7.2 hours played
Written 1 day and 23 hours ago
Steamdeck compatible: yes
Rating: 8/10; neutral rating (positive leaning)
Please be mindful of the spoilers mentioned.
If you're expecting a complete narrative going in, I'm sad to say that the story feels half baked. It's not so bad that nothing makes sense as some things do get wrapped up. The narrative is well written and most characters are likable, but there're so many significantly unanswered questions that should have received an extra branch or two.
Questions like:
[spoiler]- What exactly happened between Walt and Sharper?
- What really was Joseph's role in it?
- How'd they freeze the source over the town in the epilogue?
- Why was it supposed to warm up in old Beacon Pines and why hadn't it actually warmed up in the 10 years later scene?
- Why did Perennial Harvest age up Rolo? Why does no one seem to be worried or even try to undo his and Eleanor's aging?
- What's inside the locked room in Luka's house?
- How did the towns people get transferred into a new version of Beacon Pines without being aware of it?
- During the 10 years later scene, Sharper finds the Source hole. What's even the meaning of that and how did he find access to that off limits area to begin with??
There's probably more questions I have, but that's what comes to mind as of writing this review. Futhermore, the epilogue for the villains was very weak, because none of the villains got punished for what they committed throughout the game (ex. murder of a scientist, plotting of murder for another scientist, creating and experiementing on chemicals that has a catastrophic consequence on the whole town in a couple of routes, committing harm to whoever finds out about their secret (even to children; age doesn't discriminate apparently)). I'm happy the town no longer accepts them, but they pretty much upped and left without any consequences. Let's not mention how the true ending allows Sharper to live and grow up again with the "hopes" that he doesn't recall his evil tendencies/ nature. Personally, I preferred the other two comedic death endings for him.[/spoiler]
Another thing worth mentioning is that unlike other VN's with multiple routes/ endings, the game has a stop-and-go format. Namely where after you pick a Charm (which serves as a choice) it usually results in an immediate ending and you'd be redirected to the Chronicles to retry with a different choice. I normally wouldn't mind this format, especially as this game in particular has a specific order on which route to encounter first and I can understand the importance of keeping players on their feet. However, due to how often endings would appear just when things were getting more interesting, it sort of disrupts my immersion a bit. There is also one particular ending that really should have been addressed, but was left there for no reason: [spoiler]the cliffhanger ending where Luka supposedly met a possible time traveler???[/spoiler]
Despite the unanswered questions, the characters were all well written and memorable. They had a fair amount of character development and chemistry with each other, some better in certain routes than others, but you could tell it was earned. Beck, Iggy, Luka, and Heiress were favorites. Heiress, especially, is my favorite character design. I heavily would have liked and found it to be wasted potential that there wasn't enough screen time for the Valentines as their family's history and legacy played a significant role in [spoiler] the town's establishment and downfall. Characters constantly mention that they became reserved after the fertilizer incident, but we learn nothing else new about their current ambitions or how life has been for them since. It's even implied and shown that Heiress and Gus had a strained relationship with Sharper throughout their life, based on their interaction in one of the routes. Sadly, that was the only route we ever saw their relationship come to light, since they're stuck being mysterious background characters.[/spoiler] If interesting characters like the Valentines are to be created as a compelling force to be reckoned with, especially with such a powerful reputation, they must serve a constant and in-the-flesh purpose throughout the story, besides just being a name from word of mouth. Otherwise, their intimidation comes off as fanfic shock value.
Moving onto the UI, I liked and appreciated its simplicity and accessibility. For those who haven't played the game, there's only four buttons used to access the inventory, Chronicle (flowchart), dialogue, and menu. Furthermore, I liked that the UI wasn't overwhelming the screen and instead had the two primary important features (inventory and Chronicles) on the left side for players to reference for access. It's especially appreciated that the game provided small button layouts on each feature icon, in case players forget how to access them. However, I do wish there was a skip dialogue option, so it'd be easier to skip previous dialogue/ scenes when revisiting certain Turning Points. Currently, there's no option, which had me take extra time clicking through just so I can snag a missing Charm or access the fishing/ cooking mini games. Important note to players: if you want to complete the fishing and cooking mini games in one go, I'd suggest waiting until the epilogue as there will be lots of downtime then (since all the routes are plot heavy and some/ if not most of the map becomes unavailable during certain scenes). Another thing I'd suggest adding is a backlog feature, which would help for players to revisit dialogue. Sometimes my fingers would accidentally click too quickly through the dialogue, characters would info dump on something major, or I'd have to pause the game for some time. So having a backlog feature would help to reread and better digest what's being stated.
Speaking of interactivity, I really liked how this game encourages you to interact with every person and object, which rewards you with key Charms that open up more routes in the game and learning more information about the characters and mystery. The dialogue reactions to a lot of scenarios is pretty quirky.
Soundtrack was cozy while also keeping a mysterious vibe during serious scenes. It definitely heightened the ambiance, when traversing through the small colorful town. I also liked the crisp sound effects from the dialogue bubbles, running, and book page turning.
Despite this being a neutral review, I still had a pleasant time overall, due to the beautiful graphics, well designed and written characters, and soundtrack. The story juggled a lot more than it could handle, but it still did a wonderful job building a lively, mysterious world. Since it's a chill story, I'd only recommend it, if you don't have other serious games to tackle/ need to pass the time.
