July 2023 Update
Next update (works only on profile page)
- Only one person needs to own the game to play
- Interesting and not too repetitive puzzles
The bad 👎
- Single pass takes around 3h so it's quite short. My 6h play time is because I played as both agent and hacker, so beat the game twice
Conclusion:
Not many good co-op puzzle games out there. This one has a regular discount of "only" 50%, but as only one person needs to own it, it makes it basically 75% to play in two (second person doesn't play after all). Some puzzles are a tiny bit messy, but otherwise everything is fine. Surely worth checking if you have co-op buddy.
Details
☐ Bare-bone ☑ Average ☐ Good |
This game is not played for the plot. Action takes place in a futuristic future that would make Zuckerberg jelly. Everyone has brain implant (or just super powerful tech googles) that allows to browse internet with eye movement and hacking people identity by being in proximity. We are agents on the mission to stop the evil hacker from spreading a really nasty computer virus. The game is linear and the story is shown as short comic-syle animations. |
☐ Boring ☐ Average ☑ Good |
Missions are short, on average 30 min long. Agent walks around location and look for access points, specific people etc. Hacker interacts with a representation of the database / system present in the location. It can be surveillance camera, robot control point, drones flight patterns, workers database etc. Players need to exchange information - agent will find access code to terminal, hacker will hack it, agent will check workers shifts, hacker will copy worker identity, so agent can process through the door. Couple pick locking minigames require both player input at the same time, but in general gameplay focus on give-information-and-wait-for-new-information-to-progress loop. It can be challenging when we don't understand how other person things, e.g. when trying to describe a shape that need to be input into the system. |
☐ Clunky and stiff ☑ Adequate ☐ Fluid and enjoyable |
Agent can walk around and interact with objects. There is no need to jump or do any sort of platforming. The hacker usually sees the IT system that looks like a desktop with a tree of folders. I did not have a problem to play as the agent, but hacker view was a bit confusing at times: how to move inside the tree back and forth, where was the information that I need etc. |
☑ Basic ☐ Detailed ☐ Over complicated |
Menus are really basic, there is no inventory or many options to change in general. |
☐ Boring and generic ☐ Average ☐ Good ☐ Great |
There is no real combat. In some missions the agent needs to move through a series of rooms that are patrolled by drones, bumping into them sends us to a checkpoint. It's not possible to play the game solo. |
☑ None ☐ Skins ☐ "Time-savers" ☐ Direct purchase ☐ Custom currency (gems etc.) |
☐ None ☑ Story progression ☐ Few collectibles / easy to get ☑ Grindy collectibles / hard to get ☐ Require multiple playthroughs |
☐ No saves ☐ No saves, progress carries over ☐ One checkpoint, too rare ☑ One checkpoint, frequent ☐ Manual saves |
☐ Can run on potato ☑ Medium requirements ☐ High requirements ☐ Too low for what is visible on screen ☐ Optimization disaster |
☐ May look good 10 years ago, but not now ☐ Blurry textures / geometry problems ☑ Average ☐ Good ☐ Beautiful |
☑ Nothing to remember ☐ Good voice acting ☐ Good weapons & effects ☐ Good OST ☐ Music flows well with the action |
☐ Resolution, volume only ☑ Basic graphic settings ☐ Advanced graphic settings ☐ Adjustable HUD ☐ Accessibility options |
☑ No map ☐ Basic ☐ Detailed ☐ Minimap ☐ Fast travel |
- Game has really basic but good looking graphic |
Side note
I waited ages to try get Raspberry Pi 4: due to the COVID-19 and supply issues, prices were ridiculous. Like 3-4 times the MSRP. 200 pounds for an item that should cost 50. Another scalpers’ heaven, not just PS4 and XboX X Super Y (they really need to start naming them in normal numeric order).
Last time I checked 2 months or so back, they were having waiting lists in official sellers shops with the estimated dispatch around Christmas, and no more than one unit per customer to limit scalpers. I checked now and most of the models are in stock at 50. Meanwhile, scalpers (and Amazon…) try to show now scalping price as MSRP and base price as “50% discount”. Though some scalpers still try to sell for more than 100. Crazy.
I really wonder how Amazon can go around showing people in Europe that those Orbital electric toothbrushes have a base price of 120. When in fact its normal (not promotional!!) price for 2 years is 60. They are always “50% off”. Last chance to buy, before they are gone! In Poland, they must now slap on all discount stickers “the lowest price in the past 30 days from before the promotion” information, even Steam started to implement it. And Amazon is like “nah”.
Last time I checked (when I first heard Amazon finally got a .pl domain, I believe), I could feel prices just aren’t being adjusted for Poland. Is that still the case?
I think back then all they did was sending international Amazon through the automatic translator 😂 Don’t think it’s much better now. Amazon has logistic centers, as Germans did not want to work for that low wages. But it’s not like they are actually present fully.
Allegro has too large market share, both ebay and Amazon failed so far. Thought both tried to do it in the cheapest way possible, by lazy translating and not fully entering market like in France, UK or Germany.
I guess I just don’t get business, but I’m genuinely surprised that even though Amazon exists as a company with warehouses in Poland, they don’t operate locally. Like… what? Why?
…and then I remember why. We’re just subjectively low value as a country.
I’m in UK now, and some things just seem “bizzare” to me. Granted, not all places are amazing.
I bought a bike with some accessories. Overshoes were too small. I went to shop, and they replaced for different model no problem. New ones also turned out to be too small. But my seat kept being uncomfortable, so I thought I can try to replace it.
I went to shop again, and explained that my sit bones keep hurting. They said no problem, give back overshoes, and we will sort it out. Cost of overshoes + some balance I had on the account from shop rewards was not enough to cover the seat, so I was like “ok, gonna top up with CC”. Guy changed the seat and is like “ok, bye”. “Oh but I thought I need to top it up with credit card, overshoes and account balance was not enough to cover the seat”. “It’s fine, it’s just a few quid difference” (quid is slang for pound).
If it doesn’t fit after all, I can replace it again. Just keep the cardboard that came with it. I did spend 900 pounds on bike + accessories in the first place, so they want to keep the customer.
And it makes me think of horror stories of like Morele sending broken PC monitor and saying “your fault” when customer reports it came faulty. Bc they have recording of the warehouse and box in the warehouse looked fine. So it’s customer fault. I had to send my laptop years ago 3 times to Asus service centre, as they were writing nonsense like “laptop can be slowed down and stuttering due to using applications, like gadu gadu”. Laptop had known design flaw that was making HDD work unstable. Had to send them link to discussion and write I know it’s a design flaw. For them to actually fix the issue. Not send it back as they received it.
So yeah. You pay the same as in other countries, as monitors, bikes or laptops don’t cost less, as Poland has less buying power. They pay less for staff. And still say they can barely go by and will just treat customers as disposables the moment they pay for item. It’s mentality problem.
The Polish mentality is one of suffering, as I learned in high school and though not much time has passed since then yet, it seems there’s no sign of change on the horizon.
I have yet to look for a job of my own, so I’m mostly buying stuff used if I want anything, but still, your experience with Morele reminds me of a time I tried to buy a game from someone just to test a website meant to provide a connection point between people who are looking to buy and sell physical games. I found a guy who happened to be located in my town and thought “cool, we’ll be able to just meet instead of having to mail each other the games”, but when I asked him about it, he was like “oh, no, I haven’t been there for like 10 years :)”… so then why would you not change your location? I kept getting a weird vibe from him the whole time. He never said anything out of place, but it was almost as if he felt superior, because not only was I a brand new user, I’m also female and (don’t think I put that in my profile, but it is true) much younger than him. We struck a deal, I sent him a brand new game and everything was okay on his end. Then when I got his game, luckily everything was okay with the disc itself, but the box was cracked. Messaged him about it, photos attached and he just said “oh, welp, it was okay when I had it, so I guess that happened in transit”… and that was it. I’m not saying I want a refund, but he should be glad it’s a game I like enough to keep after I’m done with it. I’m no stuck-up collector, but I can not, in good conscience, go and sell that to anyone else, especially because the crack is right on one of the bits that would normally pinch the box closed, meaning it now doesn’t even close properly.
tl;dr There’s a reason CeX is my kind of paradise.
Didn’t know CeX is in poland.
Yeah, it totally is! I can’t recall how I found out about it, but man, I am so glad I did! They’ve opened a store in Warsaw a few months ago :’D
Each time some better service arrives in Poland it’s a good day :D
You got that right! If it weren’t for them, my home consoles might have been collecting dust more than they’d be getting used… but now, I have a backlog so big it stopped fitting on my one shelf long ago :’D (side note: I may or may not be exaggerating CeX’s influence, I spent a bunch of money on good second-hand deals that weren’t from them a while back ^^)
I see you have backlog on Steam as well, so good luck :D
Yep, thanks! :D Glad that one’s not physical, or I would be buried in a pile of boxes… and my backlog isn’t even that big, when you compare it to some other assassins’! A certain scene from Bruce Almighty comes to mind…