Update Three Hundred and Twenty-Eight: 27 July 2019

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

The first game actually made by Wadjet Eye and its head Dave Gilbert in a LONG time rather than just being produced by ‘em, Unavowed makes many strides forward for the point and click genre, but doesn’t ALWAYS stick the landing.

I think this is just me being a fuckin contrarian again. The game is good, one of the longest point and clicks I’ve played, the art and portraits and voice acting and puzzles are all on point, all the bleeding edge that Wadjet Eye has to offer…

You play as a (woman/man) who is ripped from their life as an (actor/cop/bartender) when you get possessed by a demon. A year later, you’re finally exorcised and freed from that demon… but your life is in shambles, you’re wanted for SEVERAL DOZEN counts of murder, and the people who saved you offer you a way forward. You join the Unavowed. Shit goes on from there.

The premise is dope, the act two twist is SUPER SUPER dope, and handled in a really neat way, a lot of the individual pieces are really rad. Gilbert has point and click writing down to a science, where he knows just how much dialogue he can get away with before people get antsy. Getting those little bites of story, character, perspective made me actively want to exhaust all dialogue options, instead of just feeling like I should. You go on seven different cases to solve seven different problems, taking you ALL over New York City in a manner and to a depth no previous Wadjet Eye game has. Each case ends with a choice to make, and while, upon reflection, they’re all kind of the same choice (your ye olde BioShock ‘spare or slaughter’ one), the circumstances around the choice vary it up enough to keep it interesting.

If there’s one thing Gilbert went HARD in the paint about this time, it’s choices. Each case can end in a couple of different ways, you can only bring two of your four team members with you at a time, and with your three origin stories (gender aside), there’s a LOT of different ways things can go. It takes five full playthroughs (plus a sixth one just to do the prologue) to get all the achievements. I was debating doing two playthroughs back to back… but I think it’s better served if I wait until 2020.

This review is more disjointed than usual, because I feel disjointed about this game. I liked it as I was playing it, mostly, but looking back I can only see disappointments—the ending is kind of abrupt, and the characters were more one-dimensional than I would have liked, not enough contrasts. A particular disappointment was Logan, voice by resident boyfriend extraordinaire Logan Cunningham, in his most subdued and sweet performance yet. (Boyfriend Rating: 10/10) I had SUCH high hopes and fondness for Logan… but he ended up just hammering one point over and over again, to the exclusion of a lot else.

That’s not even getting to the uncanny valley-ness of them pushing the limits of 2D pixel animation on a not-very-huge budget. With this being a much more action-oriented game, I REALLY felt the strain of all the characters standing blankly, walking blankly, brandishing swords blankly. I expected, or maybe just wanted, more than I got.

What I GOT was good… but it didn’t capture me. Don’t miss out on it just bc I’m being a sourpuss, though.

Next up: It’s been a couple of months since I played a JRPG, and I’ve been VERY nostalgic for Trails in the Sky. I won’t be able to play that for the first time again, but I have the next best thing:

See you soon!