This was 3 hours or so of mixed blessings. Somewhat limited in
gameplay, occasionally quite clever, a little easy but also
directionless now and then. But overall a generally positive experience.
As a result of a click on your remote control, your world dissolves
and you find yourself in a different bedroom. The first order of
business is to open the door, as well as the one after that. Fiddle
about and eventually a girl in a beaked carnival mask will show up.
There is a new type of plague in the city she says, a dark blue ink
infecting the residents. Bodies lie rotting in the street, and there is
no cure. She says she is trying to figure things out, and you stand a
greater chance of survival by working together. Through various means
she will be your constant companion, providing tasks and guiding your
efforts. First though you need to find some things to protect you when
you venture outside.
The city is lifeless in more ways than one. The ink clearly infects
the whole world, not just people, and drips from surfaces as you move
about. It will thwart your progress more than once.
It sounds grim, but it didn't feel or look grim. It can be a tad
unsettling, but this isn't horror. Not by my definition anyway.
It did look rather good though, in a static hand drawn sepia kind of
way. There is lots of detail in many of the screens, and when there
wasn't it was appropriate. It also sounded good, though not through
spoken word. You read everything, but clicking on objects produces an
array of clanks and thuds and occasionally more. Clicking the ink
produces a distorting screech that clearly says stay away. An effective
soundtrack underpins things, heightening the mood throughout.
Overall, I did find it a little too casual. You need to find numerous
items, but so long as you have the relevant item it will automatically
be used at the appropriate hotspot. Often you will be told what to find;
an array of tools is a case in point. Not all of them are in plain
sight, and not everything you need is so stark (there is some
inventiveness to a number of solutions), but many times I was simply
looking for particular objects, or being told things which pointed
towards something I had come across before.
It was made a little more "complicated" by the fact that
you can't just take everything you find when you come across it. Until
you know you need, e.g. a ladder, any ladder you may have found probably
won't even show up as an active hotspot. But once you know you need it,
just go and get it.
There were times though when I had little idea of what/where next.
Some of that was initially a result of a rather good plot development (a
bit more of that shortly) but sometimes I was looking for the equivalent
of "something that will help". The objective at hand focussed
the search at times (e.g. how to put out a fire) but occasionally I was
off to look though the various screens for a hotspot that hadn't been
there before.
Or perhaps my brain missed the clue.
The plot development I mentioned I don't intend to spoil by
discussing in any detail. Once I twigged, its application did provide
some very good problem solves (and again I won't spoil by providing
examples).
The game autosaves and seemingly quite generously. Point and click
your way around, and don't forsake the right click. You can examine your
inventory should you wish to do so.
There was an earlier game I didn't play, and while this game didn't
play to my preferences, I would go back and play the other one. Which in
my view isn't a bad outcome.
I played on:
OS: Windows 10, 64 Bit
Processor: Intel i7-6700 4GHz
