Just returned to this game on Steam, and I must say that the overall design, the gameplay idea, the writing and the choreography of the individual little stories, the attention to detail, the humor, the implications and parallels with real life - everything is spot on. I would probably say this game belongs to the very best I have ever played - and I am almost 50 and I have been gaming for my whole life.Well done, developers!
I enjoyed my first playthrough of this game quite a bit. But this is definitey a game that's intended for more than one playthrough - there's a lot of randomization in what you see and when, and there are probably several outcomes for each schenario. My one full playthrough took me probably 3-4 hours.
The game has you juggle watching several (unrelated, but happening in the same general world) video feeds, "write down" in your notebook things it finds important, and do some additional research/guesswork based on these notes. You can also meddle in the things that are happening to affect the outcome. On top of that, your character exists in the world too, and has to eat/sleep/pay rent etc. in order to not die; and people knock on your door for various additional interactions.
I like the concept of a world that keeps happening regardless of whether you interfere. Many of the scenarios are pretty cliche and unsubtle, but there are a couple with amusing surprising outcomes. Either way, I still enjoyed uncovering "mysteries" and searching the "internet" for clues.
The "survival" management was a bit anxiety-inducing at first, but I got into a rhythm and found a good balance to strike. I did find the "meta" aspects of it amusing. Here I am, sitting at my computer, playing a character who is sitting at their computer, getting interrupted by various things while I also get interrupted by things like being hungry and my dogs deciding it's playtime.
On my first playthrough, I was happy to just react to the world and see how it reacts to me. But when I started a second playthrough, I was actually trying to aim for specific outcomes (e.g. the opposite of what I did the first time around), and this was surprisingly frustrating. I started noticing that things end abruptly and unexpectedly too often. e.g. I write an email about a scenario and it immediately "turns off" and I can't interact with its notebook page and send a video to a fourth party.
Its amazing XD I just try the demo on the nintendo switch and came over runing to gog to buy it! Its funny and easy to play, original idea and it must have a lot of work on the script!
The game is interesting at the beggining it could be humdrum but when you understand how to manage the money and the time, it becomes different and very interesting.
Has a few excellent moments, and short enough that you can play it through in an evening. Offers some genuine sleuthing fun, and it's rewarding to solve mysteries and find connections. But more often you feel frustrated - you know exactly what you want to do but can't find the right 'keyword' to get the game to do what you want. All while the timer runs down in the background. There's no pause button and everything takes in-game time. You can waste away in-game hours by just spending a few real-life minutes looking through your game notes or scrolling through your in-game email. Even 'Peeping Mode' doesn't slow the sprint down enough to be consistently enjoyable.
