Further into the game now (still fairly early I'm assuming) just finished the 2nd photo development puzzle and 1st chase sequence. I'm liking the game a lot so far, especially as the mystery is beginning to ramp up with the latest scenes reveal. I like that Marianne has a lighter side in her interactions with Sadness while still realistically reacting to some of the more shocking events. It gives her character some depth and nails the sense that she's experienced at dealing with the spirit world.
I do think this game could easily jump up a full point higher if the devs weren't so committed to very simplistic puzzle design. They don't need to be mind-benders but too many of the interactions have boiled down to me using the one item in my inventory a few steps away from where I found it. Some of the puzzles are more creative, though, like the ones that involve using your powers. Or the one with the clock I just did, which had very nice presentation as well. It helps to turn tool tips off, because with a game this easy you really don't need a prompt telling you exactly when to use each ability on top of it. I like adventure games that incorporate powers in their puzzle mechanics like Life is Strange, Unavowed or Whispers of a Machine.
Liking it more as it goes on so far. Looking forward to diving back in and playing more later tonight.
I get Still Life vibes from it and I like it.
Totally agree, the vibes of this game are straight out of Microids catalogue circa mid 00's (Syberia, Still Life, Post Mortem) but instead of baking cakes while solving a mystery, you're developing photos
Agree with all of this.
It’s just a game that got too big a spotlight and has gotten more criticism than it deserved as a result. Part is their own fault as they marketed it in a way that made it seem like a Silent Hills/Resident Evil type game when it’s an adventure game with no combat. They’re probably fine with that as the adventure genre is more niche and selling more copies with more disappointed gamers is better for the bottom line than selling fewer copies to a larger percentage of satisfied gamers.
Yeah, that was likely the thinking behind it. We'll never have the 1:1 comparison but it seems short sighted to me. I'd think you wouldn't want people feeling like they were mislead and having that be associated with your studio. Especially when you could very realistically market this game to fans of Detroit, Life is Strange, Unavowed, Dark Pictures, etc. Detroit just surpassed 5 million so idk if its a harder audience to tap into, but it's there.
In any case I just hope more people end up liking the game than not because it seems genuinely good and a lot of the negative reaction you read is people going "I thought this was going to be Silent Hill and its an adventure game instead"