I'm sorry, ex Fullbright, but this game missed the mark for me. It's the first game from the studio that I can't say I enjoyed.
The premise of a mother-daughter road trip to uncover a hidden family secret was very intriguing to me and fits perfectly with Fullbright's style of storytelling through letters and environmental cues. With the back-and-forth between the two characters, some of the magic of discovering things for yourself is lost. About 80% of their conversations are just exposition dumps. While the voice acting is great and there's chemistry between Tess and Opal, some of the dialogue just doesn't feel right and is honestly sometimes even poorly written.
The flute ambient soundtrack is annoyingly lifeless and lacks emotion. They even missed playing the essential radio songs during the car rides, which is a must-have for a road trip experience, why not add some nice early 2000 indie track? totally missed opportunity there.
The 2D character design against 3D backgrounds kind of works, but the lack of animations during dialogue is very noticeable. As Dusk Falls handled this much better, where scenes naturally flowed into one another. Here, it's just a monotonous sequence of the same three animations that sometimes don't even match what the character is saying or feeling.
Story-wise, it's somewhat okay. I see what they're trying to tell, and the message isn't lost; it subtly develops into something substantial by the end, and I could connect with it to some extent. It's even more frustrating because there seems to be a great script, but everything around it just feels off. I sincerely hope they get another chance to make a game without the development turmoil, as I really appreciate the way they use this medium.
The premise of a mother-daughter road trip to uncover a hidden family secret was very intriguing to me and fits perfectly with Fullbright's style of storytelling through letters and environmental cues. With the back-and-forth between the two characters, some of the magic of discovering things for yourself is lost. About 80% of their conversations are just exposition dumps. While the voice acting is great and there's chemistry between Tess and Opal, some of the dialogue just doesn't feel right and is honestly sometimes even poorly written.
The flute ambient soundtrack is annoyingly lifeless and lacks emotion. They even missed playing the essential radio songs during the car rides, which is a must-have for a road trip experience, why not add some nice early 2000 indie track? totally missed opportunity there.
The 2D character design against 3D backgrounds kind of works, but the lack of animations during dialogue is very noticeable. As Dusk Falls handled this much better, where scenes naturally flowed into one another. Here, it's just a monotonous sequence of the same three animations that sometimes don't even match what the character is saying or feeling.
Story-wise, it's somewhat okay. I see what they're trying to tell, and the message isn't lost; it subtly develops into something substantial by the end, and I could connect with it to some extent. It's even more frustrating because there seems to be a great script, but everything around it just feels off. I sincerely hope they get another chance to make a game without the development turmoil, as I really appreciate the way they use this medium.