Beckett

As a auditory and visual experience, it is interesting and worth its cost. However, the storytelling is half baked with too many ideas/themes and not enough focus on any of them for it to be worthwhile. Their inspirations are very visible which is fine but the creators just left them at the very surface level, almost like the creator read a philosophy book's back blurb. I think that they use the "dark and unsettling" aesthetic to mask the fact there is no substance to any of the ideas they present. each theme presented is essentially a paragraph you read every couple of minutes. it's tedious to play through

good

Well, that was certainly an experience. Not disturbing as such, but definitely thought-provoking. I think this one will stick with me for a while.

Quite experimental and avant-garde, in certain ways. To enjoy it fully, you either have to be a connoisseur of this kind of game, or be in a certain mood. Likely to be worth a replay after going through a bit more of life.

That was a fantastic 5-6 hours (playing very leisurely), a captivating experience on many aspects. Many names come to mind (Beckett of course, Burroughs and mechanically, Cronenberg follows) but (oddly?) it made me think of Disco Elysium. The darkness, the moving the goal posts of the video game media maybe? Either way, it was something new, thank you to the developing team!

An interesting premise and style of design ruined by abandonment of plot threads and over-indulgence in random tangents. Had it stuck to its surreal world and dedicated itself to a cohesive plot concerning the city representatives, the detective case, and eventually Beckett's fall reaching its conclusion, this could've been a great story and an enjoyable game. Instead, it deviates too heavily from that regularly, dumping meaningless exposition (i.e. of no consequence, ha ha...) which isn't interesting and, unfortunately, is time consuming. This game had a lot of great ideas, but unfortunately dumps them in their pure format, effectively resulting in them being nothing more than footnotes directly stated to you. It would have been far more interesting had they fleshed them out and given them context in the story. Tl;dr: Starts off well, but has an unsatisfying ending.

Pretentious, dull, and whoever added the soundboard clearly hates ears.

At the moment, not simultaneously but proximate, I am reading Naked Lunch and playing this game. Perhaps the book is recontextualising the game (Buroughs, hmm) but the literary experiment here is something that I absolutely recommend. It is an older game and I have played it before but some reviews are so wide of the mark that I felt I had to say that well at least I like it, liked it, and probably will the next time I play. Or rather experience and I think that is what upsets some people here.

A fantastic piece of interactive narrative art

Beckett is interesting, to say the least. It's dark and obscures its meaning behind metaphor and cryptic symbolism. In some ways, it's very explicit in its messages, but the greater meaning requires more thought. Having seen both endings, many things were recontextualized for me, and I'm not sure if I understand it entirely myself. But, I suppose, some art is intended to be left to interpretation. The themes presented throughout the bulk of the story are certainly enough to chew on, even if you get nothing from its conclusion. If you have experienced or been adjacent to darker thoughts that come with existentialism or depression, you will likely be able to identify with much of what Beckett has to offer, including Beckett himself. At first the gameplay seemed unappealing, but after the first couple chapters, I really started to understand why they took this approach over a more traditional interactive book style game, like they had done previously. All this may seem vague, but I am trying not to give too much away. I wouldn't want to shape your perception of the game, as I feel it is best experienced first hand with your personal lens of interpretation. In other words, I highly recommend it, as long as you can handle some slightly disturbing imagery and concepts.