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Discover a time-loop tragicomedy murder mystery thriller featuring multiple casualties and a suspicious cat, from the creator of To the Moon and Finding Paradise. Impostor Factory is now available on GOG.COM.

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Instabuy!
how can I ever say no to you guys...
I'm surprised I haven't noticed this was missing. xD
Loved "To The Moon", adored "Finding Paradise" and like "Bird Story" ... can't say no to this ... instabought..
low rated
hard pass for me, I hate those games and I doubt the author is improved much. But as they say one's man trash and all. Is there a pause button during those long unstoppable cut scenes at least this time?
Hard pass.
If it's anything like To The Moon, it's a (minimally) interactive storybook. Especially after multiple games, their art assets still scream "RPGMAKER 2000 DEFAULT ASSET BUILDS."

Which confounds me in how they managed to win an award for innovation, but then again so did the Amico (from some no name reward mill; just like paying for a world record.)
Post edited October 18, 2021 by Darvond
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Darvond: Hard pass.
If it's anything like To The Moon, it's a (minimally) interactive storybook. Especially after multiple games, their art assets still scream "RPGMAKER 2000 DEFAULT ASSET BUILDS."

Which confounds me in how they managed to win an award for innovation, but then again so did the Amico (from some no name reward mill; just like paying for a world record.)
how? probably because of the awesome story :) it's like watching a movie filled with great characters, with stunning music and such a strong ending almost everyone wept

not for everybody I'm sure... but some can still have fun even with games that look like that ;) me for example
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Kunovski: how? probably because of the awesome story :) it's like watching a movie filled with great characters, with stunning music and such a strong ending almost everyone wept

not for everybody I'm sure... but some can still have fun even with games that look like that ;) me for example
You even said it yourself. It's like watching a movie. I prefer my stories a bit more Jeff Vogel shaped.

Intrigue, good worldbuilding across vast landscapes, a slow buildup, a few reveals, and this is the important bit, interactive.

If I wanted to watch something that looked like a dated flash cartoon from the 2000s, I'd go do that.

What Freebird Soap Operas Ltd. have made is a walking sim with extra steps. Or a dated flash game, from the 2000s.
Post edited October 18, 2021 by Darvond
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Kunovski: how? probably because of the awesome story :) it's like watching a movie filled with great characters, with stunning music and such a strong ending almost everyone wept

not for everybody I'm sure... but some can still have fun even with games that look like that ;) me for example
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Darvond: You even said it yourself. It's like watching a movie. I prefer my stories a bit more Jeff Vogel shaped.

Intrigue, good worldbuilding across vast landscapes, a slow buildup, a few reveals, and this is the important bit, interactive.

If I wanted to watch something that looked like a dated flash cartoon from the 2000s, I'd go do that.

What Freebird Soap Operas Ltd. have made is a walking sim with extra steps. Or a dated flash game, from the 2000s.
ok, I understand it's not your cup of coffee... but I like watching movies :) I also like playing games that come close to the feeling of being a movie... and I love me a great story, anywhere, be it a movie, a game or a book!

I'm pretty certain that the storybuilding was the reason for that award (I wouldn't dare to define what's "innovation" in games but I can tell you To the Moon is definitely among the most impactful short stories I've ever experienced in a game since 1988)

PS: I've checked the links you've provided (thanks!) - and I can see now these games are not just "not your cup of coffee", you genuinely hate these things :D too bad, there are really some awesome gems out there if you let them ;)
Post edited October 18, 2021 by Kunovski
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Darvond:
When I checked the Freebird website years ago they explicitly said that a movie in game form is what they are doing. I liked the To The Moon story overall but I didn't like A Bird Story so I'm going to wait until Finding Paradise is very inexpensive before giving them a try again. I'm not a big fan of Jeff Vogel's writing either, although I'd agree that by doing something a bit different he manages to have a better story than most games (at least English language games, it seems like Japanese games often have much more emphasis on story, although certainly there are still plenty of Japanese games with bad stories). I don't consider the story being interactive to be necessary, although it can be used to good effect (even though usually the choices make little difference).

To Vogel's list of video game story banes I would add having the world behave in an unpredictable way as needed to perform a plot twist (in good writing, the reader and characters in the story are almost always aware of how the world works before it matters to the plot). I can overlook some of that at times (Falcom does that all the time, for example, but I think their stories are generally decent in other ways) but it still makes the story much worse. This is what I didn't like about A Bird Story and the description of this one makes me think this one isn't likely to be any better (however, A Bird Story was very focused and also lacked distraction from the aspects I didn't like).

I look at stories as having three basic aspects, world building (what is the world like independent of the characters or this particular story), interpersonal interactions (how characters interact independent of the plot), and plot. Some interactive games add an additional layer of explicitly or implicitly asking the player to reflect on various topics or situations (that happens anyway but doing it in a scripted way feels different to me). I find that my favorite game stories tend to focus heavily on interpersonal interactions, I think partly because few put in enough effort to make the world interesting and the plot tends to be determined by gameplay rather than by writing. Of course, many games that I don't like also focus on interpersonal interactions :/.
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Kunovski: how? probably because of the awesome story
More like a forced tear-jerker (with little to no game) that left me cold. =P To The Moon was overpraised by a country mile, and that's why I never bothered with any of the other games.
I just love them calling the deluxe edition "The Screw-It-Just-Gimme-Everything Bundle". :-D
Eh, I could never get into To the Moon. I have no problem with narrative games, but I found the writing to be amateurish and a bit cringey. I can forgive questionable writing in favour of gameplay, but if there isn't really any gameplay...
I like that fun on the store page :)


> System requirements
Windows > Practically runs on a potato.
Mac > Extra shiny potato pro.
Linux > For those who like to bake their own potatoes just the way they like 'em.

Perfect description of my gaming rig ;-P