Halfway through the game and I am deeply impressed by the use of contemporary issues to tell a story of alienation, rage, and creeping despair. Using Harano (the paralysing sense of being unable to fight insurmountable issues) as a core mechanic pulls in the tabletop systems effectively while tying in the core theme of the story. It's a balancing act of being a creature of violence and rage fighting a system of laws, contracts, and bureaucracy and realising you're not the right tool for the job. I disagree with another reviewer who thinks the World of Darkness isn't about modern politics or personal identity. The entire theme of WoD is the darkness affecting and caused by humanity, and refugees, oppressed minorities, and corrupt politics and business are all a key part of that. Werewolf has always been a game of spiritual environmentalist monsters fighting against the selfishness and violence built into modern life. Werewolf problems are companies destroying the earth, monsters feeding on human bigotry, and the feeling of the world dying around us. The game isn't subtle, but werewolves rarely are. What it does do is use contemporary experiences, leaning on the terror and hope of people fleeing violence and oppression, and then trying to establish themselves in a new place. All of that complicated by being part of an isolated community of monsters. It's not a perfect game, but it's one of the better visual novels I've played, and one of the best WoD adaptations to capture the feeling of the world.
SoNY was my first introduction to the Lasombra beyond a brief glance at the source book. I expected lots of brooding, moping, and maybe a good whodunnit mystery. I didn't expect lots of deep choices and branching stories. I played Coteries, and that's not how these developers, with this medium, do things. What I got was an interesting little short fiction that built on the characters we met in Coteries, and used them to examine how far we are prepared to compromise how we see ourselves in order to become something more. The novel didn't (visibly) record the usual RPG stats. Instead, at make-or-break moments, I made decisions that set Julia's personality, sometimes not how I intended but in a way that worked for her. So as a game, this isn't VTM: Bloodlines. I didn't manifest my own character and run through the city. I got a good little novel where I helped define a conflicted character's personality, and saw where that led her. I literally shouted "What?" at some of her final decisions, because they weren't mine. But they were the decisions that could make sense for her. And that's why I'm rating it so highly. I went in expecting a whodunnit, and maybe some more developed mechanics from Coteries. I got a damn good story that used the VTM lens to examine contemporary social issues, and more than a passing mention of the Covid pandemic and the pressure on people. I got a discussion of people feeling powerless and seeing how far they'll go when they have an opportunity to change that. This isn't Bloodlines, it's definitely not Bloodlines 2. You're not running around the playground pretending to be your fantasy creature of the night. You're getting a damned interesting story. Not high literature, but enough to make you think, which can be good after 7 months of plague and lockdown. Worth the price of a few beers, for sure. Oh, and if you want to play the RPG, but don't have a coterie of your own, this and Coteries did help take the edge off, at least for me.
WoaM is an excellent point and click adventure, with a phenomenal setting. The characters are well-developed, and Vera is a compelling protagonist. I enjoyed the investigation, deducing who had acted and for what motive. What I was not prepared for was the reward of additional skills suited to my playstyle. My only objection, like Kathy Rain before, is the brevity of the game. I wanted to explore the world more, understand how we reached the current state of affairs, and get to know the characters in more depth. But I cannot count my desire to have MORE of the game as a negative. I can't wait for the next game, and am sad to have to wait for another few years.
Lamplight City was a great game; the only flaw narratively is the brevity. I appreciated that the initial cases show the world and the characters. It simply felt to me like the final act was rushed but without a real reason for time pressure in-story. Mechanically, I found it an interesting idea to have inventory-free puzzles. The fact that you sometimes have to pick up items in order for Fordham to work out how to use them, however, just removes the annoying inventory shuffle from the equation, while still requiring you to find specific solutions. Without spoiling, the quest to find a cup in New Bretagne drove me half-mad. The atmosphere is what gripped me the most. The pseudo-Victorian/Cajun vibe was charming, with a clear inspiration from Gabriel Knight and Sherlock Holmes. The main characters all had excellent voice actors, though some of the extras sounded a little forced. The soundtrack was particularly interesting, always seeming quite upbeat for a murder mystery. The negatives of the game are mostly mechanical and have more to do with the genre than the game on it's own. Until someone can work out a solution to the inventory shuffle that isn't stripping out puzzles, all adventure games will have to work with it. Additionally, the single path to truth occasionally had the usual moon-logic leaps of coincidence and luck leading Fordham to his conclusions. Without going into spoilers, the dynamic of the two male and two female leads is excellent. Their interplay is believable, and the relationships feel relatively nuanced. Combined with the gripping world, I was devastated to finish the game so abruptly. I can only hope for a sequel giving us more time to explore the City of Air and Light beyond it's barest port. My only real objection is that we heard so many wonders of this world but encountered so few. The lack of an airship scene in particular... It would have been great hearing Bill's thoughts on flying on an explosive balloon.
