Flat Eye

Loads of bugs and grammar errors. The business management aspect is superficial, something that becomes aparent about halfway through the game. I lost interest in the gameplay and the plot, and the game became a fast-forward trudge to finish all the storylines so I could uninstall. Flat Eye tries to convey some important topics about the future and our relationship with technology, but somehow completely fails to make any impact.

It's a good looking game, with apparent effort from its creators to bring something new to the table. There are A LOT of ideas in there, and a lot of content too: text stories, technology tree, upgrades... It's so unfortunate its gameplay is too shallow to be likeable, and I couldn't get to the end to see it all. Among its flaws: - management gameplay is repetitive, there are no stakes (can't ever loose) and thus is boring - achievements are more of a hassle than a real challenge - the interactions with AI feel fake, its dialogs are weird and unconvincing - the storylines are not always interesting If the game gets patched make the gameplay more addictive, I would play again.

Tl;dr buy if it is on sale, but don't expect more than 10 hours of gameplay. It was a very promising start, and I greatly enjoyed the demo release and early part of development. Unfortunately, the gameplay loop around the "GentleSleep" module is very spiritually draining as well as mechanically grindy to keep doing day after day. Some of the more interesting gameplay elements (e.g. being replaced by the AI for not meeting targets or fighting with customers) happen only once. The game did not sell as well as the developers needed it to, and parts of the storylines, localizations & late game generally are unfinished as a result. I stopped playing waiting for an update that never came. There is potential here, the art style is good, the interactions between technology and the working life are good. It can be more accurately described as a dystopian working life simulator than a resource manager, and it is pleasing to optimise your shop floor to get the most out of it. You just get a sense that it stops going anywhere interesting with it before you finish it.

Great graphics, good writing, great UI and UX, but damn the gameplay is repetitive, the game is not balanced at all and the writing ruined by the bugs All the gamer has to do is to wait and click everywhere in order to end the day and finally got a few XP to finally new machines. But that unlocking is sooooo slow so you have to just play just for the sake of playing and having that XP. You have no issue to solve, and the unlocking of the dialogue is done by unlocking the machines. So you just are going through the day and click to repair, restock, repair, restock, repair, restock. Got a new machine ? Great now you got a NPC and dialogues lines. That's all. Now you just go back to click click click and end the day and click click click and end the day. Got enough XP ? Great a new machine ! Build it, link it the to the others machines. Oh they implemented requirements for a machine to work, not just electricity but data, organic matter etc. "What does it bring to the gameplay?" Well nothing, that just means you may have to wait another day to build a machine to the feed the new one. "Does it mean that you can have fires, hacking, or overloaded flux to manage?" No. There is absolutly no managing skills or puzzle solving skills requires. "But so that should be a peaceful game like a 'walking sim'?" NO ! I wished it was! Remember? you have click to repair every 2 second! Repair clicker should have the name of that game! "That's just because you speed up time?" Yes sure, but what else should I do? I got no mini games to play, no interaction with the customers to see, no cute animals to pet, no housing, just shadows destroying my precious machines! The beginning of the day has modifiers picked at random: a perfect proof of why the game was not tested properly. Why shall I click to draw cards? That's random just throw it at me like any game where to get random stuff every 15minutes! That's how repetitive it is: 15min you have to do that again and again, so the basic of a gameplay is to make the game enjoyable. The I was hoping to see the end of the game finally. After all, I invested so many hours and the game keep promising me an incredible end. And when I was near the end, I picked one of the worst end possible it seems. Now it requires me to unlock ALL machines! NOOOO That's no many XP and so many days! I just gave up. It fell like just farming XP on a Facebook game witch fancy graphics and dialogues, but without a catchy gameplay Very very sad for the writers, the graphic designers, the UI deigners... but that game really lack of a balanced gameplay. How could someone not said to them 'Hey sorry but you actually need to give the XP accordingly to the goals so the player can feel the end of the day as reward, and not as a hustle'

The bones of a great game here, but sadly cannot recommend it. 13 hours in and I doubt I will be finishing it. It's gotten really grind-ey, which I don't think the devs intended. This game is a classic example of one that could 10x better and nothing but a pure joy to play had it gone through a few rounds of early access/beta-release feedback. Certain mechanics are broken. Several of the daily missions (that unlock after a few ranks) are generally unachievable, slowing down the grind even further by lowering your daily rating and reducing the tech points you can earn. Unlocking new technology is a chore because it's not clear what a new tech will do, what resource requirements it has, nor what resources it will produce - you're stuck guessing with these precious tech tree points that just come way too slowly after awhile, and way too many mystery choices to choose from. The writing has a few grammatical errors and seems confused or disconnected at times despite what feels like a really interesting conversation about the modern emergence of tech taking over our lives. Again, I really wish I could finish this because I like the underlying dialogue a lot, but I'm just burning out. Would like to see more from this developer.

UPD: Well, dang, they've actually released a patch after my review :O The game is great. It really has a very entertaining yet occasionally grim story. The core gameplay loop is alright. Devs should have thought it out some more. It does get a bit (more than a bit) repetitive later on. And the bugs.. Oh god, the amount of really obvious bugs and issues leads me to believe this game has been abandoned. So I can't recommend it. Not unless you're OK with your game occasionally crashing and having bugs that literally prevent you from, say, progressing through the game without having to grind 3 times more than you originally would. Also module balancing is off and the whole economy is meh, but I'd say it's more of a side-note rather than a good/bad thing with this game. P.S. I'll change the review if the issues ever get fixed. Hell, I'll change my review if they release any kind of patch.

Initially, seemed very interesting game. I Really regret buying this game now. Too much political liberal content, with "preferred pronouns." Also to many vip customer conversations that go on and on vs game play. Its more a story line that makes as much sense as having a "pronoun" at the end of your name, and how that will improve your overall quality of life. Mrs. She/Her/They/Them/Whatever.

This game is nice, fun, has nice graphics and good concept. I have do unrecommend it though, unfortunately (I rarely do so). What made me ask for refund: The game crashes a lot (on every "start work day" or "end work day"), rending it a crippled game that sometimes work, sometimes not. The problem seems to exist since ever and people have been talking about this from a log time till now on the community, so Devs aren't so worried about fixing it. There are other complaints that I didn't face, but seems the attitude towards it is the same, no fixes. There are much smaller studios that put much more effort into fixing stuff. The game seems that will reach a boring cycle pretty fast, you're not on your own and your path doesn't depend on you, "you're not losing anyway". The crashing thing is enough for me to ask for a refund... As a developer I think to deliver broken software and not even trying to fix it is just disrespectful.

I love what this game stands for. I love the messages it chooses to convey, which set it apart from any genre tag you could give it. Is it a management sim with visual novel elements? Sure. But I'd rather view this game as an innocuous delivery system for a range of important stories; from occasionally humourous explorations of the human condition, to hard-hitting and unpleasant truths which hold a mirror to the player, and to society. This sounds really wanky - and it is, a bit. Sometimes the game gets a little lost in the stories its telling, losing the interest of even an engaged player like myself. There's lots of reading, and lots of inane busywork, too: gameplay-wise, the management sim mechanics had me hooked for the first 6 hours or so, but became an absolute slog for the last 4, the systems lacking enough depth to provide a lasting foundation for the stories the devs wanted to tell. By the end, I was shocked my playtime was only 11 hours, as the reward-shy repetition dragged, not least because of myriad bugs - most are small and don't persist day to day. However, I crashed once or twice, and had to reload a save once due to being soft-locked. I don't think the game is going to get the final spit-polish it needs to resolve these, unfortunately, as it's looking a little unloved since its release. The game should probably be shorter. Exhausted gameplay loops, bugs, and mildly imbalanced progression begins to irk the longer you play. But I kept playing for the stories. The vignettes which drove the AI breathing down my neck to consider humanity as more than a daily inconvenience and something worth saving. If you're into exploring fantastical - or not, as the case may be - takes on where humankind may be driving itself, play Flat Eye. What it lacks in polish it more than makes up for in the weight of its messages.

[h1][b]Lo único que terminas gestionando en FlatEye es tu frustración[/b][/h1] Si has jugado suficientes videojuegos, sabrás que los géneros y las descripciones no siempre coinciden con la realidad. FlatEye es un ejemplo perfecto de esto, ya que aunque se nos vende como un juego de gestión económica ambientado en una estación de servicio en una futurista Islandia, en realidad se siente más como una serie de tareas monótonas que no logran ser satisfactorias ni atractivas. FlatEye se vende como un juego de gestión, pero apenas desempaquetas la experiencia, te das cuenta de que realmente se trata de un juego con tres actividades principales: cobrar a los clientes, reabastecer los estantes y reparar los servicios tecnológicos de tu estación. Y eso es prácticamente todo. Incluso la primera de ellas, cobrar a los clientes, se vuelve irrelevante una vez que desbloqueas las cajas automáticas. El único empleado que puedes contratar es inútilmente ineficiente si no lo controlas tu personalmente, y la demanda de trabajo se acumula a medida que tu estación se expande, pero no puedes contratar más personal. Se añade una nueva mecánica de "objetivos diarios" que parece existir solo para añadir estrés innecesario. La mayoría de las veces, estos objetivos van directamente en contra de lo que deberías estar haciendo: maximizar tus beneficios. La trama del juego parece intentar una crítica a la cultura corporativa moderna. Se evidencia en los correos internos de la compañía y en los clientes VIP, quienes representan una serie de rarezas para el algoritmo de la IA de FlatEye. Algunos de ellos pueden robarte, otros pueden estar drogados o trabajando para la competencia, y otros simplemente son paranoicos. Sin embargo, este intento se queda corto, ya que los personajes carecen de un trasfondo interesante y solo aportan diálogos interminables y aburridos. Además, el juego intenta ser gracioso a través de estos diálogos, pero la mayor parte del tiempo, el humor es plano y no logra exponer la crítica social que pretende hacer. No todo es malo en FlatEye. El diseño minimalista es atractivo y la música ambiental es decente. Hay muchos componentes que puedes agregar a tu estación de servicio, aunque desbloquearlos se convierte en una tarea monótona destinada a extender artificialmente la vida del juego. En resumen, FlatEye es una idea prometedora que se perdió en su ejecución. La mecánica es simple y repetitiva hasta el punto de convertirse en un trabajo tedioso después de unas pocas horas. Si bien el juego critica el mundo corporativo moderno y destaca por su estética, todo lo demás se queda corto. No puedo, con la conciencia tranquila, recomendar este juego. FlatEye está mas cerca de ser un ejercicio para aprender a lidiar con tu frustración, que una experiencia de juego. [table] [tr] [th]Apartado[/th] [th]Nota[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Gráficos[/td] [td]6[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Jugabilidad[/td] [td]2[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Historia y narrativa[/td] [td]1[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Sonido y música[/td] [td]6[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Innovación y originalidad[/td] [td]7[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Nota final[/td] [td][h1][b]4,4[/b][/h1][/td] [/tr] [/table] [code] [b]Veredicto final:[/b] [u]No recomendado[/u] [/code]