I loved the unusual grafic style, the witty and funny dialogs, the characters, the story, everything. The developers really created something different from the standard pulp. I had no expectations and was enjoying the wholesome and entertaining experience from start to finish. Btw. I didn't encounter any bugs in my play through. Very highly recommended!
The game is a text-heavy Roleplay-Game with many different choices. It swims in the wake of games like Planescape Torment or Disco Elysium. I don't get most of the (more) negative reviews, especially the one about te design of the level-ups The game does most of what it does quite brilliantly. The story is fascinating and I liked the twists and different choices I was presented with very much. The concept of having to switch your approach (someone called it Psychopath-Path) in order to gain different specialisations is unusual, but actually if embraced, it adds a nice little tactical element to the game. It's something different than standard XP and Levels (btw. you don't need any specialisation to finish the game properly). I know that people don't react to every encounter the same, there's usually an emotional and cognitive range. So I wasn't bothered by that and really, the different choices of responses regarding the "levelling-up" didn't matter that much in terms of the outcome. There were choices much more important than those Critisizing the game for doing something novel and not just implementing the standard RPG-mechanics, says more about not being open for something apart from the beaten path then about the quality of the game design. I loved the experience and kept on playing day after day, captivated of the story. 5/5 stars, would recommend to everyone who loves text-heavy games with tons of lore and a fresh setting.
For starters - I didn't buy this game for the grafics. In this department there's nothing to write home about. It's a bit antiquated, but didn't give me eye cancer, so that's that. The game enginge ran smoothly on my computer, I encountered only minor bugs (like a npc leaning against a wall two meters away). The dialogs are mostly funny but try to convey the issues of the historic time and place here and there, which for me created some nice immersion. I was very pleased by the voice acting (I played in german can't say anything about the "bavarian english"), which was surprisingly good for a low-budget title. The quality of the different quests ranged from OK to quite original (personal favorite - the prussian Soldier in the privy). Most of the game consists of running around, talking to different people while using different strategies of interaction, looking for clues and playing a repetitive dice game. With experience points you gain levels, each level you can increase one attribute which makes the connected dice game easier (so if you really hate dice games, this game is probably not for you). There's some crafting which is linked with some quests. I did some save-scumming here and there to get the results I wanted, the longer I played the less I had to save-scum. All in all the rng semed fair to me. In spite of some minor flaws (for my taste the repetitive dice game could be shortened) I really loved the experience and hope for similar games in the future (minus the dice game). 5 stars from me.
Someone complained in another review about the slow pace of the game. I agree completely, he/she is quite right about that. BUT BUT BUT no problem mister/lady, that's easily countered. There's an easy fix for this problem (which worked for most of the other potentially tedious games I've played in the past years): Step 1: Download and install "Cheat Engine" (downloadable freely) or similar program Step 2: Open Heaven's Vault then open Cheat Engine Step 3: Open the "process list" (click on the monitor-symbol on the upper left side, can't miss it, it's literally glowing!) select Heaven's Vault and click "Open". Step 4: Click "Enable speedhack" (to the middle-right) Step 5: Change the pace of the game the way you like it For me 2x the speed was the sweet spot. For others 1.5 may be the best choice. You can also set the text speed in the game's menu at the lowest value. As consequence the movement is much faster while you're still being able to read at comfortable speed. About the game itself: I found the worldbuilding in this game to be excellent. The grafics are quite different from the norm, which made it really enticing for me. Basically it's a walking sim (or floating sim) intertwined with a really enjoyable language-game. The main appeal besides the language-game is discovering bit by bit the buried and forgotten past of the game's world. Much of the information is mediated via dialogue. The different characters are portrayed in convincing manner, the personalities seem vivid and the different motives and manners are plausible. For me the main character (a passionate archeologist) was easy to identify with since there are multiple choices when to go where and how to interact with the different characters - possibly changing the course of the relationships. So all in all - Great concept, great game. I loved it and haven't played something this enjoyable in quite a while!
this game is basically a 2-D walking-sim with dialog-choices. the gameplay mechanics are pretty simple, there's no challenge whatsoeve.r there's also some backtracking wich can be annoying to some (tip: don't go out searching for the little extra stuff and your experience will be more dense). The game takes about 5-7 hours. knowing that before, i had a really good experience with it. the story mostly enfolds in a relaxing and atmospheric manner, with some surprisingly scary moments here and there (those are well done - probably due to the excellent sound). speaking of sound, the voice-actors did a great job, the characters felt alive to me. what I liked most was the all-aroudn atmosphere. it shifts back and forth between real and surreal, which for me created a constant suspense. what crazyness might happen next? at the same time i was worried about the well-being of the characters and hoping that i made the right choices. so in short: no real gameplay, however well written dialogs, superb sound/speakers and captivating plot. Recommended.
I couldn't get the game to start at first, solved it by reducing the shadow quality to the minimum (rest on max). So I was expecting a bugfest. I was pleasantly surprised. Aside from some minor bugs I didn't encounter anything gamebraking or otherwise annoying. So let's get to the story. In short, you're playing Reynardo, a bold fox fighting in a rebellion, trying to achieve the seemingly impossible task to defeat the evil toad monarch. Despite the cartoonish look, and although all characters are animals, keep in mind that it's not a child's game. There are five chapters. At the beginning of each you choose the course of action, leading to different consequences and different choices in the next chapters. After the final consequence you're taken back in time (does make sense) with a new secret learned (depending on the choices) and maybe a somewhat better understanding what to do (or not to do) this time. This game is intended to be played through at least five times. "Lame", some may think. But far from it. In every playthrough the story (really rewarding) is different, you'll visit different regions and the enemys get harder each time. I wasn't bored a single minute. Well OK, maybe one...or two. But that was it and on with joy it went. You run around, find stuff for upgrades and fight. A lot. The skill system is nice and with the right skills the fights develop quite the flow. It's more than just a hack and slash - it's a "hack/slash/dash/pull" :-) It was pretty fun. The narration is exceptionally good, the narrator fills the story (which is surprisingly serious and sometimes quite sad) with humour and despite the seriousness I had to laugh many times. He also acts out the voices of the different caracters really well. The music's really good as well. After playing the game I often whistled some melodies for five minutes or so. If you love story-driven games with authentic characters and both witty humour and seriousness I really really recommend this game.
For starters, I first played this game many years ago just when puberty started to hit me. At this point in time my erotic standards were low. So, I did have some fun with this game back THEN, I also was quite inexperienced with games in general. I played it again about half a year ago and, well, it sucked. badly. At the very beginning it may be a little bit entertaining (motto: It's so bad, it's good). I perceived the drawings as sloppy (sometimes even ugly), most of what happens is presented as text and the game itself is generally very repetitive and deliberately annoing. Ah, and especially (but not exclusively) chapter 3 will probably bore the shit out of every living human being. The game consists of three chapters. In the first chapter you're in a small desert-town, trying to evade the FBI and making some money with dirty photos and films. Having earned enough money you'll enter chapter two in which you'ver got your own Porno-Studio. You hire actors and staff, shoot films, buy stuff, sell the films. Finally, having raised enough money again, you'll find yourself in chapter three wich consists of flying around and managing sex-stores around the USA. You'll, put money in and out, determine the quality of staff and the sold content (which doesn't seem to have any influence). You can sabotage other shops (not worth the money it costs) and... that's basically it. You fly around to "manage" your stores. The flying itself takes the longest, and you can do nothing in that time. And you'll earn money much slower than in chapter two. You'll get very aggressive after awhile and hopefully stop playing. The first chapter goes by relatively rapidly, maybe before even getting too boring. The second one also may be fun for a liiittle while, it's maybe the most fun out of the 3 chapters. But oh boy, that "fun" passes quickly. Chapter three. Well... just do yourself a favour and stop playing after chapter two if you've been masochistic enough to start playing. Dont buy.
