Paradise Killer is weird as hell, but it's absolutely my kind of weird. I'm a big sucker for worldbuilding and unusual settings, and Paradise Killer sure does deliver that in droves. The world seems to be entirely built around juxtaposition; high-energy disco and jazz music imposed against the ghoulishly empty streets, the fantastical sculptures and temples cast against the grimey tower blocks in the town below, and of course the bright and cheery facade of the island in general cast against its horrific purpose and history. And this isn't a case of 'seemingly nice world with a sinister undercurrent'; the world of Paradise Killer is cheery, idyllic, suave, mysterious, horrific and terrifying all at once, and this is all quite apparent from the get go. It's such an interesting way to present a Lovecraftian/cosmic horror-type setting like this; I've never seen anything quite like it, and I loved every second of it.
Of course you need a game to go with the setting, and it felt like Paradise Killer's gameplay revolved around two fairly disconnected cores. There is a kind of collectathon nature to the game, where you're encouraged to scour the island, complete puzzles and platforming challenges to find various things. Sometimes these things are important clues which tie into the other half of the game, but more often than you're just finding money or snippets of lore. And I'm not sure this really adds too much? The platforming is often very janky, and sometimes things are hidden out of the way at the ends of areas with nothing else to see, and so this aspect of the game can come across as a little time-wasting (especially as the island is fascinating enough that I found exploring it to be its own reward). I do think on the whole I was grateful for the collectathon elements as a change of pace in between more intense investigative parts of the game, but it's definitely not where PK shines brightest.
The investigation side of PK, on the other hand, absolutely gripped me; I legit lost a fair few hours of sleep trying to piece together pictures of what might have happened from the snippets of clues I had at the time. The characters you spend much of the game interviewing are all fantastic with excellently written dialogue, and it is absolutely fascinating trying to piece together their motives and backstories. By the end of the investigation I still feel there were one or two things that didn't really fit into place anywhere, which was a little frustrating, but aside from that I think this is probably one of the best-written video game mysteries out there.
The other part of this project that has clearly had tonnes of love and care poured into it is the presentation. Paradise Killer is incredibly stylized, especially in it's UI and in little flares like character's VA's constantly blurting out catchphrases mid-conversation. I mostly like these touches, they help to make the game feel even more standout and unique than it already is, but it does lead to the game being a very full-on and generally loud experience that isn't easy to play for too long at a time. And of course I have to mention the music, which is fantastic and somehow fits the setting absolutely perfectly (I wouldn't even be surprised if the music came first and the game was designed around it). But there are a couple of presentation choices that I didn't get along with. Most of the VA is... pretty bad, to be honest, but this almost feels like a deliberate choice? I quite liked the weird things all the characters would constantly yell mid-conversation, but it feels like most of the VAs weren't really given much direction and the performances come off pretty weak. I also kinda hate the way characters are presented in the world. Every NPC in Paradise Killer is a static jpeg that is either locked in place or slowly rotates to try and face you at all times. None of the characters have any presence or 'pop' at all, and it just looks kinda bad... nothing breaks immersion like walking past a taxi driver too fast and seeing her collapse into an infinitesimal one-dimensional being, or walking straight past a suspect because he was standing flush against a wall and your brain just assumed he was part of a wall texture. I get that 3D models are a whole other thing and would look out of place in this world, but I would have preferred PK to do something like Doom where the jpegs are locked to always face you exactly. In fact, as a proof of concept, Paradise Killer does exactly this with the various inanimate collectibles in the game, and they all stand out from the world just fine.
So yeah, little things like the character models, outdated-looking textures and some stiff platforming controls do give Paradise Killer an unmistakable air of jank (topped off with its lack of autosave, which seems a bizarre choice to make in 2020). But if some corners did have to be cut to make this then it was absolutely worth it, because that time that was saved was clearly redirected into making this game as special, well-written and memorable as possible. It's a great experience, with a great mystery to solve and a highly satisfying ending, and this is one I can thoroughly recommend.
Of course you need a game to go with the setting, and it felt like Paradise Killer's gameplay revolved around two fairly disconnected cores. There is a kind of collectathon nature to the game, where you're encouraged to scour the island, complete puzzles and platforming challenges to find various things. Sometimes these things are important clues which tie into the other half of the game, but more often than you're just finding money or snippets of lore. And I'm not sure this really adds too much? The platforming is often very janky, and sometimes things are hidden out of the way at the ends of areas with nothing else to see, and so this aspect of the game can come across as a little time-wasting (especially as the island is fascinating enough that I found exploring it to be its own reward). I do think on the whole I was grateful for the collectathon elements as a change of pace in between more intense investigative parts of the game, but it's definitely not where PK shines brightest.
The investigation side of PK, on the other hand, absolutely gripped me; I legit lost a fair few hours of sleep trying to piece together pictures of what might have happened from the snippets of clues I had at the time. The characters you spend much of the game interviewing are all fantastic with excellently written dialogue, and it is absolutely fascinating trying to piece together their motives and backstories. By the end of the investigation I still feel there were one or two things that didn't really fit into place anywhere, which was a little frustrating, but aside from that I think this is probably one of the best-written video game mysteries out there.
The other part of this project that has clearly had tonnes of love and care poured into it is the presentation. Paradise Killer is incredibly stylized, especially in it's UI and in little flares like character's VA's constantly blurting out catchphrases mid-conversation. I mostly like these touches, they help to make the game feel even more standout and unique than it already is, but it does lead to the game being a very full-on and generally loud experience that isn't easy to play for too long at a time. And of course I have to mention the music, which is fantastic and somehow fits the setting absolutely perfectly (I wouldn't even be surprised if the music came first and the game was designed around it). But there are a couple of presentation choices that I didn't get along with. Most of the VA is... pretty bad, to be honest, but this almost feels like a deliberate choice? I quite liked the weird things all the characters would constantly yell mid-conversation, but it feels like most of the VAs weren't really given much direction and the performances come off pretty weak. I also kinda hate the way characters are presented in the world. Every NPC in Paradise Killer is a static jpeg that is either locked in place or slowly rotates to try and face you at all times. None of the characters have any presence or 'pop' at all, and it just looks kinda bad... nothing breaks immersion like walking past a taxi driver too fast and seeing her collapse into an infinitesimal one-dimensional being, or walking straight past a suspect because he was standing flush against a wall and your brain just assumed he was part of a wall texture. I get that 3D models are a whole other thing and would look out of place in this world, but I would have preferred PK to do something like Doom where the jpegs are locked to always face you exactly. In fact, as a proof of concept, Paradise Killer does exactly this with the various inanimate collectibles in the game, and they all stand out from the world just fine.
So yeah, little things like the character models, outdated-looking textures and some stiff platforming controls do give Paradise Killer an unmistakable air of jank (topped off with its lack of autosave, which seems a bizarre choice to make in 2020). But if some corners did have to be cut to make this then it was absolutely worth it, because that time that was saved was clearly redirected into making this game as special, well-written and memorable as possible. It's a great experience, with a great mystery to solve and a highly satisfying ending, and this is one I can thoroughly recommend.