The Low Road

I cannot recommend an adventure game that has a timed puzzle with no skip button. If you do not have the ability to move lots of blocking objects and slide a tracker around a set of curves within the time limit - it's game over - without being able to finish the game. Can't recommend - sorry.

[b]My Playtime:[/b] 5.2h (100% achievement, finished the game) [b]My First Playthrough:[/b] 4.6h [b]Grindy Achievement(s):[/b] No. [b]Optional Achievement(s):[/b] Yes (16 achievements). [b]Difficult Achievement(s):[/b] No. [h1]Intro[/h1] [i]The Low Road[/i] is a sidescroller point-and-click game about a spy who is trying her best to finish her first mission. It is a game that focuses on a bunch of puzzles to progress. [b]Pros:[/b] - Short and simple [b]Cons:[/b] - Hard to see interactable objects - Most puzzles require trial and error to solve [b]Specs[/b] Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 [h1]Should you buy this game?[/h1] [b]No.[/b] [i]The story is too boring and there is too much trial and error needed to finish the game.[/i] [hr][/hr] [h1]In-Depth Review[/h1] [h3]Visuals[/h3] If there's one thing that [i]The Low Road[/i] is best at, it's the visuals. The color palette somehow makes the design look simpler despite it being made with many details. The character movements look odd, though; they look like the ones in puppet shows. [h3]Story[/h3] The story is boring. You'll play as Noomi Kovacs, a spy who just joined her first company. The story revolves around her first job, doing infiltration and anything to aid the cause. However, Noomi's behavior just irritates me, and the rest are just not interesting. You can say that I'm not sold with the story either. Dialogues are pretty much just a bunch of lines added to pad the word count, some with repeated meaning with the other options. As a short game, it can be understandable that it can't fit too much story without sacrificing the gameplay, but at least I wanted something that kept me engaged. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1117139846 I hate that the dialogues are automatically advanced. Sometimes I need more time digesting the dialogues, and with the game advancing them automatically, it gave me more reason to lose interest with it. [h3]The Game[/h3] [b]Gameplay[/b] Well, [i]The Low Road[/i] gameplay is divided into two. The first one is the point-and-click section where you need to interact with objects and use them with others. The thing is, it's almost impossible to find some objects. The detection radius can be quite small and there is no indication that you can interact with them since the cursor and/or the object color won't change when you hover them. The larger objects might change the color a bit, but good luck spotting that on the smaller ones. Aside from that, the point-and-click section is quite easy as long as you know which objects you can interact with. Noomi will also give clues about it, although finding the right interactables might be a challenge. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1117143453 Puzzles are varied and unique. You'll do a lot of things, from removing an alarm to reconstructing a message. However, most of them rely on brute force; there is no manual nor anything that you can use to solve it using your brain, and even some that look like one have a solution that is completely nonsensible. Luckily, they have simpler ones too. [b]Length and Difficulty[/b] The game is short. I finished it in 4.6h, and that's accounting for the time I took to restart some sections of the game since some achievement requires you to do things perfectly. Well, the game itself is short, and it was divided into 6 chapters to make them even shorter. As for the difficulty, they shouldn't pose too much problem for you. You just need to brute force them, and if all else fails, there are always walkthroughs you can consult. [b]Issues[/b] You can speed up the dialogue to instantly show the next one, but sadly, the game still forces you to watch the animations. They won't be fast-forwarded, meaning that you need to wait until the animation is finished before you can move. I thought the game froze at first. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] [i]The Low Road[/i] is a short, boring game where you have to find interactable objects like finding a needle in a haystack. The characters and the story are just unappealing. I didn't have fun when I played it, so I'd rather not recommend it.

Sabe quando algo não é mal feito e também não é bem feito? Então.. Aqui tudo é simples, até mesmo a narrativa que o game se propõe a ser seu ponto chave; começa do nada e termina do nada, tudo ocasionado por amplo carisma dos personagens, mais muito pouca criatividade em encerrar seus arcos. O game se passa nos anos 70, onde a indústria da tecnologia e automobilista é motivo de se infiltrar espiões para as grandes corporações concorrerem lado a lado. A nossa personagem Noomi Kovacs é uma jovem espiã recém formada em sua academia, que quer mostrar seu valor e que sabe entregar trabalho. Mais como fazer isso quando todas funções exigem 2 anos de experiência? É ai que o game desenrola.. teremos muitos diálogos, e por ela ser uma "estagiária" teremos que fazer muitos caminhos mais longos para se chegar aonde se quer, e é ao longo desses caminhos que vai ficando nítida os contras do game. Ele é ruim ? Não! Mais ele aposto demais em sua história, e não conseguiu entregar nela a expectativa criada ao longo da curta campanha. acaba e ficamos pensando: deve haver outros capitulos, algo novo a comprar? A data é 19 de outubro de 2022 e ainda não há legendas no game, o que peca bastante já que muito esta nos diálogos e como iremos responde-los. O game tem um carisma no seu visual, puzzles simples mais que fazem mexer o cérebro, uma boa trilha sonora e ótimos personagens... mais porém ele foi na regra de concursos públicos: NÂO PODE ZERAR EM NADA e isso acaba deixando tudo simples e nada natural pois vamos sentindo falta de algo a mais. O game não merece ser negativado por isso, pois é interessante; mais também é recomendado com ressalvas.

This is one of the games that you check out and say, it looks very fun I can't wait to play it. You start it up, it's cute and all and the dialog begins. However, not even 5 minutes in, I believe that almost everyone must have experienced some of the inconveniences of the game. - The options are the most basic thing you can find. There is literally no option for the sound or music, which is annoying because the music is so loud that many times you cannot listed to the dialog. - The music can also bug and start repeating in a bad way, which makes the above even more of a problem. - The character movement is pretty restrictive, you go around rather slowly and cannot move when there is dialog. - The puzzles are very few and very simplistic. - There is no indication for your objectives or the items you are holding, leading you to forget or not understand what you have to do and waste a lot of time wandering and doing the same things until you realise what's up. On the bright side, the graphics are very cute, the plot is average, the game has more than one ending and the voice acting is the best feature of the game. It's a shame really that such a good voice acting went to waste. Overall, I cannot recommend the game even if it is on sale because it has quite some technical problems that made it not enjoyable. If you find it in a bundle or a very good sale and feel like you really want to give it a try, hope you have fun!

Glitchy, Chapter 5 just won't load, short chapters with little to offer, no engaging story to speak of, no intrigue, fails to be either funny or dramatic.

[h2]Sinopsis[/h2] The Low Road es un juego Point & Click donde controlaremos a Noomi Kovacs, una aprendiz de espía recién graduada que acaba de conseguir su primer empleo en el Departamento de Inteligencia de la multinacional automovilística, Penderbrook Motor. Kovacs se lleva una gran decepción al descubrir que su tan idealizado trabajo consistirá en recabar información en la pantalla de un ordenador y atender llamadas telefónicas, algo que no está dispuesta a aceptar. Un giro de los acontecimientos hace que Kovacs y su jefe acaben descubriendo que su compañía está llena de secretos y trapos sucios, por lo que deberán ponerse manos a la obra y descubrir el pastel que esconde, convirtiéndose en la auténtica espía que siempre soñó. [h2]Jugabilidad / Apartado técnico[/h2] Aventura gráfica con un colorido apartado visual y diseño, donde encontraremos elementos clásicos de exploración, pudiendo interactuar con ciertos objetos del entorno, guardarlos en nuestro inventario para usarlos cuando corresponda y resolver sencillos puzzles. Sin embargo, The Low Road pone un especial énfasis en el desarrollo de su trama y en las conversaciones entre personajes, las cuales serán el plato principal, ya que tendremos que explorar distintas líneas de diálogo para encontrar información clave, e incluso encontraremos algunas opciones que pueden conducir al final de la aventura de manera prematura, aunque podremos volver sobre nuestros pasos sin problema. El juego consta de varios capítulos y no es demasiado largo. [h2]Valoración[/h2] En un primer momento me llamó la atención la estética y planteamiento de The Low Road, pero lamentablemente falla al llevarlo a la práctica por varios motivos. La trama está bien, es profunda, está trabajada y cuenta con pinceladas de humor, pero es poco seria y abusa excesivamente del texto y los diálogos (que además no están traducidos al castellano), por lo que llega a hacerse pesado. Esto no está bien compensado con la parte más “jugable”, ya que los movimientos y desplazamientos de la protagonista son terriblemente lentos, las animaciones muy robóticas y los objetos con los que podemos interactuar brillan por su ausencia, hay muy pocas opciones. Todos estos elementos dan como resultado una aventura gráfica con un planteamiento interesante y una ejecución aburrida y poco llamativa. ✔️ [b]Positivo[/b]:[list] [*]El diseño gráfico en general, con un aspecto colorido y original. [*]Trama profunda y bien desarrollada a través de conversaciones con otros personajes. [*]Elementos de investigación, rompecabezas y diálogos multirrespuesta que pueden conducir a distintos finales. [/list] ❌ [b]Negativo[/b]:[list] [*]Abusa demasiado de los textos y las conversaciones (no traducidos), dejando la jugabilidad y los elementos Point & Click en un segundo plano. [*]El movimiento de la protagonista es excesivamente lento y las animaciones poco convincentes. [*]En general no he sentido alicientes para jugarlo, se me ha hecho largo y tedioso a pesar de su corta duración.[/list] 📢 [b]Idioma[/b]: No disponible en español. ⌛ [b]Duración[/b]: 4 horas juego base/ 5 horas para 100%. 🎮 [b]Steam Deck[/b]: Funciona perfectamente. Mejor con ratón y teclado. Lo salvaría de un incendio! 👨‍🚒👍🔥 [h1]6/10[/h1] [quote]🚨 Si te ha gustado la reseña y quieres descubrir buenos juegos, sígueme en mi página de Mentor: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45092978/] Indies ON FIRE [/url]🚨[/quote]

间谍界应届新星干翻业内老古董的故事，玩法很轻松的指向点击解密。 精湛配乐+带点低多边形的作画很讨巧。全程萦绕着高度风格化的无厘头幽默，不管是风趣对话还是怪乱解密都令人会心一笑。不过对于英语不太好的我来说，会产生一种笑点get上的延迟感。（悲） 比较佩服女主的一个点是，她非常清楚自己想做实地特工而不是办公室秘书，同时也不顾旁人眼光、“不择一切手段”去追求了，于是她最终满足了自身述求。 存在阴谋集团强行拦截划时代发明，阻挡人类社会进步的设定有点意思。希望游戏里无需石油仅靠水和二氧化碳就能运作的汽车早日问世造福大众~

This is a different kind of point and click adventureish game, that I can recommend if you know what you are getting into. Here is what you need to know: +Its an atypical kinda comical look at spy life, where most of the time you play a woman trying to break into the spy industry. This is really the heart of the game. ?There's plenty of backstory that some will either find intriguing or dull. The game was a bit too dialog heavy for me, but I'll be skip happy even with most Fallout game dialog, but thankfully the space bar can be used to skip any line of dialog anytime even if it's brand new to you. -Game options are limited to configuring subtitles, and there are no alternate controls for using something other than a mouse or the space bar. So no keypad support and don't expect to do anything with the keyboard other than ESC to pause & exit, though I couldn't even do that in certain dialogs. ?Point & click stuff is kinda interesting but nothing special either. ?Puzzles are fine, and I only used a video guide for one of them. ?Some dialog choices and on rare occasions a failed puzzle can trigger an ending. The game rewinds to allow retry and getting past it. I had to use a video guide a few times for this. +Soundtrack is original, unique, and fits the game's 1960-70s era look and feel. ?It's a short game that can be played in 3-5 hours, though I think that's just right for the story, as I wouldn't want it any longer.

Short, easy, still captivating and rewarding.

SUPER MIXED review here. The one thing this game does well is its music, and art design of the characters, style and environments. The puzzles and point and click riddles you solve are either incredibly mundane, slow and simple. OR unclear. There were some minigame puzzles that were fun to mess around with but nothing that was inherently challenging. This game has SUCH potential. It has the foundation to be a great game but the things you do as a detective within the world don't feel fun. The only part of the 'detective' work i enjoyed was the phone dialogues where you need to read information and make convincing dialogue to earn intel based on this. If there was more of this and investigations in the different environments I'd say it would be more enjoyable. Also this game is rather short. So just keep that in mind going into it. You may replay a few times if you're a completionist but I myself am not invested enough to do so. It has all the beauty but not a lot of substance in the actual playing department. AND biggest pet peeve of all, SLOW UNNECESSARY walk cycle!!!! AHEM. I think its still worth a play if its on sale but take it all with a grain of salt. Just wish there was more polish to what is a VISUALLY awesome and stylized game.