Developer: Daniel Mullins
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Gameplay Stats: 18 hours, 28/40 achievements
I've been struggling a bit about how to talk about this game because it relies so much on going in blind. I guess I'll put my bottom line up front for people who want to know my opinion and then more details below a spoiler line. Would I recommend this game? I think it was paced very oddly. I got the most enjoyment out of the first 6-8 hours, after that I think it kind of dragged a little. The game is split into 3 acts, I though the first was the best. The second act was the most complex and that was enjoyable as well, albeit in a different way. I guess I'd cautiously recommend this game.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aesthetics: The visuals of the first act were great! The second act was fine/good. And I didn't really care for the third act. I think there's a really good reason all the marketing (at least that I have seen) includes only the first act. There is some atmospheric music throughout but nothing I would probably care to listen to again. Nothing bad per say but nothing great.
Plot: I do think the plot was pretty interesting throughout! It started out being kind of an escape room, and then more of a meta escape-game. There were little video clips in the game to help convey the bigger story and I thought it was kind of neat. That being said, I think the overall plot was a little forgettable. I might change my opinion after the game has had more time to simmer, but right now I'm walking away a little unimpressed.
Gameplay: The card game that serves as the base of most of this game is enjoyable and kind of simplistic. I wouldn't want a roguelike or anything, but I enjoyed my time with it in the first two acts. I didn't like it as much in the third act because they removed a whole heap of complexity. It made sense for narrative reasons, but I feel like they had a narrative in mind before the gameplay which made the difficulty curve very weird. There are some mild escape room elements that I really liked. I liked that you got hints for the escape room from the card game and solving puzzles in the surrounding room often helped you progress farther in the card game itself.
Tangent: I think the odd pacing of this game is almost entirely to blame for how I feel walking away from it. The first act is EXCELLENT. I really think the second and third acts struggled because of the comparison. The third act struggled more than the second for sure. The complexity taking a steep step down for act 3 was a weird choice. It didn't really make sense with the narrative either. You are finally facing the "big bad" of the game in act 3 and he's arguably the easiest boss. It just felt weird.
Comments
Post a Comment