Ord Salamon a cryptologist who struggled to finish his Ph.D. thesis. His friend gifted him a novel of his favorite author who died recently and with that, his adventure started after he found a hidden code. The story follows by him helping the author's daughter Sera to find the hidden will her father left her, but the story not as simple as that as it becomes darker.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1459324213

I loved the voice overs, the conversations felt realistic, music was good too and the visual is just a classic point and click game style. I've encountered some issues such as unable to click on items due to the small clicking areas and pixel hunting. At the beginning of the game, I couldn't locate the phone in his room!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1459380623

Some of the puzzles are hard to solve and they are unskippable, I had to use a guide for help, I even used the guide to know where should I go next, it was quite confusing in some of the areas.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1459402953

Pros:
+Nice retro graphics.
+Good soundtracks.
+Detective style.
+Likable characters.
+Fast travel map.
+Interesting dark story. (Not for everyone)
+Good voice acting.
+Steam achievements.

Cons:
-Sometimes the objectives are not clear even if you read the journal. You'll wander around to find what to do next.


I didn't expect this ending at all, the game has many twists but that adds to its charm. The length of the game is good, around seven hours of the adventure. I recommend it for Point & Click lovers who don't mind dark themes.

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑎'𝑠 𝐶𝘩𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒

Minimalist pixel hunt with adult themes

The Good:
* Charming retro graphics and Point n Click gameplay
* Interesting plot that improves hugely as it progresses
* Decent if amateurish voice acting
* Sound in general is adequate for the game
* Never managed to break the logic or get nonsensical dialogue.

The Bad:
* Very low resolution and only windowed mode (edit, controlled via external setup program)
* Very small clickable areas for some items
* Early on working out actions to perform is frustrating
* Some puzzles simple while others really obtuse
* Couple of bottle neck points where one clue is needed to progress
* Interface (esp. Save/Load) is minimal and lacks feedback
* The notebook would have been useful for the fantasy quests
* The oddly dark overtones of the conclusion

Background: Love Point n Clicks. Never heard of the game before but was recommended as I'd just completed the Blackwell series. Picked up for pennies in a bundle.

Impressions: Charming visuals mixed with a somewhat generic starting plot actually build into something far more interesting. The fantasy element is nicely woven in a adds much welcomed lightness into an oppressive main story which turns oddly darker at the end.. which I dint feel was wholly necessary. About 3 hours of play and plenty of places and items to explore.

Recommended for: Old school PnC fans. More for mature teens and adults (adult themes, language and puzzles).

Conclusion: 7/10. Well worth a couple of quid.

The Samritan Paradox has many good points, but has quite a few negative ones too. I actually considered using a "pros and cons" list for this review simply because it has many points on each side. I can't bring myself to do so, however. So...I guess I will try to keep it short (I won't. I don't think I have the ability to do so. TL;DR at the bottom.), but give you both sides.

Overall, I do consider this a solid entry into the point and click adventure genre. It has its flaws, but I enjoyed the game none the less. The story is OK, and has an interesting split to it where you are in the real world and you have this book that you are searching for in which you (the player, not the actual person in game reading it. That would just be silly :P) warp into it and play the character of the fairy tale when you read it. This sounds way cooler than it is, but it does offer you a different setting, and ultimately is the place you find the twist of an ending. You solve clues throughout and are on a search for more chapters of this book as well as dealing with the mystery of a dead author.

It has what I would call a bit of a "schocking" and almost asinine ending to it that I think most will consider worthwhile anyways. It definitely will make you say "WTF" when you get to it. You might be able to see it coming, but I think they tend to hide it fairly well so it should be quite unexpected to most. Whether you like it, or not is another matter. I'm not sure I liked the way it was handled for the subject matter, and the reveal is something that I think you can call "shock value". Probalby won't make you think much as the depth isn't there. Subject matter is worthy of discussion, however.

Sadly, the dialogue and the voice acting in the game throughout are fairly weak. Voice acting is very monotone, and the dialogue is passable, but feels more appropriate in a cheesy detective story most of the time (not in a noir way, or clever way, but cheesy like I said). Of course this game is pretty much a mystery/detective story most of the time, but I'm not giving it a free pass for that because the dialogue is quite weak otherwise even if you consider it being a mystery. It's not a smart dialogue either way.

The puzzles can be quite difficult and offer a nice bit of variety ranging from riddles, cross-referencing game materials and items in smart ways, poetry, and some extra thinking about just what some of these puzzles mean that are sometimes a bit difficult to pinpoint. It has a few puzzles that use symbols and the riddles probably require you to write them down to remember them well enough to figure out the codes they represent. The Samaritan Paradox definitely deserves praise for having solid puzzles that aren't way too easy like most adventure games these days. They are more on the level of a game such as Syberia (difficulty and depth, but not necessarily as intuituve), so fans of the genre I think will be quite satisfied with the effort here.

The technical side of the game has one very major annoyance to it that I can't leave out. If you have played games like The Cat Lady where it has the item bar at the bottom of the screen you will be familiar with it when you see it here. Unfortunately, The Samaritan Paradox has a sort of "floating" item bar that simply gets in the way far too often. With many interactive locations and objects being near this bar you will see the item bar jump up a bit for some reason so that it gets in the way. It does this because SOME exits and other objects are actually under the bar as it sits in the active video screen. You can deal with it, but the game would have been far less annoying if it had a fixed bar and the active screen was just fixed above it with no interaction between the two.

The item bar is by far the most annoying thing in the game and nothing else is even bad by comparison. The graphics are acceptable, but nothing special. Settings were average with a spatering few scenes that looked inspired to any degree. Definitely not a game that will make you oooh and ahhh over the animations. Character models are generic in game, but the dialogue models are decent.

I got this game in a bundle for very cheap so I was quite happy with it at that cost. I don't feel the price for the game is unreasonable if it were maybe on a 50% off sale at $4.99. I don't think I would pay $9.99 for it. The game offers a decent playtime for an adventure. I'm not sure how long I played as I left it running for a while one time, but I would say it definitely should give you 5 or more hours. Considering some of the puzzles you may need to look for help on, and some walkign back and forth to figure things out you could easily put in 5 hours or more. Replayability I would say is very limited as the main part of the ending is the same every time, but there is one other small thing that can be changed in the ending to give you a slightly different one. This only requires about a 20 minute step back to achieve (I beleive it has an achievement for both sides) so it isn't something that changes the game much at all.

TL;DR: Above average adventure game, very good puzzles, shock ending, and mediocre dialogue and story overall. Still a solid adventure game that is worth playing for fans of the genre. 7/10

Fantastic detective story, with lacking gameplay, set in Sweden. The strong points outweigh the weaker ones!

+ fantastic story
+ fantastic plot development
+ fantastic music
+ good voice acting
+ interesting cast and locations
+ the puzzles are clever, but hindered by the downpoints;
- bad gameplay
- some hitboxes are a single pixel wide
- not the best animations

We play as Ord, a cryptology student (puzzles, not crypto currency). When he discovers a code in the final book of the recently deceased journalist Jonatan Bergwall, his daughter who doesn't want to pursue herself asks him to investigate this in return for half of the possible spoils.
The story can be interchanged with a story that Ord reads. The main story takes place in Göteborg, Sweden. The characters are all interesting and have been worked out in detail.

The game is made in 320x240 resolution, which can be scaled up. Most hitboxes are too tiny, and I don't see a clear reason for that. For instance the plant in the first room can be targeted only when you target the plant exactly. Someone took the time to make a hitbox for all the branches, while a rough area would be easier and more player friendly.
It can be a real pixelhunt, sometimes you can't see what objects supposed to be, although the latter I don't have a problem with, as long as everything around it is well in order. Knowing that the hitboxes are bad, it's just a bad combination.
The moving animations are very poor. The walking animation is very choppy. The still animations differ from frame to frame. Some are good, some are bad. But: the game has many frames, and I don't mind a frame to be of lower quality when you don't spend a lot of time there.

All conversations are voiced, with good quality for the main characters.
I am really impressed with the music! It's all keyboard music, but for me of an exceptional quality! There are different tunes for different scenes, and they compliment each other well. It adds greatly to the atmosphere! The album can be found on all music sites.
In the game you encounter a jukebox at some point, which contains a number of songs. These aren't part of the soundtrack, and are not available widely. But the song that I picked, it struck a nerve with me. It's the song 'Feeding on your love'. Not every note is sung pure, but it's still a gem of a song!

Ord does investigative work, so difficult puzzles are to be expected. The visuals already work against the gameplay, but this doesn't have to be a problem per se. However... On top of that the game has multiple sequences where you have to click so quickly on the targets, that the game alienates everyone who isn't able to do so. Now I'm handicapped myself, and I try to never ask for special treatment, but this game demands such dexterity, many 'normal people' will have difficulty. Totally out of place for a point and click!

I was really delighted by the story! And everything around the story, like the beginning, development, ending, alternating with the second story... Really really good!
About the gameplay, I would straightout recommend a guide, which I also used. There are fulfilling puzzles present, some are clearly separated from the story, and are /spoilered in the guide, so those can itch a puzzle crave.
What I also liked were the characters. They felt real, interesting and relatable. Also the location of Gothenburg has a personal touch with me, I like that city.
The music strikes a personal liking with me as well. So the game hits some personal notes with me, that might not be the case with you. Your experience might differ greatly for that reason.

I am very eager to play the newer game of this developer, Whispers of a Machine. Very curious to see if they improved the weak sides of this game! The score is from the same composer, yay!

78/100

Good old fashioned pixel hunting game with some fiendishly difficult puzzles.

Story: The storyline is divided into two: you play as Ord, and as the heroine of the last book written by the writer. The first gets more and more complicated as you search for more book chapters and delve deeper into the writer's life. The part you play in the book has a fairy tale feel to it which offers a nice contrast. There were some surprising twists towards the end but I thought the game concluded with the loose ends tied up neatly.

Graphics: reminiscent of earlier LucasArts' titles.

Music: subtle and well-matched for the different sections of the game.

Voice acting: I thought this was very well done, as all the voices were convincing and no overacting. Ord Salamon sounds just like a mild-mannered cryptologist/PhD student who is described by his friend as "the police use the photo of your face to calm rioters".

Gameplay: I spent around 5 or 6 hours so far on this game and only just got to Day 3. But I am getting on in years so perhaps the whippersnappers will get through faster.

Overall: highly recommended if you like a good detective thriller with challenging puzzles.

the samaritan paradox is an ambitious pnc adventure game that tries its best at political intrigue and some more personal character issues but ultimately fails because of very poor puzzle design (pixel hunting, arbitrary gating, and its basic use/examine mechanics being very inconsistent and just plain unfriendly) and a generally underdeveloped story

it has good elements but they never really pan out and the answers to the game's questions are ultimately plot and not much else. it never really bothers to examine what these themes mean and so it ends up being quite shallow

Mixed. An average point-and-click with a decent but forgettable story.

About me: I love adventures, especially the old Lucas Arts games.

I liked it. Good, difficult puzzles, some frustratingly so, but ultimately all with very sound, everyday logic. Exception are a very few time sensitive puzzles. The story and characters are for the most part very well written. I particularily liked the "two worlds" gameplay, which offsets the rather serious and sombre tone of the main story. Do not expect a lighthearted experience. The retro pixelated look is okay, backgrounds are nicely painted and animations well done.
Minor annoyances are the idiosyncracies of the dialogue system, where sometimes you just have to click through all the possible topics until you find the one that actually does advance the story. Also some inconsistencies in characters statements when old topics don't get updated responses after major plot developments.
I do however, have two major issues with the writing: For one, the developing friendship between the two main characters felt rather forced to me. The other is that the surprising last minute story twist wasn't surprising for me. It also feels like it has only been put in for the emotional impact. The result is that it is rather jarring, but not because you are shocked by what has happend, but because it feels completely disconnected from the rest of the main plot.

Conclusion: Do play it, and resist the lure of the walkthrough.

worst adventure game I've played in a long time, really bad, technically the worst one I've ever played (music stops as soon as voice acting starts, controls suck, horrible scrolling, washed out graphics, horrible font, locks up when you alt tab out of the game to read a walkthrough, almost no sound effects), puzzles are just weird, not smart, not crazy, just weird, I dont understand what I'm doing most of the time.

The mood of the game is a mix of boredom and depression, I hate it with all my guts.

The structure sucks too, for instance you get a new location on your map, want to go there and the game wont allow it because you can still do something in your current location, I could go on and on, I really dislike this game and stopped playing it and I never do this when I've started an adventure game. I really love pnc adventures, but this one I simply cant play and I enjoy the worst ones just because I love the genre.

Ok, I have to be honest about this: I've only played The Samaritan Paradox for maybe four hours, having bought it as part of an indie-bundle. So I didn't make it even halfway into the story, but the fact that I couldn't get myself to play it any further, speaks for itself of course. I also have to say that it has been quite some time since I last played a real point-click-adventure before this one, but I did play quite some of them in the highdays of the genre so I know what it's all about.

When I first started The Samaritan Paradox, I was surprised to see a heavily pixelated graphical sryle that reminded me instantly of the Commodore 64-days. This is not a bad thing per se, but the way the graphics are implemented in this case, did prove to have its share of problems. There are almost no settings or options to change the graphical quality, so whatever I tried to do, I got stuck with a game where I often needed to find the EXACT pixel to click in order to get interaction with a smaller sized object. That felt pretty ok for me in the 1980's, but knowing it can be a lot better done, I felt baffled to have to do this all over again in the 2010's. Apart from this gameplay-related problem, the graphics do quite a decent job to get across some mood or general idea of a place or person, given all the limitations. However, to continue along the technical part, the entire inventory-system (crucial in any point&click-adventure) worked out rather awkward for me. The inventory-bar at the bottom of my screen kept popping in and out of view, more often than not interfering in the wrong way with the gameplay. Surely a lock-on or -off option is necessary here.

As far as the core of the game goes: the story starts off interesting enough, but didn't keep my attention well enough to make me keep playing despite the graphical and inventory-related problems. Dialogues and characterization are below average, and the music was so tedious that I turned it off almost immediately. Even then, I guess I would have continued longer than I actually did were it not for the unforgiving way the game handles puzzles, both great and small. I am totally fine with an adventure-game being challenging or even tough (hardcore would be the term I think of for this game), but there should be some kind of hints-system when one is searching for the right pixel clicking over and over again, and even more so when some of the actions asked for are not logical in any way. All too often the game would only give the opportunity to continue when I'd done a very specific action, such as reading the backside of a book in detail or finding an obscure note, which did not prove any fun for me. Maybe, even probably, I more like casual adventure-games, and this game is definitely not casual in any way, despite its low-budget appearance.

But the one thing that finally made me put the game away prematurely, was the fact that after using the Steam overlay-function (as to check for the needed achievements, or just for chatting), the text-boxes in the game - pretty important in this kind of game - started flickering and became unreadable, which was a true game-breaker for me. So in the end, despite the interesting story and the original but highly quirqy graphical style, I'd give this a negative recommendation, except probably for hardcore adventure-gamers who are willing to put lots of time and effort into this despite its shortcomings. It's not my cup of tea, that's for sure.

Gameplay: 18/30
Graphics: 10/20
Sound: 3/10
Technical (stability etc): 3/10 (the text-box flickering after using the Steam-overlay is too ba)
Logelivety: 5/10 (if played to the end, there is quite some gameplay here)
Steam integration: 7/10 (for the achievements and trading cards, but they are not particular nice)
Personal appreciation: 5/10

Overall: 51/100