Amazing writing?? *probably spoilers*

[Carlos Sexiviera]

This is a genuine question.
I keep seeing reviews praising the story and amazing writing... I played the game TWICE from the beginning till the end and I feel like I'm missing something?
Through out the whole story we get 0 info about what's happening, not even at the finale.
The whole plot moves on "oh the pipe is broken go to the other side of the ship and fix it" and then "oh now it's the generator, you gotta fix that too".
Besides these two thing, we get completely unrelated to the story flashbacks that add *again* 0 sense to what's happening on the platform.
More to say, I see stream titles such as "A grown man is about to cry".

I am legit confused. Where's the story and why people are crying? Please help me understand cause I really wanna see what did I miss.

p.s. as a reference to what *I* consider a great story: What Remains of Edith Finch, Gone Home, The Longest Journey, Before Your Eyes, DEAR ESTHER (same devs), Hellblade etc.

[Raven]

It's a character driven story more so then anything else, so your mileage is going to vary on how well you can connect to the characters going through the stuff they're going through. It's not setting out to explain what the heck is going on, it's telling a story about characters dealing with it. If that makes any sense to you.

[MaxMartian]

It's def on the character side of things which I really have my praises a lot on, it's not of a deeper narrative unfortunately (if it is, bit more simpler really)

[Carlos Sexiviera]

Originally posted by Raven:

It's a character driven story more so then anything else, so your mileage is going to vary on how well you can connect to the characters going through the stuff they're going through. It's not setting out to explain what the heck is going on, it's telling a story about characters dealing with it. If that makes any sense to you.

Oh I see what you mean.
Yes, that flashblack stuff was completely unrelatable to me, I kept waiting when it's gonna connect to the actual story... while apparently his family drama is the main topic.
I'd rather play a game about his drama then, instead of this alien stuff. The "horror" thing really distracts from the drama and I was interested in knowing more about the alien then about his family lol Weird mix of genres to my taste.
Makes sense and clarifies why it didn't click for me.
Thanks!

[Caperook]

I'd have to agree with OP in this one.

You can see how the story ends by the second hour. I know I did, and that broke my attachment to the protagonist - after which any emotional weight just evaporated. It is sad, but it is 'wathcing a news broadcast abut a disaster' sad - the catastrophe already happened, and the gameplay is essentialy the death throes of a doomed man. Awful to watch but inconsequential in the end.

The sad reality is that one can summarize the story in three sentences: oil rig crew digs up an eldritch monstosity, hero tries to escape, realises the danger said monstrosity poses for his loved ones, and sacrifices himself. Everyone dies, the end.

And everyhting in between is mind-numbingly boring 'fix this thing, now fix that thing' tasks and QTEs.

[RodroG]

Originally posted by Caperook:

The sad reality is that one can summarize the story in three sentences: oil rig crew digs up an eldritch monstosity, hero tries to escape, realises the danger said monstrosity poses for his loved ones, and sacrifices himself. Everyone dies, the end.

And everyhting in between is mind-numbingly boring 'fix this thing, now fix that thing' tasks and QTEs.

Good summary and review. It has disappointed me quite a bit. It's not a bad game, but it doesn't stand out at anything. When I finished it, it left me quite cold. It was just an average game for me.

[CiccioCc]

Originally posted by Datura Plays:

and I feel like I'm missing something

You are right. There is something behind this story tale that does not wed well between the main parts.

Emotions driven by the tragic happenings to these people, their friendship and families relationships and their struggles, are ridicolously triggered by just a nonsensical paranormal biblical phenomena.

If some realistic and explained disaster had happened, it could have been a more involving tale, considered writers focused also on father->wife+daughters separation. Few can empathize with the personal sadness when random, uncontrollable devilish events such those x-files possibilities happen to the characters, as their relatives will remain in the mistery of their disappearance. Protagonists are people already in a social-economic-(and ecologic) crisis, too unluck to end up with a more unexplained infernal entangling than their starting situation.

Writers should have decided between fantasy-horror OR tragedy-horror. They put too much and turned out a joke. It's just a fantasy tale, and for this it's difficult to connect those struggles with real world social relationships topics depicted.

[Mr. Du Bois]

Originally posted by Caperook:

The sad reality is that one can summarize the story in three sentences: oil rig crew digs up an eldritch monstosity, hero tries to escape, realises the danger said monstrosity poses for his loved ones, and sacrifices himself. Everyone dies, the end.

And everyhting in between is mind-numbingly boring 'fix this thing, now fix that thing' tasks and QTEs.

Hit the nail. First 2 chapters, they got that atmosphere right, the rig and the scots, it just worked. Figured it would be some nice, deep enough story about humans, with a sprinkle of horror. Then it turns into contrived "do this, do that" to live. Maybe I've seen too much already, but it feels like they wanted to hit every horror cliche one after another.

And "gameplay". Ignoring tiresome QTE's, it's a paradox with horror games like these. The moments it makes you defenseless, stakes feel very low. It's always only run or hide with these, it feels like there is no consequence compared to survival horror games, where managing your resources on enemies is what creates the tension.

Feel like it would be much better if it didn't go "everything's ♥♥♥♥♥♥, need to survive", and focused much more on actual characters and their potential stories.