Gemini Rue

a great game - looks a little bit old fashioned and everytime after I started the game and restored a savegame the right side was black? Some puzzles I found a little bit boring like ''find the 5 pixel-object here" und "first shoot then kick a door there". starts a little slow and drags a little - the last quarter of t game is really thrilling - my wife could not stop watching me playing the last part :)

I've never been too much into adventure games- often times, the logic required baffled me (especially contrived items combination/use). But I have a soft spot for Wadjet Eye Games, especially Resonance, and, more recently, Unavowed. Gemini Rue, however, as far as I am concerned, is clearly inferior. Puzzles are alright : they won't stick in your memory, but they aren't too far-fetched either and don't impede your progression. Dialogs are solid and characters, globally, enjoyable. The problem, in my eyes, is rather to be found in the story, or, more precisely, what its strenght hinges on : its plot twist. I had my fair share of plot twists, in books, movies, series and video games, and this is maybe because, contrary to many others, I find this one close to being terrible. Two main reasons for this. First, if you have a bit of flair, I genuinely think it's predictable. For me, just looking at the cover of the game was already a hint, confirmed quite early in the game. Si I had zero surprise. The other reason : when the Bid Bad explains his scheme, I had a hard time believing it. I won't spoil of course, bit it didn't make the plot twist worthwile. At the end of the day, it's still a decent adventure experience- but I would recommend other Wadjet Eye Games, really.

Loved it! Fantastic story, super atmospheric art and acting. Not much replay value and a lot of the time you feel like you're playing not because it's 'fun', but the story sucks you right in. That's not a criticism from me, but I know a lot of people play this genre for the puzzles or the adventure aspect. I found Gemini Rue was almost completely story driven. It's also fairly short - which I really like, but some people may say too short. (Took me maybe 12-15 hours - maybe less.)

Bought this game after reading the rave reviews here on GOG and because it was on sale. While it is a very decent game with excellent atmosphere, most of the reviews here seem to miss some major problems: This game is linear. Very, very linear. There is an alternate ending, but it adds a couple of lines of dialogue and nothing else. There are never two ways of solving a given problem, and there are no big choices to be made with significant ramifications later on. Another thing is the script, I felt the dialogue in the game was often artificial, stilted and forced. People would launch into philosophical monologues at strange times or say "What" randomly during a conversation. Of minor problems should be mentioned that the game is a little buggy. I would often get screen corruption when loading save games and at one point, the game became completely unresponsive after I attempted an action just as an in-game event triggered. Also, my companions became invisible at one point after I accidentally left an area in the wrong direction and then went back. Another minor issue is that the game is short and rather easy. Despite what I wrote here, I still happily rate it at 3.5 stars and round that up to 4: the game is addictive, the soundtrack is good, graphics are evocative and the story and setting are both interesting. And at the current price of €2.23 it is an excellent bargain. Just remember that this is not Primordia, it is a precursor and there were lessons to be learned before the formula was perfected ;-)

I really liked the puzzles in this game, for the most part. There are only 3 puzzles with unintuitive or poorly sign-posted solutions. This is par for the course, unless your game is being designed by a genius chess-master. At first I thought the gunfights were just a dumb arcade action-sequences, but then I looked a little closer and realized each one was a little puzzle. You need to figure out how many shots the bad guys have, how long it takes them to reload. This gets very complicated as the game throws larger groups of bad guys at you, all firing asynchronously. It's a small part of the game, but very well implemented. There's very little color in this game. The cold, lifeless environments do a great job of reinforcing the themes of the game's parallel story arcs: a grim detective drama about an ex-assassin/war veteran searching the rainy slums of planet Barracus for his brother, and a sci-fi thriller about a John Doe attempting to escape from the bowels of a futuristic super-prison. The game's sterile hallways and rainy slums reminded me a lot of Cowboy Bebop. The inspiration shows, since characters from that show can be found as easter eggs if you go looking off the beaten path. There are actually a surprising number of pop culture references to the point where I found myself being taken out of the experience by them. It's most jarring towards the end when characters start beginning every sentence with "Would you kindly." The last thing I need to address is the writing. The plot is fantastic, but the dialogue within the plot has a lot of room for improvement. This game does not require street smarts from you, and there are times when you have to say things that would get you killed in real life, just to move the plot forward. And towards the end characters will start waxing philosophical with no regards for subtlety or voice. Everyone turns into a philosopher for no reason. Despite it's shortcomings, get it. This is a unique adventure and well worth your time