Times and Galaxy

12/16/2024: Looking back, I approached this review with a bit of fanboy-ism. Updated today to better fit my overall experience (after a replay) [h2]Times & Galaxy: An incredibly well-written, knee-slapping, and [i]heart-eyed[/i] adventure. 8/10[/h2] [h3]Opening:[/h3] [i]Times & Galaxy[/i] is the second game by Copychaser Games, the other being [i]Speed Dating for Ghosts.[/i] While the latter has had a good amount of success, the former, T&G, has had a much smaller reception. I find this incredibly unjust, as I have just recently finished the former, and I can confidently say it's going on my favorites list. The unique dialogue options, the goofy dumb-fun comedy moments, and the lovey-dovey flirting mechanics are so creative it makes me giggle and kick my feet in the air like I'm talking to someone I have a crush on (which you can do in this game!!!) [h3]Story[/h3] You are *NAME_REF!!ERROR*, the newest ReporterBot fresh off the production line with the best internship ever: a position at universe-renowned Times & Galaxy! Venture to other planets and get the scoop on the latest, then compile it into your best possible writing. Just remember, there's no such thing as a perfect paper. T&G's story is easily understandable from the get-go, but they make so many interesting choices with each passing cycle. From an interesting shuttle crash site, to a seemingly haunted farm, each story to report on is wonderfully unique. Each interaction is filled with natural dialogue, reasonable dialogue options, and goofy comedy. Endings: SPOILER WARNING!!! I will be covering the endings (of which there are a few)! Blacked out text directly spoils the endings. Overall, I didn't like the endings. If I had to use one word, I'd say rushed. In the Sensational ending, [spoiler]Wyren is hired, and the ship's systems go down the same cycle. Everyone assumes they did it, but it was actually Puff Piece! Hahaha, everyone laughs, credits roll.[/spoiler] After this one, I felt a bit odd. Obviously a happy ending, but everything just feels so tightly packed in, especially since it has to fit into one cycle. In the Alien Interest ending, [spoiler]Arwin quits, and the higher-ups elect Richard Gravity to take their place. You race after Arwin, and, depending on how your dialogue goes, they either take their leave or stay for good.[/spoiler] After this one, I felt okay. Despite the fact that [spoiler]it's not made very clear that you can make them stay[/spoiler], I thought the idea of the ending being dependent on correctly picking dialogue prompts was pretty cool. In the Informational ending, [spoiler]almost half the ship is fired. You can't sell papers on just info, dummy![/spoiler] After this one, I didn't feel so good. Obviously, it's a hard truth for a lot of real-life journalist companies. But previously, it was possible to change sad endings to happy ones, like in the Alien ending. The build-up of other characters saying things along the lines of "Oh, maybe you can change their mind!", just like the Alien ending, just to not let the player do it really hurt my experience. 8/10 [h3]Gameplay/Controls[/h3] The gameplay loop is fairly simple: pick a story (or have one picked for you), venture off, gather intel, and form a story. Based of your story, you can gain or lose Reputation and Readership. The best articles rise both, and the worst lower them. But, between the simple loop is some of the most natural, goofy dialogue I've seen in a game like this. Want to talk to a floating ball of goop inside a jar with a robot body? Go ahead. Want to pet a slimy space-dog? Be my guest. Want to form a loving relationship with CopyBot? They'd love that! The diversity of options you have while talking to these people is great, too. One downside, however, is the controls are unable to be remapped. If you are using a keyboard, you're out of luck (unless you want to use a 3rd-party app). Controller users can rebind buttons using Steam Input, however. 9/10 [h3]Replayability[/h3] [strike]I will admit, I have not started a new playthrough just yet, but I can tell it's going to be great. Most cycles have multiple options to write papers on, so it takes a few playthroughs to experience everything. Some of the earlier sections, however, may be a drag, as it does take a few cycles to unlock sprinting.[/strike] I have replayed the game! The second time through was almost as good as the first, but some of the earlier sections did have a bit of that dragging feeling. The game does take at least 2 replays to get all the stories you can, and one playthrough took roughly 12 hours for all the dialogue for me. Also, I spread misinformation by saying sprinting takes a few cycles to unlock, when you actually receive it on your very first cycle aboard. 8/10 [h3]Diversity[/h3] Yeah, this game has it all. You have multiple options in terms of relationships, whether it be a male, female, or genderless (robots and the like), you can pick he/she/they when making your ReporterBot, and multiple characters are shown to be LGBTQ+. The game also contains a lot of metaphors for real life topics, like gender identity. One species has a large ceremony to give their young a title they bear for life, basically telling them the life they will live. One of the characters on your ship, however, didn't agree with their title, so they left home to pursue their own dreams. A pretty clear metaphor, but we like those here. If I must add one negative, it feels a bit like the stereotypical "grr change is bad!" character felt a bit dry and too close to reality. I understand that's the message they're going for, but it just seemed to take me out of the game a bit. 9/10 [h3]Music[/h3] There aren't really any stand-out tracks, other than the opening theme song (which is a banger). [strike]The music never seemed out of place, however.[/strike] I will say, the song for the ending credits feels really out of place, especially when you get one of the happier endings. 7/10. [h3]Bugs[/h3] [strike]I encountered a couple bugs in my playthrough, but most of them never seemed to take me out of the experience. There was one instance, however, where I somehow got caught in an infinite loop during a conversation, so that will impact my score. However, other bugs were much less jarring, and felt easy to overlook.[/strike] I have encountered many more bugs on my second playthrough. Here are a few: [list] [*]While talking to Oren during a certain cycle on the ship, I got stuck in an infinite loop of dialogue that required a restart. [*]While talking to a character during the first Orphan story, I was softlocked after completing the dialogue with them. [*]Upon clicking a bit too fast while talking to ScannerBot, their face was stuck on my screen for a while. [*]ReporterBot's overall movement speed is tied to the frame-rate. Higher FPS means slower movement. [*]Not 100% sure if this is a bug, but some of the dialogue options seemed wrong. Asking a character question A resulted sometimes in a response for question B. [*]After a big plot-point during the naming ceremony, no characters had an exclamation point above their head, despite the fact they now had new interactions [/list] That's just a few off the top of my head. I understand the game is indie, so the bugs are more understandable, but the large number of them is the reason that I am docking points. 5/10 [h3]Conclusion[/h3] Overall, [i]Times & Galaxy[/i] was an incredible experience. It felt nice rizzing up JanitorBot, and it'll feel nice again in my next playthrough. I very recommend this game to any Visual Novel fans, as it's expansive dialogue and goofy interactions really brighten any mood. I give [i]Times & Galaxy[/i] an 8/10. The two points are subtracted for it's many bugs, un-remappable controls, and a few [spoiler]somewhat anti-climatic "out-of-left-field"[/spoiler] endings. [spoiler]Oh my dear Yar, they could never make me hate you[/spoiler]