It feels like the game wants you to sort through evidence, making connections and deducing the truth. But then it feels like it wants to hold your hand the whole time too. Ultimately I got more frustrated that pop-up windows I can't dismiss covered the evidence page while I'm trying to make connections. After the first stage that completely walks you through everything, I thought I could play, but the immersion is broken every time I try.
Seems a common issue, but I also cannot progress through the first level. Otherwise the game seems fun, but being unable to play kind of ruins that.
It's true this is essentially "Harvest Moon for PC", and if that's all you are looking for then you found it. But what we really have here is a culmination of over a decade of HM-likes, this takes all the good from not just the core series, but ideas from Rune Factory ( the more RPG focused HM series ) as well. I've been partial to the series since the beginning and the addition of dungeon crawling, equipment and a ridiculous number of stats and traits to level ( you literally get XP toward "walk"ing in Rune Factory ) add to the distractions and random fun between farm work. The other distraction is, of course, the townsfolk, and the characters here have all the charm and personality that any of the HM games ever did, which is quite a bit. Characters have a unique feel which goes a long way toward making you want to get to know them, and in turn actually caring about the town and community. It's honestly hard to find a flaw, but even if that's just nostalgia for me, I know this is something very special. Long time fan or curious first timer, there is much more than just growing crops to these games, allow yourself to escape and enjoy the simple pleasures of building a farm and becoming part of this small town.
Having a lot of interest in the horror genre, I bought this based on the description along with the very good reviews of other users here. I knew nothing about it beforehand, and only played a few games on the PC back in the early 90's. One of those I played a good bit were the Doom games, so this feels pretty comfortable as it's built with that engine. The game itself is a wonderfully balanced mix of exploration, puzzle solving, and combat. Atmosphere is truly great here, as the house starts dark and empty, leading you deeper into a mystery that eventually has you crossing dimensions and facing biblical demons. A lot of reference, with plenty of flavor and background for those who want it. Probably the most attractive thing to me is the FMV sequences. I've played a few games like that, mostly with very cheesy acting and not so great effects (still classics though). This is absolutely NOT one of those. The acting herein, in my opinion, is on par with the greats such as Wing Commander, Tex Murphy and the like. It goes a long way toward allowing you to immerse yourself in this world and really play the part of your character. That is a huge selling point to me. I always believed you can easily tell when a developer truly cares and believes in what they are creating, it's as true today as it was in my youth and this stands as a perfect example of that fact.
