Viewfinder

Wow didn’t expect to get all emotional playing this, the ending really got me. It’s a very fun chill game with a deep plot. The game mechanics are so unique. Plus you can pet a cat what more could you ask for!?

So..... consider this a lukewarm recommendation, worth a look only at a 70% discount or higher. Viewfinder is the epitome of marketability. Anyone can watch a few seconds of a trailer and be impressed and intrigued. Beyond that "whooa!" first impression, the game is all sizzle and no steak. It's short. The worldbuilding is dead on arrival. As a silent protagonist, you quickly realize that you're in a simulated world and that the people who created it were working on some kind of problem. You seem to be here to try to piece together what they were doing. There's one 'voice' who talks to you from outside the simulation, and then notes and recordings of three people who used to spend time within the simulation and who built it, and then some sort of AI that lives in the simulation. All of this falls flat on its face. It's dull & uninspired & zombies along following well-worn videogame conventions. I began feeling sorry for the voiceactors who worked on this, which tells you a lot. Some OK puzzles, some cool tech. Over-delivers on possibility and under-delivers on cleveness and fun. In a way, you are buying the pitch for a game they didn't make.

Playing this while it's 40°C definitely makes the whole "the real world is too hot to live in" aspect of the game real RELATABLE.