Woodsalt

[b] Target Audience: [/b] [I] Those really open-minded with imagination and looking to help a small developer[/i] [b] Summary: [/b] I'm not going to beat around the bush: Woodsalt has major structural problems from a story perspective, leading to a very uneven experience that unfortunately does not live up to its high price of admission. The sci-fi story does have a few characters that do an alright job of making you relate with them in the side stories, but an inconsistency in what time is spent with what characters and how they impact the main story ends up really making it suffer. Certain events don't make sense in the big picture of the story, and it doesn't help that the nature of the game's one side versus another and playing both sides as being possibly right has a glaring weak spot that destroys that idea toward the mid-end of the game. Again though, it's the inconsistencies of the events of the main plot that feel like they have big chunks missing that really makes the game's story suffer here. You just don't believe what's happening in front of you, even with the sci-fi nature of the game. The characters, especially those like Gi, just make you wonder if conflicts were inserted for the sake of conflicts being needed. The presentation, while simple, doesn't do enough to help the gameplay either, not taking advantage of simple ways to tell the player that new information is available. While the game does have multiple branching paths, it doesn't feel like it at times. In fact, simple features like the ability to skip dialogue you've already seen are missing here, which is vital considering the nature of a replayable game like this. Certain presentation elements are clunky in its presentation (the end sequence in particular), and it's clear to me that the game's budget just ran out before the true vision of the game was seen. While updates and fixes are coming for some of these things, there are just too many games with sci-fi themes from a story perspective to look at before looking at Woodsalt right now, as the fundamental problems with the story just overshadow everything else. [b]Gameplay Footage and Video Review: https://youtu.be/SuN0lln53f4[/b] [u] Lists: [/u] [b]Positives:[/b] [list] [*] Zoey and Phyler do a good job of being the pair that presents both sides of an argument and are arguably the best part of the game. [*] Some side stories hit well, in particular ones that deal less with the main story and more about the characters and their struggles. [*] It's clear that there was a vision and that if given the chance, it could have worked. [/list] [b]Negatives:[/b] [list] [*] The main plot has major plot holes that end up making you not care about anything going on when all is said and done. [*] Pacing is absolutely all over the place in a bad way, leading to not only confusion but the feeling that major elements were cut in the big picture. [*] Branching story paths don't do enough to make you feel like you're contributing to the story and that things are pre-destined to be. [*] Mystery elements don't do enough to make you intrigued, actually harming the story in certain sub-stories cases. [*] Certain Characters are too inconsistent in order to play a reasonable part in the story. [*] Lack of detail on character models at times takes you out of the experience. [*] No oompf, no real draw that makes you want to keep playing [*] Options like “skipping text you've already read” aren't present here which really makes the game suffer in its CYOA [/list] [b] If you want more reviews/information regarding games I've reviewed, visit my curator. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6861768/]Dragnix Curator [/url][/b]