I've never been a fan of point'n'click games, I'm more of a role playing immersive action guy but I gave this a go and was pleasantly surprised. I would describe it as a thinkers game, you play a detective and certainly have to investigate everything in each scene then do a lot of mental association to see what fits where and why. Be prepared for a lot of lateral thinking! After playing it I immediately bought the other two episodes, they do follow the same theme and take the original story to its conclusion. The puzzles are simple but clever and the graphics, although not super hi-res are masterpeices of disguise. How they manage to hide so many objects in plain sight take great skill and it takes a sharp eye to find them all. If I have to be negative about anything it is the lack of tension in the build-up to the finale but I suppose with any game of a point and click nature it can only go as fast as the person driving it. Overall, well worth the cost, it should give lots of enjoyment to anyone playing it and once hooked you just have to play it to the end.
I've played lots of this kind of game over more years than I'd like to confess and I think so far, this is the best yet. I played the Linux version with Ubuntu 15.10 and had to swap to Nvidia graphics instead of the stock 'Neuvau' ones otherwise the frame rate was too low but from then on it was 100% responsive with no video glitches at all. The only critisism is there is no game instructions in the package but having played the other Frictional games I could see the key actions are more or less the same. At the start I thought "did I just spend money on this garbage??" but believe me, when the lead character visits the clinic, everything changes. The graphics and sound suddenly come to life and you are not only in VERY different scenery but you are left wondering what is real and what isn't. Throughout the whole game you are not sure if you are suffering brain failure, a technical failure in the treatment at the clinic or were hijacked to a different world. The story slowly unfolds and leaves you with some challenging moral choices to make. Like the other Frictional games, there are bad guys but no weapons, you just have to avoid detection or run for your life. The scenes 4,000m under the sea are breathtaking and 'immersive' in more ways than one! Almost everything is interactive. Don't forget to carry Catherine with you, I forgot at one point and had to backtrack a long way, or you will not be able to open doors later in the game. One last thing - keep watching after the final credits roll by, everything is made clear!
