Social Services of the Doomed

The Astral Bear is an amazing character and I love it. 10/10. It's not a good sign when the game is $8 and I would recommend it for under $5. I started out thinking this was a positive review. I love the concept of dealing with bureaucratic nonsense, but it's a little too thin. I enjoyed it well enough, but compared to other Choice of Games offerings that seem deep, sprawling, and full of meaningful differences, I'm still not sure how much anything matters in Social Services. Picking a faction lets you favor them in endgame, but not much else. Dating someone doesn't really feel like it matters or provides a lot of insight into the story or their faction. I really don't understand Hell at all, and it feels incredibly shallow, made worse by the fact that it can easily be skipped entirely. I've played COG games where I had no idea what I was doing (Deathless: City of Thirst), but I still felt like my decisions mattered. I've done maybe four or five quick runs through this and really don't think so. You can do better or worse on your office performance review? Which like everything else, is one-note and meaningless overall? Astral Bear content, 10/10, but not the point. As for depth, the fact that I was even able to do five "quick runs" should tell you how thin the story is. Worse, because I'm not sure how choices affect gameplay, I really struggled with additional plays. I think I actually experienced less content on every run after the first because a lot of the things I experienced on my first play just didn't come up. Most disappointingly, even though there isn't much to the game, there are plenty of opportunities to skip things, meaning you'll see even less of it. [spoiler]One example of it not being clear how choices interact: you can spend the time in-office to fix the Demon's visa issue. You can then later sell your soul to free the Demon. There's no explanation of whether this is different from the visa thing or not, why it might be stupid to sell your soul over a problem you personally already resolved, etc.[/spoiler] Like so many choices, it feels like this is content that just happens and then is left behind. Also, and this is completely trivial, I didn't like the art style. But it's easy enough to ignore.

Overall good; certainly an urban fantasy game that considers the complexities of a multispecies society, and explanations that show an author thought things through are always appreciated. Playing as different species is a delight, because the author bothered to add text and stats that change how people interact with you, which is certainly not always a given with these books. However, it does have its flaws; specifically, the end comes quickly, and feels almost truncated. I suspect this may be related to the apparent development hell the book was in, as its original intended release date was pre-pandemic. Overall, a solid 4/5, though expect an ending more akin to "and life goes on" than one that wraps up all the threads.

[h1][b] Social Services of the Doomed [/b][/h1] TLDR: Definitely worth a try if you like comedic games. More reminiscent of older COG. [h3][b]The Good:[/b][/h3] - The crowning achievement for this game is probably the [b]worldbuilding[/b]. I was most curious about how things worked, and when new characters (and species) were introduced, I accepted their role in society. The author’s grip on the worldbuilding was strong enough to pull me in, which is saying something because I am not typically a urban fantasy person. I’d also like to give a special shout out to the harpies, who I was unreasonably happy to see each time they flew into the narrative. Yes, they can live in my backyard and yes, I will also make them breakfast. - The [b]sense of humor[/b] is very prominent. There’s a kind of camaraderie in the narrative voice as they explain the world to you. It gives off the strong ‘I’ve worked in an office with these lunatics’ vibes, without totally hijacking the story. In a sense, that makes your character’s voice feel a bit predetermined (not my favorite thing), but if the humor works for you it will be a very pleasant read. - You can have a [b] cat [/b] or an equally lovable [b]plant[/b], which was when the story got me. - [b] This story was strange! [/b] In only good ways of course. I kept trying to draw comparisons to other stories, but ended up coming up short in how to describe what the feeling of reading this story was like. - [b] It seems like the author had a good time writing it. [/b] While I’ll never know if that’s true or not, there is certainly something to be said for a story that [i]feels[/i] less like an arduous-labor-of-love and more like a-weekend-in-Vegas. [h3][b]The Not So Good: [/b][/h3] - Certain elements of this story feel painted on with [b] a light touch [/b]. There are time gaps and characterization gaps that left me a bit wanting. This became more important when it was time to figure out who to trust, and I realized I had read more synopses of spending time with characters than actually getting to know them. - [b] You have to like the comedic tone and be less serious [/b] otherwise you’re just not going to appreciate the experience. [h3][b]Suggestions for New Players: [/b][/h3] - Be nice to the harpies! - Don’t let others be fantasy-racist toward you. - Don’t leave your house too long. [h3][b]If You Liked This You Might Also Like: [/b][/h3] - Choice of Deathless by Max Gladstone [h1] Visit [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41411199/] A Variable Review [/url] for more reviews [/h1]

Story ended out of nowhere, many unresolved plot lines. Maybe I did not make the choices the author wanted but all endings should be well developed.

Starts out great, and moment to moment its a fun read, but I feel there's a lot unresolved at the end of the story. Maybe if I picked different choices I would like it more, but as it is, this is a mystery where I came out not really understanding the reasoning behind it. Despite a weak conclusion, its a nice ride, give it a go.

Enjoyable read with plenty of choices, and different types of responses available to the reader. I think the ROs could use a little more love, face time. think of them more as "getting to know" routes, as nothing more serious comes of them during the course of the story itself (other than a choice to continue to get to know them at the end lol) All in all id love to read more stories about the MC and their work, as well as the different factions and even the other ROs and NPCs in the game. They all were well written with depth to them, and I could see alot of story material / potential with whats already been written. I will certainly be playing through a few more times to see if I can do a better job as a mediatoor as well as giving the other ROs a chance.

Interesting right up until the abrupt end that left more questions than answers, as if there should be a second part to this on its way. The one play-through I've done was just under 2.5 hours and there is obviously a lot more to learn about this integrated world with other choices, which will hopefully flesh out the story some more. It must be said that the author does a good job at creating a world that is almost "normal" in its presentation, in spite of the variety of supernaturals that inhabit it and the strange events that occur. That is probably the strength of this particular story, that the office could be any office anywhere dealing with people, and those people represent any pressure or lobby group found in the average city, they just happen to be other than human, just as the player can be. There is also a lovely humorous undertone to the narrative, as if we are sharing in a private joke, and I am sure most of us can think of someone we know who could be the personification of many of the characters that are introduced throughout this comedy of errors that is the tale of bureaucracy stretched far beyond its limits. I enjoyed it right up until the last page, which really left me wondering why the CYOA had been written if thats how it ends, but there are plenty of other paths I could have taken so I will have to try them out to see if there is a less sudden and abrasive ending, and what other parts to the tale I have yet to discover. There is probably far more action and far less romance than in other Choice of Games tales, but this is worth it when on special, and if there is a part 2 in the works, then it should be well worth grabbing!

Mostly well written, mostly fun. I know the varied sexualities are a selling point of these games... but not every story or game needs references to sexuality (or even gender). Maybe less, frankly pretty average, "romance" - it was probably the worst element in the game - and more varied, or complex story options instead. The back story I encountered was... a little shallow.

Lots of possibilities and possible endings, choosing where to focus, compelling story. Very original and lots of choices really matter. You can go from the perfect burocrat to the "I'm just here to date a demon" worker.

excellent though I wish I could have interesting species like snake or werewolf