The writing and performances are the main focus here and really stand out to deliver a tender and meaningful exploration of guilt and trauma. The gameplay - short, simple activities between walks to different vignette-style settings rarely adds to the experience, mostly due to poor implementation but the achieved sense of place and atmosphere created by the beautiful environment art and lighting really sell the story in a neat package.
A short and sweet narrative walking sim with a really unique premise. The writing, for me, was hit-or-miss, but the performances hit much more often than they missed, and i think the high points easily outweigh the low. A lot of the quiet moments feel alternately tense and calm, and it's hard for me to place the overall vibe here, but it's very evocative. I cried during one scene, and another had me on the edge of my seat. Steam tells me I finished in in 78 minutes. I'll be looking forward to what Doc and the team do next!
Edit: I just noticed the achievements list (don't look until after you beat it), and it pleases me to know that if I wanted to revisit this game in a couple years, I can do some things differently. The game really masks that in a way that feels natural. I didn't think there was any wiggle room. I don't feel compelled to immediately hop back in, but that gives me a reason to replay it after some time away to ruminate.
Edit: I just noticed the achievements list (don't look until after you beat it), and it pleases me to know that if I wanted to revisit this game in a couple years, I can do some things differently. The game really masks that in a way that feels natural. I didn't think there was any wiggle room. I don't feel compelled to immediately hop back in, but that gives me a reason to replay it after some time away to ruminate.
Rilevante solo in quanto scritto dallo sceneggiatore di Paratopic.
If you make the burrito you’re depressed as fuck.
Best to go in completly blind.
Narrative driven game with minimal gameplay, and some janky bugs. BUT it has quite the short (~60m) story, A tier voice acting, and is super interesting how it subverts the idea that you have agency as the protagonist. The game is sharp and worth a look for anyone into narrative driven experiences and unique indies.
Narrative driven game with minimal gameplay, and some janky bugs. BUT it has quite the short (~60m) story, A tier voice acting, and is super interesting how it subverts the idea that you have agency as the protagonist. The game is sharp and worth a look for anyone into narrative driven experiences and unique indies.
This review contains spoilers
The writing and dialogue are very well put together and delivered, but I felt this game had a lot of missing potential when it comes to using its format.
Yes, I understand that it's all about things unsaid and a path to redemption narrowing the future. However, I felt that there should've been more of a tangible impact with the player's interaction with the hitman. There are achievements for being proactive, lazy or fair during the farmwork, but no accompanying dialogue.
The game would've been greatly enhanced by dialogue trees and alternative endings. Certain text options are greyed out permanently to show unsaid inner thoughts, but a method of gaining the courage to say such things would fit the theme of the game. It felt like there was ambition bubbling under the surface, but it just falls short of execution.
That being said, it's a great way to spend a night with some stellar voice acting.
Yes, I understand that it's all about things unsaid and a path to redemption narrowing the future. However, I felt that there should've been more of a tangible impact with the player's interaction with the hitman. There are achievements for being proactive, lazy or fair during the farmwork, but no accompanying dialogue.
The game would've been greatly enhanced by dialogue trees and alternative endings. Certain text options are greyed out permanently to show unsaid inner thoughts, but a method of gaining the courage to say such things would fit the theme of the game. It felt like there was ambition bubbling under the surface, but it just falls short of execution.
That being said, it's a great way to spend a night with some stellar voice acting.
goodbye in spanish
Finally, a video game written and acted by people who've seen a fucking play.
great writing and voice acting, found it slightly boring as far as gameplay goes though and would have appreciated a little bit more activity, even if it was just walking around
Despite being barely longer than an hour, Adios might be the game I've thought about the most this year. It's a solemn, quiet story that plucks on the most sensitive emotional strings with impressive ease.
I can't say for sure what you'll take away from Adios, but for me it was primarily a story of acceptance. About reckoning with your past and accepting the consequences of your choices, about making peace on your own terms.
Adios is admirably restrained, and when it erupts in short dramatic bursts, it feels like an explosion in your chest. I'm going to carry it with me for a while, and I cannot recommend it enough.
I can't say for sure what you'll take away from Adios, but for me it was primarily a story of acceptance. About reckoning with your past and accepting the consequences of your choices, about making peace on your own terms.
Adios is admirably restrained, and when it erupts in short dramatic bursts, it feels like an explosion in your chest. I'm going to carry it with me for a while, and I cannot recommend it enough.
A small little story about a pig farmer. Overall pretty nice, the casual feel of it mixes pretty well with what's basically the tale of a man deciding to stop living. It felt specially nice how the game tells you just about enough about everything that's happened prior to the events.
My one criticism about the game is that the person you talk to for about 80% of it's runtime is modelled in a really goofy manner, which can take you out of the experience.
My one criticism about the game is that the person you talk to for about 80% of it's runtime is modelled in a really goofy manner, which can take you out of the experience.
This review contains spoilers
Really thoughtful premise. Engaging dialogue and short enough that the lack of gameplay doesn't matter. Definitely gives you something to think about. Very well voice acted. Points off: unfortunate choice (necessity?) to go with the extremely cartoony graphics, and the occasional line of dialogue that seems really unrealistic.
Sadly, not even the tremendous voice acting was enough to keep me actively engaged in the story. And the frustrating controls really hamper any dramatic impact this game is going for. It's a very unique tale to tell in a game and at its hour and a half length, it's worth checking out regardless of how you feel about it in the end. It just wasn't for me unfortunately.
Smartly designed for the one-hourish experience it is. I appreciate that the choices you can make are all very small and more about trying to reckon with the main character than actively creating a new story. Would be curious to go back in sometime and try some things differently and very curious to see what Doc does next.
The most emotionally devastating use of dialogue choices I’ve experienced.
a Coen Brothers-esque twine game with a beautiful environment to hang out in. if that sounds good to you then play it immediately.
It is often said that video games are defined as interactive works. This is likely. Adios is a game that makes the most of few interactions, leaving you with no options. The script is razor sharp and the actors do a great job.
This review contains spoilers
There were moments when the game got in the way of this short story experience, items getting lost after using them or not knowing how to drop items for awhile, but it's just short enough to not be too much of an issue.
Most of the story was engaging enough to get me through, but where the game sort of lost me in some of its heartstring pulls is the relationship between the farmer and the son. It just felt a bit forced compared to the growing dread about the inevitable end of this man's life.
Most of the story was engaging enough to get me through, but where the game sort of lost me in some of its heartstring pulls is the relationship between the farmer and the son. It just felt a bit forced compared to the growing dread about the inevitable end of this man's life.
Trágico.
A short adventure game about a pig farmer planning to back out of a deal he made with the mob 15 years ago after his conscience and recent life events prevent him from carrying on in his role anymore.
Adios is the final walk you take around your house and reflections on the events, things, and loved ones that lead your life down its current path and helped to form who you are while you prepare to leave your life behind. The farmer slowly putting into words all the doubts about the life he's been living for himself and for his long time friend, partner in crime, and potential killer over the course of the day. Often while your friend tries to dissuade you from your course of action or to change topics on what often starts as a more mundane subject but ends as something more personal for one or both men. Simple but beautifully somber setting, with attention to small details.
Occasionally, you are able to choose from different dialogue prompts when asked a question, but who your character is and the decisions they have made is already set and no inconsequential change, horse shoe victory, flavor soda you throw your friend, or how spicy you make your curry will change the ending. That you can't alter who your character is to create some ridiculous ending and that the most narratively altering thing the conversation choices do is to offer you blocked out choices for things that the farmer really wants to say, is afraid to say, or is considering saying when overtaken by emotion only gives more insight into his state of mind.
A grounded and well told story with an excellent voice cast that help to further highlight and bring the needed emotion to the the well written dialogue.
Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1372405680607404038
Adios is the final walk you take around your house and reflections on the events, things, and loved ones that lead your life down its current path and helped to form who you are while you prepare to leave your life behind. The farmer slowly putting into words all the doubts about the life he's been living for himself and for his long time friend, partner in crime, and potential killer over the course of the day. Often while your friend tries to dissuade you from your course of action or to change topics on what often starts as a more mundane subject but ends as something more personal for one or both men. Simple but beautifully somber setting, with attention to small details.
Occasionally, you are able to choose from different dialogue prompts when asked a question, but who your character is and the decisions they have made is already set and no inconsequential change, horse shoe victory, flavor soda you throw your friend, or how spicy you make your curry will change the ending. That you can't alter who your character is to create some ridiculous ending and that the most narratively altering thing the conversation choices do is to offer you blocked out choices for things that the farmer really wants to say, is afraid to say, or is considering saying when overtaken by emotion only gives more insight into his state of mind.
A grounded and well told story with an excellent voice cast that help to further highlight and bring the needed emotion to the the well written dialogue.
Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1372405680607404038
Exceptionally written and acted. Does a lot with a little.
Adios is an engaging and emotional story about a pig farmer who wants to stop working for the mafia.
It doesn't have the deepest gameplay, nor the flashiest visuals, but goddamn, it definetly brought me to tears. The dialogues are fantastically written and acted, and you can really feel everything the game wants to say to you.
It's short and sweet, play it if you want to immerse yourself in a refreshing and well crafted story.
It doesn't have the deepest gameplay, nor the flashiest visuals, but goddamn, it definetly brought me to tears. The dialogues are fantastically written and acted, and you can really feel everything the game wants to say to you.
It's short and sweet, play it if you want to immerse yourself in a refreshing and well crafted story.
Feels a bit like a stageplay trapped inside a video game, but it's a damn good stageplay
Short, sweet, and neat.
Decent plot but the pacing is slow and characters dry so it feels like a chore getting through the story.
This would have been much better as a short story.
Wish I liked it more. Its use of interactivity feels both like a blessing and a curse, adding a lot of depth to the main character's inner thoughts, but also padding the thing to the point where a lot of much needed tension is nowhere to be seen.
When I was preparing my final meal and I accidentally spilled all the ingredients on the floor like a goober, I had to wonder what the developers thought interactivity would add to the story. After all, Adios stars a protagonist who has made his choice before the game even boots up for the first time, so all that's left for the player to do is adopt the role of a stage performer going through the motions. Normally, I think that this is a creative decision with a lot of merit, but I found that the presentation alienated me from the protagonist more than it helped me inhabit him. It's a shame because there is a good story here about the cost of doing the right thing, but it needed to adopt a more limited format to get around the budgetary limitations that a project of this scale has. As it stands, the player is forced to spend the entire game staring at the eerily under animated facial expression of the lanky, ill-proportioned antagonist. Adios is often compared to a Coen Brothers movie but if they made a film with visual storytelling so flat and uninteresting it would easily be their worst, and this game has little to offer in its presentation to make up for that.
6,8/10
Predictable story with mini-games and dialogues
Predictable story with mini-games and dialogues
Adios means goodbye.