Paradise Killer nails its goal of presenting a loud, plastic, hyperfemme, vaporwave surface littered with ephemera and infused with the sinister air of modern mundanities and cosmic horror, reverberating in its musical molotov cocktail of brash city-pop and strangely melancholic downtempo synths that make up its criminally cool soundtrack. It's the most extra video game I've played in 2020.
The setting and lore are completely bonkers, the characters are larger-than-life with some sick-ass names like Lady Love Dies, Doctor Doom Jazz, and One Last Kiss, and the story takes some wild turns.
It's the only open-world detective game I've ever played, and it's impressive how much this non-linear approach actually works for this genre, especially coming from a studio that only made its debut with this title. The tool that keeps track of all your leads is super handy and crystal clear with its sorting method that I never got lost of each thread in the game's vast web of mystery even when I took some days off between sessions throughout my 17 hours with the game.
People also weren't kidding about how much of a platformer this actually is. That aspect mostly works, although I have an incredibly tiny nitpick about how your momentum when jumping forward really doesn't make for precise platforming.
I'm not as down on the climax that some people seem to be from what I've heard and read, because while mechanically it's actually pretty straightforward unlike, say, the trial sections in the Ace Attorney series, it does reflect the open-ended nature of the game and its themes of distinguishing facts from truths and fairness from justice and the pettiness of people in power. It's also just satisfying to lay down as tight of a case as possible that you built with some real hard-nosed investigating and watch uppity conspiratorial assholes with their manicured facades crumble!
I do think it would have been good for the game to give you an idea of how the trial would work. 100% agreed on the general sentiment I've seen from others who've played the game that had I known the trial's structure, I maybe would have made different choices to spare a couple of characters.
If there's one other big thing I wish the game did, it would have been to make the characters more reactive to actions and dialogue choices you make. I'm sure that would have been infinitely more complex to attempt and would probably make solving the mystery even harder if, say, you get locked out of certain information if you overstep your boundaries or say the wrong thing, but I think it would have made for a way more interesting game and emphasized the importance of building relationships and navigating truths that its themes touch on.
Still, given how intricate the plot is and how the investigative experience still works with pacing peaks and valleys despite its open-world structure, there's a lot of praise to be given to Kaizen Game Works for achieving their own set of narrative and gameplay ambitions.
The setting and lore are completely bonkers, the characters are larger-than-life with some sick-ass names like Lady Love Dies, Doctor Doom Jazz, and One Last Kiss, and the story takes some wild turns.
It's the only open-world detective game I've ever played, and it's impressive how much this non-linear approach actually works for this genre, especially coming from a studio that only made its debut with this title. The tool that keeps track of all your leads is super handy and crystal clear with its sorting method that I never got lost of each thread in the game's vast web of mystery even when I took some days off between sessions throughout my 17 hours with the game.
People also weren't kidding about how much of a platformer this actually is. That aspect mostly works, although I have an incredibly tiny nitpick about how your momentum when jumping forward really doesn't make for precise platforming.
I'm not as down on the climax that some people seem to be from what I've heard and read, because while mechanically it's actually pretty straightforward unlike, say, the trial sections in the Ace Attorney series, it does reflect the open-ended nature of the game and its themes of distinguishing facts from truths and fairness from justice and the pettiness of people in power. It's also just satisfying to lay down as tight of a case as possible that you built with some real hard-nosed investigating and watch uppity conspiratorial assholes with their manicured facades crumble!
I do think it would have been good for the game to give you an idea of how the trial would work. 100% agreed on the general sentiment I've seen from others who've played the game that had I known the trial's structure, I maybe would have made different choices to spare a couple of characters.
If there's one other big thing I wish the game did, it would have been to make the characters more reactive to actions and dialogue choices you make. I'm sure that would have been infinitely more complex to attempt and would probably make solving the mystery even harder if, say, you get locked out of certain information if you overstep your boundaries or say the wrong thing, but I think it would have made for a way more interesting game and emphasized the importance of building relationships and navigating truths that its themes touch on.
Still, given how intricate the plot is and how the investigative experience still works with pacing peaks and valleys despite its open-world structure, there's a lot of praise to be given to Kaizen Game Works for achieving their own set of narrative and gameplay ambitions.