How many of you actually DISLIKED the game?

[Drakensson]

I see mostly praise about the game
especially because of Josh Sawyer's involvement.
But how many of you actually did NOT like the game, and why?
The game is certainly not for everyone. It's a very niche
and particular kind of special game.

Let's discuss why you didn't favor it

[Brian Sirith]

Do not dislike it but at 5 hours I'd say it is ok. Best I can explain is that to this point it does not make an emotional impact? It's not really pulling me in. Something like that. It ticks all the boxes of what I'd like in a game (medieval age, monastery, books, murder mystery, art style, all the things I like) but its missing something. Probably too early. Will see later on.

On a more practical note: it is missing certain QoL features I’d like to see and I would have liked music in the game. Neither of these though is the reason why I feel the game is missing something.

Edit: Finished the first part of the game. Leaning to dislike at this point. Its bland. No feels.

[Blackened Halo]

I love the game but I scored it a 7/10 .... because I do not like that the game does not allow me to affect the story or the story important characters ....... I really do not get all those 10/10s when Disco Elysium has much more depth hence Disco Elysium deservers a 10 (or a bit less)

[Perogi]

I pretty strongly dislike it because it's just a cumbersome choose-your-own-adventure. The fact that there isn't a correct answer to any of the murders makes the whole thing pretty arbitrary to me. Even choose-your-own-adventures have better endings than others, calling this a "game" at all is a stretch. It's like they got caught between making a visual novel and a classic adventure game and this is the abortive result.

I guess I just fail to see why I should waste my time wandering around making arbitrary decisions when I can just wait for a synopsis of the plot to come out or watch a let's play. Comparing this to another recent title, I find The Excavation of Hobb's Barrow better in every single way.

[molamola]

I loved the game but I'll bring up something I didn't like. One character makes a large choice and I think they didn't make the motivations for that choice super clear early on. The lack of motivation made it feel random (there were like 2 mentions early on but they didn't feel super strong--it could be because the backstory I picked was particularly weak--I'm not sure). Some of the stuff you learn later lessens the "WTF" aspect of the action but I thought that could have been improved with a few more lines. The random feel of the character's choice undercut the emotion of that scene a bit for me. I think that was the only thing I didn't like though.

Also regarding another commenter's Hob's Barrow, couldn't you argue the same of that title? It's essentially a linear story interspersed by linear puzzles. (I also liked Hob's Barrow btw--I'm so excited by all these indie games that are really strong tonally.)

[Retro]

its solid choose your own adventure visual novel type of game but nothing memorable or anything mind blowing like i was reading (played longer on xbox)

[!S.C.O.P.E.!]

My initial impressions of the game were good but I eventually started to find the gameplay incredibly tedious.
The writing is great, and so is the art style and the characters and the music. But the act of playing it, of constantly having to run around the abbey and town started to become boring pretty quickly. It's hard to feel really immersed in the game's story and world when there is next to no way to interact with it other than making the occasional choices in the dialogue.
I just prefer when adventure games have some kind of game systems, like an inventory, or a verb system, or a lot of puzzles, or just something more than just running around a town and clicking on people for 15 hours.

[LaarNL]

I really like it, but i can also see why people wouldnt like this at all.

I hope there will be more niche games by big studios in the future.

[Perogi]

Originally posted by IronCactus:

My initial impressions of the game were good but I eventually started to find the gameplay incredibly tedious.
The writing is great, and so is the art style and the characters and the music. But the act of playing it, of constantly having to run around the abbey and town started to become boring pretty quickly.

This is exactly my gripe. I like the story but not enough to sit through the tedium. This work would have been great if it was released as an irl illuminated fictional manuscript. As a game, it is not good.

[Drakensson]

I personally disliked the game. I am neurologically incapable of enjoying and immersing
into games that don't have voice acting. But you know, it's important to sometimes
push your comfort zone, so I tried this. Big mistake

But remember: we don't have to be enemies just because we have different opinions

[spadsta]

So isn't just me. Either give me story in a stream, like with a visual novel, or give me fun gameplay to get me from story point a to point b. Someone used the word "tedious" and absolutely nailed it. The story was interesting for a while, but the in between bits progressively made it less and less worth it. I might be done after just a few hours.

[Barranoid]

Well I actually liked it (played on Gamepass) but I get why people don't enjoy it. For me it's more or less like a good book and I guess I'm old enough to just enjoy some silent and more or less peacefull time off just reading a book without much noise and/or action. It's not really something I would call a game, but more or less a "choose your own adventure" style book and that's more than fine by me.

But I guess after this I will need some Doom Eternal, Hellsinger, Vermintide 2 or something really hectic just to...you know...feel I'm still here somehow.

[Winterson]

It´s interactive book - maybe this is why some people don´t like it. While I love reading and this is exactly game for me, I can imagine that some conversations are boring facts.

[lacrimosa1206]

It could've been better without the self-insert. The feminist narrative was a bit over the top, they could've done it in a subtler way.

[Winterson]

Originally posted by lacrimosa1206:

It could've been better without the self-insert. The feminist narrative was a bit over the top, they could've done it in a subtler way.

Huh, didn´t noticed that (no, I´m not arguing with you before you start shouting at me), but I noticed the females were pretty tomboy-ish ...uuuh, but this is maybe what you pointed out.

[Perogi]

Originally posted by Winterson:

Originally posted by lacrimosa1206:

It could've been better without the self-insert. The feminist narrative was a bit over the top, they could've done it in a subtler way.

Huh, didn´t noticed that (no, I´m not arguing with you before you start shouting at me), but I noticed the females were pretty tomboy-ish ...uuuh, but this is maybe what you pointed out.

There's historic literature of peasant women being depicted very differently than what we'd think of the noble, proper ladies. Don Quixote had an asexual-ish shepherdess and a burly village peasant woman who would drink and brawl with all the men. So I think it is somewhat accurate to have diverse female characters and for them to lament the status of women in feudal society, that said I do agree that it was done from a pretty obviously modern perspective.