That's a nah from me. Dealbreaker.
Those reviews saying there's no plot don't seem to have read the notes around the game. There's a plot. it's thin, but it's there. The game itself is an interesting one. There's no WASD movement. Instead, you move as in Myst by clicking a location or point of interest to move to. There are a lot of empty areas that function basically as "hallways" to shuttle you from one location of interest to another. Most areas of the game have nothing to see and nothing to interact with. That all aside, the game works just like any classic point and click adventure game. Look at objects of interest, pick up items, combine/use them in various ways to progress. The game itself can be completed in roughly 10 minutes once you know what you're doing. Let this inform your decision as to whether or not it's worth the price. I'd say it's worth no more than a buck, buck and a half maybe. A first playthrough may take you half an hour or more just from missing some easily overlooked items that prevent progression. If it takes an hour for even the most novice adventure game player to complete, I'd be shocked. At the end, it almost feels like this is a prototype or a proof-of-concept for the developers other game, The Whispering Valley and should have been released freely as a demo instead of a stand alone product. By itself it's alright for a quick bit of creepy atmospheric mystery, but don't expect to get your money's worth.
98% of adult games are exactly what you think they are. It's the rare ones like this that focus on the story first that are the ones worth trying. Contrary to what you might read in other reviews, this game has 22 separate endings and 5 after-credits scenes. Your choices make a ton of impact on which ending you'll receive. If you keep replaying the game the same way multiple times hoping for a different ending, you may wish to look up Einstein's quote on doing the same thing and hoping for a different outcome.
This is the best PC port of any Silent Hill game. Without mods, of course. Silent Hill 2 has a wonderfully active mod scene that Silent Hill 4 may lack, but Silent Hill 4 is a near perfect port on its own. There are two issues that I can think of that are not as good as the console originals. First, the game doesn't have analog controls, even on a controller. The PC version on has 8-way controls. This really isn't a problem and for most people you'll never even notice, but it's worth pointing out. The other is that half of the apartment hauntings will never appear due to a bug. As I write this, there is a fan-patch to fix this currently being tested by a few people. Besides the availability of higher resolution patches, there's not much else different between console and PC versions. As for the game itself, yes, this is the "weakest" of the four Silent Hill games. But that doesn't make it bad. Far from it. In fact, this game carries the name Silent Hill with pride and has one of the best plots and stories in the entire survival-horror genre even to this very day. It does deviate from the formula the first three games created in a few ways. First, this game has a hub that you come back to at the end of every area. The eponymous Room. The swap between first and third person perspective was heavily marketed, but it really makes little impact on the game overall. Second, this game actually makes use of a limited inventory so deciding what to bring with you on your trips into the various game zones is important. Do you bring extra ammo? Or maybe some more healing? Do you need this key item now? Or can you store it in your apartment for later? It makes for some slight strategizing. Lastly, the ghost enemies differ from all enemies seen up to this point. You can't permanently kill them. You can take them down, but they will always return to haunt you. But beyond that,at its core it's still Silent Hill as you know it. Too bad they didn't make more after this one.
This game is a perfect spiritual successor to the Myst franchise. You'll never get the same feeling as you did the first time you played Myst back in 1993. Gaming is not new anymore. That feeling is long gone to history, but you will get hints of it playing Obduction. The puzzles in this game are similar to what you would find in Myst, albeit quite a bit less complex. As with it's predecessors, Obduction has no inventory system. You don't fill your pockets with everything you can pick up just so you can rub them against everything else to make things happen. This game is about picking up clues along the way and then configuring various elements in the world in the correct way to make things happen. Sometimes the things that happen won't help. Sometimes you'll have created a hindrance to yourself that you have to undo. It's the classic Myst formula for puzzles. As for difficulty, I mentioned that these puzzles are not as complex as the ones from the Myst series. I would say the difficulty was in the sweet spot for me. Challenging, but not enough to stump me for hours or making me consult a walkthrough. Most of the story is told through various notes left by the game's characters (of which there are only three that you'll ever hear from). Almost all of the notes are quite short. In the early part of the game, there are a couple of 4-5 page "books" that cover large amounts of the story, but all of these are pretty much entirely skippable if you are an uncultured swine with an aversion to words. Only a select few have puzzle clues in them and those that do usually stand out in some way (different colored text, etc). By game's end you'll have spent less than 30 minutes of the 10 hour playtime reading. One big complaint that actually holds true is the loading. There are some sections of the game where you are loading rapidly and repeatedly between the different "worlds" triggering loading screens each time. INSTALL THE GAME ON AN SSD IF YOU HAVE ONE.
Rough around the edges to be sure. I don't need to explain what this game is and is not because I'm sure you already know, but do know this. This game will win awards at the end of 2021. Lots of them. We're looking at another The Witcher 3 situation. Rough launch, epic legacy.
These game are not only great escape room puzzles, but there is an overarching narrative that has spawned an entire universe including a live action short film. Surreal and bizarre in all of the best ways. Piecing together the otherworldly lore to understand exactly what it is that's going on is part of the experience. You'll be lost as to what the heck is happening for a lot of it, but that's not a bad thing and it only compels you forward to see what's next.
