The Divine Deception

Hours played at review time, across 40 reviews with recorded playtime.

positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up

[b] Overall Impression [/b] This game is ballsy, for lack of a better word, and I can think of few games that set such difficult narrative challenges for themselves and successfully execute on them. The game wants to challenge you, both in your ability to predict its many twists and turns and in the moral foundations you use to navigate them. While some individual elements may, at times, feel underbaked, the entire narrative is so simultaneously fragmented and cohesive that it will be a game that I think of for many years to come. [b] ---{Characters}--- [/b] ☐ Fell in love with them ☑ Really great ☐ Enjoyable overall ☐ Liked some, disliked some ☐ Pretty meh ☐ Send them to writing jail The characters of this game are, simply put, great. Dialogue is this game's momentum; everything lives and dies on the intermingling ideas, motives, and quips that occur in each conversation presented. Characters feel at once incredibly grounded, realized, and complex, while at the same time being deeply recognizable, unique, and iconic. The protagonists as well are refreshingly their own complete characters, with mannerisms and ideologies that bring the game out of the bland protagonist conventions common in visual novels. The game is at it's weakest, however, when these protagonists placed outside of conversation and into long, monologue scenes, which is particularly true for the first set of scenes. ---{Story}--- ☑ Amazing ☐ Great ☐ Good ☐ Average ☐ Some lore ☐ No Story The story, the connections between plots, the unified nature of its mysteries, the intrigue of Panthea, the moral dilemmas presented, and the agency the player has in figuring out the game's biggest questions is [i] the [/i] reason to play this game. The characters and dialogue keep each scene enjoyable from moment to moment, but the game as a whole does an incredible job bring players through various emotionally varied, ideologically varied, and tonally varied arcs, both in the clearly delineated arcs of each protagonist and in the subtler but powerful arcs of the various different inhabitants and factions of the city. What the story sets out to do, and does, is beyond impressive, and the intensive foreshadowing of each twist (of which there are many) makes even scenes with no 'choice' feel very interactive, as the player attempts to create their own theories. My only complaint is that some twists/reveals are of such a grand scale that they can make other twists feel less impactful. ---{Gameplay}--- ☐Very good ☑ Good ☐ It‘s just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't The gameplay is nice, but I wouldn't go much farther than that. Playing through the various minigames serves as a nice, optional, break from dialogue. They are well thought out and enjoyable, but at times they feel very disconnected from the heart of the game, and the real interest a player will have in it. For me, the most interesting gameplay aspect by far was the (spoilers for the first ten minutes} [spoiler] betting aspect of the game. It makes the player feel more rewarded, for their interest and thoughts on the story, while at the same time making the player more invested in the game's various ethical dilemmas and structural mysteries [/spoiler] ---{Graphics}--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☑ Good ☑ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it The graphics in this game are both good and decent, in so far as what is there is solid (the character sprites in particular look quite sharp, while the backgrounds at times feel rough) but there are times when the lack of a CGI or fully done sprites makes certain scenes or sequences feel off. The lower budget nature of the game can at most be felt here. ---{Audio}--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐Bad ☐ I'm now deaf I enjoyed the songs quite a bit, though their production value is lower than one might hope. They did their job though, and really helped set the mood in many scenes. ---{Game Time}--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☐ Average ☑ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond As you can likely tell from many review times, this game is long, though it never overstays it's welcome, and all it's length feels entirely necessary. ---{Price}--- ☑ It's a STEAL ☐ Worth the price ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money 30+ hours of content that is enjoyable on a replay is far more than one might expect from a $15 dollar price tag. Although the graphics and assets are clearly indie/low-budget, the content, and quality of written content, that you are receiving makes this game a steal. ---{Bugs}--- ☐Never heard of ☑ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs I didn't run into any bugs or major typos (that I noticed), but I am aware that some bugs have been found.