Sights & Sounds
- Nice comic book visuals and character designs that wouldn't look out of place on a 90s Saturday morning cartoon lineup
- The music is pretty good. I got distracted with the menu screen pulled up and was pleasantly surprised by the bass in the song. Not sure I was a big fan of the credits song
- The (English) voice acting was a little uneven. Some performances were really great--particularly Brok's VA--but others were a considerable step down from that
Story & Vibes
- Given the title, I went in expecting a possibly noir-ish detective story with plenty of investigating and plot twists. There was certainly no shortage of twists, but I was in no way expecting the political or sci-fi elements. I don't want to spoil much because it's more fun to be surprised by just how complex the thematic space gets in a game about a cartoon detective alligator
- In addition to the surprisingly rich narrative tapestry, there's plenty of emotional, philosophical, and moral detail woven in. The relationship between Brok and Graff was very well-written, and it was interesting to see how player decisions affected the outcome
- Some of those emotional elements do land as a little corny, unfortunately. They're so sincere that I didn't mind much, though
- That said, Shay felt like a massively underexplored character. There's supposed to be a lot of history between she and Brok, but she shows up so little in spite of her narrative importance that I found myself more confused by her character than anything
Playability & Replayability
- Like it says in all of the promo material, it's a point-and-click with beat-em-up elements. Both are pretty standard faire for both genres. I did like how the brawler portions broke up gameplay of the predominant adventure gameplay, but they did feel mechanically thin. They could have used some combos, abilities, items, skills, specials, or something to justify their presence in the game beyond being a simple change of pace
- Choices absolutely do matter in this game. There's a bunch of endings, and your actions can affect the one you see in unexpected ways. The collectables and endings tracking tools were really thoughtful touches that make exploring more rewarding and easier to manage
- The game is honestly worth multiple playthroughs, at least until you make it to the canonical ending. It's not necessarily the best ending (it mostly just seems to set up a sequel), unfortunately. Some of the other endings feel more satisfying. Others are absolutely bonkers
Overall Impressions & Performance
- This game subverted a most of the expectations I had going in, particularly with respect to the plot and themes. I really was not expecting so much depth. The beat-em-up sections were a little bit of a let down, though
- Some clunky translation work here and there, but I can forgive that
- As you'd probably expect from a game like this, performance isn't a huge concern. It ran exceptionally on the Steam Deck, and the standard controls were perfect
Final Verdict
- 7.5/10. It's a high-quality point-and-click detective adventure with a lot of clever narrative ideas. The beat-em-up parts felt a little extraneous, but ultimately don't detract from the enjoyability
- Nice comic book visuals and character designs that wouldn't look out of place on a 90s Saturday morning cartoon lineup
- The music is pretty good. I got distracted with the menu screen pulled up and was pleasantly surprised by the bass in the song. Not sure I was a big fan of the credits song
- The (English) voice acting was a little uneven. Some performances were really great--particularly Brok's VA--but others were a considerable step down from that
Story & Vibes
- Given the title, I went in expecting a possibly noir-ish detective story with plenty of investigating and plot twists. There was certainly no shortage of twists, but I was in no way expecting the political or sci-fi elements. I don't want to spoil much because it's more fun to be surprised by just how complex the thematic space gets in a game about a cartoon detective alligator
- In addition to the surprisingly rich narrative tapestry, there's plenty of emotional, philosophical, and moral detail woven in. The relationship between Brok and Graff was very well-written, and it was interesting to see how player decisions affected the outcome
- Some of those emotional elements do land as a little corny, unfortunately. They're so sincere that I didn't mind much, though
- That said, Shay felt like a massively underexplored character. There's supposed to be a lot of history between she and Brok, but she shows up so little in spite of her narrative importance that I found myself more confused by her character than anything
Playability & Replayability
- Like it says in all of the promo material, it's a point-and-click with beat-em-up elements. Both are pretty standard faire for both genres. I did like how the brawler portions broke up gameplay of the predominant adventure gameplay, but they did feel mechanically thin. They could have used some combos, abilities, items, skills, specials, or something to justify their presence in the game beyond being a simple change of pace
- Choices absolutely do matter in this game. There's a bunch of endings, and your actions can affect the one you see in unexpected ways. The collectables and endings tracking tools were really thoughtful touches that make exploring more rewarding and easier to manage
- The game is honestly worth multiple playthroughs, at least until you make it to the canonical ending. It's not necessarily the best ending (it mostly just seems to set up a sequel), unfortunately. Some of the other endings feel more satisfying. Others are absolutely bonkers
Overall Impressions & Performance
- This game subverted a most of the expectations I had going in, particularly with respect to the plot and themes. I really was not expecting so much depth. The beat-em-up sections were a little bit of a let down, though
- Some clunky translation work here and there, but I can forgive that
- As you'd probably expect from a game like this, performance isn't a huge concern. It ran exceptionally on the Steam Deck, and the standard controls were perfect
Final Verdict
- 7.5/10. It's a high-quality point-and-click detective adventure with a lot of clever narrative ideas. The beat-em-up parts felt a little extraneous, but ultimately don't detract from the enjoyability