Review of ep 4
The main menu ensemble (music + video) is arresting and brilliant. I love it, and IMO other devs should do things like this to set the tone of the rest of the game.
...and that's where its virtues end, because the game itself is mediocre at best. (Note: I turned off voice acting as it was distracting.)
MC's "I faked a degree at salesman school" look is off-putting, and he has the charisma of a ten-year-old Republican trying to be a model citizen. Like all the characters in this game, he has no brain or agency at all and follows the "I'm a good guy" script because that's his job. It's uninspiring and I just don't care about him.
Riley is similar. I really like how she looks and superficially acts; she's my type and I should love her to pieces. Unfortunately, I can't; like MC, she also just barely registers as human and seems to be thoroughly on-rails for some type of external narrative. You could almost replace all of MC and Riley's lines to each other with "herp derp" and get the same game.
Lilly is also kinda my type but falls flat for similar reasons. I didn't go through her route fully because I just don't care.
Heather isn't my type.
Harper's intro was the high point of the game for me, but the dev doesn't seem to know what to do with her and she quickly fell into the same boring pattern that the others girls did. What a fucking waste because that storyline has problem-hot written all over it. She should be inspiring fear and excitement, not "oh, it's Harper".
Minor gripes: the game's geography is inscrutable; it looks like we park in the middle of nowhere to get to our house. Apparently driveways aren't a thing. The 50's style gas station is ... well it's interesting I guess. Never explained.
I dunno, this game had all the ingredients to be something I'd love and then just ralphed on itself at every opportunity. I don't get it. Girls + renders are gorgeous, story is a nothing-burger, nobody has any charisma. It isn't a train wreck, but it's got nothing going for it either. 3/5.
The main menu ensemble (music + video) is arresting and brilliant. I love it, and IMO other devs should do things like this to set the tone of the rest of the game.
...and that's where its virtues end, because the game itself is mediocre at best. (Note: I turned off voice acting as it was distracting.)
MC's "I faked a degree at salesman school" look is off-putting, and he has the charisma of a ten-year-old Republican trying to be a model citizen. Like all the characters in this game, he has no brain or agency at all and follows the "I'm a good guy" script because that's his job. It's uninspiring and I just don't care about him.
Riley is similar. I really like how she looks and superficially acts; she's my type and I should love her to pieces. Unfortunately, I can't; like MC, she also just barely registers as human and seems to be thoroughly on-rails for some type of external narrative. You could almost replace all of MC and Riley's lines to each other with "herp derp" and get the same game.
Lilly is also kinda my type but falls flat for similar reasons. I didn't go through her route fully because I just don't care.
Heather isn't my type.
Harper's intro was the high point of the game for me, but the dev doesn't seem to know what to do with her and she quickly fell into the same boring pattern that the others girls did. What a fucking waste because that storyline has problem-hot written all over it. She should be inspiring fear and excitement, not "oh, it's Harper".
Minor gripes: the game's geography is inscrutable; it looks like we park in the middle of nowhere to get to our house. Apparently driveways aren't a thing. The 50's style gas station is ... well it's interesting I guess. Never explained.
I dunno, this game had all the ingredients to be something I'd love and then just ralphed on itself at every opportunity. I don't get it. Girls + renders are gorgeous, story is a nothing-burger, nobody has any charisma. It isn't a train wreck, but it's got nothing going for it either. 3/5.
