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Comment by ahartmetz | Hacker News Reader

I don't like anything about the game - writing, art style, characters, UX, voice acting, main storyline... so that opinion exists, too.

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In the middle opinions also exist. I thought the worldbuilding and their spin on conversation mechanics was top tier and liked the art, but I also thought that it was oversold with the "open world... let you do almost anything" marketing when the reality is closer to "you're an alcoholic cop character with a defined backstory, who must solve a mystery with a defined ending by negotiating your way through defined checkpoints, but you can act differently towards the characters you need to pump for information and take on a couple of side quest options if you want"

Oh absolutely. I'm entranced by the game, but I wouldn't emphasize that it's an open world, I think that sets unrealistic expectations. It's rather that it's much deeper than the usual point and click games, more like an interactive novel, and with features that let you put different spins on the story. I think if the expectation is a point and click adventure, then the game can deliver, open world is more like Red Dead Redemption.

Okay. I like what they were trying to do in, yes. "The alcoholic detective" is a fun enough archetype, too. But I think they failed at execution on almost everything. The game doesn't even scroll smoothly and the dialog font and colors are ugly, and boy do you look at them a lot.

I definitely liked some things about the game. But what I didn't like is that it's incredibly depressing. There's not enough wry humor (even though it's good humor) to cover up the fact that it's a terribly sad story about a man who's alcoholism has destroyed his ability to comprehend reality. I made it about ten hours in, and deciding to stop there felt like opening a window onto a bright sunny day after being stuck in a menial office job.

I could play for 5 hours then gave up because similar reasons. In situations like this I usually think it should be an acquired taste, but in this case, I'm pretty much confident that I'd have never liked it. UX was the biggest pain point for me BTW.

I thought it was a drag having to schlep around town for a point and click game.

imagine that, in a detective game you are required to poke around and TALK! to people. Crazy idea.

same. the entire thing could have been done similar to a renpy-style visual novel and generally played out the same.

the dialog, trees, and story were the game, everything else was kinda clunky

You're not alone. From the description it should have been right up my alley — avid reader, including Philip K. Dick, can appreciate weird stuff — but something about the way the protagonist was interacting with other characters sat wrong with me. Perhaps it was the pretending everything was alright whilst suffering from (something induced) amnesia? I'm not sure what exactly irked me. I didn't feel like I wanted to dive into this world. The UX felt underwhelming too.

Perhaps I'll look into it again in a few years time, when I finally finish Factorio.

Once the game started psycoanalysing me I had to put it down. I like reading P. K. Dick, not being a part of his world.

I love the game, but I know a lot of people who don't, for a variety of reasons. They were very opinionated about what kind of game they were trying to make, so you'd expect it to resonate strongly with some people and not at all with others.

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