Waiting For The Raven

This game feels unfinished like something not yet out of beta. About 5 hours into it I couldn't find any reason to keep playing. Maybe I'm just not good at it, but I never figured out the what the actual story was or who my character was when I had already become the cities largest drug dealer, smuggler, and casino magnate and was figuring out how to conquer everything I didn't own when I lost all enthusiasm. Why? I asked myself, if I was really this woman at the point where I was the richest businesswoman in the city why on Earth would I continue to associate with this secret society at all? I don't care what those encrypted letters say, burn em for all the relevance they had. The game makes no sense as a mystery or intrigue challenge, your a thug taking over a city with a gang, everything else is pretense that adds nothing to the gameplay. Most of the "Grand Strategy" in this game consists of grinding. Very little strategy or decision making goes in to your build and you can go dozens of turns with nothing happening. I also didn't like the UI, it was very poorly formatted and parts of the screen were cut off and I couldn't always see what they intended me to. Overall not a good game for most people.

[h1]The Good[/h1] [list] [*] Building up your spymaster empire is fun: expanding your influence, learning about your competitors, building both legal and illegal ventures, and imposing your will either through intrigue or brute force. [*] The actual gameplay is very board-game-like where most of the action takes place conceptually through images and text prompts over a map. [/list] [h1]The Bad[/h1] [list] [*] User interface makes the mid and late game where you're managing more than four agents/thugs absolutely horrid. Dev's seriously needed to consult a UI expert. [*] Puzzles were fun and added to the immersion of being a spymaster, but are far and few inbetween. [/list] [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] [b]Waiting for the Raven is good game ruined by bad UI.[/b] Your first hour is fun and engaging. But the terrible UI makes empire management tedious and boring. If you're a glutton for punishment and want to experience an interface full of confusing actions, overly-crowded icons, and poorly placed prompts, then play with Dwarf Fortress.

The premise is fantastic. Most things in your room can be interacted with and lead to further puzzles and stories. Control your spies and work your way through the city. The art design is a little unfortunate but could be fixed with later patches. https://youtu.be/SqKTBGbLbuk

Very good ideas and principles, but an unfinished game design and UI. Some bugs too, but that's less important. Too bad, i very much tried to give a positive recommandation for this game.

Wow! I was really surprised by this game. At first I thought it'd be kinda ♥♥♥♥♥♥ or half baked, but its actually a nice little political-esc secret organization game with some nice puzzles. There are definitely some shallow or annoying bits like trying to figure out which business a random encounter occurred at but overall its solid. I they cleaned it up a little and kept working on it this could be a truly spectacular game. Right now its certainly worth your time. It has a good mix of interpersonal character stuff, business management, and more, though a few of the systems like the tech tree seem unnecessary or handled poorly, but regardless this game was really awesome to play with!

[h1][b] Reseña de Waiting For The Raven[/b][/h1] [h2]Resumen del Juego[/h2] Waiting For The Raven es ese híbrido indie que te mira a los ojos y te dice: “soy estrategia, soy simulador, soy misterio narrativo… y también te voy a poner a buscar cosas como si se te hubieran perdido las llaves en un castillo medieval”. La propuesta mezcla administración de recursos, decisiones que supuestamente importan y un aire de fantasía oscura con conspiraciones, todo envuelto en una presentación 3D con perspectiva que salta entre primera persona y vista superior. La primera impresión es clara: quiere ser gran estrategia sin el Excel, “elige tu propia aventura” sin el libro, y rompecabezas sin pedir perdón. El resultado se siente como una mesa de rol donde el máster trae buenas ideas… pero también trae 22 logros para que sientas que avanzas aunque estés dando vueltas buscando el objeto oculto número 47. [h2]Cuervos, Conspiraciones y Cachetadas al Ego[/h2] Lo Bueno: Decisiones y narración con enfoque de misterio (sí, aquí no todo es “clic y ya”) Mezcla rara pero interesante: estrategia por turnos + administración + rompecabezas Buena vibra atmosférica de fantasía oscura y medieval 22 logros de Steam para los que necesitan validación digital Steam Cloud y préstamo familiar: al menos tus partidas y tu culpa se comparten Lo No Tan Bueno: 0 jugadores actuales: el cuervo está esperando… pero parece que tú también La ambición de “gran estrategia” puede sentirse más como “gran intención” que como profundidad real Combinar primera persona, vista superior y objetos ocultos puede romper el ritmo si vienes por estrategia pura Sin recomendaciones totales visibles: comprarlo se siente como entrar a un callejón oscuro “por la ambientación” [h2]Tabla de Evaluación[/h2] [table] [tr][th]Aspecto[/th][th]Puntuación (0-10)[/th][th]Comentario[/th][/tr] [tr][td]Jugabilidad[/td][td]6[/td][td]Funciona y entretiene, pero la mezcla de sistemas no siempre fluye elegante.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Dificultad / IA[/td][td]5[/td][td]Más reto por rompecabezas/decisiones que por una IA que te humille.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Contenido[/td][td]6[/td][td]Variedad por géneros combinados, aunque no se siente “gigante” para lo que promete.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Gráficos / Video[/td][td]6[/td][td]3D cumplidor: atmosférico, sin deslumbrar ni avergonzar.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Historia[/td][td]7[/td][td]Misterio + conspiraciones + elecciones: lo más sólido del paquete.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Ambientación[/td][td]7[/td][td]Fantasía oscura medieval bien plantada; logra ese mood de “algo anda mal”.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Efectos (VFX)[/td][td]5[/td][td]Correctos, sin fuegos artificiales; acompañan más de lo que destacan.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Música[/td][td]6[/td][td]Cumple para sostener el tono; no esperes temas que tararees una semana.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Voces[/td][td]4[/td][td]No se perciben como un pilar del juego; si existen, no son su carta fuerte.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Diversidad[/td][td]5[/td][td]No es un foco declarado; no suma ni resta demasiado con lo disponible.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Rendimiento[/td][td]6[/td][td]Nada indica desastre; se siente estable dentro de lo esperable en un indie 3D.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Rejugabilidad[/td][td]6[/td][td]Las elecciones importan ayudan, pero el gancho depende de cuánto te atrape el misterio.[/td][/tr] [tr][td][b]Total Puntuaciones (Bueno)[/b][/td][td][b]5.8[/b][/td][td]Una mezcla con personalidad: más entretenida que redonda, más curiosa que imprescindible.[/td][/tr] [/table] [h2]Conclusión (Bueno)[/h2] Waiting For The Raven es “Bueno” en el sentido más peligroso: tiene ideas interesantes, una ambientación que sí vende fantasía oscura con conspiraciones, y un enfoque narrativo que te empuja a decidir. Pero también se siente como ese platillo fusión que a ratos sabe increíble… y a ratos te preguntas quién autorizó ponerle eso encima. El detalle controversial: con 0 jugadores activos, la vibra es de museo nocturno. No es que un single-player necesite multitud para ser bueno, pero aquí sí se nota la falta de conversación comunitaria, guías vivas y ese “ruido” que confirma que no estás apostando a ciegas. Y con recomendaciones totales en N/A, tú eres el valiente que entra primero al pantano. Si te atrae la combinación de estrategia ligera, administración, rompecabezas y narrativa con decisiones, puede darte buenas horas. Si vienes buscando “gran estrategia” pura y dura, quizá termines esperando al cuervo… y el cuervo esperando a que te vayas. [h3]Recomendación de Compra (En descuento o si te encanta el género)[/h3] Puntuación Total: 5.8/10 Número de jugadores activos al momento de hacer esta review: 0 Descuento máximo registrado: -69% Veredicto: [i]Recomendado con reservas: cómpralo por la atmósfera y el misterio, no por la promesa de “gran estrategia”.[/i] Si te gustan los indies raritos que mezclan narrativa, decisiones y rompecabezas con administración, adelante (con expectativas humanas). Si eres de los que exige profundidad estratégica y una comunidad activa, mejor mira desde lejos… como un cuervo prudente.

The game still needs more polishing. The first spymater session is enough satisfying and the storytelling is quite reliable. There are a bunch of spark ideas during the first session gameplay including some right in time visual effect, some good cypher solving games and some well hidden bonus. The problems of first session could only be some buggy UI display and the strategy management part. I spent like 5 to 6 hours to totally break through the first session and to find out how naive the management part actually is. Beside the 10000 gold bonus and some other hidden bonus, I can just use some wine barrels, a 10 stealthy big boy and a 10 charming miss to burn all the houses to the ground without any real punishment. And the game is just like lying down there suffering from my giant gold ♥♥♥♥-play. I mean, you guys did a lot of great work in designing the dialogues and storytelling and visual effects and different strategy dealing with different situations. But why the actual management part is so disappointing. The balance of some punishment events and the credit bonuses is totally a mess. That's not cool at all. And I spent like 1 to 2 hours to try the second and third session. Well, what could I say. I think the true management part of the game is hidden in these two parts. Musclebird has combine the story and basic gameplay more compactly. But I could not play through because the increasing amounts of different credits are just too little. I can't find a good feeling of feedback after arranging all the agents and press the sand clock button. I admit that I may be impatient and I may be too cursory. But I just can't accept that the game tries to increase the difficulty by lacking the increase of these credits which could not fit in with the pace of the game (in my experience). Then why bother develop such good foundation of a source management system. Anyway, I still appreciate the artworks and some good ideas of small games like the negotiation part and mediation stuff. Keep up the good work.

This is horribly unpolished game with a clunky UI and shallow gameplay.