I love the gameplay, but playing with a keyboard is hard for me. I couldn't figure out a keybinding scheme that I could remember, so I just used the default. I tried to use my PS5 controller, but no matter what I did, I couldn't get certain functionalities to bind to a key, and some of the bindings I did save didn't show up when in the pause menu, so they actually didn't apply. I spent most of my time in this demo trying to get a controller to work :/ I really like the game and want to play it, but I am concerned the controller issues will persist in the full game. Please update the demo so it is more representative of the full game experience!
Empathy, compassion, and self-care simulator that teaches about the harm of toxic positivity, people-pleasing, and crappy management. I think this game does a great job of introducing people to the concept that "no" isn't necessarily mean, and "yes" isn't necessarily nice. It's better to be genuine! As far as the gameplay, graphics, etc, it was perfect. Nothing wrong with this game, though I don't think there is a ton of replay value nor difficulty. It's a heart-warming casual game to give us all the confidence boost we need to say "No" more. If you think you can benefit from that, grab the game!
I was fighting not to fall asleep. They definitely nailed the feeling of working a desk job. Hacking is supposed to be exciting, but they distilled it into a single command line function. There were a lot of spelling errors which took me out of the immersion. The controls are close enough to a real Windows machine that it is annoying when you can't do stuff you can do in Windows, like right-clicking, copy/paste, fullscreen, minimize (only on select windows for some reason), and incorrect command prompt commands that aren't present for every system. I also couldn't tell if I was Oswalt or Sharp. I think I was Oswalt? Maybe? I couldn't get invested in it.
I was sceptical based on screenshots and reviews, but this game is genuinely good. ## Graphics The DosBox settings had to be updated because the starting resolution was about 1/8th of my screen (there was a useful thread called "Small Window" in the GOG forums that helped me). The graphics, while dated, are unique. It's rotoscoped with some portions being smooth animations and others being a series of images that show movement. It was actually pretty cool. ## Story This was the best part for me. There's the opportunity for a bit of romance, but mostly you are a detective through happenstance and necessity. The characters are fun to get to know, you get invested. Voice acting is a highlight too. There is replayability as you will miss certain scenes that overlap with others happening in other parts of the train. This game is in an accelerated version of real-time unlike most games where events wait for you to reach a location before they start. ## Gameplay I love how these old games don't have tutorials, they just let you fumble around until you figure it out, which suits me just fine. The way this game does save files and the rewind mechanic to fix your mistakes worked really well. Just pay attention to the time! The game will take it's best guess as to where you messed up and most of the time it is right, but you can adjust it manually too. I enjoyed the puzzles and quests and the eavesdropping aspect that just happens. It feels like you are living on a cramped train! Controls were somewhat finicky, but not enough to turn me off from the game. It took me a while to figure out how to close a newspaper, for instance. I had to use a walkthrough after getting stuck a couple times, but that is mostly just my lack of patience. I wish I could have used directional keys rather than point-and-click to move around and do QTEs. I also got lost and turned around on the train several times, but you get used to it.
I've been playing through this for 5 hours now but haven't even finished the first night due to CONSTANT CRASHES. If I wasn't invested in seeing what happens I would have given up by now. It literally crashes 70% of the time when talking to people...which you need to do...A LOT. The actual game is great so far. I find the graphics charming, the voice acting and dialogue are pretty great, and it is fun to explore the ship. There are some annoying parts too, but nothing that I wouldn't chalk up to when the game was made.
I enjoyed the game overall. It's not very long, and the plot was WAY different than I expected. I thought I'd be hanging out on a ship with some hot sci-fi boys, but it is really *one* scifi boy and his....pet. My bad for not noticing certain aspects of the cover image... For the most part it is baby's first hentai. My favorite part is that it is fully voiced. The acting is pretty good. I just wish the dialogue was more interesting, and I would have liked more branches on the decision tree. The user interface is one of the better ones I've seen, even having a scene selection section which makes it easy to figure out where the branches are so you can go back and see those endings too. I wish they would have explored who was "chasing" the love interest as that plot point seemed to be dropped immediately. I played this for about 6 and a half hours to see all the content. Not deep, but not entirely shallow either. Worth a shot at a discount if you like a little cheese and cringe with your romance games!
I only lasted about 5 minutes. I was falling asleep and couldn't figure out what to do. There is one music track so far and it just loops forever. Pretty graphics at least. Mapping my controller inputs was frustrating as the cursor couldn't focus on any of the GUI buttons for me to select them and I had to use my mouse to configure instead. My controller also kept selecting GUI elements that were hidden behind the modal popup :/ None of the buttons have proper names in the menus, so it is a guessing game as to which button is "button 1" and which is "axis 2", etc. Also by default only two of my directional pad buttons worked, right and left, with right being up and left being down >:( I couldn't figure out how to fix this or map the other two buttons. I gave up.
My only complaint is that I couldn't figure out a way to save during a chapter (you can always save before it starts) so I had to skip a lot of dialogue to play the whole thing. I loved it though!!! I came for the escape aspect and stayed for the amazing story and message. I haven't seen a visual novel promote class consciousness and a welfare for all before! It is refreshing to see the genre used to tell a heartfelt story. I usually play romance visual novels (which is mainly the type that exist, right??) This is not that, though I do have my own head canon ;) I did need to use a guide to get the last couple endings, but in my defense they had very specific criteria. The others I found on my own fairly easily. Greate game, 10/10, would get kicked in the gut again 👍
I really wanted to like this game. Unfortunately it sacrifices the rhythm part of the rhythm game for the gimic of morse code and being a telegraphist (and one working with terrible equipment for some reason). Maybe the full game is better, but even with the bugs fixed the gameplay loop needs to be fixed too. Pros: * Cool concept * Learn some history, kinda? * Learn and practice Morse code (though there are flaws to this) Cons: * There is no way to turn off the vibration on a controller, which screws up the rhythm because it always vibrates *after* a key press, and pretty violently too. Controller is my preferred mechanism for playing games, but I had to use a keyboard because of this. * The calibration of the keyboard/controller to the games is terrible. The second step of the Calibration setting thing has a set number of chances to complete the inputs before it just stops and you have to start the whole thing again. Still didn't feel like my inputs were tightly tied to the output in-game. * Instead of focusing on morse code, this game also makes do annoying quick time events. Just as you start to get into a rhythm with the code, you have to play the stupid arrow mini game to fix the frequncy, fix the telegraph machine, tune the radio, or flip through papers. Why?? * The music doesn't help you stay on rhytm in the rhythm game... * Thanks to your character's hand moving across the sheet, you can't see what is coming next until it is too late. * The interstitials, reports, personnel, etc all feel pointless. I started skipping them after the 3rd mission. Also, when you click the personnel reports on the desk, a lady reads them to you in Russian while you are trying to read them in English. I had to take my headset off to read the damn things, and they didn't mean anything to me when I did. * I tried all of the levels. Didn't even try to finish the last one as the game goes from 0 to 60 between levels 6 and 7.
I thought this would just be a cute cozy game, but it stabbed me right in feels. OUCH! The story is great, though you may cry your friggin eyes out. Art was stellar. The gameplay was ok, but I wish the dishes required a little more skill to cook. Gameplay with a controller wasn't the best, but it was serviceable enough. It's a short game, but if you can get it at a reasonable price it's worth playing. Plus it comes with recipes for the food you cook in the game!!
