The Samaritan Paradox

Played it a bit, it’s not bad.

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w⢸⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⡷⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡇⠢⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠈⠑⢦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Are you winning son? ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⠖⠒⠒⠒⢤⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⢦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⢸⠀⠀⣀⢤⣼⣀⡠⠤⠤⠼⠤⡄⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⢄⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⢸⠀⠀⠑⡤⠤⡒⠒⠒⡊⠙⡏⠀⢀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠑⠢⡄⠀ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠇⠀⣀⣀⣀⣀⢀⠧⠟⠁⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡇⠀ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠸⣀⠀⠀⠈⢉⠟⠓⠀⠀⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⢱⡖⠋⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⣠⢺⠧⢄⣀⠀⠀⣀⣀⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⣠⠃⢸⠀⠀⠈⠉⡽⠿⠯⡆⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸ ⢸⠀⠀⣰⠁⠀⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠉⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸ ⢸⠀⠀⠣⠀⠀⢸⢄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⠀⢇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡌⠀⠈⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⠃⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⠀⠀⠀⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠷

Don't even bother trying to play this without a walkthrough. This game's problems are many: barely any direction, nonsensical puzzles and interactions, requiring you to click items in specific order or they just do not work, designating parts of the same item on screen as different clickable areas, multiple timing based puzzles, a complete clustertruck of a "plot", absurd and unbelievable characters, UI straight out of the MS-DOS days, dodgy voiceover on half the characters, some extreme pixel hunting, unlikable main character, author's barely disguised political soapbox - just to name a few. There's tons of much better point and click games out there, don't waste your time with this.

Since I've woken up in a good mood, I'm just going to say that I farmed this for the cards and now I'm uninstalling it... I can't even remember why I bought this. What was I thinking? Too old school for me. No patience for it. I couldn't even find my inventory. But if you're into old school type games, pixelated graphics and stuff for nostalgia and have more patience than me with games then maybe you'll enjoy it - though I guess you could tell all of that just from looking at the screenshots, therefore rendering this review pretty worthless except for satisfying my need to review every game I play! 😊

The Samaritan Paradox es una aventura gráfica muy mala. Debí sospecharlo cuando uno de los primeros puzles del juego consiste en darle un libro a un hombre que está delante de un cuadro para que se quede dormido leyéndolo, para a continuación utilizar una sierra mecánica en la pared trasera en la que está el cuadro (aprovechando que los ronquidos del hombre enmascaran el ruido), y por último emplear un cuchillo en la parte trasera del cuadro. Todo para coger un papel que hay detrás del cuadro. Y esto es de lo menos absurdo de un juego que, encima, se intenta tomar en serio.

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This game is just awful. I don’t think there was a single point at which I had any idea what the actual ♥♥♥♥ it wanted me to do. I mostly stumbled into progressing the story by interacting with everything, and even when I knew what I had to do, implementing the solutions was often so obtuse I still needed to look at a guide (looking at you, you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ compass horse). This may be the worst-designed point-and-click I’ve ever played. Ten years after Wadjet Eye! Ten years! The self-satisfied, navel-gazey story was insufferable. The game was so, so in love with how supposedly clever it was, which frankly was probably part of why the puzzle design was so bad. But also it was so busy thinking it was engaging it never spent time actually being engaging, and was actually insanely trite. I saw someone in a Steam forum thread say, “‘Wait, when did we learn that?’ might as well have been the subtitle of this game,” and it’s an accurate comment. Then there’s the ugly, blurry pixel art, the miserable UI, the terrible demarcation of interactables, the weird bug where text would start autoskipping and I’d have to restart to fix it which meant hitting ALT-F4 because there’s no ‘quit’ button in the interface… This is far and away the worst of the point-and-click style detective games I’ve played. I may have hated this more than Chicken Police. The entire experience was just horrid from top to bottom. About two hours in I managed to softlock myself by going to destinations in the wrong order, and I spent about 15 minutes trying to troubleshoot before going, “This game has made me miserable from top to bottom, why am I trying so hard to keep playing it?” and quitting. Nothing on god’s green earth could possess me to start this game over. Unsurprisingly, based on Steam achievements, only 20% of people complete the first puzzle and only 9% finish the game, which is, frankly, high. To put that in perspective, 57% of people complete Tangle Tower. 50% finish Blackwell Unbound. 20% unlock [i]everything[/i] in Seance at Blake Manor, something that took me almost 20 hours! [i]This game is a nightmare.[/i]

Everything is so wrong. there's no menu, so i cant save, i have to start over if i exit and if i make a mistake in the game there are irreversible things, for example, i have to pour water from the well in the bowl, and i poured water from the sink, its imposible to progress now SO I HAVE TO START OVER ALL THE GAME FROM THE BEGINNING. something is 100% odd.

The game starts off well, with an appealing storyline on paper. But it quickly loses its appeal, with uninspired puzzles and linear gameplay. You get bored very quickly and want to play something else. It's a big disappointment, which is a shame. I paid less than a euro for it, and I think it's a waste of money. Even if it were free, I wouldn't recommend it. Honestly, was this game even tested? The storyline is forced, the puzzles are rubbish. The menus and save system are from another era, and unfortunately there's a bug that causes you to lose control of the mouse and can happen at any time. I'm playing the game with a walkthrough and even that makes it very tedious. Seriously, play something else, don't waste your time.