Tyrania Enforcers - Visual Novel

Безумовно краще першої частини.

Short but emotive, with striking art (I love Emie's design!).

It's miles better than the first Tyrania (from what I remember, admittedly it's been years), which is the main reason I'm recommending it. I still didn't love it, never will because even perfectly polished it'll never resonate with me, but I respect the improvement! There should be a mention on the store page that it's not finished yet, however. The characters are nice, the plot alright, and it looks good, as a story it's not bad! My review will be pretty negative but I want it clear that I did have an okay time (and if I was into military drama, it would have probably been a good time). The theme is oddly superficial, for something that should be so central, and I think it gets diluted even more because the enforcers act both as police and as military. I'm not sure why the battlefront part couldn't have been cut. Regarding the central question ("death penalty or not"): - we have the exact same conversation twice in the span of three minutes ("I think criminals should live." "But they kill innocent people. Look at this gruesome photo." "AAAAH".) No new idea, no new feelings, exactly. the.same. Just different people, whose opinions we already knew - "The enforcers do actually help rehabilitate criminals when they deserve it" is brought up weirdly late (and Linda seems a bit stupid for believing enforcers Murder All Petty Criminals). Everyone is presented as too extreme to then backpedal and reveal they were secretly reasonable, someone (maybe Emie?) should have been open to compromise earlier. Maybe she could've told they rehabilitate some after the intense interview (which would also fix my previous point) and then we see them actually do it, without heavy-handed comment? - The enforcers' side is presented as reasonable and often right, which convinces our pro-criminal Linda. That's fine, it's supposed to be a debate and she needs to have doubts for the story to work. But the pro-criminal side doesn't get the same benefit. Are we supposed to believe in their cause just because of the vague feelings expressed in the beginning? Why do enforcers have depths and examples, while those against death penalty rely on the reader's pre-conceived humanity? I like that the system shifts towards moderate views without anyone realising it, but I'm not sure it's intentional, and they remain a tyranical party so it still feels wrong. Some smaller ideology-related issues: - "Want a drink?" "No (I've been to rehab, actually...)" "Come on, just one won't hurt!" "Alright." Repeat with smoking. The scene made me uncomfortable, Linda gave in way too easily, it deserved two more lines (be it more protestations or convincing herself it's fine) - I know why the enforcers focus on the worst of the worst, but did the crime lovers never consider these cases? Idealism doesn't have to be stupid! (also the guy had a hostage, I don't think we talk about this enough, they didn't just kill him in his bed) (I thought the old man with the trafficked child would be trying to replaced his own dead grandson or something, I guess that was too much to expect lol) Just stuff: - Linda has a personality, yay! An unpleasant one, but still! - I like the doctor, it (although maybe unconsciously) shows how living in an authoritative state changes the citizens for the worse by giving them the opportunity to feel stronger against all sorts of offenses (real or perceived) - The choices could have been prettier (an "Okay" with no textbox just floating on the screen, it works but it clashes with the polishes rest) - the phone screen and sounds feels a bit out of place, but maybe that's just me? - the text speed resets everytime you scroll back or open the menu Conclusion, it's way better and way more enjoyable than the first version, the criticism I had then was definitely fixed, but it would still benefit from a rewrite. The politics are superficial and because of that, any interesting subtext feels invented by the reader (me, not other reviews, not accusing anyone). Maybe the following chapters dig deeper into the no-death-penalty idea and fix some of the imbalance, we'll see.