Choices That Matter: And The Sun Went Out

This isn't necessarily a bad game, and if I could leave a neutral rating I would. I went in expecting a Choose Your Own Adventure game in the vein of those old, wonderful books. I got something a little different. I replayed the beginning ~10 minutes multiple times doing all the different choices I could to see roughly what the game was like. [h1]Pros[/h1] +The writing is excellent, and what I briefly saw there were no grammatical or spelling errors. The writing wasn't complicated and I expect most people who can read will be able to play and enjoy all the writing of this game. Despite not being complicated I found it engaging, but.. [h1]Cons[/h1] -Although the writing is good and engaging, I'm much more of a science fiction fan and this didn't particularly interest me. I'm sure it gets more sci-fi'y later, but I wasn't really drawn in to start, exacerbated by my next issue. -The vast majority of choices don't seem to matter at all. The game boasts over 2000 choices, but all except like 2 of them don't matter in the beginning, and you'll make 15-20 in this time period. At the beginning you have the choice of visiting 1 of 2 people. Which person you choose seems to determine your next step in the story. Who you choose first slightly changes how the story plays out with the other, but it doesn't seem to matter. This is my greatest issue with the game and why I don't feel motivated to play it. I want ALL my choices to matter, like they did in those old books. Instead almost every choice leads you along the same path if you reload and take the other one. In the CYOA books almost every choice you made sent you on a different, unique adventure. Only rarely would your choices converge in those books, and I loved it. I would have over a dozen bookmarks so whenever I reached a story end I could go back and make a different choice to see what changes. Here nothing of value changes. At the end I'll have a spoiler section detailing various early game choices and how they have no impact. The reason so few choices matter is likely due to my next issue. -You can't die in this game, and there aren't any bad endings. No matter what choices you make you can continue to the end. This is horrible for a CYOA story, because it means so many paths must converge, thus meaning very few choices actually matter, or you'll have virtually no choices to make or else you'll have an impossible amount of story branches. If you're going to go this route I would rather they remove all choices that don't actually matter, and keep only the ones that will change your story path. Or at least have the choices that matter be a different color so I know which choices to pay attention to and to change on future playhtroughs. -Bafflingly you have 1 save file. That's right, just one. In a huge story like this where there's supposed to be "10 story arcs" having only a single save is criminal. -There's a function to rewind to your previous choice, but it doesn't allow you to make a different choice so it's pointless. Your only other option is to restart the whole game. Thankfully there's a button that skips the story ahead to the next choice, but it quickly gets tedious, even in the early game. -Moti, your AI assistant, is really annoying how she constantly pops up to interrupt the story flow with meaningless comments. -There is absolutely no backstory about yourself, or either of the two people you are asked to choose between meeting. It seems this information may get slowly dished out as the story continues, but still it's a bad way to start a story. Surely there could be an optional prologue exposition dump from the main menu (if this game had one which it doesn't). -+The music is simple and boring, but then again that could be good so it doesn't distract from the text. Sound effects are rare but do add to the story, such as a door creaking open or the sound of a gunshot. [h1]Closing thoughts + spoilers[/h1] The game is cheap, about the cost of a used paperback. If the premise intrigues you, and my complaints don't scare you, and you like reading, then this game is for you. If you are like me and wanted a CYOA book in game form, you will be severely disappointed. Early ~10 minute game spoilers![spoiler]At the start you have the choice between meeting Delores or Professor Sole. No matter what it seems Sole is killed. Delores also gets attacked but I'm pretty sure she escapes. I mostly explored going to Sole's first. Arrive at Soles and you can examine his overpacked suitcase which reveals he's planning a trip to a certain place, or you can ignore it. This doesn't matter because later when Sole is killed you search his body without choice and learn of that place anyway. As he's dying you can choose to stem the blood flow or try to listen to what he has to say. No difference. Before this you can ask him a if it's him or another choice I forget, but they don't matter. After this he asks you to come closer and you can comply or not, it makes no difference. But if you do come closer you have the choice to examine his diary or ignore it, but this doesn't matter. After he's killed you get a gun and can choose to carefully approach the house exit in pursuit of the murderer, or charge after them. It doesn't matter. You then can choose between chasing one of two people, and while they do lead to slightly different paths they converge exactly the same. Chase down the alley and you have the choice to shoot the fence lock twice, or attempt climbing it twice. Both have the same outcome of you getting knocked unconscious and the murderer taking your gun (I wonder if it's ever explained why he just doesn't kill you). Reload and go after the guy on the bus where you get more choices that make no difference ending with you getting knocked unconscious and losing the gun. This is where you have the choice of meeting Delores or going back to Sole's to look for research notes. It didn't seem to matter which I did in the grand scheme but I didn't play much beyond those choices. Go meet Delores and you can get to the house and search it before the cops show up. I chose to leave before finding the itinerary so I don't know what would change if it actually lets me find it. If you go back to Sole's you have to go to Delores' anyway but the police are there and won't tell you anything.[/spoiler]

Preliminary review, will update once I get further in. First of all, I bought this game despite reading a few reviews that say choices are meaningless and don't do anything. The main reviewer that said as much mentioned only playing through the first few minutes of the game over and over again. The initial choices might not matter or seem inconsequential because the story is just starting out and hasn't picked up speed yet. I am now 3 hours into the story and there have been a lot of big decisions that will greatly affect the story. I'm probably about halfway through the game at this point but this is still my first playthrough. There are so many big choices (such as deciding between two countries to travel to and choosing to deal with a bomb threat situation). This is still my first playthrough but I feel like the most popular review on this steam page is a little to quick with its judgement. Especially since it was only considering the choices you make in the first few minutes of a story that takes several hours to get through. So far the story is good and intriguing, the characters are great, the writing is good too. Looking forward to finishing this.

So far I'm loving it, I haven't yet made it even halfway (If the 15 arcs are roughly the same length) but am extremely curious to see where things lead. The pros: Fascinating story so far Intricate characters that feel alive rather than just words on a screen Many choices makes it feel a lot more natural flowing story, so far I have only made 2 decisions that went back and doubled up on something I'd already read or stated it again in a near identical way The cons: If you're looking for a goosebumps choose your own adventure this is not it, it feels like a gentle guiding wind rather than a brutal merciless storyteller One save slot (Unsure as of yet but it seems like reverting to a specific choice if you wish to see both directions will be a chore) Choices being in the middle of the screen means I'm often interrupted in my reading by an oversized cursor left behind by a choice. A minor annoyance but one that happens with almost every choice that spawns more than a single line of text Overall: Would highly recommend it if you are after an intricate and curious story 8/10 so far

Not the story I expected but a really good one nonetheless. I 'm fond of the main and secondary characters and the game is packed with action (even if it's a text based game, please remember). The only thing I find depressing is the black background, even if it makes sense. Bonus: Your personal assistant Moti is the best.

I've played this game multiple times before on mobile, and I went to get it here mostly just so I could leave a review. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's my comfort story. I love the premise, the characters, the writing, the way you influence where it all goes. Admittedly, there are pacing issues in spots, and there are instances where you get the same information or dialogue twice, but I believe that is due to the nature of the medium. Besides, I genuinely didn't notice any of those issues until I played it for like the third or fourth time. I can't say much about the different options that you get, as I am always drawn to the same ones, whether we're talking the adventure itself or the romance options; this is more of a novel for me than a game with a goal. If you're coming into this expecting a very scify-y experience with futuristic tech and stuff, you might be disappointed. I believe the term here is "hard scifi" - near future, current technology - and that doesn't change until the very very end where it becomes a much more "out there" kind of scifi, bordering on fantasy. Hard to explain without spoilers though. I have a lot of love for this story, and it's difficult to put it into words that make sense to those who haven't experienced it yet. But if you like to witness wonderful character development, even CAUSE character development, an incredible mystery with a ton of solutions offered only for the correct one to be a combination of all of them, do give this a try. I really wish I could get it out to more people, because I am of the belief that this is CRIMINALLY underappreciated. EDIT/UPDATE: I have now finished my sixth (?) playthrough, the first one where I pushed myself to actually explore the other options rather than sticking to the ones I'm drawn to. It was so, so worth it. I was left gasping in shock in many instances, and I cried twice. I have discovered a very minor plot hole (unless I missed the resolving of that issue due to not paying attention properly), but everything holds up solidly nonetheless. This remains my all time favourite storytelling experience.

Choices don't matter. Very disappointed in Tin Man Games because they focus on making CYOA games. I would skip this title and maybe try the Assassin in Orleans series.

OMG, I can't stop reading this story! I've always loved Choose Your Own Adventure books, but I've honestly been pretty disappointed with the digital versions of the same thing. Until now. This has an interesting story-line, engaging characters, surprising twists and turns that keep you coming back to read a little more... And it isn't a quick read! Lord, no! I've still got so many questions that need answers, and I'm not close to being ready for this ride to end. :)

I'm just starting arc 5 i think and wow has it been a cool ride so far. i googled it and apparently on any given play through you only read 150,000 of a total 600,000 words which leads me to believe that these choices that seem like they really change whats going on, really do. Which also inspires anxiety but hey that's all in the fun of making serious choices. so far solid 8/10 8.5 because canada eh

Incredible, a definite must play if you enjoy CYOA books and games. While not literally every choice you make is going to change the course of the narrative, they hel immerse the player into the main character's role, this paired with the intresting story and characters, and the intriguing mysteries make for an amazing experience if you like this kind of game

oh i wanted to like this, i really did. if the whole thing had been like the last few chapters (arcs) then i think i might have done, but as it is the writing isn't good enough to be compelling (honestly in places it's kinda bad, and not just cos of errors), the story is scattered, the characters are very unmemorable (aside from moti, and that's just cos of screen time)... i spent most of this very lost and somehow felt incredibly railroaded in a game all about choice. good concept, poor execution.