oh this just isn't very good.
I'm not a strict follower of the "show-don't-tell" philosophy, but always a bit of annoyance when a story feels like its talking down to me. Encodya isn't quite confident enough to let players interpret information for themselves. It frequently interrupts the action with over-explanations of the plot and the factions, while neglecting incidental moments that might warm me up to the protagonists. This is particularly irksome when it sort of leaves you high and dry in terms of actual puzzle direction. The game will highlight objects you can pick up with the space bar, but the highlight is easy to miss. It also won't tell you what you can interact with or why. There's always going to be a bit of that with point and clicks, but it feels egregious here when the game markets itself as a kid-friendly, Ghibli inspired game.
I spoiled myself on the ending and just, I dunno. I'm not expecting Shakespeare or anything, but I just don't think the writers have enough of a concrete idea of what kind of cyberpunk story they want to tell. I don't even think the story NEEDS to be complicated or bogged down with too many sci-fi concepts. Its a kid-oriented point and click by an indie company that donates 10% of their earnings to charity. I respect that a lot. But the final thesis of the game and the narrative battle is just a bit half-baked to me.
Villain: "If you upload nature into the cyberspace, people will want to leave cyberspace and society will collapse!"
Hero: "But nature is good!"
I guess ultimately, Chaosmonger Studio seems like a good company who are passionate about what they do and want to put good out in the world, even if they still have a lot to improve upon. I'm gonna try to remember that if they make another game, so that I can buy it and probably never play it.
I'm not a strict follower of the "show-don't-tell" philosophy, but always a bit of annoyance when a story feels like its talking down to me. Encodya isn't quite confident enough to let players interpret information for themselves. It frequently interrupts the action with over-explanations of the plot and the factions, while neglecting incidental moments that might warm me up to the protagonists. This is particularly irksome when it sort of leaves you high and dry in terms of actual puzzle direction. The game will highlight objects you can pick up with the space bar, but the highlight is easy to miss. It also won't tell you what you can interact with or why. There's always going to be a bit of that with point and clicks, but it feels egregious here when the game markets itself as a kid-friendly, Ghibli inspired game.
I spoiled myself on the ending and just, I dunno. I'm not expecting Shakespeare or anything, but I just don't think the writers have enough of a concrete idea of what kind of cyberpunk story they want to tell. I don't even think the story NEEDS to be complicated or bogged down with too many sci-fi concepts. Its a kid-oriented point and click by an indie company that donates 10% of their earnings to charity. I respect that a lot. But the final thesis of the game and the narrative battle is just a bit half-baked to me.
Villain: "If you upload nature into the cyberspace, people will want to leave cyberspace and society will collapse!"
Hero: "But nature is good!"
I guess ultimately, Chaosmonger Studio seems like a good company who are passionate about what they do and want to put good out in the world, even if they still have a lot to improve upon. I'm gonna try to remember that if they make another game, so that I can buy it and probably never play it.