Fantastic retro themed thriller
Let's start with the good. If you liked Stranger Things or even if you haven't seen it, but still have a nostalgia about the 80s, particularly 80s microcomputers, then you will love the setting the game thrusts you into. If someone told me I would have this much fun playing a text adventure game in 2017 I would not have believed them, but once I started this game up for the first time I couldn't stop until I finished it.
The game is set across four different episodes with the fourth being split into several distinct segments that force you to use the knowledge and experience you've gained in the first three to make your way through.
The first episode is fully text based adventure, but not quite. Rather than just staring at text and a prompt you take a first person perspective of someone else playing the game with elements around you and outside of the game screen coming into play. Very tense at points where I had to force myself to continue. Some genuine horror happening here.
The second episode feels the weakest as it's just a case of "follow the instructions", but it is incredibly intense in the story it weaves, nonetheless.
The third episode was a fantastic bit of puzzle solving and critical thinking. The first person interlude where you walk around was jarring after playing this long while not moving and the controls were not quite responsive and it was easy to get stuck on the terrain. I can forgive it these things as this isn't where the core gameplay lies and it's short enough.
The fourth and final episode I won't spoil, but it has you revisiting the skills you learned in the first three episodes, but with a twist on each one that really makes you think even further outside the box.
I can't say enough good things about this one. The only real negative I have is the length to price ratio. I feel that 2 hours of game for $10 is a bit steep. I got it at 25% off which feels closer to a fair deal, though the game was good enough that I will not complain.
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