Poorly written with a lackluster story. It doesn't feel like a Wadjet Eye game. Usually I really like their titles. It felt like this was written in a hurry and that the story and world was just made up on the fly. It rarely feels more than slightly thought through. Most of the puzzles boils down to "go there and talk to that person, then go back there and talk to that person, then tell that person what this person said or did" into oblivion. Like a constant barrage of dialogue fetch quests. Most of the remaining puzzles are trial and errors, where you replay the same scene over and over until some condition has been met. I've never been a fan of these trial and error puzzles but at least most games that use them don't over rely on them as much as this. Modern political sentiments galore, for anyone who is tired of that. Good music and overall fluent gameplay but in the end a point and click game depends too much on the story, writing and puzzles for that to matter much.
I'm a big fan of short narrative games that puts a lot of attention to detail and feels a bit like playing an interactive movie. This is one of the best of these types of games I've found. Has a hand crafted feel throughout, from start to finish. Beautiful environments, otherworldly atmosphere and overall both varied enough to never not feel fresh and consistent enough to make progress feel natural and well paced. There were a few things I did not enjoy - most of all how they released such a terrible 3 minutes long pointless DLC when the first game's DLC was 2 hours or so in length and added a lot to the world and story. Felt like a cash grab. Combat mechanics were a bit under cooked as well and could probably just as well have been skipped or trimmed down. Overall a 5/5 or 9/10 - amazing game.
Very story heavy. At times more of a walking simulator than a platformer. It's split up into many small sections that vary back and forth in how they focus on one thing or another and it remains varied throughout. No particular section overstays its welcome. Well told story, very well crafted narrative. Negatives: sometimes too heavy on the exposition, a bit clunky, annoying system with the collectibles. Overall a nice and kind of unique mix of elements. Feels fresh and different.
Overall, a very positive experience! Good music, great design, interesting little characters to eavesdrop on, varied and original environments, a story that unfolds kind of naturally. I liked how different parts of the casino were made into subsections you could choose to spawn into at reset. Negatives: very little secret content - like finding out that this guy is doing something unusual at a specific time. I think the setting gives plenty of chances for witnessing small interactions that you don't really need in order to solve puzzles etc. Most or almost all of the events will pop up during a normal first playthrough. Most puzzles are very compartmentalized into one isolated part of the casino. It would be nice if the different puzzles were not so isolated. But it would make it a lot more troublesome to solve, perhaps even frustrating. A lot more difficult to design as well. Overall, great game.
Surprisingly difficult point and click. Not because of "puzzles" in the traditional sense, but because the whole gameplay loop is a kind of unforgiving puzzle in which you have to manage your many and very limited resources (time, money, energy, body heat, hunger etc) and try to maintain buffers for whatever the game will suddenly throw at you to get you off balance. Many of the core gameplay features are rather tedious and dull, like searching through the library or archives using an old fashioned index system and then search through the library or archive to find the exact book or item you are looking for. At first I didn't enjoy it but somehow it grew on me. Kind of stressful and difficult game and I can see why some people will noy enjoy it. It is a bit unforgiving and if you don't act upon an issue before it becomes too big for you to act upon, you'll very quickly end up in a loop where you get less energy which means poorer school results which means worse mental health and less money, which in turn will risk spiraling your trajectory out of control. I recommend it exactly for this reason. Its a tense and i.m.o very immersive game with a good story, great puzzles and setting, high stakes and a loot of room for approaching problems in many different ways. I would definitely give it a try but would recommend approaching the game itself as a kind of higher level puzzle and don't expect "mix this item with this and use it on that"-puzzles, like in traditional point and click-games. A very refreshing approach to the genre.
Many flaws but in the end they are all quite small. As long as you accept that at times you will struggle quite a bit, it'll be fine.
Feels like a gamejam title someone put a bit of extra effort into. I would ignore any 5-star reviews coming from users with 0 owned games and no activity. A too common sight on small just released indie titles.
