Unpopular take incoming. tl;dr, it insists upon itself. Gameplay's alright, has everything I want. Engaging primary gameplay loop (exploration), compelling secondary loop (management) and driving tertiary loop (sunrise). Resembles both This War of Mine and XCom. Music was well done, even if I'm not a fan, I can't complain about characterisation like that--the alters were the ones listening to it. Graphics hit a sweet spot of 'realistic', but still stylised so it's not uncanny. As much as I'm sick of seeing magenta, its use made sense to paint Ally Corp. in a 'we care about PR first and foremost' kind of light. UI was alright, though very buggy, elements that should disappear (like the moodlets) didn't always. Subtitles frequently mispelled too. The writing killed it though. I can overlook melodrama, cringe, and a couple of the Alters being caricatures, all as matters of taste. What I can't overlook is the Telltale Games-esc false sense of 'Choices Matter' presented at the end of Act 2. In my playthough, I put the interests and needs of the Alters first, championing them to the company. In the moral decision in Act 2, I kept them in the loop and made sur ethey knew what was up. Now, I didn't expect everyone magically getting along just because I was the errand boy, I'm not precious about 'getting my way', but if I realise during gameplay none of my prior decisions factor into the outcome, the writer didn't stick the landing. With how hard the game yells at you for being a monster either way, it comes off mean spirited, like I'm being mocked for making the best of a no-win situation. Referencing philosophers by name should have been a red flag the game would be made to look clever at my expense. I like 11Bit, their prior games had morality as a skill issue: with grit, you could find a better way. How did they screw it up so hard here? P.S. I had Doctor and Psych, why was Scientist still doing the medical story beats? Conclusion: Angrily dropped after 20 hours.
