Pendula Swing Episode 1 - Tired and Retired

• I love the logic behind the Point and Click puzzles since it let us stay focused on others things such as characters and lore. • The graphics and elegant, chic. A pleasure for a character-driven top down game. • Even at running speed, the character is a bit slow which makes looking for stuff long and repetitive. • The dialogue sounds are a great idea, and a welcome attention to world-building detail. Unfortunately, those chosen sound a bit...rattling? (Uncanny. But not in the good sense of it.) • Not having a way to fight at all is a little weird for me. I expect a challenging way to earn money or reputation, or relationship, or something at least because selling stuff so easily doesn't feel satisfying enough. • The gameplay, though not unpleasant, has a bug with the dialogue box ( If we read and click too fast some lines are skipped, including dialogue options ; the clerk guarding the VIP entrance at the customs of to the first town gave me invitations papers twice and I got them signed twice by the same person (eggs) sometimes, when we have to chose a line, the dialog box with appear at the top of the screen, only the bottom of the box with the last choice appearing forcing us to "walk away". ) • I like the idea behind the game, the themes are okay, but after only having played the first and free episode, before reading any other comments, I was already worried that this looks overall like ... patronizing in a demagogic way. What makes me feel this is for one, the fact that the problems dealt with are nothing but subtle and from one quest to another, it slowly erodes the credibility of the fantasy setting (there are so many medias that have already used fantasy races to point social injustice that putting them out in such a blunt way is getting old) if the races origins and Creation myths are not very very believable, kind of like in the Elder Scrolls lore, I don't see how this game can work. I mean goblins and orcs are usually pinpointed as evil for a reason in the classics (the way they were created usually leave little to no ambiguity about the ability to nurture or destroy instinctively) and when the game doesn't build an acknowledgement of these fact in its world-building first, before trying to change judgments and offer a call for a new egalitarian world, it's...I'm not sure this can really be called fantasy. As it was when I played, the game universe should rather have been labeled a rich fable or of a colorful satire of the US in the 20'. But the problem with doing that is that many people are actually playing this game *because* it's supposed to be fantasy. For example, what I loved about the movie Bright (despite of its frustrating length and lack of characterization): what that it did a masterful job with its world-building in a movie's time. It explained where the bad blood comes from then showed how every fantasy race had saints and monsters in it before - and more importantly - illustrated injustice instead of just speaking of it (I know there are some written narration in this episode, but it's hardly better than direct dialogue). All of the lore can't be stored in text boxes; the books items, thought interesting narrative, are much too short an too few to be anything serious. • To be legit, these kind of social justice talks need to be extremely subtle. In that regard, in fact, congrats for how the main character's body is shown, slightly overweight: it has a non invasive narrative purpose, no characters made gratuitous comments about it out of the blue, and it fit the character. That one move was great, because it served the fantasy setting and not the other way around . (At least 95% of the social justice sermons will need to be just as clever to work in next episodes.) • The first episode doesn't seem self-sufficient tiny stories adding up to a big one like other episodic games do. Instead they are really cut abruptly. Working hard to enter the city took me fifteen minutes, and as soon as I thought the game was going to start, I'm told I have to pay to buy a repeat of this inside of the city. To pull up something like this, calling for about twenty bucks total, the demo-episode has to let the player know exactly what he's getting into. • About the first episode main character (this part may be subjective): . I am not sure what what the goal of having a female lead character who married a human female. (I hoped it would be a hobbit or another dwarf on the opening drawings, until I saw the size of her mage robes and got that she was clearly human. The problem I have with that is minor, but it makes the relationship kind of sounds like niche fan service -- no mistake, I think doing that is bold and cool. Yet having the dwarrow marry a fantasy race would have provided well needed subtly to the story.) . It's never clearly explained if the main character is lesbian, bisexual or transgender (she looks very different depending on what she wears) it's confusing and so I don't know what to expect: how could I relate to her if the main character gives mixed signals to others NPCs or if her orientation rule out some relationships later? Is the player expected to flirt or be soft hearted with women exclusively? I know many otherwise games such as The Witcher do exactly that, and care little about non straight non male players. But for how much satisfying the irony of repeating the same may be for social justice points, is it worth bargaining the game's sales on it? I just don't understand. If the main character isn't made as an avatar, then alright: that's exactly the kind of things I wished the first episode/demo made clear in a way or another. Conclusion: I'm curious about playing more because races and the possibility to see my player character form interact and observe non-human (if the non humans really are going to be written convincingly alien...which I begin to doubt) but I can't reasonably pay more than 2.5 bucks per episode (for something as short and tentative and bugged as the first episode I played that's about the price I estimate to the pleasure of the experience I got during the beta stage). If the game get a huge update, when buying it as a whole will be available, I'll gladly try it again. Despite of my disappointing experience with episode one, it was kind of gripping and I love the narrative choices that matter and getting to bond with followers a way or another is always enjoyable. The reason I don't recommend this episode even if it's free is because of the bugs and the fact there is no real plot by the time free time ends. EDIT: The devs have gracefully answered, providing information and solutions to some of the points I mentioned. The idea of having different episodes with different protagonists appeals to me a lot. And a sum of 20 bucks for the rest of the bundle, discounting episodes that were already bought does put the overall value in perceptive. The promise of a lore more comprehensive than what can be found through in-game open books from the first episode is compelling and I believe it's something the devs can provide. So, after considering things again, though I think some of my previous points still hold, I do recommend this episode to those who are okay to play with a couple major bugs, if only to provide the needed feedback and help the wonderful idea behind this game. However I wish the developers understand that as an introduction to their game and universe, the first episode simply has to be remade into something that - provide MUCH more information about the lore and the future gameplay, - brings at least a little sense of closure by the time it's over. I can't wait to be able to play more games from Valiant Game Studio AB. (Sorry for this whole review sounding so patronizing... Ironic, yeah. It's always been tricky to find the right words and mind creators' feelings for me.)

Update: I played again Pendula after the latest 5th episode release and the game has evolved so much! It feels so much better and consistent. Several parts of the game have been revamped and optimized, starting with the main story, introduction of new an improved dialog system, interaction and overall consistency. The game matured through the episodes in a much more solid and fun experience. I definitely recommend this game now! ///old review The game has a very particular style and atmosphere that either you like it either you don't. it is a bit strange, a bit quirky, a bit special and not your common indie game experience for sure. I recommend this game because of its subtlety and character often times hidden behind a very charming naivety.

The game will need a LOT of polish, the deplacements are a bit floaty and nothing feels exactly how it should. mainly the Dialogue engine is slightly dodgy and characters will sometimes skip phrases, clicking sometimes doesn't work properly, etc. BUT The game promises a really fun story, the worldbuilding is on point and the main character seems to be pretty fun. I like the base idea, I just wish it had a more polished/solid feel to it. If they can fix things this game could be a real blast!

I checked out the free to play episode 1 because I'll try most anything labled "noir." They nail the setting! It's a beautiful world, and the swinging soundtrack is pretty good. If only the dialogue wasn't atrocious! I assume that this is a lost in translation problem, as the developers are in Europe, but the English dialogue options are really bad. "Tell me where you realm is located?" "Who is the ruler of your realm?" "I wish to change the subject from talking about your realm" Also the dialogue choice box obscured the NPC dialogue on screen a lot of the time, not that you are missing much. If the clunky dialogue doesn't bother you and you want a beautiful setting to explore, then this game might be for you. It was a dealbreaker for me.

Now that the bugs are removed, this is a fun world-building and character-heavy game. Only a few games start with you being the hero, if in days long ago, and having to deal with re-socializing afterwards. I hope they finish all the episodes. I do!

I really enjoyed playing this game, it was such a breath of fresh air in an otherwise saturated genre with games that usually tend to be very similar to others with another skin. Having not to really on combat but talking and writing down clues for how to solve was a very interesting challenge from being used to fight. I've not felt this calm while playing a game in a long time and it is many thanks to the way this game has chosen to handle problem-solving, very well recommended if you are looking for a calming game with a very interesting storyline with a diverse cast of characters that actually feels alive!

+1 RPG

Really enjoying this game! Kind of an old school point-and-click mystery game, set in a fantasy world in the roaring twenties, but very creative in character and world building. Heavy emphasis on dialogue and exploring the world and the main mystery through dialogue and lore. I keep finding myself so immersed even though I'm "just having conversations" with NPCs.

I really wanted to like Pendula Swing. I bought and played through four episodes, but it just keeps on not quite getting there for me. The setting is nifty. The idea is brilliant. You are a cranky, old and (depending on your dialog choices) racist adventurer who has spent the last couple hundred years holed up in your island home like a hermit. You venture back into society only to find it's advanced a long way without you. Running round with an axe cleaving goblin skulls isn't considered as heroic as it once was. Society is becoming aware of the fact that there is something very wrong with old folk sitting on a mountain of treasure while the young and underprivileged starve in the streets. Great concept! When it was first released the dialog was a bit stilted and didn't come out sounding very natural, but the devs have improved on that a lot. Although the dialog still feels a bit formal and unnecessarily expository at times, i did get the sense that all of the characters are fully developed and have distinct personalities and realistic motivations. It feels like you are walking around in a believable world. However! The game is very, very buggy. I know it's a small team and it's a labor of love, but it's so frustrating to play through. It feels like the developers shot too high by trying to give every character not only dialog but also side quests. You can stack up dozens of side quests, which is cool, but solving some side quests (and advancing the main quest) can block off other side quests, then you get in these weird situations where you promised characters things that the game won't let you deliver on. I suppose it doesn't really matter to leave a bunch of quests dangling, but somehow it affects my enjoyment of the game. It undermines my suspension of disbelief when a character is standing right there but i can't talk to them to let them know that i completed their request (or not). The developers are continually trying to fix these corner cases, but i think they walked themselves in a corner by trying to make it play more like an RPG than an adventure. There might have been more time to make the final product more polished if the focus had been just to build a tightly plotted story with no fail states. On the other hand, i think the intent was to build something more like an RPG, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Anyway, it is a cool idea, and if you would like to have a walk round in an interesting world i'd suggest playing an episode or two. But for the whole thing as a game, i can't really recommend it. There are too many annoying little quirks to make it fun for me. Keen to see what the developers get up to next, though.