'Whispers of a machine' is a point-and-click game with an RPG-ish twist. As you progress through the game, the protagonist Vera develops a personality based on your choices in dialogue and gameplay, and that personality affects what special abilities she gains. The story masterfully mixes a dry Nordic detective and personal drama of the main hero. Set in post-apocalyptic future where computer technology is shunned it poses questions about current state of our world. There are a few twists along the way, some more obvious to me than others. Same can be said about gameplay and puzzles -- enjoyable, straight-faced with little to no moon logic. In my playthrough I was only stumped a few times, mostly because of object-hunting. I enjoyed the game's responses to 'almost right' solutions -- they are commended and more information is given to push the player in the right direction. The personality mechanic does not change a classic point-and-click gameplay much, and at times seems like a Buzzfeed test with clear outcome for your input, but it is still a nice innovation. Characters react differently to different personalities, and as the game progresses, puzzles have very different solutions for each personality. One other thing that I felt strongly about the game is that it is touching on many hot topics of today. It features comments on environment, equality, religion, etc. The game is unashamedly progressive in its views, so that might ruffle some feathers. What bugged me is that even as I agree on many things said it still feels both shallow and heavy-handed at times. The comments are given once and not really explored any further. And that, in fact, is what I felt as I watched the end credits. 'Whispers of a machine' does a lot of things right, and touches on many fascinating topics, but it left me wanting a deeper dive into most of them. It is still a solid adventure game that I would recommend playing through. After all, it is quite short, too. 4.5/5
Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a great throwback to good ol' times of Infinity Engine games. It is powered by Pathfinder tabletop RPG ruleset, faithfully adapted for this game. The system is full of crunchy complexity -- in my opinion, this is great, but beware of character sheets full of obscure statistics. If you never played Pathfinder or D&D 3.5 (or any game based on latter, like Neverwinter Nights 2), expect a steep learning curve. There are two modes of play -- real-time with pause and turn-based. So Kingmaker can be both Baldur's Gate and Temple of Elemental Evil. Now, don't get me wrong. The game plays great both ways, but I would still prefer BG and Pillars of Eternity for RTWP experience. But Turn Based mode makes this game an absolute blast to play. This is what Pathfinder was designed for, after all. And, well, good turn-based RPGs are few and far between. This is definitely one of them.
