You KNOW a game is good as fuck when you hit the end and you see a list of research citations in the credits. Holy shit, dude, what a ride. Game that has met near-universal acclaim actually extremely good, who would have thought?
I do think I ruined my experience by taking it a bit more slowly than I would have liked, as I found myself forgetting certain plot threads and characters, but the core is strong enough that I have a lot of great memories of going through the game. There's a lot of stuff that's really stuck with me since I played it, like every end of act going hard as hell. I like Andreas as a protagonist, he's got a very nice balance of being customizable through player choices while also having a very compelling core to him. All the characters were good, actually, even with some minor difficulties in remembering everyone (and that's even with a cheat sheet in the journal...). There were definitely characters I wish I'd gotten to spend a little more time with, because I'm not sure if that was the only time I could've chatted them up or if I just missed out on their storylines.
I also had a great time with all the mysteries, and it was extremely cool how like. Absolutely none of your Big Choices in that regard end up feeling good in the end. I remember completing Act I feeling like I'd made some sort of horrible mistake, and it absolutely ruled. As much as I love it and want to know what happens in other paths, I'm not sure if I want to play it again, because I think in games with choices like this you are bringing a certain aspect of yourself to the playthrough, you know? I'd certainly love to know how things turn out for other people, though. Maybe once I've sat on it a while.
Of course, what originally drew me to the game was the presentation, and it's really incredible. The game looks fantastic, between the speech bubbles with text that suits their own writing style and the period-appropriate art representing characters and their mental states, particularly Andreas's mind palace. Like. God damn. I don't like getting into spoilers in reviews but those fucked me up bad as the game went on!
I know people are kind of mixed on how good the individual acts are, but I'm gonna be real, I liked all of them for their own reasons. Act three is very different, and it threw me off guard at first but I really loved the themes it played with in comparison to the first two, while also really enjoying the first two. Of course it's all meandering to the same thematic core, the center of the labyrinth--but I think it's fun to find your way there yourself, isn't it?
Good shit. Absolutely worth a play or three.
I do think I ruined my experience by taking it a bit more slowly than I would have liked, as I found myself forgetting certain plot threads and characters, but the core is strong enough that I have a lot of great memories of going through the game. There's a lot of stuff that's really stuck with me since I played it, like every end of act going hard as hell. I like Andreas as a protagonist, he's got a very nice balance of being customizable through player choices while also having a very compelling core to him. All the characters were good, actually, even with some minor difficulties in remembering everyone (and that's even with a cheat sheet in the journal...). There were definitely characters I wish I'd gotten to spend a little more time with, because I'm not sure if that was the only time I could've chatted them up or if I just missed out on their storylines.
I also had a great time with all the mysteries, and it was extremely cool how like. Absolutely none of your Big Choices in that regard end up feeling good in the end. I remember completing Act I feeling like I'd made some sort of horrible mistake, and it absolutely ruled. As much as I love it and want to know what happens in other paths, I'm not sure if I want to play it again, because I think in games with choices like this you are bringing a certain aspect of yourself to the playthrough, you know? I'd certainly love to know how things turn out for other people, though. Maybe once I've sat on it a while.
Of course, what originally drew me to the game was the presentation, and it's really incredible. The game looks fantastic, between the speech bubbles with text that suits their own writing style and the period-appropriate art representing characters and their mental states, particularly Andreas's mind palace. Like. God damn. I don't like getting into spoilers in reviews but those fucked me up bad as the game went on!
I know people are kind of mixed on how good the individual acts are, but I'm gonna be real, I liked all of them for their own reasons. Act three is very different, and it threw me off guard at first but I really loved the themes it played with in comparison to the first two, while also really enjoying the first two. Of course it's all meandering to the same thematic core, the center of the labyrinth--but I think it's fun to find your way there yourself, isn't it?
Good shit. Absolutely worth a play or three.