Beat on Normal. I started off by more or less creating myself. I set 4 intellect, 3 psyche, 3 physical, 2 motor, and perception as my signature skill. Had a heart attack getting that tie off the ceiling fan then spent the 1st day going around talking to people and investigating the body. Most of my passive skill dialogue was from the intellect skills and perception. I chose mostly down to earth sensible dialogues and avoided doing anything too ridiculous. I solved the forensics of the body but completely failed to get it down and had to get the union to help. Kim gave me stuff to sell so I could pay for the damages but I took so long finding the pawnshop that the bookstore closed and I had to leave the body laying around all night. The next day I got in through the bookstore, searched that whole area and put the body in the freezer. I never did figure out how to open the ice cream maker. It said "-20 prybar not strong enough". I guess I missed a better prybar? Then I explored to the west and finally met the company rep. I didn't figure out how to get into the apartment building until much later, so I never got to question that smoking guy on the balcony. Never spoke to Cuno's dad, but I robbed that place and did not give him the drugs. At first I believed the union guys did lynch the guy, and I wanted to see the mercenaries slaughter them. Then I did the skill checks I could to get them to reveal the truth, got Klassje's statements, solved the ballistics and found the key to the secret area. I was pretty sure that Ruby did it using the secret passage but it did bother me that no one heard a gunshot. Klassje is my type of woman, except for the whole drug abuse thing. Wonder if I missed out on an opportunity for sex. I did not arrest her. I did not get the armor boots off the body, reasonably deciding on day 1 to let the coroner deal with it. Then I waited until late to send Kim off with the body to minimize the time without him. I changed my mind about the boots but it would not let me take them with Kim around. I said the hell with it and gave up on the boots though I could have delayed sending the body another night. The only other interesting thing to happen was talking to the racist lorryman. I totally agreed with him but didn't want to piss Kim off so I took more moderate dialogue options. I am not sure if I missed out on some kind of thought or status for being racist.
Then I went out into the western area. Found the free house and was slightly annoyed that I decided to pay for the room at the beginning that morning instead of waiting until the night. I did manage to successfully beg money from a few people and took the money from the union. It's not a bribe if I am not loyal to them. Even though I was a communist and more or less agreed with the union screwing over a corporation, Evart really came off as a slimy snake not to be trusted. I did all the things I could do there with the only notable choice being to run the nightclub drug makers out of the area instead of helping or arresting them. Hey I said I would be lenient. I went on a date with the fisherwoman, drunk. I thought drinking would give a bonus but it was a complete waste. Then I found Ruby. It took multiple shivers checks as I completed the various side quests. I went around completing the skill checks that I had skipped, save scumming to win. Up until this point I had been hoarding my skill points, only spending the occasional one to help with a difficult check, unlock a failed check or offset a thought penalty. The fact that improving a skill allows you to repeat a failed check discourages spending until you need to. I maxed out my hand eye coordination and reaction speed, with gun and sword in hand in anticipation of a final boss. Ruby shot herself. Then came the confrontation with the mercenaries. I failed to negotiate a peaceful resolution and my only option was the take the shot. Boom, headshot. Motherfucker went down. Then dodged the shot from the rifleman, but took the hit from the leader. Despite pretty good reaction speed I only had 3% chance to dodge so I wonder if it would even be possible. Getting shot made me miss the communist meeting. I went to the island and finished the game. I liked the communist old man and I had a deep conversation with the phasmid. I got a good ending where everyone welcomed the sober by the book boring ace detective. It suggested that I missed a major revelation about the hole in the world, which was likely that logic check I failed. The post credits dialogue suggested precinct 41 was planning a communist coup because the only other person listed as "of course" was the female patrol officer. When I 1st met her I asked if she wanted to join me in communist revolution, and she said yes.
By the end of the game my skill points were spent:
Visual calculus 1
Inland empire 1
Authority 1
Espirit du corps 1
Suggestion 1
Endurance 1
Physical instrument 1
Hand eye coordination 4
Perception 3
Reaction speed 4
Savoir faire 1
Interfacing 2
Composure 1
10 unspent points
My equipped thoughts:
Guillaume de million
Col do ma ma daqua
Advanced race theory
The jamrock shuffle
Volumetric shit compressor
Regular law official
Jamais vu
Motorway south
Fairweather T 500
Mazovian socioeconomics
Date of birth generator
Wasteland of reality
I forgot the way home and one more door. I had plenty more thoughts that I opted not to try. I did not like how forgetting a thought costs a skill point and is permanent. By the end I had 34 points in communist, 3 in fascist, 6 in ultra liberal, 8 in moralist, 21 in good cop/bad cop, 4 honor, 12 boring, 3 superstar, 1 apocalypse, 4 sorry. The only reason I got points in liberal was because the communist thought gave xp bonus for left dialogue choices, but I am not sure if that only applied to specific communist ones. Otherwise I wanted to be fascist. But this game's idea of fascism is traditional monarchy. It did annoy me a bit that the places, races and so on used made up names that made it hard to understand what was on the go. Like I was lost during Measurhead's race theory discussion. But it does fit with the amnesia.
My end game gear was: police hat, police raincoat/jacket (depending on weather), ceramic armor chest and gloves, black jeans, cavalry boots, oversized superstar shades, the neck pin thing from Lena, sword and pistol. I did have a large collection of clothes that I used to help with checks.
This was one of the best written games I have ever played. Very similar to Planescape Torment only without a full party or combat system. Amazing setting that I would love to explore in another game. I did not like the random nature of skill checks but did appreciate the way that improving a skill unlocks the white checks, and how failure can result in interesting scenes, dialogues and rewards; and even point the way to getting a bonus and unlocking the check for free. Like one time I got compensated money for failing to catch keys and getting hit in the eye. Still many checks do not have this and encourage save scumming. I did not like the clothing system of carrying around an entire wardrobe to mix and match skill bonuses. Equipment progression is important but I think it could have been handled better. Other than that, it was a little annoying to get around. It was hard sometimes to tell where you could and could not walk. I only got fast travel to work once and am not entirely sure how to use it, but the world is pretty small. I wish I could click on the map and have the characters automatically walk there, like in Baldur's Gate. I only used a couple healing items and never used drugs. Definitely want to play again on Hard and optimize the best build, most xp, most money and get the full suit of armor.
9.2/10
Lol, weren't games supposed to be escapistic?
