Trüberbrook

The graphic style of the game is wonderful, but during playing the game I got the strong feeling that the game had a lot more potential than it actually used. I don't mind that there are just a few scenes/screens, but the story was not profound. You wanted to like the characters, but there was not much emotion coming from them. The puzzles were way to easy; often I felt like I already carrying around the solution to a puzzle I don't know yet. Then you finally got the puzzle by talking to someone and it was solved immediately. It was less like an adventure and more like an interactive story. The german dubbing actor Nora Tschirner did a good job in the German version. I would have expected an English voice actor for Tannhauser in the German version, but the way he actually sounded did not reference to the US in any way. In the English version the residents of Trüberbrook at least have a German accent. And what did it actually has to do with Germany in the 1960s during cold war? This aspect was teasered in the trailers, but it was not important at all for the story. It also could have been settled in any other western country +- 15 years. Long story short: Nice graphic, big potential, but I expected more.

When I saw the hand-made scenes on the GOG store page, I was sold. I love the feel of such scenes and the unique impression they leave. Except, the game's looks fall short of the previews. It lacks plasticity, depth, the whole thing doesn't come together well. Even on the artistic side the game looks gloomy and uninteresting. Some of the dramatic lighting from the preview images seemed to imply some haunted or horror tone, but the effect is never put to good use. Scenes don't even agree on a common day time. The biggest flaw may be the interface. Changing scenes requires extra clicks, no double-clicking to get a quick description, fast-walking is ... not all that faster. Since one traverses the same lengthy scenes over and over again that becomes dreadfully noticable! Interaction with the inventory is impossible, the game shows you which item to use where and even makes the combinations for you. So, inventory puzzles, a staple of the genre, are completely impossible which might be for the best since most combinations you end up with are ... barely logical. In the end you end up just the same - traveling to every location trying everything. Fast-travel is introduced only late mid game and then quite useless and doesn't save much. The game insists on dropping you at the far end of locations - tedious... One of the biggest flaws is that most characters remain underdeveloped, spew pseudo-occult babble, and have almost no impact on the game. They're either there to present a short puzzle or spew exposition and give items. They are quirky for sure, but not even the antagonist has a convincing or any character arc. Villaneous laughter must be enough to establish a role reversal - 50s B movie material. Which is also what the story is: a 50s B movie. The setting doesn't matter much. It's not even very nostalgic in the end. And the music in the middle... made me wish I could cut the scene somehow. A few interesting set pieces, but it doesn't add up. Wish it was better!

I can't say I'm a fan of classic adventure games or point-and-click games in general and I usually look past them, but as soon as I saw the visuals, I was on board with this game. And I must say - they are incredible, with lots of detail, which is even more impressive when you consider that they are all hand made, and the intro sequence is just stunning. I also really enjoyed the mine cart sequence. The music is amazing too, with soft jazz tunes perfectly fitting the atmosphere. However, everything else is pretty disappointing, especially the narrative. The beginning is the strongest part that does its job and gets you hooked, but as soon as you reach the “turning point” in scenario so to say, the game crumbles, with narrative failing to create any tension leading to finale, and puzzles becoming more annoying than interesting with lots of running around required in order to complete them. The absolutely anti-climactic final sequence only adds to the disappointment as it fails in almost all aspects, and the ending itself leaves many questions unanswered. As of puzzles, I have a huge problem with them – they don’t fit in. Backgrounds in the game are handmade and realistic looking, even though they are miniature, but puzzles and solutions are presented in a more over the top way (where the solution or the actions are not logical or safe, but still somehow work), and those two just don’t blend and it disturbed me throughout the whole experience. Review lenght won't allow me to go into details, sadly. Also - game is half as long as advertised on the storefront, I finished it in 5 hours, so be wary of that. Overall I’d say I had an average experience with the game, even considering amazing work done on visuals and music, everything else drags it down, until it falls apart in the end. If you are considering getting this game – I’d suggest waiting for a discount, as I feel the game isn’t worth the price.

The appeal of this game for me has always been the beautiful art work, and the game delivers on that in spades. Each scene is meticulously crafted and sets a perfect tone for the atmosphere of each location. I'm getting some kind of Wes Anderson animation vibe from it, which I love. Unfortunately the story isn't very exciting. And that could have been overlooked if the characters were interesting, but that's also not really the case. Bland is what I would call it, which is a shame because the visuals are anything but. Voice-over work was pretty good (I played it with the English dialog) but the characters themselves as well as the actual dialog options could have been fleshed out a lot more. There are also some gameplay annoyances. The introduction part with the bus that comes after the gas station bugged out for me. I could only Cancel it but now I missed part of the game and of the beautiful graphics. You can't use the keyboard to select dialog choices, not with the arrow keys or by pressing 1-4. You can't pause a "cutscene". So when a character goes into a long speech you have to either sit it out or walk away and miss part of the speech. When you do the voice-record log option on something that you already voice-recorded, it will replay that take without giving you the choice if you want to, thus forcing you to wait for it to finish. The space-bar shows each intractable object in the scene, which is nice, but it doesn't show you which objects you've already interacted with. Nitpicking maybe, but if annoyances with the user interface take attention aways from the gameplay experience, that's not a good thing. In all, I would say this game is very much worth playing, but not for the current price. I think €15 would have been a better price.