Very interesting. It would be a much lesser experience without anticipating the second playthrough having audio, so not advertising that was probably a mistake, but the format actually works quite well. On my first playthrough, I thought that it was either not making good use of the silence aspect, or it was abusing it so much that it didn't look that way, but I now think it was fine. There's a lot of things that are easy to miss, but none of them feel like cheap trickery.
In the silent playthrough, it feels less like a glimpse of what it's like to be a deaf person, and more what it's like to be deaf without the experiences of a deaf person (such as with how sign language isn't subtitled). As a result, I don't think it's true (as has been said) that it makes it look like deaf people don't understand what's going on (especially since the protagonist does appear to know what's going on), but rather that things are a lot more difficult.
The playthrough with audio is a lot more original than might be expected, though it's a pity that by the time you reach parts in the second playthrough, the questions you may have had in the first playthrough are very possibly forgotten. If it was a bit shorter, a third playthrough before the final version could've been interesting (to try and piece together things once more), but it's not really worthwhile.
It also looks very nice graphically, though the transitions between animations in gameplay are a lot less smooth than most cinematic games. The transitions between different types of cutscenes and gameplay are very smooth though.
Also the combat is fun, it's very linear and it fulfils the same kind of role as QTEs. I played it on the easy difficulty but died quite a few times, though it's very doable.
Also worth noting that if it wasn't for the audio stuff, it would be fairly normal. Some of the writing's quite cringe (and it's nice that the first playthrough spares you from that) and a lot of it's general lowbrow action film stuff. If it was only the version with audio, it'd be neither terrible nor worthwhile. But the fun comes from creating a mystery based on allowing the user to raise their own questions, with the answers clearly and fairly provided later.
In the silent playthrough, it feels less like a glimpse of what it's like to be a deaf person, and more what it's like to be deaf without the experiences of a deaf person (such as with how sign language isn't subtitled). As a result, I don't think it's true (as has been said) that it makes it look like deaf people don't understand what's going on (especially since the protagonist does appear to know what's going on), but rather that things are a lot more difficult.
The playthrough with audio is a lot more original than might be expected, though it's a pity that by the time you reach parts in the second playthrough, the questions you may have had in the first playthrough are very possibly forgotten. If it was a bit shorter, a third playthrough before the final version could've been interesting (to try and piece together things once more), but it's not really worthwhile.
It also looks very nice graphically, though the transitions between animations in gameplay are a lot less smooth than most cinematic games. The transitions between different types of cutscenes and gameplay are very smooth though.
Also the combat is fun, it's very linear and it fulfils the same kind of role as QTEs. I played it on the easy difficulty but died quite a few times, though it's very doable.
Also worth noting that if it wasn't for the audio stuff, it would be fairly normal. Some of the writing's quite cringe (and it's nice that the first playthrough spares you from that) and a lot of it's general lowbrow action film stuff. If it was only the version with audio, it'd be neither terrible nor worthwhile. But the fun comes from creating a mystery based on allowing the user to raise their own questions, with the answers clearly and fairly provided later.