Control scheme is a little weird-feeling at first, but once you get used to it, it's fine. The game is a walking sim at its core, but the interactions at terminals with Kaizen-85 can be very interesting.

In fact, this is probably where the game both excels and fails the most -- Kaizen can either have some very fruitful conversations with you or just sound strangely obtuse when trying to talk about relevant topics.

Not a specific spoiler given the nature of the game, but I was trying to track down a particular item and inadvertently triggered a clue from Kaizen, so I went off to suss out that clue. I remembered seeing the item Kaizen mentioned at one point but not giving it much notice, so I figured I'd go back to try and see what I missed about said item. Found said item, found nothing useful about it. Went back to the specific terminal where Kaizen talked about said item and it mentioned a separate item altogether in the current location.

Went and checked around the current location and it gave me more prompts about other possible locations or options in lieu of my current search. The thing is -- there's nothing wrong with the fact that it did this and remembered the locations where it was offering this advice. The problem was that even if I'd bring up a separate topic during this search that wasn't relevant to said search (but may or may not be relevant to the story/game itself), it just ignored talking to me about said topic and focused more on what it expected me to do to progress the game in that particular instance.

This happened a few other times resulting in some really awkward conversations where I felt like I was talking to an old Interactive Fiction parser more than an "AI", and it kinda took me out of the game.

Additionally, some things did not function quite as intended -- one particular section of the game sees you dealing with an issue under a time crunch and when I made it to the door I needed to open, even though I was standing where the icon suggested the terminal was, the terminal would not activate, so I went elsewhere to try and find a different door and terminal, assuming I had made a mistake. When other possibilities failed, I went back to said door and suddenly the terminal worked properly as if it were never an issue.

The game isn't a polished work, but it's definitely worth your time to check out. Your mileage will likely vary based on your interest in engaging with Kaizen and walking simulators in general. It's definitely not worth the twenty dollar asking price, but if you got it on sale for ten bucks (I believe that's what I got it for), you probably wouldn't feel cheated.

Reviewed on Jul 18, 2021


Comments