Lamplight City

It is quite amazing to play a game that feels so modern and yet so much like the adventure games of my childhood!

I wanted to like this game because I love mystery games and the world this story takes place in is enticing. There is a lot that is working, but unfortunately I will have to agree with some of the other reviewers that found the game lacking. Major pet peeve with the game: the characters say the name of the character they're speaking to every other sentence. It's annoying and no one speaks like that. It's just jarring and it makes the player aware that they are playing a game every time it happens. Bill is annoying. He is not likable or cute or charming. His banter is painful most of the time. Everything he says is some version of whining. This guy whines about his childhood more than my buddy who's parents got divorced when he was 10. Bill needs a character trait beyond being a gay alcoholic who "grew up poor" and reminds you of that fact with a personal anecdote every time you interact with any object in the world. He's a caricature and not even an entertaining one at that. He doesn't feel like a real person. And the player doesn't feel any of the pressure that is meant to serve as the primary narrative tension: Bill's mystery remains a cold case. I feel sorry for Miles who has to listen to him yap constantly. Weirdly, the game seems to understand how annoying Bill is, the narrative recognizes it through Miles's commentary, and I think everything about Bill probably should have been cut from the game. The most glaring issue, however, is how little the game's writing trusts the player to interpret the meaning of the narrative correctly. The narration is sure to remind the player what they are meant to takeaway from every interaction, not just for the mystery, but thematically and what the implies about broader society. And it isn't to say that stories cannot be used to make a point about society. Of course that's not the criticism. It's more that the way the game approaches this is not conducive to telling the story the game is trying to tell. It doesn't trust the player enough to allow them to infer the emotion of the scenes, to experience the story from inside of it. And so, it often feels like the player is having a mystery story explained to them rather than uncovering the mystery themselves. Spoiler Warning: This took the cake for me: In first "real" case, the suspect's mother takes offense to a question about her "voodoo" alter in a closed off room. She feels like the protagonist is judging her so she decides to reject his help. And this moment falls flat because it's so disproportionate to what's at stake that it's impossible to believe anyone could actually behave like this. I mean, her son is facing execution in a matter of hours and Miles is the only person willing to even investigate the matter. So, rejecting her son's singular lifeline because she felt casually persecuted is cutting off her nose to spite her face.. The direction this choice takes undermines the entire point of the scene. Character forgets her motivation mid-scene? It's sloppy writing. The recurring problem in the game is the writing. It feels like a rough draft and for a mystery game this is too problematic to overlook. I'm not sure why this was these issues with the writing were left in the final version of the game, but I don't think the game is worth the money. I hope the developer makes another game and I hope that it will improve on some of the foundations this game has. There is promise here. The art is nice. The world the game is set in could be interesting, but this is a second order concern. The story and the writing needed more attention for this game achieve its ambitions.

A classic point and click. I originally bought it because I thought it was lovecraftian but this is not a cosmic eldritch horror. Just a Steampunk noir though honestly felt like they could have added in a dagon or cthullu at any point, it stands well on it's own. There are some discussions about the supernatural but the bulk of the plot is an alternate universe where the theory of "aether" is being proven true instead of electricity. and all electronics are based around steam power. It is hard to discern where the story is taking place but I think that's intentional. At first I thought it was new orleans but then in the police station has a New Zealand flag. And the name of the town is Vespucci but then there it both Grand dames and Creole family lines. The story does deal with events that mirror cultural behaviors of the Imprerial 1840s though far more progressive. Tackling interracial relationships, homosexuality, drug use, spiritualism, homelessness, and man vs machine arguments in the background of the criminal cases our detective has to deal with. Most of the game is straightforward stories following kidnapping, poisonings, and murder. Some points had to be replayed because you can accidentally soft lock yourself out of several endings if you don't gather all the clues before talking to certain people or lock certain dialogue if you aren't paying attention. Just remember to save often.

Enjoyed much, what a detective game should be...

Отличная, детективная игра.