It feels like we need a full spoiler thread to discuss the game and leave the OT for more general discussion and impressions.
I finished the game in 36h with a 1 5 3 3 build and managed to most of the things, but not everything. I loved the experience, the writing, art and would building are amazing and something for future developers to learn from. On the other hand, I feel that there are some issues well, especially with the narrative pacing.
I feel the game was at it's very best on the 3rd day when you question Klaasje and the Hardie Boys and figure out what happened there, the dynamic is great. Everything after the tribunal feels like a fever dream epilogue, disconnected from the previous part. There are still quests you can do, but they are sparse and not as well integrated with the rest of the narrative as the earlier quests. The lone communard gunman on the flak tower was an ok solution to the story, but it does feel like a bit of an afterthought. I feel that the cryptid should have probably only been interactable with at all if you had a high Inland Empire, it's not really going to make sense for every playstyle.
Beyond that I was a bit annoyed at some dialogue options when it was obvious that the writers felt that they had to present you with apocalypse/superstar/sorry/whatever cop or communist/facist/ultraliberal/moralist options. They had fun with it in some places, but it often felt totally out of place in an otherwise great conversation.
I can't really comment too much on the reactivity, I think they did a lot with it, but it did dry up noticeably toward the end. I was pretty impressed that I could never find my gun and just rely on my BFF Kim and my talking tie teaching me to make molotov cocktails. On the other hand, the final conversation with the Precinct 41 people, felt pretty empty, I didn't see any options to even not rejoin them. I just wanted to quit go join Precinct 57 with my boi Kim. I think it could really use like a few ending slides or something as well.
Finally, I mostly played as a "sorry cop", I guess. I tried my best to solve the case, and stay clean and not sound like a crazy person. I feel that it would be pretty hard for me to play as just a fun crazy dude, who likes disco and communism or whatever. After you talk to your precinct on the radio and figure out how fucked up you are, I just feel like trash every time I'm picking the wacky dialogue options in any serious situation.
PS. Is it possible to get any actual closure with the ex-whatever (Dora)? Best I could do was to promise to try to get over her at the end.
I finished the game in 36h with a 1 5 3 3 build and managed to most of the things, but not everything. I loved the experience, the writing, art and would building are amazing and something for future developers to learn from. On the other hand, I feel that there are some issues well, especially with the narrative pacing.
I feel the game was at it's very best on the 3rd day when you question Klaasje and the Hardie Boys and figure out what happened there, the dynamic is great. Everything after the tribunal feels like a fever dream epilogue, disconnected from the previous part. There are still quests you can do, but they are sparse and not as well integrated with the rest of the narrative as the earlier quests. The lone communard gunman on the flak tower was an ok solution to the story, but it does feel like a bit of an afterthought. I feel that the cryptid should have probably only been interactable with at all if you had a high Inland Empire, it's not really going to make sense for every playstyle.
Beyond that I was a bit annoyed at some dialogue options when it was obvious that the writers felt that they had to present you with apocalypse/superstar/sorry/whatever cop or communist/facist/ultraliberal/moralist options. They had fun with it in some places, but it often felt totally out of place in an otherwise great conversation.
I can't really comment too much on the reactivity, I think they did a lot with it, but it did dry up noticeably toward the end. I was pretty impressed that I could never find my gun and just rely on my BFF Kim and my talking tie teaching me to make molotov cocktails. On the other hand, the final conversation with the Precinct 41 people, felt pretty empty, I didn't see any options to even not rejoin them. I just wanted to quit go join Precinct 57 with my boi Kim. I think it could really use like a few ending slides or something as well.
Finally, I mostly played as a "sorry cop", I guess. I tried my best to solve the case, and stay clean and not sound like a crazy person. I feel that it would be pretty hard for me to play as just a fun crazy dude, who likes disco and communism or whatever. After you talk to your precinct on the radio and figure out how fucked up you are, I just feel like trash every time I'm picking the wacky dialogue options in any serious situation.
PS. Is it possible to get any actual closure with the ex-whatever (Dora)? Best I could do was to promise to try to get over her at the end.