I like the visual style, but the rest of the game is nothing to write home about. UI, inventory, quest tracking, story, combat, ... all just aren't very good.
I like the visual style of the game, and the plot is interesting as well. However, unfortunately the writers aren't as clever as they obviously think they are. A lot of the humor just doesn't land and the characters start rambling way too often. Also, there are too many cutscene-like sections where the story just advances itself. Overall it's not a terrible game, but could've been a lot better. If you want to give it a try, at least wait for a discount.
Pretty good game, except for the final task. It's understandable that the devs wanted to create a sense of urgency and pressure for the finale, but this was not a good way to go about it when the rest of the game has you take your time while sneaking around. IMO, YMMV. Other than that it was a really enjoyable experience. The characters turned out to be more interesting than they let on at first. The location is well-designed with all its nooks and crannies, shortcuts and secret passageways. And while the game has a lot of fetch quests and backtracking, it's not really an annoyance here, but rather helps you familiarize yourself with the location.
Overall I enjoyed the game. The story is interesting, the visuals are nice, the eerie atmosphere is appropriate, and the puzzles are good. The game does have several shortcomings, though. For one, combat is bad (aiming isn't good, movement is *way* too stiff, and dodging is terrible). Also, while it *can* be appropriate to tell a story through audio logs (in this case cassette tapes), it doesn't work all the time. Here, some tapes work just fine (e.g. the ones you find in the basement of your house) whereas others (like the ones Elise leaves for herself with summaries of what she read the night before) do not make any sense. And the ending was weak. I played in shoulder camera view, because the "cinematic" camera angles serve only one purpose: disorient the player and make moving around as annoying as possible. IMO whenever a game uses this kind of camera angles it's a red flag that the director actually wanted to make a movie rather than a video game.
An open world adventure set in rural Bavaria in the late 19th century. UI (inventory, quest tracking, reference, ...) as well as the controls in the game work well, even though the inventory gets a bit cluttered over time. Graphics-wise the developers seem to have gone for that faded look you see in colorized black-and-white photographs, which IMHO works quite well for this game, and made me forgive other graphics flaws. Leveling up the main character happens in small but frequent increments, so I felt like I was being rewarded constantly. Quests were spread out nicely (not dumped on you in bulk, which is something I disliked in for instance "Witcher 3" and "Cyberpunk 2077"). I felt like I had something useful to do throughout my entire playthrough without being overwhelmed. The story and how it was embedded in the historical context also was quite engaging. Combat, stealth, and crafting mechanics are only basic, but work well enough for what they are and what you need them for in the game. There are a couple things I didn't like, though. For one thing, I hate how dialogue sequences can't be aborted. It's quite annoying if you made a mistake early in the dialogue and want to reload, but are forced to complete the entire conversation before you can do so. The final showdown felt like it was supposed to be more action-oriented than the dialog/dice-based approach allowed for. And the bandits were little more than window-dressing rather than actual characters in the game. Still, all in all a good game despite being a little rough around the edges. Recommended particularly if you are able to play it in German.
Despite its age this game still holds up to this day. Characters and story are fun. The gameplay is a mix of "GTA" or "Mafia" and "Assassin's Creed." Gunplay and stealth have some room for improvement, but still get a passing grade. Being able to customize your vehicles would've been nice, but likely wouldn't be period-accurate. Fast travel (at least between hideouts) would've been nice too. The worst part of this game is probably the checkpoint-based save system that stores the last completed mission. And the (thankfully rare) open battles where you have to protect an NPC. Because these dimwits don't know how to NOT STAND OUT IN THE F*CKING OPEN. I wouldn't agree that some of the missions are too hard (at least on normal difficulty), but sometimes the game is not very clear about how it wants you to tackle a particular mission. Like the attack on Doppelsieg for instance. I kept dying over and over there until I realized that I should just drive past the Nazi forces and avoid combat entirely until I'm inside the compound. Definitely recommended. Now I only wish someone would make something like this as a proper open world RPG.
Solid game and for the most part far more enjoyable than "The London Case" due to a greater variety of puzzles and minigames. The 3rd person view also works way better than the isometric perspective in the other game, although the character models and animation leave something to be desired at times. But that's not something that bothers me too much in a game like this. The storytelling isn't anywhere near the classic 1974 movie, but that wasn't my expectation anyway, so I would've been fine with it (even with moving the story to modern day), IF the writers hadn't decided they can do better than Agatha Christie and changed the ending. WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW! Yes, after reaching the original ending, somehow an additional knife wound is discovered, revealing that Cassetti had already been stabbed to death when the tribunal took place. While none of the people present (among them one former police officer and two former soldiers) noticed anything. If you want to do an original story: do an original story. Do not bastardize one of the most iconic murder mysteries of all times. I'd given the game 4 stars if it weren't for this.
The controls and "cinematic" camera angles are less terrible than they were in "The Sleeping Dragon," and the crate puzzles are mostly gone. However, they also removed the hotspot highlights, so now we're relegated to pixel hunting. Yay. And the locations are still too large, which only serves as padding to make the game longer than it has a right to be. Story and characters are mostly okay, except for some ridiculous plot twists (the one they ripped straight out of "Hudson Hawk" isn't even the worst of them). And the ending was really weak. Definitely wait for a discount.
Story and characters are quite good, and the same goes for the dialog system. Gunplay and melee combat are okay-ish, but could've been a lot better. Stealth kinda works (except when enemies can see you through walls), but the maps aren't really designed with stealth in mind. Even the original "Deus Ex" (a game released 10 years prior) was way better in this respect. And then we have the timers. Not just the hacking and lockpicking minigames are infested with timers, but the dialog is as well. While I would agree that from a narrative perspective it does make sense to have a time limit on some dialogue that doesn't mean every line of dialogue has to be selected on a timer. Not to mention that the timers tend to be rather short (ridiculously so for the hacking minigame). This is compounded by the save system, which is checkpoint-based, meaning if something (like, say, a hacking minigame) goes wrong you'll have to start over from the last checkpoint instead of just re-doing the minigame (or dialogue for that matter). I wish Obsidian would do a remaster or remake with better graphics, better combat, a proper save system and significantly less timers.
The story was so-so. The memberberries were appreciated, but didn't do much to distract from weird plot choices, like bringing the legend of King Arthur into a story centered around the Knights Templar. The voice acting ranged from pretty good (George and Nico) to downright awful (Vernon's girlfriend). The worst thing about this game, however is the gameplay. I can understand the desire to add a little *Tomb Raider* flavor to a *Broken Sword* game, and if done properly it absolutely could have worked. *IF* done properly. Which it wasn't. The platforming wasn't fluid enough. The crate puzzles were tedious and boring. And the "cinematic" camera angles have been a bad idea ever since *Alone in the Dark* first tried them back in 1992. Places are too big, which would only make sense if you had several routes for dealing with a problem (like busting in through the front doors vs smooth-talking a bouncer vs sneaking in via the roof or a cellar). When there's only one correct approach, extensive locations just amount to a waste of your time. Sneaking mechanics lack indication of your level of exposure. QTEs have too short reaction windows and their cues aren't noticable enough. Dialogue and cutscenes aren't skippable. Not recommended.
