Fragments

TLDR; I really liked this INTERACTIVE NARRATIVE EXPERIENCE and it's not Yet Another ♥♥♥♥♥♥ RPGMaker Project. Buy it. Actual review; I'll be honest. I know the dev personally, and knew he was making this game. But honestly? I had no idea what it was or what he was doing. I wasn't cool enough to get a pre-release copy alright, I bought this with my own money and had to dive into this thing of my own free will completely blind. All I knew was that it was some kind of mystery game. At first glance it's very edgy, in that obnoxious "That One Guy You Knew in Middle School" kind of way, with the inner monologue of the confused main character being especially cryptic and nagging. I think it's intentional, but either way it really does get on your nerves. A lot of things in this game get on your nerves, but not in a "god I can't keep playing this garbage" way. It's a mystery, and sometimes the mystery is what gets on your nerves. Two "detectives" corner your amnesiac main character repeatedly, asking important questions about the investigation and then also.... stupid questions that shouldn't matter to anyone and seemingly like they have an answer no one should actually be able to give. This game is very short, and I beat it in a little over an hour! Now to my knowledge, there are multiple endings/scenarios, but I didn't replay it. These types of games, for me, are great at presenting you an ending and/or conclusion without making you feel like you HAVE to replay it for the "Right" ending or the "better" ending, if there even is one. Now here is where I get into MAJOR spoiler territory. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! It becomes apparent about half-way through the game that your main character is responsible in some way for the death of what you learn is a friend/co-worker of yours named Lucas. You gradually see how your friendship with Lucas is pulled apart by your job, and how your girlfriend cheats on you with Lucas because you as the main character have become a miserable ♥♥♥♥ no one wants to be around. Before the game presents you with how EXACTLY Lucas meets his end, you are constantly berated by the good cop/bad cop duo of detectives Rivera and... something. I don't remember. I was drunk when I played the game. The detectives serve a purpose of testing your knowledge of the flashbacks you travel through, and trying to rattle your character with a wide array of questions and new "evidence". It's a nice touch, and by the end "it all comes together" when you realize why your character is here and what really happened. This game has some really amazing visual and gameplay effects to help really get you into the tone of each scene. Screen flashes, hue change, audio speed-up/slow-down, forcing your character to move a certain way that you weren't having them move, and probably the more iconic thing in this game; Shaky text. There is a LOT of shaky text in this game, and at first you may assume it's only around when your character's inner monologue is playing. But then it appears for seemingly negative choices, and then it seems like where the shaky text appears and what it's supposed to mean is completely blurred and you never know if you're choosing the right option or if your character is talking to themselves or verbally anymore. It's really nice and I wish more games used these types of visual effects to get their point across. I won't spoil much more, but I do have a few negatives to point out. 1. There are only 2 black people in the game, and one is the promiscuous unfaithful girlfriend who is arguably the massive factor for your character's downfall. The other, is the "bad cop" who, if I'm honest, doesn't add much to the investigation until the second half of the story and even then is still the aggressive, uncaring "bad cop" whose primary job is obviously to moreso torment the main character as opposed to the "good cop"'s self proclaimed "therapy". 2. By god is this thing short. Now from my understanding, the devs wanted a short and sweet project, and it got delayed due to the holidays anyway which was a bummer. But I really would have loved for this to go on longer and give more mystery. If you're into mystery, or crime dramas for that matter? You'll probably GUESS the twist/culprit pretty early on, and so your enjoyment will come from how you connect the pieces... the fragments even, rather than what the final picture being revealed gives you. But I'm a big big BIG fan of mysteries, even moreso of murder mysteries, and while I'm really good at guessing culprits early on, I think most of us can agree that it's not the culprit being revealed that gives you the thrill. It's the twists and turns and inter-connective details, the fragments, you could say, come together to make the reveal all the more juicy. And THAT is what I wish we had more of.

They try to make this more interesting with sci-fi elements and quizzes but that doesn't cover up the fact that you're essentially just watching a couple scenes from a generic Lifetime TV movie, the ending of which you already know. First time playthrough: 45 minutes 4/10

What can I say about Fragments. It doesn't overstay its welcome, but the time you will spend with it will leave an impact. Personally, I have dealt with things similar to the games premise, and it really resonated with me. Go in blind, and be sure to pay attention to every. little. detail. 10/10 will be getting all the achievements!

I would rate this neutral; it's cheap and feels like a short scene from "Always Sometimes Monsters". The dialogue was a bit too slow for my taste, and could benefit from not being -this- predictable from the start.

If you go in expecting something less like a bells-and-whistles horror game abounding with player choice, and something more in the vein of a suspenseful speculative short story, you'll find in Fragments a well-directed and cleverly minimalist piece of interactive fiction (with an equally understated yet scene-setting soundtrack). It's good!

Hello This is George (SirGbaby) ,from the Review Cellar ,reviewing Fragments. First I want to thank the developers for reaching out and offering an early access to the game, we appreciate it. We weren’t ever expecting developers to reach out like that and we are very thankful. With that being said, here is our review of Fragments. Fragments is short “detective” game that centers around the murder of Lucas Gray. I wouldn’t so much of a detective game as I would call it a memory game. You spend the game going through different flashbacks that unfold the story and then some detectives ask you questions about the flashbacks. These questions are waaaaay too obscure and don’t relate to the story, like a detective/story rich game should. For example there was a flashback about an office party where one of the characters is accepting a promotion. One of the coworkers is mad that he didn’t get the promotion. When being interrogated by the detectives, you’re asked how many wine bottles are at the dinner, not anything related to the story. Picture this scenario this, but for all of the questions in the entire game. None of them relate to the story at all, and they severely take away from the experience. If they had decided to focus and ask questions relating to the story, it would have made the different endings more deserved. It advertises making decisions, but the only decisions being made are whether there were 4 or 5 wine bottles at the dinner table (and somehow decisions like that lead to different endings). A plus to the game is the story. I found it to be much too short, but if expanded upon, it could have been one of the standouts of the game. It had interesting elements of betrayal that with more time and care, could have led to a better experience. The other aspects of the game seem rushed. There aren’t that many music tracks or textures used in the game. As a second project, it has the workings of a playable game. I know it was a simple game, but there weren’t any bugs that prevented me from finishing. I would imagine for game developers just starting out, it is most important and probably the hardest to make a bug free game that is playable from start to finish. For a small indie game like this, I would focus on the story first and when looking for a gameplay element to add, see if it compliments the story. If you’re going to add a dialogue system,maybe provide lines that feed into the main characters growing paranoia, where you feel like your answers are having a direct effect on what happens to your character. Like maybe you can actively lie to the detectives when questioned, using evidence from the flashbacks to cover your tracks. This way, you are still paying attention to the narrative and environment, but it is in a more engaging and story centric way. Even if these decisions don’t really affect the ending, the illusion of choice can go a long way (like in Life is Strange, one of my favorite games ever). So although I wouldn’t recommend this title, I hope you guys continue to work and improve your story-telling and game making

A short but powerful game. The writing had me kept me guessing and second guessing my choices, and the dystopian setting just compounds the experience. Incredible work from Codapill and the team, the game is an absolute steal and well worth your time to play multiple times and experience all it has to offer. Looking forward to more from this developer in the future!

Fragments is a game of exploration, a game of mystery, a game of games. You know who you are. But that's pretty much it. Everything else is a blur, an enigma, a puzzle waiting for you to put it together. But wait? Is there more to it than that? There are detectives questioning you at every turn, a limitation on information being directly provided to you, a murder to be solved that you may or not be able to help with. Codapill has done a great job of putting together an intriguing story that demands attention, with a rip-roaring ending that entirely depends upon the choices you make. I hugely recommend giving this one a try, it'll be a few hours definitely not wasted! https://youtu.be/xWp5PFXiGJs

Intriguing mystery game. Really enjoyed it.

Fragments is a succinct little game, with a very interesting premise behind it. It's a story of memories, and it was pretty well put together. I may have put five hours into it, but the game itself can be finished in about an hour or less, I just so happened to REALLY want all the achievements. I'd say GET IT!