Imago Season

Imago Season is a bite-sized cRPG with inspirations ranging from Disco Elysium to Ursula Le Guin to Moebius - all very good and close to my heart. I love the world-building - a humanesque world seeded by other humans thousands of years ago but left to develop on their own, now stuck between allying with the space Union, accepting the "benevolent" yoke of a super-compute with robot minions, or attempting to liberate itself. The gist will be very familiar to readers of the Hainish Cycle. In particular, this planet has somehow developed genetic engineering - on humans - before any real industrial or technological revolution, and the problems revolve around bodily agency. I am not the biggest fan of the thin allegory here, but the setup is still cool. It's visually pleasing, and conveys information clearly. It has a simple cel-shaded style with a few touches of its own. It also uses very organic shapes, which fits the theme perfectly and gives it extra charm. No complaints here! The music was also pleasing, but nothing too interesting, and mostly in the background. The writing is not bad, but it feels a bit too naive, too blunt. The biggest problems, however, are how it feels like a first chapter to a real RPG, and how "trivial" the game is in its design. The game is about 3 hours long, and only really sets up the main conflict, without really solving anything. There is also only one important decision you make (before the ending), and it is not a very surprising one. But then there's the fact that the games doesn't really have significantly different outcomes (again, apart from the ending and that one decision). Disco Elysium's dice roll system is there, but it isn't put to any special use. And, if you explore a little, you'll be able to buy most of the mutation points (which let you improve your stats), ending up with something like 90% of them. Which means that you're not really making meaningful choices when shaping your character, and neither does the game offer opportunities for different roles. Ultimately, the game was a bit disappointing, but it's not a "bad" game. Just superficial. It's still and impressive effort by a single developer, and it has potential for more, but, as it stands, it's little more than an appetizer and a "proof of concept". But one I think is worth supporting, so I'll recommend it, with the above caveats.

An excellent bite-sized Disco-like. Great writing, great worldbuilding, great bug people!

The game's story is interesting but it failed to hook me. It plays like a book, with minimal things happening I front of you, with a much more focus on the text-based story. I tried to give it a go, turns out this type of games is something im not interested in.

[h1] Spoiler-free review [/h1] I stumbled upon [b]Imago Season[/b] on a reddit post. It was presented as a 1st person [b]narrative[/b] driven game with [b]skill checks[/b]. The [b]sci-fi[/b] setting and the [b]art[/b] style seemed interesting so I gave it a go. I don’t regret it ! [b]Imago Season[/b] is a [b]short[/b] but [b]captivating[/b] experience. The gameplay consists of [b]exploration[/b] (1st person) and navigating [b]dialogue trees[/b] (with multiple options that change depending on your past actions). The town of Tempura is [b]charming[/b] and its inhabitants are even more so. There are a handful of [b]quests[/b] to solve (with multiple approaches possible). They were really interesting and well written. The world of [b]Imago Season[/b] feels [b]alive[/b] ! Failing skill checks pushes you to find [b]alternative solutions[/b] to a problem. [strike]There is no save scumming possible through the game (as there is only one save slot that gets autosaved regularly). I wasn’t bothered by this and it makes choices more impactful ![/strike] It’s possible to save scum if you deactivate the autosave features. I suggest going through the game a first time without reloading saves to get a better dice roll. The [b]music[/b] suits the game well. The different tracks are enjoyable (even on repeat as you backtrack and explore). After finishing my first playthrough, I want to [b]start a new one[/b] in order to see some quests play out differently. It’s a [b]short game[/b] that doesn’t overstay its welcome. [h1] Should you buy it ? [/h1] If you like [b]reading[/b] and [b]sci-fi[/b] stories, you’ll likely enjoy this game ! I’m surprised this game has such a low review count at the moment. It’s really good and priced appropriately. [b]I recommend this game at full price ![/b]

Entretenido, intrigante y bien llevado para las elecciones posibles del personaje y duración de una partida. Me ha gustado.