Shardlight

Ok I finished all the Wadget Eye games so I can compare (Old skies being the latest banger), this one was the only one missing, and give a balanced advice. Ok, to me it is not clearly the best of this studio. I activated the in game commentaries and this is great to know what's in the mind of the designers and developers even musician and what they wanted to achieve while you play, you really feel the "behind the scenes" stuff that you never notice as a player. Problem is that, indeed, when you play the game you do not really feel they really succeeded doing what they wanted to do in their comments. I think they missed the aim, not in design and art, and voicing (which are very good) (the game is up to their standards) but in story-telling. I think they lost too much extra energy deepening the psychology and back-story of secondary not useful characters to set an atmosphere and try to create a whole-world while a more direct approach, like linear straightforward would have been more effective. It is the problem with those post apocalyptic cyberpunk universe...it's too large, you need to cut too much to the edges to make a story told quick...so despite nicely designed puzzles, nice characters, great voice overs, you stay on your hunger and it it a bit dull and lacks of fun. Maybe it is personal and I am not a big fan of post apocalypse stuff but it's their game I liked the least...It is technically good, but I had not a lot of fun playing it. I strongly recommend, Old skies that is day and night and shows the progress of this studio...or Rosewater, or any "fun oriented" Point and Click with a least "serious" approach...a more "Sierra moonlight 90" approach. being too serious is a challenge also because you need to create a whole universe with limited ressources and this is no easy tasks. To sum up: it's not bad but I had not a lot of fun from it. I still recommend it for fans of the genres because, everybody knows there are scarce on the market. The main designer compares a puzzle in its comments to a Daedelic one from "Chains of Satinav" but the comparison stops there because Satinav was much better in my opinion. If you take Kathy Rain also you also have very linear and not trying to create a whole world around it...it's not great either but it's more direct and has more impact. Happy this studio is still creating and they also do more impacting stories.

Love the world-building, the whole art direction and atmosphere of the game. Some of the characters are very cool. The storyline, however, is fairly stock-standard in its arc, and I think if you're going to do that then you want to build it in to a grand and satisfying climax, which i don't think they succeeded in fully. The alternative would be to add a load of twists in to make it more interesting but, aside from a couple of moments, there were not really many revelation moments. I have still given it a thumbs up as I did enjoy the playthrough, but it doesn't hold a candle to something like Primordia from the same developer.

Herausforderndes Retro-Spiel mit stimmiger Story, sinnvollen Dialogen.

The story and characters of this game and the puzzles are enjoyable enough but have to say what really carries it is the atmosphere, just such an interesting world with amazing background art, colours and soundtrack!

What a great game!! Loved the story line so much

I really enjoyed this game. Interesting story, great pixel art and high quality voice acting. Recommended.

This is a great, if short, throwback to the point and click adventure games of the 90s. Science fiction dystopian themes support a rewarding plot.

Beatiful adventure. I expected a point and click nuclear quest but got post-apocalyptic guerilla and plague batman story. Short, but memorable. Full of puzzles, but without moon logic. Visuals are pretty to look at, sound is just right, voiceacting and story are great. Story is the star here, it both delivers exactly what you expect but constantly adds fresh ideas. It even has non-linear walkthrough options and you can actually role play a bit. And once the plot comes to its conclusion game just speeds up, cutting away unnecessary backtracking, good gamedesign. There are some issues with interface and once i tried to use my crossbow on a statue, but the mc refused to do it. I was completely lost and had to look for a solution only to find out its exactly what i already tried to do.

If you enjoy traditional point-and-click adventure games, you'll find this one satisfying. Like most games from this publisher, It's well written, with strong voice acting and lovely-looking pixel art. Most of its puzzles are intuitive and straightforward. The major downside is that the game's quite short, around 5-6 hours in length. While this isn't a fatal problem, I felt the short length of Shardlight didn't match the ambitious scope of its plotline. But overall this game is worth buying, especially if you get it on sale, as I did. Rating: 7/10.

This is the first adventure game I have played that felt truly post-apocalyptical. Excellent atmosphere and voice-acting. One or two puzzles that felt a little bit clunky, but otherwise a solid game well worth your money. If you complete the game you owe it to yourself to do it again with the commentary track turned on. It's nice to hear what inspired different design decisions and why the finished game looks like it does.