Was enjoying it enough until it got to an unplayable stealth section.
This game for me is like TTP 1 but more. The same strengths with more, the same problems but more. Overall this is a good and unique game and that people should play it. It's gorgeous, thoughtful, mysterious, and fun. The things I don't like are numerous but don't outweigh the games good points. The problems: 1. Performance: Really poorly optimised. Compared to TTP1, effort was put into making stunning environments, but its really hard to be wowed by flowers if they don't pop into existence until you are on top of them. The final section was particularly slow to load and really took the wind out of the climactic feeling that bit should elicit. 2. Some puzzles suck: Most puzzles in this game are fun with elegant solutions, but there are many that aren't. Like TTP1, some puzzles require you to place things in pixel-perfect areas that make it seem like you aren't doing it correctly until it ends up working. Some puzzles break rules (Gravity devices being pulled by their own field, or the puzzle where you solve it by having a driller go through its own hole despite being explicitly told that they can't). The star puzzles require you to see items that are so far away that you barely can. Not a clever heat puzzle, just tedious pixel hunting. 3. Design: TTP1 is a simulation, but this one isn't. The same limitations shouldn't apply. Why can't I jump and grab? Or climb? Or any of the ways anyone would solve these puzzles? The fast-travel system is pointless. 4. Writing: The philisophical side of TTP1 served a better purpose. It was about the actualisation of the humanity. In this game it seems pointless because there is a concrete story with concrete answers. There is a moral dilemma at the heart of this game that seems pointless to me (can humans handle absolute power) because the characters presented are all broadly good people. None of the characters in this game demonstrate any intentional cruelty or greed, so there's no real question to ponder for me.
The plot and the world are really engaging. Unfortunately the gameplay is so slow, full of backtracking, invisible doors, and possibility to softlock yourself.
A lot of thought and time clearly went into this. But some puzzles just require a lot of tedious trial and error.
good game
