Dear Reader, beware! This software, for it should be a capital offence to refer to it as a game, is a giant digital middle finger to the concept of game design. Every aspect of it seems to have been explicitly constructed to waste the player's time and sanity. Do not be fooled by the large download size or the teaser images in the Overview: I spent 3 hours in the software and didn't see one teaser image. In fact, I didn't see any scene at all post opening cinematic.
The software's intention to waste your time is made clear from program start when it takes 5 seconds for the unskippable Patreon and socials slide to progress. It takes 10 seconds (!) for the main menu to display in a cinematic, 10 seconds that you can't click through. In total, from window opening to me clicking the Load button, it takes 20+ seconds.
This impressively pathological desire to waste the player's time extends to the main game. You are dropped in an alley, with no guidance on what to do or where to go. The player would naturally start exploring their environs to get some hint of the objective. You don't find any. You then exit the alley and enter a large sandbox with over 15 locations. The player, in search of some clue, clicks a location, but is then greeted by a cutscene where two thugs intercept the player character, spout some nonsense and off him.
That's it. Game over.
The player thinks, 'OK, unexpected. I'll use RenPy's awesome feature and just rollback. Oh, it seems that the developer has blocked any rollback functionality. I do hope I've got a recent save!'
The player will soon realize that the thugs appear at RANDOM when a player is traveling to any location in the sandbox. The developer is actively punishing the player for attempting to explore in their software. And without any objective, what entices the player to leave the starting alleyway? Nothing.
Another example of prodigious time wasting is when the MC knocks on a door. The developer makes you wait 5 seconds for someone to answer the door, if at all! You can't click through the scene to speed it up, you have to wait the 5 seconds.
The other baffling decision is the skip time button. The in game clock tracks 24 hours, with character locations and availability being determined by time of day and day of week. You want to wait until 10 p.m. to be able to buy something from a vendor? Press that skip time button and despair that it only skips between 10 and 30 minutes.
I don't usually review games (or software) that I don't like because I know the effort it takes to get something even mediocre together. However, this software was such a cock and balls slap in the face of common sense and decent game design that I had to say something. It seems to be created to disrespect the player and their time. I didn't even cover the grammar or the narrative - mainly because I didn't get to see the latter. Though, judging by the design philosophy and the developer's previous game, maybe I've dodged a bullet.
To all reading this review, avoid this software like the plague. Do something more meaningful with your time, like me. I'm counting the grains of sand at my beach.
The software's intention to waste your time is made clear from program start when it takes 5 seconds for the unskippable Patreon and socials slide to progress. It takes 10 seconds (!) for the main menu to display in a cinematic, 10 seconds that you can't click through. In total, from window opening to me clicking the Load button, it takes 20+ seconds.
This impressively pathological desire to waste the player's time extends to the main game. You are dropped in an alley, with no guidance on what to do or where to go. The player would naturally start exploring their environs to get some hint of the objective. You don't find any. You then exit the alley and enter a large sandbox with over 15 locations. The player, in search of some clue, clicks a location, but is then greeted by a cutscene where two thugs intercept the player character, spout some nonsense and off him.
That's it. Game over.
The player thinks, 'OK, unexpected. I'll use RenPy's awesome feature and just rollback. Oh, it seems that the developer has blocked any rollback functionality. I do hope I've got a recent save!'
The player will soon realize that the thugs appear at RANDOM when a player is traveling to any location in the sandbox. The developer is actively punishing the player for attempting to explore in their software. And without any objective, what entices the player to leave the starting alleyway? Nothing.
Another example of prodigious time wasting is when the MC knocks on a door. The developer makes you wait 5 seconds for someone to answer the door, if at all! You can't click through the scene to speed it up, you have to wait the 5 seconds.
The other baffling decision is the skip time button. The in game clock tracks 24 hours, with character locations and availability being determined by time of day and day of week. You want to wait until 10 p.m. to be able to buy something from a vendor? Press that skip time button and despair that it only skips between 10 and 30 minutes.
I don't usually review games (or software) that I don't like because I know the effort it takes to get something even mediocre together. However, this software was such a cock and balls slap in the face of common sense and decent game design that I had to say something. It seems to be created to disrespect the player and their time. I didn't even cover the grammar or the narrative - mainly because I didn't get to see the latter. Though, judging by the design philosophy and the developer's previous game, maybe I've dodged a bullet.
To all reading this review, avoid this software like the plague. Do something more meaningful with your time, like me. I'm counting the grains of sand at my beach.
