Posted on: November 4, 2021
curlymcdom
Possesseur vérifiéJeux: 144 Avis: 5
Two games at war with each other
The score reflects the ultimate user experience, though there are really two games here: your initial intrigue as it unravels itself from nothing, followed by a masochistic grind that sabotages any lingering goodwill. As an opening the first game is fantastic. Fundamentally it’s an idle clicker game with multiple timers. You feed each timer with slowly materialising cards, so your “work” timer might consume your “passion”, eventually spawning money. You are presented with very little initially, and the story mostly plays out in your imagination through colourful card prompts. The flexibility of the system works brilliantly- many cards have multiple applications, and once “dreaming” is unlocked they can be used in creative metaphorical ways. “Dreaming” of “health” or “studying” “vitality” for instance. Slowly you acquire occult knowledge and magics, and your side-job of founding a mystical society can begin. This curiosity is then dramatically undercut by the second game, the Grind. You need money and followers to explore and expand, which you can barely keep supplied by repeating your in-game job. However you are constantly being thrown arbitrary obstacles. Suddenly a countdown of “dread” is ticking that kills you unless fleeting, difficult to acquire cards are fed to it. A timer literally called “time passes” consumes your funds lest it punishes you with hunger and death. However it randomly causes you injuries even if well-stocked, costing you more funds (or death). These artificial stumbling blocks, some completely unprovoked (expeditions need a random amount of funds, sometimes seemingly infinite), eat up your resources and crush any sense of progress. It’s a downward spiral that feels completely unwarranted. Truly it is INFURIATING game design, more infuriating as it sabotages the first game, the one with the fun sense of wonder. Because the second game is actively obnoxious to the point that I don’t want to play further.
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