Despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews and having played/loved Paper's Please and this being clearly an indie studio that I want to support, I sadly cannot recommend this game. There are various reasons for this:
- I just cannot seem to get into the loop of doing various activities that this game provides. I find every activity to be below par in some way or another, especially compared to other games. If the gameplay was great, I could let go of my other points, but in my opinion, it is not good enough. For instance:
1. The inspection part is fine, but it gets too samey too fast with each following inspection, since you see the same characters and cars each time, with very little variations.
2. The overwhelming number of things to check early on really puts a too high learning curve on you too fast. I wish they paced this a lot better.
3. The shooting is ok, but feels similar to the old 3D fallout games, which is a style that does not fit with a more modern game like this without any system to complement it, like the VATS system or RPG mechanics/upgrades.
4. The driving is ok, but it does not feel fun nor engaging and there is very little wiggle room, making you wait behind smaller cars quite often, since there is too little wiggle room
- The story and characters are not interesting to me nor engaging and feel under utilized. Compared to something like Paper's please, it lacks character quirks, it lacks interesting themes, it lacks charm, It lacks a clear direction. And, I spoiled myself on the ending, which also lacks impact, attention and a clear thematic direction.
- Despite the release some time ago, I found the game is still full with bugs, like not hitting shots that should hit, the map being partially erased, AI clearly messing up movement, etc.
If the game is on a good sale, you can try it, because I dont actually think it is that bad of a game. But don't be expected to be blown away. Maybe my high expectations set too high standards, given all the praise this game gets/got. And maybe it gets good later, but I am not willing to sit through those hours of not enjoying myself to find out.
