DO NOT BUY AT FULL PRICE.
This game is worth 4-5$ at most, I really like the concept, but it's so overpriced that I was actually hovering over the negative button.
The visuals in the game are alright, the main menu artwork is really f***g good, no wonder it's used as the cover art too, the comic slides for cutscenes are servicable, but are unfortunately nowhere as good in comparison, despite the lower fidelity, the expressions were still well made, and conveyed what they should. The artwork for the generic NPC models that you abduct however - rather poor. They are basically mannequins with slight difference in body shape, and maybe an extra accessory - like glasses or earrings. Sometimes the body shape is strikingly feminine, but the game references a male name. I don't think activists are gonna give this game points just for that, as none of the activities for these npcs reference transitioning, making it seem more like an oversight.
Audio is alright too, there are two VAs, and the "protagonist"'s one sounded really good. The other character sounded a tad worse, but he had a tough job, considering the role. The music sounds fine, but the game has barely any tracks, even with just 3 hr runtime, the investigation track was already overstaying its welcome, it's a shame, but if the game was priced cheaper, I wouldn't mind it much.
The story is what made me interested in the game, the execution is pretty good, especially the internal turmoil of the main guy, I'm not sure if the stockholm syndrome subplot was handled as well, sure the game avoids making overt statements (for its own good), but the "good" ending lacked an additional perspective or twist. Sure the abused person didn't suddenly go 180 into condemning the protagonist, but the hopeful tone of his speech felt a bit slimey.
The bad ending just unlocks endless mode... the new audio track is cool, but protagonist's speech was really short and abrupt, and while endless mode here makes sense, besides the song, it should've had some additional changes to convey the completely destroyed mental state. Anything cool like the NPC mannequins turning into actual beasts, UI being more distorted or main character mumbling during gameplay. It's really the story of the game, while neat, there are TONS of wasted potential.
Gameplay works and is somewhat unique, but it also lacks some depth or variety, I don't really feel like going for hours in the endless mode, to see different target descriptions, to guide my hunt.
The best strategy is always the same after a while, target activity slots that require the least time to investigate, save anonymous masks for the high notoriety options, use work to reduce notoriety when near threshold, or use sleep if there are a lot of low time investment, but high notoriety slots (to get more masks).
Besides that it's finding correct hint activities, and maxing out the rest, using up as little time as possible. There were two days that were a bit different, where you had to investigate around the target (instead of them directly), and when you had to actually pay attention to the evidence filenames after uncovering hint activities.
Honestly, for a 3 hour game this gameplay loop works, and it's gonna be actually somewhat memorable for me, when adding the story on top, it's just a massive shame that the whole thing is priced three times as much as it should've been.
