Envelope

No idea why this is tagged as horror, there's nothing scary about this. In fact about 90% of the dialogue is played off as a joke. 80% of my playtime is running around at a snails pace with my eyes glazed over from boredom because the dev decided that walking around is a acceptable substitute for gameplay. If you die you restart from the beginning, there are no saves. Huge waste of time to try and get people past the 2 hour refund window.

The game lacks all the appeal of actual immersive sims (emergent gameplay interactions) and the writing and production quality is so poor I was unable to finish more than a few runs. There are almost no custom UI elements outside the main menu screen and the character dialogue is written as if it expects you to not take the game seriously while also being entirely devoid of humor.

[code]Curator page here-->[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37670120/] DaRevieweD #002 [/url]<-- [i]New review whenever[/i][/code] [h1]FIRST IMPRESSIONS;[/h1] A semi-serious, realistic, and intriguing invitation that pulls you in with an offer you cannot refuse. [h1]PROS;[/h1] [h1]+ DA. GAMEPLAY[/h1] Each of the three chapters are so different from one another that you never quite know what to expect! From “convenience store horror simulator” to “Grand Theft Auto-like sandbox quest” and everything else nefariously comical in between! It even accommodates for various playstyles such as the “ADHD route” where it bombards you with as much distractions as possible, “frugality route” where you conserve every resource you find, “chaos route” where you shoot and whack your way through problems, and etc. In fact, you know what it is truly reminiscent of? The PS1 games that do not hold your hand, even if in actuality they do, I mean it certainly and nostalgically looks like it belongs in that golden era. But with the “limited” gameplay logic of point-and-click adventures where failure to find and use items in a certain order or way will bar you from progressing… Point is, so much depth to it than you’d otherwise figure. Besides, chances are you would still be missing out on goofy characters by your fifth and subsequent attempts~ https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3412648225 [h1]+ DA CREEPS![/h1] Sure, there was no in-your-face uber terrifying baddie or constant palpable apprehension… It’s worse! It’s life, and you know something is genuinely scary when you can picture the events actually happen before your eyes. Misogynistic Karens? Check. Scummy scum of the Earth? Affirmative. Just plain, uncomfortable and/or painful conversations with rude unhelpful individuals? SIGN ME UP. But hey, it does have its fair share of possibly inspired by horror movie moments as well. [h1]+ DA PLOT~[/h1] I have no idea why but the first chapter and former demo to Envelope, will forever be iconic for its effective setting of the mood and then against all odds derailing from that trajectory with an unfathomable & unpredictable second act. The story itself is so simple that it comes off elegant! Besides, who cannot relate to the notion of a letter that can change the course of your entire life!? [h1]+ DA DESIGN…[/h1] My soulmate and I absolutely chowed down and digested the overall eccentric & “heck yeah, vibe to this” score. There was much love & attention poured into the locations- with special mention to chapter 2’s small town setting and inhabitants. It just felt so lifelike by how it is populated by a… colorfully shady lot, some you hate and others you downright despise and wish death upon! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3412648690 [h1]CONS;[/h1] [h1]-DUH, POTENTIAL[/h1] It is hard to explain because sometimes it is perfect and more elaborate than you’d think. Then other times, the “unfinished” aspects come off glaring and stick to your brain, becoming all you obsess over. For instance, a number of NPCs appear to be open to interactions, but instead awkwardly gawk at you. Furthermore, the interiors of one house in particular were surprisingly bare. Killing people seems to have no consequences or purpose besides quelling your frustrations. And yes, there is a “save system” but not the conventional one you’d like… At the moment, you MUST play chapter 2 in one sitting or risk losing all the quest items. I just want to take my time and come back to it y’know? I’d even accept a quick save huhu. There were a few other examples of *sucks in breath* moments where it was clear the budget was an obstacle and I absolutely get it. However including said mechanics but not developing them isn’t the way to go about it either. Which is why I hope this game will be revisited and its full potential gets realized! [h1]BUGS;[/h1] x I couldn’t really find any, and I truly tried to. Having me as a playtester really worked against me XD x Just replayed and I encountered one where trash bags couldn’t be removed from my person/camera. [h1]NITPICKS[/h1] ~ The main menu needs more hidden features, lmao ~ Some typos and grammar stuff, the former I have pointed out but they’ve yet to be addressed. ~ NPCs with dialogue are played once and then never again. Which is a miss because the humor is bomb! ~ The item currently equipped gets holstered in the third/final chapter after a cutscene. DAWG! ~ Having no voice acting was a missed opportunity but luckily I’m working on a lil’ something as to what could have been. Kekeke. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3412877972 [h1]LAST WORDS;[/h1] An adventurous love letter to various genres while still having its own unique spin & character. What it lacks in wholeness, it makes up for with heart, a charmer of a town, as well as “anything goes” humor~ [h1]7.95 / 10[/h1]

This was not at all what i expected it was, In the best possible sense. I think its best going in a little blind, encountering the initial frustration of said blindness and learning the game in your own pace. Make sure you have an hour or so free before diving in for the first time

I was enjoying my time in the game until I got stuck in the map and lost all my progress because there's no saving.

This is a very mild recommendation. This game does provide some interesting decisions, and some very intense stealth-based game play. However, some of the controls are awkward, and there is no ability to save anywhere. That last was the deliberate choice of the designer, who wanted to avoid 'save scumming'. While I respect his right to make his own artistic choices, the way this game takes your fail states and resets you to a point very early in the game just killed the fun for me. Anyone wanting a demanding, stealth-based time loop game has come to the right place, but almost everyone else should look elsewhere.

Really difficult to get into. Even at the 2-3hr runtime, that feels like it is mostly wandering aimlessly trying to figure out what to do next. Not a fun experience.

**SPOILERS** I found this to be quite a fun experience overall! There’s a lot to like about this game, but I can also see why some people found it frustrating. Here are my thoughts: Strengths: I’d say the best thing about this game is its writing, there were many times throughout my playthrough where the dialogue made me burst out laughing: “You open the chest and inside is an axe, do you take it?” “Nah” *dies* “Why did you choose to leave the axe?” “I don’t know subversion of expectations or some ♥♥♥♥” If you enjoy that kind of irreverent (borderline ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-y) and meta humor you’ll enjoy the writing of this game. I was interested in hearing what every character had to say and rarely skipped any dialogue. But besides the jokes this game also had some moments that were strangely sweet or otherwise not directly played for laughs but still hitting the emotional beats it needs to. It’s not this deeply moving story or anything but it’s solid for what it is. The world building through the dialogue is very satisfying to slowly uncover, including the mystery behind the driving force of the game. Admittedly, there is perhaps a bit more to be desired from the ending, some hanging questions I would’ve liked answered rather than left to the player’s imagination, but I was always intrigued about what was really going on. The other strength this game has is its exploration. You spend a vast majority of your time in one town and it is pretty well designed. It was fun to explore around and I was constantly finding new areas that I had missed before, and mixed with the unpredictable nature of the game it made it exciting to explore further and further because I really wouldn’t know what to expect next! I maybe would say that I wish the map was just a tad smaller, but the size of the world didn’t cause too much frustration for me. But I could totally see people getting annoyed from all the constant trekking back and forth. At the very least, each playthrough allows you to learn where all the objects that speed you up are, so you’re able to use that to your advantage in a way I found satisfying. Neutral: This game’s presentation is fine, though for how zany the game often gets I wish the art was pushed in a more extreme direction to match. This game looks pretty much just like any other retro styled indie horror, which isn’t necessarily bad, it’s not like it made the gameplay worse, but I think a more unique look could make the world a bit more interesting to look at. Because while the exploration is fun, the town itself is mostly just… regular suburbia. The game runs well, I pretty much never experienced any bugs and the few that occurred didn’t affect the experience negatively at all. Outside of the exploration the gameplay is decent. The puzzles aren’t too complex, but I don’t think they needed to be. With how expansive the world is, difficult puzzles would be hard to design. One could say it’s the same “Go find object, collect object, come back and use object” gameplay prevalent in the genre but it didn’t really bother me because the dialogue and exploration was the real reward. And the game introduces enough little mechanics (the dirt piles, cans, pills, energy items, etc.) that keep one engaged even when you’re just walking around and exploring. I will say though that one bit of the gameplay was particularly disappointing based on how the game is presented on Steam... Weaknesses: The way that the game was set up from the Steam trailer (at least to me) was a game where you were required to assassinate someone, and you can do it at any time, but it won’t be easy without any tools. So, you instead can do fun side quests and explore a map filled with interesting characters and objectives that help you acquire resources to be able to take down your target. I was thinking it was like a Hitman game mixed with survival mechanics and side quests. And I got about 70% of what I was looking for, but that other 30% was really lacking if I’m being honest. The game is less focused on the final confrontation with your target and is more about all the other things you need to do to get the true ending. Which was still fun! But I won't lie, I was wishing for A LOT more from the mansion. It’s built up as this super important task that won’t be easy. I was getting ready to learn my target’s route, how to sneak past the guards, and creatively take the big bad down. Instead I walked up to the side door of the house, bashed it in with an axe, walked to the adjacent room, shot him, and left. The Steam page says things like “You can do anything in this game!” which is technically true, but you’re not really incentivized to or rewarded by killing your target in any particular way. Once you understand the mansion (which only really takes like one or two attempts) you can kill your target super easily and it’s not especially satisfying. Maybe that’s the point? Maybe it’s meant to be this fruitless task since you're stuck in a loop anyways? But that’s not how the game initially presented itself and it’s unfortunate. It’s especially unfortunate because… the mansion is huge. There are so many rooms and unique assets that never make an impact. It’s just a ton of filler. To put it in another way, I wasn’t expecting a Dartmoor-level Hitman map… But I *was* expecting it to be something like Hawke’s Bay. It’s small, contained, but still plenty of ways to creatively kill your target while avoiding detection. The mansion might as well be 5 rooms with how frankly irrelevant the other rooms and areas are. One odd flaw about this game is… its UI? I’m not one to really pay that much attention to something like that but even I could spot the weird choices and inconsistencies in fonts. It took me out of the game a bit. Again why is a game as fun and zany as this is using such a bland typeface for its dialogue? And while I like the idea of the main menu, a stylized and pixelated interior of a car, it feels out of place and so does the font of the main menu. But that’s starting to get really nitpicky. I can totally see these choices as intentional, something to add to the game’s endearingly rough style and appeal , but it wasn’t really jiving with me either way. There are a few other mechanics that also just feel underdeveloped. For example, the greenhouse and the planter boxes. I love the idea of it, it’s a little bit of progress you get to keep between runs, it’s a fun side objective, and it's something you don’t have to do at all but it makes things easier down the line… except that you can only plant something once and then when you harvest it it’s just gone. This mechanic would have been so much more useful if the plant just stayed and you could uproot it if you wanted to change it out. Instead I completely ignored it because it wasn’t worth it in the slightest. Similarly, I really like the idea with the scientist who you trade plants for pills that give you buffs. But except for hyperfixation, I didn’t find any of the pills useful, at best they were a neat novelty, but I didn’t feel any reason to use them. Hopefully this review didn’t sound too negative, I want to stress that I really enjoyed playing this game and it was definitely worth my time. The dialogue and exploration are really good, it’s difficult to get a player to read so much dialogue but it was too fun to ignore, and exploration is honestly not what I come to games for usually but this game made it really fun and rewarding! And I absolutely adore the concept of this game, but I think it falls apart due to the mansion being extremely underwhelming after being built up so much. I am genuinely interested in what else this person has made and I want to see them keep improving their craft. I see a ton of great aspects to this game, and lots of potential to improve on it! Thank you for reading my review :)

Любителям легкой нарко...кхм...психоделики понравится :D Коротенький обзор тут - https://youtube.com/shorts/nKNs1ArNTzc

The game is fun but it have a f*cked up save system. For the first time I only can save after I got through the tunnel for the 3rd part and after that I had to start over the 2nd part from the beginning after I died in the first 20 seconds because of a bad game design. I am not willing to play trough all of that running and fetching quests again. Oh, and at the villa I see the beware of dog sign. I had a steak and prepared it to throw if I see the dog. But when the dog started to run towards me the game popped up a dialog with ... in it and after that I had to select the stake again. What and awful game design. Or it is on purpose?