POTENTIAL MAN

Everything I hoped it would be and more. A great piece of art. [spoiler] here are some of my raw thoughts. Some of it is disjointed, theres a TLDR; at the end Murphy and PM explore two ideas PM tells us you must kill what makes you human in order to maximize your potential to reach your goals as efficiently as possible. Which is a bad way to live. Murphy shows us that if you stand idle with no direction you will waste your potential. Which is a bad way to live. Unlike PM, Murphy has no idea what he wants to be. Video game designer, musician, podcast host, news anchor(?), writer. Murphy has all this energy, all this potential and he spreads it so thin between so many things he THINKS of doing that he ends up with no energy left to actually take steps. He seems very dependent on others to help guide him into what he wants, and without someone to channel that energy, it dispurses. His Ex seemed to have focused his energy into music, PM suggests he get into creative writing. Theres something about this misguided character that makes me want to help him. I know why, its because I WAS him at some point, but we arent playing as some sort of guide, we are playing as Theres something about this misguided character that makes me want to help him. I know why, its because I WAS him at some point, but we arent playing as some sort of guide, we are playing as a character who will do ANYTHING to reach their goal, and wont stop to help some misguided person. Murphy is not someone anyone wants to be. Nobody should strive to be like murphy. But did he deserve to die? No, but I think his death is telling us something very important about life. PM is raw unfiltered potential. He wants one thing. He was born to do one thing. He has one goal in mind and he will achieve it or die trying. I think PM has some sort of compass, we tug and pull him in certain directions and get him to think about things that make him human, but in the end he is a seed at heart and a plants m.o isnt to be human. The tree scolds us for acting even a little human. Something about "Mans mind has poisoned you" or something. Theres something in PM that that wants it to ponder and explore the journey hes on rather than focusing on the goal, and thats something very human, and thats something PM wants to burry, and even kill, and the culmination of that is Murphys death. PM not only ends the life of someone who represents a sort of pitfall in the human mind. Lost potential, lazyness, bitterness, but he kills murphy while casting away almost everything that built him up to be human. He doesnt talk anymore, he goes by acorn man when he attacks, and at the very very end, he casts away his gift body to become a seed again. For a seed with no regard for anything other than himself and his goal, he did a fantastic job. but Murphy is "human." WE are human. We have emotions, we have more than one goal, we have relationships and morals, we have needs. Most of us cant just cast away these things to focus on a single goal and then die. Its not how a person should live. TLDR; Murphy and PM are two examples of wasted (human) potential. Murphy had the energy to do the things he wanted, but just couldnt find anything to stick too and that stretched him thin. PM had the potential to improve the lives around him with his great tree wisdom and strength. Yet he was so determined to reach his goal, he cast away his gift of humanity, murdered a group of people, and left their friends and families grieving. All to (i hope) be chopped down by that man in the cabin. There are definitely other interpretations for the story and a lot more to be said, mine just kind of fits the message around the bitter taste that ending left in my mouth (i still thought it was cool, even though i tried so hard to save murphy) Like it could just represent the idea that to reach our full potential we need to resist how murphy acts and overcome (kill) those ideas, and focus on our goals, even if it means distancing yourself from people (like murphys ex) Feel free to disagree with me though. please. Ty for reading :D [/spoiler]

"Not Recommended"? I Guess. Sure. I feel harsh just saying that, because I really wanted to recommend this full stop. I enjoyed some of my time with it, but unfortunately, I have more convictions than pleasures. Firstly, it barely felt like a video game. The gameplay is very linear. It mostly feels like you're pressing a button to proceed. Your character is never in danger. Your guaranteed to see the ending if you know how to press the confirmation and navigation buttons. Your technique of how you do so is irrelevant. It feels like it's unaware of it's own medium. The art is great, the music is great. [spoiler]The story has POTENTIAL, but MAN is it also linear. It's like there's framework for my choices to matter, but when acknowledged they make no difference to the climax of the story. I see the irony in critiquing this, when it's likely present to drive in the themes of wasted potential, but that doesn't stop the story from being flawed BY these aspects. Its not above criticism because its self-aware. The story still is a waste of potential, regardless of that being its point. Furthermore, the inherently interactive nature of its medium had me feeling like I was doing something wrong. Especially when you can go out of your way to "care" about Murphy. I kept playing again, and again, trying to do anything different, and nothing changed. It felt less self-aware, and more contradictory to what PM has already said/done. Maybe I'm dense, but I just felt left as if I had wasted my time. In short, the gameplay is nearly non-existent, and combined with its story, the game feels like it punished me for playing it.[/spoiler] My non-recommendation is mostly because I feel like it was barely a video game. There's a lot to enjoy in the visuals, audio, characters, and even the story. I just feel as if this medium wasn't apt for it. No ill meant, just being honest. I hope to see more from STUDIO HEATSEEK in the future regardless.

i really didn't want to leave a bad review for this because i really liked it... until the ending. the game was not long enough for the game's only ending to have that much of an emotional impact on me, which might were the writer's intentions. after seeing the ending, i moreso felt like this was a waste of my time.

I came in expected this to be, like the advertisements say, an RPG with visual novel elements. Turns out it's a visual novel with scripted encounters. The story itself is nice, got some good laughs and the idea is nice as well, buuut yeah I expected an actual RPG and progression and not what we got at the end. Still, if you're a fan of short stories like these I recommend playing the game. Even though I didn't like the game the review is positive. But I partially agree with one of the negative reviews about removing the RPG tag so people wouldn't be mislead X"D

megumi

THIS GAME ROCKS!!! I never get excited for games, but i've been waiting for this to release since it was announced! I sat on the steam page refreshing it until it released, i'm pretty sure i was the first to buy the game, actually. Super funny, super great time. 3 sequels and a movie WHEN also, the game is SUPER relatable and topical.

̶h̶o̶p̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶o̶r̶ ̶r̶e̶m̶o̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶R̶P̶G̶ ̶t̶a̶g̶.̶ ̶I̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶m̶i̶s̶l̶e̶a̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶R̶P̶G̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶e̶t̶r̶i̶s̶. (Well, the RPG tag no longer shows up as the first one. Still doesn't change the fact it was misleading) Game prompts you to save a lot as if something will ever happen or that there's more than 20 minutes of gameplay, there is not. Nothing ever happens (wow what a reference). I am extremely disappointed. Avoid. One of the worst and most boring and unfunny games I have ever played. Thanks for reading. Edit: Since I am editing anyway, might as well add some more info. The ending was absolutely horrible and just plain weird? I for one absolutely hated it. The game itself is also just a glorified "Stand in one place while two characters talk" for 20 minutes. Me and probably a lot of people who have played this game have definitely played other visual novels. Compared to most I've personally played, this game feels REALLY like there's no branching in the path and you as a player have no choice. This also just really feels like something made for a gamejam in 2 weeks time but the development time was clearly longer than that for no apparent reason. Seems like in the end the creator did end up getting down to business and consuming THE soy. Just my opinion though, fellow redditors. Can I get a reddit gold?

this game has potential, man

This game is just as charming as the trailer