As a first-time Kickstarter backer, I hastily backed this game shortly after backing another unrelated project. Whether or not I'm disappointed, is still something for me to mull over.
Tl;Dr for the upcoming review: It's a 'good' game, in that I enjoyed playing it. However, there are definitely downsides that will turn away a lot of players.
That said, I don't recommend this game, with the foremost reason being that it's priced like a game with depth, something it isn't. In total, you'll probably finish the whole game in about 40 minutes, making it very short, especially for a game you'll be spending money to play. I'm not saying the game should be free, developers have to get something back for their hard work, but in saying that, you'll probably feel a little shortchanged here. To add insult to injury, I noticed as I am writing this review, that a few screenshots for the game on its store page are of things that don't actually happen in the game. So keep that in mind.
Another thing that stuck out for me, was the constantly apparent lack of polish. Interacting with objects in this game was a serious hassle. Many items that weren't actually interactive in the game, such as computers and miscellaneous objects, would often be highlighted, disorienting me at several points. On the flip side of the coin, objects that you are supposed to interact with often have very small points in which you can mouse over and press 'E' on them. This was especially tricky when I kept assuming an object was not crucial to progressing, when in actuality, the game didn't recognise that I wanted to pick up an item like a key or wine bottle. Couple this with items that were placed in ordinary locations with little indication that you'd need them, and you've got a lot of snags in the pacing. Another major issue I had, was the save functionality. As I had issues with running the game at first, I had to repeatedly save the game, close it, and then reload my save. Unfortunately, this resets a lot of puzzles, and returns items to their original locations. Being a short game, I didn't pay it too much mind, but the principle of a game not being able to save properly isn't a good one. And polish issues extend beyond just this. To list off a few things I noticed without giving spoilers away, in-game text was occasionally misspelled or contained improper grammar, the puzzles are frustratingly vague (and at certain points, give the impression of being complex, when the solution is incredibly simple and had little relevance to clues), the graphics at times were glitchy, the animations and cutscenes were rigid and unrefined, and, most prominently for me, the opening 10 minutes of the game was a flop thanks to its cluttered use of clues in the main lobby of the theatre. I found myself finding clues for puzzles that I'd solved 10 minutes prior, thanks to the game offering me little to guide me to locations and objects in the proper order.
Another reason why I say the first 10 minutes of the game wasn't all that great, is because of the lighting. When you first enter the cinema, the screen is effectively pitch black. You have a flashlight, however it offers very little help to illuminate the room. In fact, even after finding the breaker switch to turn the lights on, I found myself exiting the game to turn up the gamma, because it was just too dark to see.
A big plus I can give this game, is the choice of voice actor. Your typical 'walkathon' game requires at least a decent narrator, and the voice actor used in this game was a great choice. I can't explain it, but his voice really had the familiarity of a film star. However, at some points, the mixing for the dialogue could have been a little better. Additionally, the music was a mixed bag for me. It often felt as though the music wanted to give off a scary atmosphere, while the visuals were reassuring and intentionally comforting. At times, the music would even stop abruptly, or roughly transition into another song. It's a minor gripe, but I noticed it every time, and while we do take continuous, looped soundtracks for granted, you can really see why they're used in most games.
Finally, without spoiling what little exposition the game has to offer, even as it takes up the whole presentation, I was unconvinced at first that the game would move past the initial pretension and deliberate lack of context, thinking that the developers would leave little to work with in an attempt to fool players into believing that a tapestry of subtext and implied story elements existed, at the expense of any thought being put into giving the game a decent story. However, I will say that the final 15 minutes of the game really picked up the slack and capped off the game with just enough of a conclusion for me to comfortably say I managed to extract enough of the plot and characterisation to be somewhat satisfied with my experience, however short it was. I especially enjoyed the use of classic film imagery through posters, viewable film reels, and nostalgic quotes sprinkled throughout. Once again though, if you don't buy into games that leave the player to fill in the blanks and even use their own logic to bridge holes in the story, then you might want to stay clear of this one. With games like The Stanley Parable, Dear Esther, and The Beginner's Guide, you could probably find a better game (free ones, even), that utilise the 'walkathon' genre much better, and even tell a fantastic story in a more concise, yet detailed and entertaining manner. However, if you've run out of other games to try, then give this one a go at your own risk.
This is a personal gripe that doesn't affect the game at all on a functional level, but I still wanted to address it. When the game concludes, the end credits scroll rather fast, in spite of it only containing about 40 names. It does not credit the voice actor for the game's dialogue, and it even freezes when showing the last few names on the list of backers, before unceremoniously spitting you back out on to the game's title-less menu screen. I'm naturally biased as a backer of the game, but I thought that this was quite a haphazard way to end the game and give thanks to the people that funded and/or played it. Again, it's a minor issue that I have that most people wouldn't care about, but as I said earlier, it's another small element that lacked polish, and I still think it's worth mentioning.
The bottom line is, this game was made on a small budget, one that I contributed a measly 20 dollars to, and honestly, I can't say the developers didn't deliver on a playable game that featured everything it had to. My major gripes with it mainly reside in glitchy gameplay and unpolished details, all of which can still be fixed with patches, should the devs choose to update the game. However, the short length may be a turn away for many people. For now, I won't recommend it, not because it's a game I wouldn't play, but because it's a game I wouldn't pay as much to play now that I have the hindsight.
