profoundly disappointing, coming from someone who really liked the first two games in the series. the "clockwork city" conceit, where every single npc is an individual with their own schedule and relationships is, at first blush, remarkable. but very soon you realize how impenetrable it makes things. since you're only able to play as npcs who you recruit to the cause, you never feel like you're really inhabiting the world. the second you interact with them, they cease to be who they are and instead slot into a tiny handful of prescribed recruitment missions. these mission never have any relation to who these ppl are, their jobs or histories or personalities. they're just boxes that need to be checked to make the npc playable. and whoever you play as has been yanked out of their procedurally generated routine and made to go on missions. but you can't do their jobs when you control them. you can't spend time with their loved ones. when you are controlling them, they cease to exist. they made this massive real-life simulation, but not for us to live in.