks promising as-is.
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CymTyr: If they want to do the right thing, perhaps they'll offer a discount when/if a followup game is made. In any case, the game looks promising as-is.
Well ... the project failed two crowdfunding campaigns. It raised 1,000$ of an (already low) 15,000$ goal on Indiegogo, and then raised 100$ out of a 4,000$ goal on FundIt. Meaning: Despite very low goals, neither campaign even reached 7% funding. Production of new content seems rather slow - the dev (it's a one-person project) decribed episode 1 as "75% finished" when he started the Indiegogo campaign in September 2012. The project will probably gather some positive publicity from players who enjoy the atmosphere, but also a good deal of backlash due to the terrible cliffhanger. I vividly remember how badly Black Mirror 2 was smashed for ending with a cliffhanger - and that game even _did_ have a complete story, which received closure before the cliffhanger was added. In Montague's Mount, the story receives now closure whatsoever. The game raises some interesting questions, then sticks its tongue out at you and tells you that you need to buy an unreleased sequel if you want any answers.

Given that situation, I am very skeptical whether the sequel will ever actually materialize.
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CymTyr: If they want to do the right thing, perhaps they'll offer a discount when/if a followup game is made. In any case, the game looks promising as-is.
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Psyringe: Well ... the project failed two crowdfunding campaigns. It raised 1,000$ of an (already low) 15,000$ goal on Indiegogo, and then raised 100$ out of a 4,000$ goal on FundIt. Meaning: Despite very low goals, neither campaign even reached 7% funding. Production of new content seems rather slow - the dev (it's a one-person project) decribed episode 1 as "75% finished" when he started the Indiegogo campaign in September 2012. The project will probably gather some positive publicity from players who enjoy the atmosphere, but also a good deal of backlash due to the terrible cliffhanger. I vividly remember how badly Black Mirror 2 was smashed for ending with a cliffhanger - and that game even _did_ have a complete story, which received closure before the cliffhanger was added. In Montague's Mount, the story receives now closure whatsoever. The game raises some interesting questions, then sticks its tongue out at you and tells you that you need to buy an unreleased sequel if you want any answers.

Given that situation, I am very skeptical whether the sequel will ever actually materialize.
Hmm. Did not know that.
The developer has responded to my mini-review on Greenlight, and has also introduced himself on GOG. He clarifies that the game has been split in two parts, of which the currently released product is the first. The product description will be fixed to reflect the actual product better. It seems that the somewhat silly stance of "This is a complete product containing all previously planned episodes" has been dropped, which makes me hopeful that an honest effort will be made to fix this.
Post edited October 12, 2013 by Psyringe
I really don't appreciate the somewhat casual reaction of the dev given how more things now suggest that he (most likely consciously) concealed the episodic nature and unfinished state of the game.
We appreciate the feedback, and we are going to work to update store pages to make this clearer to people.
Clearer? "Clearer" requires something to be mentioned in the first place and in a way that might cause uncertainty.

@Psyringe
Curious to see what (and if) he'll reply to your question on Steam.
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HypersomniacLive: I really don't appreciate the somewhat casual reaction of the dev given how more things now suggest that he (most likely consciously) concealed the episodic nature and unfinished state of the game.

We appreciate the feedback, and we are going to work to update store pages to make this clearer to people.
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HypersomniacLive: Clearer? "Clearer" requires something to be mentioned in the first place and in a way that might cause uncertainty.

@Psyringe
Curious to see what (and if) he'll reply to your question on Steam.
Sorry - I linked the wrong thread. The thread I had linked to contained a post of "mtxsm". That is not the developer of "Montague's Mount". Supposedly he's representing the publisher, but I can't really tell. I agree that that reply left much to be desired - it doesn't really sound as if this person would take the concerns seriously, it looks to me like somewhat misguided attempt of damage control while still upholding claims that just don't mesh with the facts.

I have now edited my post and linked to the thread where the _actual_ dev answered. It makes me hopeful because his account meshes better with the known facts.
Post edited October 12, 2013 by Psyringe
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Psyringe: Sorry - I linked the wrong thread. The thread I had linked to contained a post of "mtxsm". That is not the developer of "Montague's Mount". Supposedly he's representing the publisher, but I can't really tell. I agree that that reply left much to be desired - it doesn't really sound as if this person would take the concerns seriously, it looks to me like somewhat misguided attempt of damage control while still upholding claims that just don't mesh with the facts.

I have now edited my post and linked to the thread where the _actual_ dev answered.
No worries, I've read all the latest, both here and on Steam in the meantime - it looks like I need to rephrase my previous post and replace "dev" with "publisher".

Given how the two responses are of different tone, I'm afraid that Montague's Mount is going to have a bumpy trip - as a new indie developer, Mat has little negotiation power and his publisher comes across as quite callus which is quite unfortunate for both him and us.