The Painscreek Killings

This game had an interesting story. Discovering it and seeing it through was the sole thing that kept me going by the end. That and the need to get the trophies. It boasted the idea of not holding your hand, so I had my notebook ready and wrote pages upon pages on everything I found. But then it started losing it's shine. The characters were a little flat, I could never emotionally connect to anyone. The music was the same couple of tracks, looped again and again until it drove me crazy. But it was fine. Because I was solving the mystery right? By the halfway point, I knew who the killer was and wanted to get into my car, input the answers which I knew were correct. But apparently, I couldn't do this and also achieve a satisfying ending, despite having the correct answers. I had to reach a ridiculous end sequence. Let me tell you a little how to get there: In order to reach the sequence, I needed a key. This key is hidden inside a grate which I only know because of a hidden note, which I find thanks to a key that was inside a box, for which I needed a key inside a cabinet, which is locked with an access code given in another note inside a briefcase. The key to the briefcase is in a basement, which I can only access from a sewer, for which the key is in a hidden room, which I can only access with a key that's inside a drawer inside a locked room but the key for it is in a locked office which has a key card lying around here somewhere. And hey! That's just how to locate the key! There's also how to access the grate, for which I need a tool, for which I need a key... Yeah I think you get the idea. That's really the loop of the entire game. Find this thing to find that thing to find this thing. No deduction and no sense of unique player experience. Everything is written out clearly for you in diaries and letters. And reiterated again in case you missed it the first time. Why did people even leave their diaries and letters behind? No idea. It gets worse. The devs cant handle the idea of you possibly getting the wrong answer or conclusion, so in the last few hours of the game especially, they clobber you round the head with the answer in case you may have missed it. And if finding the note saying 'hmm.. this person's lying. Wonder why? Oh well...' isn't enough, you come across the literal bloody weapon, which they kept for years for some reason along with a confession tape clearly admitting they did it. And hey, if that isn't enough, [spoiler] the killer then chases you around [/spoiler]... for some reason. Just to be certain you know who they are. But remember, they don't want to hold your hand. Compare this to games like the Return of the Obra Din, which wants you to make deductions using a mixture of clever visuals, audio cues and comparing notes, scenes, and understanding relationships. Or Outer Wilds which doesn't lock anything away from the player with frivolous keys but only with lack of knowledge. Or Edith Finch, which has great visual storytelling and some interesting gameplay mechanics. The Painscreek Killings comparatively fell short in almost everyway. The mystery was laid out too obviously by the end. Every important note or letter was gated off by needing a key or code. The randomly implemented [spoiler] chase [/spoiler] sequence at the end which came out of nowhere. Surely, being a journalist, as soon as I figure out the answer, I can leave with full marks? [Spoiler] I'm not playing a police officer, I don't need to apprehend, confront or come face to face with the killer myself? [/spoiler] It feels very much like they had an interesting mystery to share and then realised suddenly that they ought to implement game mechanics to prolong your experience. A painful prolonging. I felt as if I wasted hours of my life playing this game when there's much better out there. Please don't waste your time.