
Jackie Shields wakes up to find everything in her world a little different than she remembers it. Trapped between her own dimension and a parallel one, she soon realizes that nothing can remain unchanged in her life. Especially not herself...because the other dimension has a Jackie of its own!
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Languages: English
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Refraction is not a game, it's an e-book that's been dumped on Steam masquerading as a game. As a visual/interactive novel, this doesn't feature any notable gameplay, it's just a lot of clicking through badly written dialogue that would never have been accepted or published in print, which poses the question, "How did something this badly written end up on Steam?". When someone hoping to become an author is unable to get published in print, they spend $100 and dump their high school fan-fiction onto Steam, under the guise of a game. Once more we have a high school anime club dropout fan-fiction, this time a cringefest Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book all about the authors favourite subjects, his imaginary anime boyfriends. There's a subplot about alternate dimensions, but the core of the e-book is just a fan-fiction around dating the authors imaginary boyfriends. The cringe goes to 11 here, and the writing is so bad when combined with that cringe, it's guaranteed to make you nauseous. This was slapped together with the godawful Ren'Py visual novel construction kit... enabling terrible authors to publish books as if they were games when otherwise we might have been spared the pollution. So, just like no professional writing took place here, no professional software development took place, either. Visual novels/e-books are tedious at best... imagine the best novel you ever read, be that Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or 2001: A Space Odyssey or Twilight (if you have terrible taste in literature), but then translate that to a format where the words dribble out and you have to click your mouse every time you wanted to read the next sentence, instead of just turning the pages. You'd think it was garbage. Now imagine that experience, but with much worse writing (because if these guys could write professionally, they'd be published authors and this would be on shelves in bookstores, and they wouldn't have to pay Valve $100 to self-publish this on Steam), and you have your average Steam e-book. One of the chief problems with failed authors polluting Steam with non-game E-books is that E-books can easily just be presented in a web browser... there's no justification for charging money on Steam for what might as well be a webpage. We don't spend thousands on buying a gaming rig to spend money on Steam for something Chrome or Firefox could do. Despite having no up-front cost, this failed to appeal to the 120 million+ gamers on Steam. SteamDB showed the e-book peaked at only 3 concurrent readers... this is a dismal public reception. This was so bad they couldn't even give it away. The funny thing is, if you wanted to print this book, you'd only need to print 3 copies to satsify the entire world's demand for it. While this E-book has no up-front cost, you can get better quality, professionally written books and comics for free online (from places like Project Gutenberg) or from public libraries. Steam isn't a comic book store, neither is it Netflix, it's for games. Your gaming rig is not a Kindle. It's impossible for me to recommend things to PC gamers that aren't really games.
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Головоломка с физикой света: игрок манипулирует зеркалами, призмами и другими оптическими элементами, чтобы направлять лучи, активировать механизмы и решать задачи. Акцент на логике, понимании законов преломления и постепенном усложнении механик. Плюсы: Наглядная физика света — игра наглядно демонстрирует принципы отражения и преломления: видно, как луч меняет направление, расщепляется на цвета и взаимодействует с объектами; Постепенное введение механик — новые элементы (цветные фильтры, движущиеся зеркала, поглотители) появляются поэтапно, что позволяет осваивать их без перегрузки; Минималистичный и чёткий дизайн — лаконичная графика не отвлекает от задач, а контрастные лучи и прозрачные объекты делают схему уровня легко читаемой. Минусы: Ограниченное разнообразие уровней — после середины игры задачи начинают повторяться, отличаются лишь расположением элементов, а не сутью решения; Неудобство размещения объектов — в некоторых режимах сложно точно установить зеркало или призму под нужным углом, из‑за чего приходится многократно корректировать позицию; Отсутствие подсказок в сложных головоломках — на поздних этапах нет системы намёков, и игрок может надолго застрять без идей, как продвинуться дальше. Итог: подойдёт любителям логических головоломок и физики — впечатляет наглядностью оптических эффектов, продуманным обучением и чистым визуальным стилем. Может разочаровать из‑за однообразия поздних уровней, неудобств при размещении элементов и отсутствия помощи в тупиковых ситуациях.
Positive 📖 Refraction is a free narrative visual novel that places you between two parallel dimensions with Jackie Shields, weaving mystery, choices, and branching story paths. You explore relationships, hidden conflicts, and different outcomes as you navigate a world where nothing remains unchanged. 🎯 A set of 18 Steam achievements gives clear goals tied to story progression, exploration, and key decisions, adding replay value for completionists. Negative 🔁 Gameplay is almost entirely reading with choice selection and minimal mechanical interaction, so don’t expect action or deep gameplay loops beyond the narrative. ⚙️ The story and pacing are relatively light; some players may find the paths short or straightforward if they’re used to longer visual novels. 🏆 Completionists & Achievement Hunters There are 18 Steam achievements to unlock across narrative choices and routes. ⏱️ Fast players can unlock everything in a little under 10 minutes, while those who take time to explore all choices and outcomes may take ≈25–45 minutes. Overall Refraction offers an intriguing parallel‑world visual novel experience with a meaningful choice structure and a generous achievement set. Its focus on narrative and branching paths makes it rewarding for short sessions or replay runs.
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Игра 'Refraction' — это настоящий бриллиант в мире инди-игр, который предлагает уникальное сочетание головоломок, платформинга и атмосферного повествования. Визуальный стиль игры завораживает своей минималистичностью и в то же время глубиной, создавая ощущение погружения в загадочный мир. Механика игры, основанная на управлении светом и тенями, гениально проста в освоении, но открывает широкие возможности для решения изощренных задач. Каждая новая локация бросает вызов, заставляя мыслить нестандартно и экспериментировать. Музыкальное сопровождение идеально дополняет геймплей, усиливая эмоции и создавая неповторимую атмосферу. 'Refraction' — это не просто игра, а настоящее художественное произведение, которое заставит вас задуматься и оставит неизгладимое впечатление.
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