What nobody seems to mention in any other review is that this has a really interesting back-story. I get the the feeling that the organisation you work for may well be evil and some of work colleagues have somewhat questionable ethics at times, but hey you have to earn living somehow. I used to build custom microprocessor boards back in the day based on the Zilog Z80, which we all know is clearly god amongst CPUs and way better than those 6502/6510s ;) show me your swappable shadow register set. All that aside this is not like using any kind of real processor or microcontroller due to the very small instruction set, lack of program storage and wierd buses, but it does give the same feel as when you're trying to solve real world challenges and a good idea of code optimisation (although it will be be horrible, unstructured and full dirty work-arounds... so pretty much like most low cost electronics nowadays then). It's good fun if you can get into it which may take a little while to try and understand the best way to achieve things. I'm around 30hrs and 20 circuits in (mainly due to trying to optomise them.. a lot) and I feel I'll be playig it for some time. It has actually reignited my interest in processors/microcontrollers and designing boards again, I so want to play with an FPGA.
Having played both video games and Dungeons & Dragons for over 35 years (damn, I've just realised I'm really old), this is the closest I've come to the feel of playing a single player Dungeons & Dragons as a computer game. What's great about this game is the pacing. There's just the right amount of exploration, story (ok, you have a lot of reading to do.. none of that modern fangled voice acting here) and combat. It's an interesting, relaxing and enjoyable (a lot of games aren't and feel like work) that you can solely play with your mouse if you wish. I have over 2000hrs in Path of Exile but sometimes I just want to chill. Could it be better? Of course it could. I'm lazy and would prefer voice acting. I don't mind the graphics at all, it's is the sort of game you're roleplaying in your head anyway. You should really stop reading reviews and go and buy it. It genuinely is good. Also if you want a good watch regarding the developer I'd suggest watching the 'GDC Spiderweb' talk (google it). I will see you in the pit fellow adventurers.
