Chronicles of Taldun: The Remainder

First off, I have to give this game props for being different. It stands out from all the typical run-of-the-mill VNs out there. The art style is wonderful and quite unique and I think the sound design and visual effects really helped setting the mood. But man, the writing leaves much to be desired imho. I feel kinda bad saying this since I usually complain about writing in other games too, but because it's often bland, uninspired and reads like a teen novel. Taldun's writing is the complete opposite though: flowery, intricate prose mixed with poetry, full of literary devices. The problem is, it's so over the top that sometimes sentences don't even make sense anymore and it becomes a real slog to read. For example, I kept getting confused about whether I was reading dialogue, actions, internal thoughts, poetry or something else entirely. Had to re-read sentences multiple times just to figure out what the author was actually trying to say. As a non-native English speaker, this was especially frustrating, though I usually don't have issues with English games or books. Sometimes it felt like the writer was trying way too hard to sound smart and sophisticated. I actually like the writing style in itself, but this was just too much. The verbosity is also excessive, because things are often described in multiple paragraphs of high-minded artistic writing which say nothing at all and instead could have been conveyed in much less words. The whole they/them/xer pronoun thing also got on my nerves. It made the texts even harder to understand. Please just make an option for this so everyone can choose whether they want it or not. The story and gameplay were okay but didn't really hook me. I was interested at the beginning, but after the first game over, I was pretty much done already. I don't like having to replay VNs over and over just to unlock a few extra scenes and lines of text. The fact that everything is written in first person and the game constantly tells you how the protagonist (the player) feels and what's going on inside of him doesn't help either. You can do that in a novel, but from a game design perspective, it's not a good idea imo. The writing could've been more interactive, too. I also didn't warm up to the characters. After getting through 4-5 endings I got the basic gist of what was happening and that was enough for me, I just didn't care anymore. The whole story felt unnecessarily cryptic too, like they were trying super hard to be deep and philosophical. Lots of positive reviews mention having these intense emotional moments, but I felt nothing of that. Meh.. had Taldun on my wishlist for so long and finally it was on sale, only to be such a disappointment. Oh well.

Що ж, я в огляді на безкоштовну версію описав, що мені найбільше муляло, тож більше про це не буду (ну може тріііішечки), цю версію з усіх сил намагався грати як щось нове, хоча мої враження дуже сильно псував той факт, що до головного сюжетного твісту довелося грати 5+ годин (я про нього знав, але навіть так... мммм... нашо?). А тепер все ж поступово й з подробицями. Тож ви граєте за ГГ з тотальною амнезією (гра вам підкаже хіба ім'я й те можна змінити там же), в величезній вежі, де буквально над вами нависає небезпека (портал до виміру нескінченних страждань), який вам треба якось зачинити. Але у вас амнезія, та. Не переймайтеся, навколо повно інших небезпек, а також ще загадкові Ілар, які буквально вимагають від вас знайти потрібне закляття й ніц не хочуть пояснювати. Що в біса відбувається та чому? О, це дуже довга історія, а точніше сам сюжет можна в кілька абзаців тексту вмістити, а вам доведеться буквально вистраждати, бо ви отримуватимете по кілька речень\абзаців нового сюжету за кожну з купи унікальних смертей. Та, ваше завдання - помирати, такі справи. [quote]I swam out where the water's too deep Held my breath and sank into your sea Ran back into a burning house Found a maze with no way out Halestorm - Shiver (й далі)[/quote] Також та, це дейтсім. З гри вирізали майже увесь лор, тож крім страждань, драми та власне дейтсіму мало що лишилося. Маю багато питань до найпопулярнішого зі "справжніх" закінчень теж, бо воно тупо написане заради сексу й однієї малюсінької підказки для гравців, яку можна було спокійно деінде зробить. Ну та, грати в дейтсім заради сюжету, мій улюблений танок на граблях, але ж наболіло. Хай там як, моя головна претензія тут проста: подача сюжету. Себто ідея ніц не нова, але в більшості ігор зі схожим концептом (як приклад перша та друга Psychedelica, друга то взагалі моя любов, бо там є логіка, якщо до неї докопати, та та ж Animamundi навіть, вибачте старого діда, згадані самими розробницями Чайки та Фата Моргана... не дуже), але у всіх цих ігор є одна важлива штука: вони відкривають сюжет поступово, проходження за проходженням, там купа героїв, доль та трагедій, але вони різні всі. Це ж по суті один суцільний день бабака в обгортці з містицизму. Себто десь від 80 до 99 відсотків гри ті самі кожне проходження, що триває хвилин 30-40, іноді 2-3. Вмерли (унікальною смертю!) 12 разів? Вітаємо, нарешті сюжет кудись поплентається. Але не те щоб далеко, там треба буде ще разів 5 померти буде, не розслабляємось. [quote]It's the end of the end But I'll never leave I can't give you up and stay in one piece The cuts on my heart are starting to show There's not a scratch on ya Not one broken bone[/quote] Та, прям сумна історія в них вийшла, хоча мені було й є шкода лише одного героя, що, мгм, цитуючи Митця "в трагедії не з'являється", всіх інших - ні. Особливо власне ГГ, бо в них особистості з тою амнезією... як в героїні Амнезії (яка отоме теж, нашо я згадав ту бридотну гру, о Ктулху, але та, поряд, дуже поряд, подекуди аж занадто, живіть з цим). Себто також попри купу опцій, що, до речі, з'являються та зникають майже довільно, бо залежать від загальної кількості смертей, купи різних дій (в попередніх проходженнях також), й примхи авторів, бо посібник від них же не працює з поточною версією гри, себто щось все ж якось можна з ним отримати, але де треба робити багато певних дій - всьо, не співпадуть ваші опції ніц, я перевіряв купу разів. А також певні опції та досягнення можна отримати лише в певний проміжок часу (переважно перші проходження), а частину можна хоч обтригеритися, але не отримати досягнення чи взагалі втратити можливість побачити ці опції\шмат тексту з нічого *дивлюся на тебе, досягнення про Пюре!* Тобто опцій купа, ще й окремі поля для вводу тексту, куди його не можна просто скопіювати - доведеться запам'ятовувати всі заклинання напам'ять, бо їх (й це не те щоб спойлер) доведеться вводити в кожне доступне поле. В мене лишається тіко одне питання: [strike]нашо?[/strike] чому не зробити просто гру? Ну якщо ви не вмієте чи не хочете в сторітелінг, ок, хочеться вам мучити героїв - будь ласка, але гравців мучити нашо? Чому я маю читати та перечитувати те саме достобіса разів, особливо зважаючи, що рушій у візуалок почасти неадекватно реагує на пропуск тексту, а тут тре ще й переписували стільки, що вона починає сама в собі плутатись. Та ну. [quote]I carry the weight And fall through the ice Shiver forever to drown in your eyes Run off a cliff Pretend that it's flying But deep down, I know I'm the only one trying Sometimes, sometimes Lovin' you feels like dying Sometimes, sometimes Lovin' you feels like dying[/quote] Сумарно мені дуже-дуже хочеться (ще з попереднього відгуку) поставити палець вниз, от аж напрошується, я взагалі кошти не повернув за неї виключно через музику та візуал, коли зрозумів, що це не та гра, в яку я хтів пограти (вже пояснив, знову ж таки, в огляді на безкоштовну версію, там є). Але най вже, біс із ним. На мою думку грати в цю гру має сенс виключно заради візуалу та музики, сюжету частково теж, але його доведеться вимучувати й я б радив зазирнути до посібника на частину про, мгм, унікальні смерті зі словами в купі спойлерів, просто щоб зберегти собі годин 5-6 життя й майже\взагалі не втратити в сюжеті. Чи ціна зависока? Ммм, та, як на мене - стовідсотково зависока, принаймні за саму історію точно. Чи варто в це грати виключно заради сюжету - ніт. Дуже гарний, витончено-драматичний дейтсім, увесь обмазаний містицизмом та повчаннями, що змушує гравця страждати більше, ніж ГГ (бо в ГГ амнезія й вони не пам'ятатимуть нічого фактично до тре ендінга й то не факт). Зважаючи, що це ще робилося з претензією "зазирнути всередину себе" доповнюю: психотерапевта, психотерапевта й ще раз психотерапевта. Після психотерапії Ілар я б забрав, мені якраз з випічкою не щастить тотально, в духовці запікаю хіба мнясо та овочі, поможіть. Кхм. Якщо серйозно, то просто не хочу глибше аналізувати взагалі, навіть не через спойлери, а бо тицяти паличкою з криками "отуто! Отуто ще одна діра!" я буду надто довго. Тримайте аж надто файну (для гри, хоча вона радше про враження від гри й про перса, але то вже спойлери) пісню, коротше, а я пішов, втомила мене ця гра страшне.

ive never been one to write reviews, thinking my words wouldnt be enough to get anyone interested in a game, but god do i need the remainder to reach more people. the writing is wonderful and the art is gorgeous. (ive also never been one to buy art prints but ive ordered one on the devs kofi. the art is That Pretty to me. ) i was mildly sceptical reading the reviews for this game before i bought it. the reviews saying this was wine instead of candy really interested me though and boy did this live up to the comparisons. piecing the story together through death after death might have frustrated me at one point when i wasnt getting anywhere, but after finishing the story and even getting all the achievements, that frustration faded and left something bittersweet in its place. it might be one of my favourite stories of all time. i wish i could erase my memory and experience it again for the first time. im never going to forget the remainder and im seated for whatever the creators do next.

Never thought I'd be able to call a visual novel 'soulslike', but this game manages it, gyatt dayum :p Beautiful game, the narrative really grabs you by the throat. The atmosphere is wonderfully done. It was difficult but not so much that I ragequit. I felt like a mix of the memes of the confused woman and the crazy guy with the board with red string. I even used a notebook to keep track of questions that I had, and plot events I tried to puzzle together. Somehow managed to squeeze the true ending out of it. Cried. It probably did nothing but I nominated this game for the 'labour of love' section during the last sale, is really deserves it. The developers did a wonderful job.

I'm one of the developers, and I'm gonna try to do an impossible thing, write an unbiased review of my own game. Do I like it? Yes. I feel that even if I didn't make this, I'd still be intrigued when I came across it. The art is quite eye-catching. Not your usual anime aesthetic that most VNs have, but something very much "hand-crafted" feeling. That's always a big plus for me in a game, the human touch. The music is very unique. It's obviously not done by trained composers, that should be obvious. A lot of it doesn't follow any typical structure of music that most of us have ingrained in our ears from a life of listening and enjoying music. But it fits the atmosphere really well. Weird, textured, free-form, half-atmophere-half-music, after a while it kind of just sinks beneath conscious awareness and serve as an auditory soup that you float around in while navigating the story. The writing is... interesting. It has an unique flavour, which tickles my literary brain, but it's not an easy read, compared to a lot of VNs, or best-selling fantasy novels, which is what I consume the most. The mystery is thick right from the get go, a lot of things are not explained. You get a feeling things are being implied, things that seem disparate at first but might be revealed to be connected later, but you'll have to keep track of those to see how they pan out, and that demands a level of attention way above a casual/cozy experience. There are plenty of proper names, names of people, magickal forces, religious/spiritual concepts that stem from the world, and they're not explained either. Most fantasy novels like to preempt these foreign words with a lore dump, a lengthy prologue, or an explanatory sentence/paragraph right after the word is introduced here. There is some of that in this game, but a lot of times there isn't. The reader has to pick up on the context clues to figure out what some things mean. Again, takes extra brain power. But if I stick with it, I feel more like a detective who pieces things together. The satisfaction is often delayed, but I feel like narrative satisfaction can be like fermenting. It tastes better if given some time to reach fruition. Even though I wrote a lot of this, after leaving it aside for a long time, a lot of it gets forgotten, so I can almost feel like I'm reading someone else's words. Which makes it delightfully surprising when I encounter passages that stirs emotions in me. I laughed, I teared up, I was gripped, I itched to know what actually happened. I'm bad at remembering what choices I've made, and what clues there were, so I find it almost necessary to take some notes and keep track of things. But that's something I like to do anyways when I'm into a story. I even write down theories on how things are connected, and what they're leading to, and give myself a pat on the back when they pan out. If you like doing things like that, this story is more for you. If you don't, then it might chafe you the wrong way. If I came across this game and it was made by someone else, I might despair a little for the developer. The level of care and devotion to the work is evident, but the theme and style is niche enough that I'm not sure it'll ever find a large audience. So I hope that the love for the work itself is strong enough that it can make up for any lack of external validation. Oh, answering as myself, I'd say yes! It is, and it does. I hope this review helps someone(besides myself).

I thought because of all the positive reviews that I would have something nice to say about this game. I don't. The disclaimer at the beginning of the game states multiple playthroughs will be necessary to understand the full story. After 2 playthroughs and 3 bad ends, I feel that I've seen enough to understand the gist of it. And I didn't care for it. And I certainly didn't feel like playing it yet again. While the narrative seems to try to convey some sort of sense of urgency it doesn't follow through. It meanders, it's boring. I found my thoughts straying completely. Some sentences didn't make a ton of literal sense. And in a VN without a ton of things to look at, the words have to matter. Your choices sometimes have nothing to do with the actions that follow. It just wasn't a great experience.

The writing and artwork of this game is beautiful. For that alone I think it is worth playing, but boy does this game not make it easy to progress fkljsanjkfdn 'Visual Novel Dark Souls' is the best way to think about it. You will die. A Lot. And its better to try to think of this like a giant puzzle game instead of a traditional visual novel where your 'route' is determined solely by your dialogue choices. (Thinking of it like a puzzle after spending the first 5 hours bashing my face into a wall helped A Lot and I was able to progress and enjoy what is otherwise a very interesting story with very likable characters!) Godspeed Sleepy Magus o7

I don't quite know where to begin with this review, which is a good thing. I went into this without many expectations and was immediately hooked. The prose is lyrical, the atmosphere is consistently dark and wistful, the worldbuilding is intriguing and I had to work for it, and the plot caught me off guard even though I was fully engaged in trying to figure out what happened. The narrative felt alive and genuinely responsive to my actions. This game is also an exceptional character study and it took me a while to figure out the nuances of it, but it was so rewarding when I did. I could write an essay on the dynamic between Vyn and Ilar and how gut-wrenchingly invested I was in them. That, and the sheer skill involved in creating these characters and their history, is what got me obsessed with this VN. The emotional core of the narrative was exceptionally strong and consistently maintained, and the true endings all managed to fit with it in varying ways. Both Vyn and Ilar are strongly written characters and I would probably be invested in a story about them drinking tea. It took a lot of work to get the ending I did, and I felt rewarded for all the effort I put in. I will be thinking about that ending and their story for a long time. I really appreciate the devs for putting this work out there, it resonated with me in a way few things do and I will absolutely be playing future VNs set in this universe.

[spoiler] This Relationship Situation Is Crazy [/spoiler] Great game, both addictive and frustrating, be prepared to forget about your life and responsibilities until you're finished. I think I've reached enlightenment.

3/5。我是完全get不到这部的，不喜欢这种模模糊糊的意识流叙事风格，浅浅打了个结局，一看攻略发现真结局貌似还蛮复杂的，然后我就丧失动力了。steamdeck要在兼容性里选proton才能打开游戏。