Pros: - The most compelling part of this game is the unique setting and mechanics. - All movement and actions seem to work correctly and never felt sloppy or unresponsive. - The final chapter has great mix of combat and puzzles that aren't solved for you, this is what I hoped the whole game would be. - The visuals look good most of the time. Cons: - Very short game (4-5 hours) considering its price. - The characters are shallow, mostly poorly written, and detract from an otherwise compelling narrative. - The puzzles are virtually no existent until the last chapter of the game as the game insists on telling you and showing you all the answers. - There are some performance issues with the game, these mostly present as screen tearing and blur when moving the camera quickly even with motion blur disabled, capped frame rate, and v-sync. Also, there is slow down in one scene at the end of the game, but it is relatively minor. - Very linear game without much exploration, basically a walking simulator with light platforming for 90% of the game Final Thoughts: For most of my play through I thought I'd be rating this game 2 stars, but the last chapter bumped the rating up a little. Consider this a 2.5 star rating because this game is below average, but not terrible. That being said, I don't think I can recommend this game at its listed price, I'm not even sure you should bother playing it even if you got it for free (I got it from Prime Gaming). The first 4 hours are not worth the slog to get to the enjoyable last 30 minutes, there are just so many other games in this genre that are better. I am a completionist at heart and I missed one achievement that would only take me 10 minutes at the most to get, but I have no desire to boot the game up again and that feeling is the reason for making this review in the first place.
The other reviews of this game are absolutely correct, the game is pretty short (15 hours to 100% game file for me) and the humor is quite cheezey. However, I loved this game and had a great experience playing it. I would absolutely recommend it if you like collecting/exploration and are into quirky humor. I bought this game on sale, so it was absolutely worth it for me, but this game fits me well and I would pay full price knowing what I know now. P.S. The not pausing thing wasn't a big deal for me as the game autosaves a lot and is relatively generous with fast travel points.
