Midnight Saturn

Review by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43642699-The-Adventure-Library/lists/] [b] The Adventure Library [/b] [/url] - all about point and click adventures Got a review copy of Midnight Saturn, started playing it, finished it in about 3 hours without cheating. Is it a masterpiece? No, but it was still fun - and I could not stop playing it. It is very directly - find an item, use it, voila, the story goes on - all this happens quite fast. Like an adventure in turbo-mode. You travel between a few locations, click on all hotspots, use your items on the right spot (often getting a hint where you could use it - the puzzles are kind of logical), and that is it. There were 3 larger puzzles in it - I could solve two rather easily, but the last one only after trying every possible combination. The sci-fi story revelals itself while you play. You are a PI and investigate a murder. Well, you find out a bit about the victim, help his daughter, encounter aliens and finally find the murderer - and the game ends. I had 8/10 cheavos (two are missable). Not bad for fans of the genre.

[h2] So, what is Midnight Saturn about? [/h2] Midnight Saturn is a sci-fi point-and-click adventure that follows private investigator Simm Gurnett as he takes on a murder case too dangerous for anyone else. What begins as the investigation of a high-profile lawyer’s death quickly spirals into a web of corruption and a wider conspiracy, hinting that the killer may not even be… human. The case is brought to him by the victim’s sister, Patricia, and soon pulls him into the lives of the lawyer’s family, including his daughter Lucy, who is desperate to find out who took her father’s life. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3720708576 This is my first game from Cosmic Void Games, so I took a moment to look into how their previous games were received of their previous titles. It feels like Midnight Saturn improves on nearly every aspect, even if only in small ways: visually, narratively, and in terms of storytelling. [h2] Cyberpunk vision of the futuristic city [/h2] The atmosphere and locations are really well crafted. The game features around ten beautifully designed areas, each built around its own color palette: purples, browns, and warm tones. Visually, it’s a huge plus. It’s genuinely a joy to look at and makes you wish there were even more places to explore! Just beautiful pixel art, which I always appreciate and respect. [h2] Gameplay [/h2] The gameplay is pretty minimalistic. Interaction with objects and characters is simple: just point and click. You connect the dots, click the right elements, combine items, and things naturally fall into place. I didn’t run into any bugs the game runs very smoothly. You navigate the city using your phone, which opens up a map showing all currently accessible locations. As the investigation progresses, new areas unlock, expanding where you can go. Some locations also reveal additional screens over time, adding more depth to places you’ve already visited. So it’s always worth going back and checking if newly acquired items from your inventory help you uncover more about the murder of showbiz figure named James. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3720709172 The puzzle design is solid and interesting, though for many players it might feel on the easier side. Personally, there was only one puzzle that made me pause for a few minutes. Overall, I’d rate the difficulty somewhere between easy and medium, leaning more toward easy and stress-free. Never frustrating, just smooth progression. The game is clearly designed with achievement hunters in mind, making 100% completion very straightforward. That’s definitely a big plus for me :). [h2] Characters [/h2] As for the characters.. this is where things feel a bit weaker. Our detective isn’t particularly likable, and a lot of his conversations seem to revolve around going on date with women. There’s also not quite enough dialogue or interaction to really get attached to most of the cast (maybe with the exception of Zora), BUT the voice acting is fantastic and really captures the essence of each character. Zora's voice, in particular, stood out, really intriguing and mysterious. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3720708668 [h2] Worldbuilding [/h2] The narrative itself is really engaging, though I can’t help but feel the game had even more potential. You can see a lot of heart, inspiration, and care in both the visual style and the story structure. There are clear Blade Runner influences (which I love). The atmosphere is great, with strong audiovisual design and a really fitting background soundtrack. I just wish, as I mentioned, that the world and story were expanded a bit more. [h2] Conclusions [spoilers about story structure — no spoilers about the culprit!] [/h2] It felt like the game is structured in three acts. Act 1: introduces the case, quickly presenting multiple threads, witnesses, and conversations (which works well). Then Act 2 shifts into the investigation and conspiracy angle, revealing that something far bigger than a simple human crime is at play. (which is even better!!) After that.. Act 3 comes in very quickly, almost out of nowhere, with the case being resolved, which feels rushed and a bit overwhelming in terms of pace. What’s missing here is a stronger build-up of tension. When we finally encounter the killer, the moment feels a bit flat and underwhelming. As someone who really values narrative depth and story-driven dialogue in games, I also missed longer, more meaningful conversations. Most dialogue feels directly tied to puzzles, and while the puzzles themselves are fine, they don’t fully carry the story’s emotional weight. [h3] Genre: Drama, Mystery Presentation: 2D Theme: Crime solving Perspective: Third-Person Graphic Style: Pixel art Gameplay: Investigative, Puzzle Control: Point-and-click Game Length: short (2-3 hours) Difficulty: Low [/h3] Overall, I’d call it a very sweet point-and-click adventure that is absolutely worth its price, but it doesn't go much beyond that. A solid 7/10 from me. Thanks for review key! [h2] Midnight Saturn is out now on Steam May 5! [/h2] I played Midnight Saturn on PC using a review code provided by the publisher. Did you like my review? Feel free to visit my curator page and Instagram, where I review more games, books, movies, and TV series! Let’s celebrate narrative world! [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45444111-Epic-Journeys-and-Stories/#browse] My Steam curator [/url] [url=https://www.instagram.com/bookdmention/] Instagram [/url] [url=https://bookrightupp.blogspot.com/] blogspot [/url]

Midnight Saturn is the latest sci-fi mystery to be released by Cosmic Void. It should have definite appeal to fans of traditional point-and-click adventures. It uses low resolution pixel art and a story that unwinds across multiple locations with a host of unique characters to meet and interview. You play as Simm Gurnett, a private eye who is investigating a murder. It quickly becomes apparent that “off-world” forces are involved in this crime, and the story takes some interesting turns. Like most old-school PnC games, there is inventory to collect, combine, and use and you will find yourself doing a lot of “try this and try that…” The game really shines when it comes to the soundtrack. The original music was composed and produced by Double Dot Studios and is a pleasure to listen to. There are different songs for each area, and the electronic style contributes to the mood of the game. Midnight Saturn also features full voice-acting which was professionally done and easy on the ears. There is quite a bit of dialog which can be clicked through if you are not inclined to listen at a slower pace. In addition to the “find and use” inventory conundrums, there are 3 explicit puzzles with clues that point you to the solution. Although I have come to prefer higher resolution graphics, this game is a reminder of how much can be accomplished with pixel art. It is a return to the look and feel of those classic adventures that got me started gaming “back in the day.” The game auto-saves and has an explicit save to multiple slots. You fast-travel between locations using a map which expands as the story progresses. Hot spots can be highlighted, and inventory is manipulated using the mouse to drag-and-drop. The interface is intuitive and easy to use. Steam achievements are supported, with 7 of 10 awarded if you complete the game. The others are easy to achieve but require special actions. If you have saved often, you should not need to play the game more than once to reach 100%. If you are a fan of the retro-style and look back on pixelated detectives with fondness, then you should not miss Midnight Saturn. [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow [b]IndieGems[/b] if you enjoyed this review and want to see more like it.[/url][/quote]

I got a copy from the developer (One copy will be purchased for a friend to support the release) A small improvement over the [i]Neon Hearts City[/i], specifically the dialogue felt more playful and not as formulaic, if anything my favorite part was not the mystery adventure, but the relationship you have with one of the characters, and a rather goofy one at that because of her unusual look (cute romance though). I think that is a thing with adventure games, it's easy to get caught in a mindset that adventure games are about puzzles and exploration, but you also have to remember to give the characters those moments to develop, and in order to do that, you have to give them some dialogue that does not progress the story, something you occasionally struggle with, I assume due to scope, but I noticed it a lot with your games specifically. I wish you did more of that, not necessarily something romantic, but I wish the main character had more of a reason to care about other characters like he cared about her, maybe more moments of teamwork, joking around, or finding some common ground, otherwise the characters are not very memorable, even though I think almost everyone was decently voice acted. Like the first game, I didn't mind the story or at least the way you were setting it up, it just kinda feels rushed near the end, I wish we had more time to explore the final act or its locations, I mean, if it had more locations to explore and actually see the narrative play out, instead of it being explained to you in a burst. To reference a very immersive adventure game, there was an optional scene in Hob's Barrow when Thomasina just seats on the bench and just looks into the distance, now it does no serve the narrative, there are no puzzles to solve, but it makes you feel like the character is living that world, and that is something I feel like I often miss in your games, you make very structurally driven games, but I think more than anything else, I often feel like your adventure games actually missing the adventure part because they are so tight with the puzzles back to back, there needs to be more optional exploration, more world-building, and more places to enjoy the mood of the game. Another example is when TB just stands and listens to a song, it's just tension building without making any progress. A bit of a mixed experience with the visuals, I thought the first couple of backgrounds like the arcade, the coffee shop, and the park had very nice composition/coloring to them, only to follow with a few very muted, and dull backgrounds later in the game. Not connecting enough locations together is something I am personally not a fan of, I feel like it removes some of the exploration allure for which I play adventure games. There was not much movement in the scenery, not even subtle idle animations, or very rarely. [h1]Pros: [/h1] (+) Overall I felt the dialogue was much better, at least for the main characters. I think the chemistry with Zora was the most enjoyable part of the game and I cared more about their chat than the actual plot. (+) Fully voice acted, actually very well this time, I think it's the most consistent voice acting I have seen in your games, there was one character that slipped a bit, but it wasn't even that bad. (+) The first half of the game had relatively vibrant details for the backgrounds which I like, although I felt the final act didn't deliver in the variety, with a few dull locations. I made a similar comment in the last game where you didn't use the visor to use it for more fantasy locations, like it would look so nice to mix in some of those, hell make the character go with them for something. But ehh, maybe the time investment not worth it for you. (+) The puzzles were not perfect, but better than the last game, still some odd moonlogic in places but at least it was easy to put them together. [h1]Feedback: [/h1] [u]Final Act (last 25% of the game):[/u] - toward the end I just felt the backgrounds/locations were just not interesting to look at, I get the factory is not meant to look captivating, but I feel you should come up with more ambitious places for the character to explore so you don't end up having the final part of the game with a few dull backgrounds. I also mentioned this in a previous game, but I am personally not a fan of how you only connect the areas with the waypoints, for me a big part of adventure games is entering an area and exploring it, so something like, maybe having 3 connected scenes per waypoint should be a standard, not an exception. The world building suffers because it feels so tight. - on that note, you should try to do mode idle animations, there is very little movement from the characters or the scenery, even if it's just flopping wings or shining stars [u]Narrative/Conclusion (no spoilers): [/u] - again, I assume you just making smaller games to make it more manageable, but I always feel like I like the first half of some of your games, and by the time I get to the end, it feels like a deflated balloon. There was actually a part in the game where it feels like you get a few minutes of exposition, and not a lot to show for all that mystery hype building up to it. I think part of it is that you just don't have a good antagonist for these games, they feel very fodder. Maybe if you actually got to explore some of their places or their community, in the same way I suggested that you could explore the robot's community in the last game. Show don't tell, visual storytelling, I need to see it, not hear about it. [b]Overall Thoughts: 7/10 [/b] You did a few things better this time, notably the dialogue and the voice acting consistency, although both games suffer from a similar problem where the final act seemingly lacks the scope to bring it all together, feeling like the entire game was explained to you at the end in 2 minutes. Outside of the few main characters there is nobody very likable, and the scenery toward the end was rather plain. I still think you did a decent job, as an adventure game it was much cleaner and a more smooth experience than a few of your previous releases, but something is still missing for me, I get you make smaller games, but the final act needs to be more exciting, the locations need to be more exciting, the exploration needs to be more exciting. [code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]

I very much enjoyed Midnight Saturn. The addition of voice acting adds a perfect amount of campiness to yet another absolutely solid Cosmic Void poink adventure. Nice cyberpunk noir story and gorgeous pixel art. If you're looking for something short to play, 3ish hrs, this could definitely fit the bill! Big recommend!

Cosmic Void的游戏我肯定是要支持的，但是Blood Nova还有The Corruption Within珠玉在前，这一作在剧情深度上就稍显薄弱了，游戏在美术和人设上有点让人想起Neon Hearts City，喜欢游戏中的星际世界观，双子座蝴蝶鳞片尘的设定非常美，配音优秀，像素风格也是我喜欢的。流程偏短，定价稍高。不过还是推荐，期待更多作品。

[h1] A Private Investigator Here To Solve A Murder...After He Flirts With The Ladies!! [/h1] [b]Midnight Saturn[/b] is a point-n-click adventure game about a private investigator named Simm Gurnett digging into an unsolved murder. He was hired by the, totally not trustworthy, sister of the murder victim and will investigate multiple sections of the city looking for any clues he can. Taking place in a futuristic city with aliens and strange happenings, this game definitely has that detective noir vibe. Like in previous adventures, gameplay consists of using inventory items that you discover to interact with the environment and to solve puzzles. A very entertaining character quirk is that Simm channels that "James Bond" energy around the ladies and cannot help himself when flirting with several of the female characters (during a murder investigation no less)! In dialogue, you get the impression that Simm has quite the messy private life when he’s not at work. As for the rest of the game, here is my personal list of pros and cons with Midnight Saturn as a adventure game. [b][u]Pros[/u][/b] - The background art and character animations look gorgeous. Several areas will give you a good view of the cityscape and in an interesting departure (from worlds like Bladerunner, etc) there are a couple of natural/remote locations that you wouldn't expect in a sci-fi story. - The UI is clear and easy to navigate. You can instantly travel using the in-game map and will have a "Hotspot" indicator button if you need to find key items (similar to prior Cosmic Void adventure games). - A well told mystery story and you'll find some clear explanations about who the murderer is. In addition, there is a bunch of crime intrigue going on in the background and some story twists to discover during your playthrough. - There is a silly wig that is used as an inventory item....nuff said - All the characters are fully voiced and the VO cast does an excellent job with conveying background details in this strange, sci-fi world. - There is an area early in the game with four crocodiles that turns out to be a really clever puzzle. The correct solution for this puzzle is revealed over time and the player is very much rewarded for coming back to this specific location multiple times. [b][u]Cons[/u][/b] - This can be a short adventure (about 3 to 4 hours). If total playtime affects your enjoyment of adventure games, then this might be something you want to keep in mind. - There are less "optional" achievements then in prior Cosmic Void games. The majority of the achievements in Midnight Saturn are story related. - Some of the puzzles could have used a built-in hint system. Got stuck twice and was looking for a "Help" button to give me guidance. In summary, Midnight Saturn is a stylish and memorable adventure game with some absolutely gorgeous pixel art. This story follows that detective noir plot, but with strange aliens and the voice actors give some great performances throughout. The puzzles are overall well designed, even if I got stuck a few times and the overall mystery wraps up with a satisfying conclusion. Midnight Saturn is recommended for any adventure game fan who can appreciate some amazing pixel art and a wonderful, well-developed sci-fi world!

Almost dropped it at dipping the wig in the gypsy's oil, and refunded it when the game really thought that I would sit and decipher the antenna puzzle. Also writing seems to presume that it is a pleasure to read all of those lines, which is often detrimental to adventure games' retention. People who can write long interesting texts write books, not games.

Nice pixel art and color scheme, but other than that, it's mediocre. Not bad, either, but not enough to recommend. The facial animations are somewhat questionable, though. There's some interesting world building hidden in there somewhere, but the actual story is mostly boring. At no point was I interested in who the killer was or why.

I backed the crowdfunder for this as I love all previous Cosmic Void games, and this continues their quality selection. Midnight Saturn is a cyberpunk detective story, investigate a girl's disappearance by talking to characters and finding clues. It's a small map and not too many objects, so you can brute force if you're stuck. Most objects disappear after being used once. Great visuals, like the rest of the Cosmic Void series, and fully voice acted thanks to the crowdfunder. Highly recommended, just like the rest of the CV catalogue.