This is one of the worst point and click games I've ever played. Chapters 1 and 2 are quite cool and balanced. But from the third part onwards, it gets really messy. Flawsy. Slow. Boring. A lot of players have already mentionned the frustrations they met with the puzzle design. Actually, this wackiness does exist in a LOT of adventure games. But in "Runaway", the interface makes it even more dull. The fact that you have to talk to (x) or look at (y) BEFORE being able to pick up an object, even if it has some kind of logic (the character needs to find/think about the idea beforehand), made me consult a walkthrough A LOT. Yes, of course, with this genra, you're supposed to figure all out by yourself. It makes everything more exciting. Well, when it comes to "Indiana Jones : fate of Atlantis" or "Day of Tentacule", maybe. But "Runaway" does force you to inspect every little detail (the infamous "pixel hunting") to get the right item. I even had to watch a video of the game to find the "door" leading to the saloon in chapter 4. It's REALLY not intuitive to go in there. Like if it wasn't enough, some tasks are TOO LONG FOR NOTHING. How can going back and forth 5 times to fill a tank with water is supposed to be fun ? How did de devs made it a thing ? There's also an archaic version of "Master Mind", without any visual system to check your progression. Last but not least, during the last hour of the game, you spend almost all your time talking to someone, then going some place, and coming back to the caracter... come on. Neither the story nor the characters make up for all this chaos. The "road aventure" gets lost quickly lost in the desert. Overall, the script is full of clichés and bad jokes. So yeah, you got it : I really didn't enjoy the game. I think I will skip to the third, because I read that the second was also full of flaws. And I couldn't bare it during a second run... away.
The game looked promising. And in some extents, it is actually good : the artwork is stunning, the puzzles aren't that bad, the lore (although I didn't care a lot about all those confusing references) is detailed and polished enough. But there are things I couldn't help but being annoyed by. The voice acting for Kitteh is hourrendous in my opinion. Nothing against the actress herself, but I found it... clumsy. And yes, it's a detail, but the cat is a main character of the game, so... As for the atmosphere, I had strange and mixed feelings. It's like if the devs didn't know exactly what they wanted to offer. A global joke ? A modern story ? An intemporal legend ? A geeky homage ? Well, maybe all of those things at the same time, and that was the problem for me. The last chapter was also a pain in the you-know-what. The fact that you have to wait 10 seconds between every Buzz's transformation is just boring and frustrating. When it comes to the constellation thingy, I could help but yawning. And I will finish this review with a maybe harsh cricticism : the creators tried too much. They tried to be funny, surprising, faithful to their inspirations, creative, even a little deep... and it makes all of this quite confusing. So I can't (well, I don't want to) give it less than 3 stars because I could tell the gigantic amount of work and dedication behind it. But playing this game didn't really convince the gamer I am. Sadly.
I loved the first few hours I spent playing this game. It's fun to discover the different aspects of the gameplay. When your tavern is new, you can struggle a little trying to keep a decent amount of money. But to be honest, I stopped enjoying it as the hours went by. It eventually becomes to easy, kind of messy, and the lack of decorations made me put the same things everywhere. The challenge is non-existent throughout the last hours of the game - even if, to be honest, I didn't try the hard mode. The main problem is that the game seems deep and sophisticated, but... if you dig a little, it's not really :( The customers are empty fellows wandering around. The popularity of your tavern is only based on decorations, which is... not enough in my opinion. The opinion of someone who fancies real managing games. Once you've unlocked most of the main features, it becomes repetitive and little dull in terms of goals. You can add things around the plac, but it has no real purpose. So... it's not a "bad" game per say, but it falls flat where it could have succeeded. Even if the game is not on "Early Access", it feels a bit unfinished, unpolished, and it's too bad :( I'm not telling you to avoid the game. You will certainly like it for 10-15 hours. But don't expect too much when it comes to "tycooning" or replay value.
The beginning is cool. It gave me great hope for the rest of the game. There are very funny dialogues in the first chapters, balanced puzzles, a neat rythm. But the more you play, the worse it gets. You soon realize how annoying it is to move your character in this 3D environement. Sometimes you just lose time because you TRY TO GO TO THE NEXT ROOM. And you can't. Well, you can. But it's buggy enough to make you sweat. In the last chapters, the puzzles become too random and complicated. You have to travel long distances without even knowing exactly what to do (unless you decide to use a walkthrough...). And in my case, I couldn't even... finish the game ! Something like 20 minutes before the end, there's an item I can't pick. I guess I've been cursed by the mummy too...
