I tried this game for about 5 minutes my first time, got frustrated by the match-cut controls and gave up. I came back to it months later, intrigued by the story. I'd watched a video essay on the game by then and wanted to experience exploring it myself. The controls were good once I gave them a chance. I played on Mouse & Keyboard and it felt very intuitive. The match-cut control mechanic took me a minute to get used to, but once I got the hang of it the game felt very much like "Her Story" (a game that I really loved). The acting performances are top tier in the game. It's easy to get immersed in the game, and the soundtrack is good. Definitely check the content warnings list beforehand if you're sensitive to anything particular, there's some heavy stuff in the game without any heads-up warnings once you're in the gameplay. I'm not 100% done with the game yet, I'm about 8,5 hours in. What a ride it's been, I'm glad I bought the game.
Nice to play while listening to a podcast or audio book. I like how it lets you choose a "difficulty" / how many pieces the puzzle will have. Haven't encountered any bugs yet. I thought the music was annoying, but it was easy enough to switch off.
I played the Secret Files series physical disc releases years ago, and I'm so glad it's available in digital form now. It's a pretty basic Point & Click adventure game. and sometimes the logic to using items is super bizarre. Still, it's one of my favourite Point & Click mysteries. No shame in using a guide if you get stuck, like I said the logic is weird with the puzzles sometimes. The story's interesting enough, I was gripped.
I'm about 70 levels in in the main game mode, on Relaxed difficulty. It's been a great way to relax, just strategic enough to keep interesting while not being too challenging. Decorating the garden as I've made progress has been nice. It's nice to get to choose what upgrades to focus on. I grabbed the game on sale for 2€, it's totally worth its price. The English from the NPC's in the game is sometimes a bit broken, but it's still understandable so it hasn't bothered me. If you like Solitaire this one's definitely worth a try.
I've played through this game on the PS4 console, but when the Yakuza game pack went on sale on GOG, I couldn't pass it up. So now I'm replaying the series from the start on PC. Combat is a big part of the game, and thankfully it's fluid, fun and the battles don't last long. I feel like that's also been a factor in keeping the combat fun: The battles are bite-sized and you don't have time to get bored. You get multiple different battle "styles", ranging from quick, to flashy, to stronger but slower. You're likely to find a favourite among the few options, and the game does encourage you to experiment and use them all. The plot had me gripped with each new chapter, but I'm not powering through the main plot on my rerun. There are dozens of side quests that each have their own little story. I had a 2-hour game session today and all I did was run around town, working on side quests and fighting. And I had a blast! The soundtrack is among my all-time favourite game soundtracks. The boss fight themes in particular are great. The game has a load of minigames such as darts, pool, Mahjong, shogi, karaoke and dancing. So whenever I feel like I'm not in the mood to be reading a bunch of dialogue (there's a lot in the main quest & side quests), I just wind down with a minigame for a bit or explore the map. This game gets a full 5/5 from me. It's a great game to just lose yourself to for a few hours. It rewards you heavily for exploring and engaging with side content, and even trying out the various minigames. The devs did a great job with this one.
I'll start by saying I played on the easiest difficulty: Shorter cooldown on the Hint function, and I also skipped a couple of especially tricky puzzles I just couldn't be bothered to tinker with more than a few minutes. As a fan of Hidden Object type games, I enjoyed every minute of the game. The soundtrack is very nice, the artstyle is beautiful and I found the puzzles enjoyable and logical, for the most part. As I mentioned, I skipped a couple of hard ones, and I love that the option is there. This is a game I'll likely go back to if I get the itch to play a Hidden Object adventure again.
You start the game. You watch the first clips the game sets in front of you. You get your first vague impression of what the situation is, in her words. Then you start your search. It's easy to get lost in time while you're seeking the answers. Which leads me to what I truly loved about this game: What you do end up finding truly depends on you. What detail or phrase caught your attention, what you choose to keep digging up. This, I feel, made uncovering the story personal. There were times when I got curious and thought "I wonder if they talked about *subject*?", looked it up and found something new and "important" by accident. THAT, for me, is what made the game fun. Imagination was as important as logical reasoning. It's a story worth uncovering, especially for its price. In hindsight it doesn't even feel like a branching story line: It feels like slowly peeling off layers to reveal the truth. Or, if you will, Her Story. And it's a story I think I'll remember a long time. I don't know how I can recommend this game enough, without giving away some of its finest qualities. I wish I could play it again for the first time. Oh, and there's an option to enable subtitles, which was great for a non-native English speaker like myself.
