The foundation for something interesting is here, but the execution is pretty awful. For one, the presentation is sub-par. I think the ship design and layout is pretty cool, but the character models creep into uncanny-valley territory. Voice acting is really hit-or-miss as well. The gameplay is lacking: gunplay is very basic and clunky a lot of the time, the inventory system is extremely convoluted for no reason, and its hard to keep track of your relationship standings with everyone on the ship at times. And then, at the end, the game leaves a bad taste in your mouth by cutting the game short right when its about to get interesting, and advertising the sequel instead. Just makes this game feel like one big ad, which is not a good look. Like I said, there are some interesting concepts here, and I think the story they were trying to tell is engaging at a base level, but the team really needed to rein their focus in to just the dialogue/relationship mechanics, because way too much time was spent on the other aspects of gameplay that are genuinely not good. The game did not make me actually angry, but it definitely left a lot to be desired.
A fascinating, conversation focused immersive sim lite. It's the first part in a trilogy that is unlikely to ever happen, but strong writing and a small but content rich hub world carry this game. I hope the sequel comes out, but I'm not holding my breath.
I have just finished my first playthrough of this, which still feels like reviewing a normal game youve only played half of. I certainly made it to the credits but Consortium is a game that is dense as opposed to long.
I should probably start with describing what kind of game Consortium is, which is rather challenging to do. Its a sort of Immersive Sim? Its more of a conversational RPG mystery with some token combat elements. It reminds me a bit of Warren Spector's Idea for the "One City Block RPG" in a good way, if perhaps its doesnt quite reach the the level of a Deus Ex game.
I had to laugh listening to a contemporary review of Consortium comparing it to Mass Effect of all things and yeah okay its certainly more akin to ME than Tetris but its still kind of far of. You are essentially a security guard for a Corporation running a fleet of big spaceship like Planes on a futuristic earth (well, actually you are a player playing the role of those things but the meta stuff gets kind of hard to explain). Numerous intrigues ensue and your choices in dialogue and actions affect the course of the unfolding mystery.
Whilst Deus Ex but in a Ship is a good starting point I honestly kept thinking about the Forgotten City for most of it. Its a conversational adventure where you are a stranger from a different time period trying to get to the bottom of a mystery, there is a pretty tacked on combat element, you can tell people about your special situation and they areact accordingly and it gets really meta towards the end. Sure its not a timeloop cause you can quicksave (and yeah thats even explained in context) but it works like one in pretty much every other way.
Ill really have to replay to see just how much it diverges based on choices (and to catch the damned traitor cause I didnt have a clue) but I was really engaged for most of it. It helps that its short and constantly developing, if perhaps some dialogue/situations could get slightly repetitive. Overall though, if you liked the Forgotten City and Immersive sims, you could do a lot worse than Consortium
Edit : Yep, it really does diverge a lot. Its the advantage of narrowing the scope that you can make things all the more impactful
Post Script November 2023
Welp, a few months ago Consortium got delisted from Steam. Id still be upset if it were due to some licensing issue or the dev going bankrupt or something, but no, its cause they are remaking the game for Unreal Engine 5! Ffs. The game's whole charm comes from being a janky source engine oddity, and now all those edges are going to be sanded off to make the game be like every other goddamned game of its ilk released today. Even if I respected that exercise, how dare they try to erase the original? Fuck you. Also weren't you supposed to be working on the abandoned sequel : the tower? What a joke. Anyways fuck the devs, if you want to play consortium just torrent it or get a steam key for the OG
I should probably start with describing what kind of game Consortium is, which is rather challenging to do. Its a sort of Immersive Sim? Its more of a conversational RPG mystery with some token combat elements. It reminds me a bit of Warren Spector's Idea for the "One City Block RPG" in a good way, if perhaps its doesnt quite reach the the level of a Deus Ex game.
I had to laugh listening to a contemporary review of Consortium comparing it to Mass Effect of all things and yeah okay its certainly more akin to ME than Tetris but its still kind of far of. You are essentially a security guard for a Corporation running a fleet of big spaceship like Planes on a futuristic earth (well, actually you are a player playing the role of those things but the meta stuff gets kind of hard to explain). Numerous intrigues ensue and your choices in dialogue and actions affect the course of the unfolding mystery.
Whilst Deus Ex but in a Ship is a good starting point I honestly kept thinking about the Forgotten City for most of it. Its a conversational adventure where you are a stranger from a different time period trying to get to the bottom of a mystery, there is a pretty tacked on combat element, you can tell people about your special situation and they areact accordingly and it gets really meta towards the end. Sure its not a timeloop cause you can quicksave (and yeah thats even explained in context) but it works like one in pretty much every other way.
Ill really have to replay to see just how much it diverges based on choices (and to catch the damned traitor cause I didnt have a clue) but I was really engaged for most of it. It helps that its short and constantly developing, if perhaps some dialogue/situations could get slightly repetitive. Overall though, if you liked the Forgotten City and Immersive sims, you could do a lot worse than Consortium
Edit : Yep, it really does diverge a lot. Its the advantage of narrowing the scope that you can make things all the more impactful
Post Script November 2023
Welp, a few months ago Consortium got delisted from Steam. Id still be upset if it were due to some licensing issue or the dev going bankrupt or something, but no, its cause they are remaking the game for Unreal Engine 5! Ffs. The game's whole charm comes from being a janky source engine oddity, and now all those edges are going to be sanded off to make the game be like every other goddamned game of its ilk released today. Even if I respected that exercise, how dare they try to erase the original? Fuck you. Also weren't you supposed to be working on the abandoned sequel : the tower? What a joke. Anyways fuck the devs, if you want to play consortium just torrent it or get a steam key for the OG