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If I was going to compare this to something, I would say it's closer to Shadowgate than any other game. The gameplay revolves around finding the right combination of items to take with you and the right path to the goal or the gameplay revolves around finding all the ways you can die/achieve a game over, depending on how you want to approach it. The graphics can be a little hard to look at some times (I'm looking at you, zoomed-in perspective), otherwise, they are functional and I sometimes get the feeling that this could have been a decent text-based adventure. I played with a gamepad and found the controls to be smooth. Overall, Reventure is put together pretty well. Lastly, there is a lot of content here, from the 100 endings and secrets as well as changes to the environment depending on how much mucking about you've done. The humor is a mix of poking fun at old tropes (which is becoming an old trope) and jokes that will probably age poorly in about five years, but there is joy to be found in the meat of the game.
Something's missing here. Oh yeah...traditional drains, plungers, bumpers or anything that makes this interesting. Sure, the tables are colorful, but they are sparse and poorly designed. The music is grating after a few minutes. While there are interesting diversions on each table and the ability to move between them is good, you'll be repeatedly banging on your shift keys to repeatedly go up a certain ramp to do so. It's a good idea executed poorly.
I finished one playthrough, that's all I could manage. It's not a good game, it's not a bad game. It's just really average. There are some good concepts and ideas here, but I'd rather have The Sims in Space than this knock-off. Yes, there is heavy time management but it just serves to frustrate the player. You only get 4 actions on weekdays, 6 on weekends and you generally have way more people than action points. People end up resenting you if you focus on your job/your S.O. instead of them. There is some difficulty tweaking, so you can tailor your experience, but once you get through it, there is little reason to come back to it. There are several paths to the goal, but only one is the easiest. I tried doing a second playthrough, but my interest really waned after finishing the first time. There is enjoyment to be had here, but it becomes shallow and repetitive after a while. The artificial barriers, such as the time limit, keep Redshirt from reaching its potential. I'd like to see this in a different form. FInally, no, it's not worth $20. You can get a weekend out of this and maybe a replay or two, if you're bored.