Dead Secret Circle

Bewertung 6/10.

need chinese ,please.

[b]The moon shines over the mountain[/b] If you are interested in this game, please do yourself a favor and play the original game first. Being a direct and divisive sequel to [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198039057005/recommended/402260/]2016 Dead Secret,[/url] this short investigation thriller now proudly features WASD movement, and can be rightfully deemed a detective walking sim. Gameplay is mostly the same, point-and-click adventure-esque mystery with simple puzzles. This is a review for non-VR version. [b][u]PROS: story, music and ambience, voice acting, atmosphere[/u][/b] This sequel still retains most of the charm of the original. Writing is definitely stronger (up until the ending, but more on that later); there is a tonal shift into the darker, bitter inner state, and it fits beautifully. With all the dreamworld shenanigans, the narrative continues to lean uncomfortably further into bizarre, grim territory. The events of the first game have left their mark on our protagonist; she is not the same person anymore. Not even a reporter now, she was fired a year before the game takes place. She is investigating this case, because the process makes her feel alive and helps combat her depression. It's the only thing that feels worthwhile to her. I can relate to that mindset. She is not completely alone when poking around; now we have a small cast of characters to add to the bizarre. Yeah, they are not that likeable, but do they have to be? They are a colorful, quirky bunch within their archetypes, exaggerated, but interesting, with decent dialogues and little stories. They are so charming in their own way. Their facial animation is hilariously uncanny, and their (and the protagonist's) voice acting is really good, a vast improvement from the original. It's still so wonderfully haunting. Books, notes and tapes you find, paintings and movie posters you see, are all so eerie. The snow and the cold, winter chill seeping in from behind the windows. Dingy corridors of a condemned apartment building - still inhabited - are oozing with secrets. Mundane or disgusting, they spill out of every doorframe. I can't help but feel like an eavesdropper listening to people talking behind thin walls of their rooms, cuddled within their false safety. The details are still great. At main menu your virtual table fills with all kinds of unnerving stuff, evidence and memorabilia. There is this subtle thing with descriptions, that is quite disturbing - when you notice it. Investigation is still heavily gamified and operates on adventure logic, with simple dialogue/interrogation system added to the mix. There are optional puzzles now, and they can be a little harder, though completely unrelated. And mirrors still made me jump a little. [b][u]CONS: bugs, visual glitches, technical issues, weak ending[/u][/b] BUGS. Bugs, bugs, bugs. It took them [i]four years[/i] to fix a major gamebreaking bug which affected many people, and the game is at least playable from start to finish now, but it's still broken through and through. The first one was rough; this one is [b][i]raw[/i][/b]. VR adaptation rears its ugly head yet again, with inventory and interaction system that is somehow even more clunky and buggy than in the first game. Floating flashlight is the worst jumpscare. Movement is slow and dialogues are unskippable. You get stuck on furniture. Mouse cursor gets stuck on interaction points and jitters uncontrollably. Also, what's the point of having free WASD movement, if most interactions make your screen flash black and your position reset? There are no graphical settings, and you can't force the settings dialog window to appear anymore. I had to limit FPS and set VSync through driver options, because the amount of screen tearing was unbearable. There are loads and loads of visual glitches, especially with textures and shading; many assets look charred with baking errors, and the shadows of the characters seem to have a life of their own. And then there are issues with story and pacing. The game noticeably drags on the second half, with boredom setting in; I'd prefer it to be more concise, like the first game. There is no feeling of progression and the game loses most of the tension. That's where the cracks in the story start to show, too; and it stops making sense. Unlike the first game, so many things here are not explained or even hinted at; mentioned once, as though seemingly important, only to never show up again; or just appear out of thin air. The ending feels very anticlimactic, with zero payoff. The killer motivation and modus operandi is ridiculously cliché and random - it just happens, nothing really comes together. It's all so rushed, so unsatisfyingly abrupt. And the dev's smug attitude regarding the story does not help at all. Also, the bugs are especially atrocious towards the end, ruining the immersion. I was quite literally stuck [i]inside[/i] the killer. This was NOT fun. [b]Conclusion[/b] So... yeah. When I finally stopped raging over the technical condition, I started to genuinely enjoy the game. Right up until the ending. Then I raged again. What a disappointment. That said, if you played and enjoyed the first game, this one is definitely recommended, and not only just for the sake of continuation. [b]Dead Secret Circle[/b] still has many redeeming qualities, and is mostly quite a treat to play, if you persist through its rough state, ignore the occasional nonsensical story bits, and pretend that ending doesn't exist. [table][tr][td][code]If you like games with similar themes and atmosphere, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44239617-empty-places/]follow my curator: [b]empty places[/b][/url][/code][/td][/tr][/table]

Aiya! Aiya!