I may keep touching up this review as this game is not easily discussed. This review may seem messy unlike my usual ones as this is hard to discuss (the game does have a lot to say and interpret). If it seems a little more on the negative side its because most other cover the positives for me, its still a thumbs up from me

This is a pretty solid experience. I'm not in love with it like most reviewers as i would say its a 7.5-8/10 or 3.5-4 stars based on my personal experience. And its very hard to recommend this game as its extremely text heavy and your enjoyment of the game depends on how your cop turns out (mine was boring and had a massive cyclopedia personality).

My run had me solving the main first part of the case within 30 minutes due to my visual prowess and my logic, others may suffer on early game checks that stop all momentum. The main plot is something i will discuss below in spoilers in a safe area. I will say the characters and atmosphere are well done, done well enough that its easy to believe in "more." The world building is, sadly, a text wall that can be rather boring so its pretty weak. I didnt even know what the "PALE' was until i saw a video after i beat the game (its the most interesting part of the world that can be fully missed). The style of gameplay is truly unique as well as it plays like the early fallouts but with dialogue checks as like a form of combat, usually handled well. I was also surprisingly happy with my good ending.

Summary before spoilers, its an experience worth checking out, just a little overrated, but maybe wait for a sale since its hard to know if your average person will enjoy what it has to offer. Expect your experience to vary

Now for the spoilers: either way, objectively, having a long, drawn out, mystery case and having the culprit as someone who is never even interacted with who was also not foreshadowed in a meaningful way (talking to a corpse that says "communism: is not a good defence) is bad, uncreative writing. It is an easy way out, even if you want to go with the fact that the game might argue that thats just how life is, boring in its results (it doesnt argue that). A lot of the theme and investigating are well done but the central plot is uninspired and can basically be solved in the first 30 minutes besides a rando doing the killing (i found out it was the union and 8 men doing the hanging within 30 minutes). There is never much more meat on the bone after that. On a positive ending note, this product is excellent at starting discussions and personal understandings of its messages. I actually enjoyed the PH reveal as well (i usually am more skeptical about left field turns like that but the world building and side quests left me in a state to be acceptable of it, well done to have that work on someone like me who can very easily slam that writing choice.