Love this game

[Blaedmon]

...although one gripe is that theres an aweful lot of talking. Anyone remember Runaway 2? YAPYAPYAP talk talk my god! Gimme a puzzle to solve! Thankfully Primordia's voice work is funny/sarcastic and tonal for the environment you find yourself in.
I see games like this and think 'old time adventure game! Kickass! Back in the 80's when they were worth playing!' and Primordia delivers that nostalgia well, albeit a lot more savvy then back then technically.
Great job, guys, if you're watching the posts.

[Mark Y.]

Glad you liked it! Some people say that there's too much talking and not enough puzzling, and then some reviewers say that there's too much puzzling and not enough talking. There's no pleasing everyone! But I'm very happy you liked the game!

[R1B$]

I bought this game just because I was so mesmerized with the setting. (Saw a quicklook on giantbomb.com)

I love robots living independently and the game definitely delivered on that front, especially with the darker, post-apocalyptic tone.

Interacting with all the robots and seeing the story move forward was easily my most favorite part of the game, notably Primer, Ever-Faithful and Scraper. I think I also clicked that sweeper bot that says "Strange robot, go away!" more times than anyone normally would have.

My only bummer is that I feel like despite playing the game for 9 hours (according to steam?) I felt a huge chunk of that was being stuck on puzzles instead of unfolding the story. I would have loved to explore the world a little more over messing around trying to figure out the puzzles.

With that said, thanks for the fun game!

(PS: I would have never guessed what the game was looking at the title and font, and probably would have never even looked at it if it wasn't for that preview I saw on the internet, maybe call your next game ROBOCALYPSE!)

[toaster_pimp]

meh - it's a point and click adventure game yo - compared to like...most of the other ones, the dialogue in this one is quite suscinct - and uncommonly well written.

[Mark Y.]

It's funny -- I felt like I was putting way too *much* dialogue in, relative to the amount of gameplay. My experience is that adventure games are often too much talking, and not enough playing, and I was trying to avoid it. Glad that you enjoyed it (and that you found it succinct, Toaster, which is what I was shooting for)! Perhaps there should have been more -- many people agree with you, and the majority of the reviews say the ending felt rushed. We were shooting for two kinds of openness -- in the sense that the world was vast and open and free for your imagination to fill in the map, and the sense that the ending should leave enough unelaborated that it was open for intrepretation. Perhaps we erred too far in that direction. Still, it's great to hear that you guys enjoyed it. Like I said, that's really why we made the game, so it's very rewarding to hear things like that.

Out of curiosity, were you the same Metacritic reviewer who commented on that line? Not sure if you listened to the commentary there, but the line is actually my very young daughter who grew up in tandem with Primordia and always called Horatio "strange robot" and the UNNIIC "spooky place."

[Bananenkern]

I really really love it, the story is fascinating, the art is just beautiful and the voiceacting is THE BOMB, each robot has a unique perfectly fitting voice, so the dialogues are not boring but amazing. Please keep creating wonderful worlds!
Btw: will there be a boxed version in stores? I would buy it again just to have some artwork in of Primordia in my home :)

[garandou]

@Mark: That was me. I haven't listened to the commentary yet, but now I'll definitely need to! Something about having her voice for that robot fits. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the contrast it has with the world around it.

As for the end of the game, I think it's good so far as openness is concerned—it leaves plenty of room to inject your own imaginings, and I love that. Like I said in that review, I wanted to spend more time without knowing the conclusion. For me, the height of the game is the section where you're finding the pieces of the council code because you slowly unearth bits of the past that have been deliberately held from view. Those discoveries seemed to be building to something grander, as if the demise of your enemy (should you choose to see them that way) marked the beginning of another chapter in the game. I keep going back to the idea that MetroMind needed to be more developed so that meeting her would better confer the sense that the end is nigh, but I realize that this might be in part a consequence of its length. The section just before the end is fantastic because it rewards you for your work so far: you begin to understand how the world came to its present state. Don't get me wrong, though, I enjoyed the ending! If nothing else I got rid of Scraper once and for all. The scenes with scraper in the courthouse are great—I even have two save files named "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD" to prove it!

I think the ending scenes themselves are great. Watching Horatio walk through the desert back to his ship seemed appropriate, especially finding out that he's borne from some sort of super weapon. One of the best parts of Horatio's character is that so many of his lines seem to have a subtle power to them. Logan Cunningham's performance plays a part for sure, but there always feels like there's a lot more to him than we can know, which hit me particularly hard when he calls Crispin his "best and only friend." And poor Crispin! Though, for me, he was reborn with the arms he wanted, the moment where he collided with MetroMind's primary CPU was heavy. I had a hard time thinking that I would need to play the rest of the game without him!

Anyway, I don't want to ramble on too much more, but I really did enjoy Primordia quite a bit. I could continue describing what I enjoyed, like how much I enjoyed the idea of robots worshipping humans, like how much I enjoyed Factor as a character, or like how well-written the broken CPUs of the Goliath are. That brief section is fantastic! It's interesting to hear that you like worldbuilding, because I think Primordia demonstrates that extremely well, and you should be commended for that.

I *might* be a little biased because I may or may have not accidentally purchased the game twice. At least I have a second copy to give to a friend, which I will make sure to do. I just wanted to make sure I could get my hands on the soundtrack!

[Mark Y.]

Originally posted by Bananenkern <Mentlegen>:

Btw: will there be a boxed version in stores? I would buy it again just to have some artwork in of Primordia in my home :)

Available on www.PrimordiaGame.com only, and it's about to be discontinued. I hope you make it in under the wire!

Thank you all for saying how much you liked it! Like I've said before, it's a deep pleasure to think your work is connecting with people.

[Bananenkern]

Alright, i just ordered one, thank you for the information :)

[Kris]

I must say that I really loved the game too, I think my only problem would be that I wanted more of the world. To know more stories about robots, like what's up with the sad robot in the bus stop, to discover more secrets and so on.

I really did like the world and I think I might have squealed every time I saw references to code and computers on so on. Seriously b'sod? Hee hee. Hope there will be more from that world in the future!

[R1B$]

Also, don't get me wrong on the puzzles; I love puzzles! Some of them were really fun and were an important break from the massive amounts of dialogue.

The problem stems more from adventure games than this title in general, puzzles always have a high chance of becoming a pixel hunt/trial and error/can't find the solution problem. It's even not the dev's fault in many cases, it's just a severe case of "Not seeing the salt shaker right infront of you".

It's so easy to pass over something if you aren't paying perfect attention, and that is costly enough for you to explore every single map and location for the answer when you were right infront of it a minute ago, confident that the answer wasn't actually there.

I got stuck in this game many times, and didn't check for a FAQ because it's pretty much the equivalent in cheating, that was really the most jarring moments of the game where I desperately wanted to explore the world more but couldn't.

[Tessier]

Amazing game. Took me 8h to beat and it was great.
I love the fact that you could progress without actually solving all the problems.
I did enter into the tower without getting Memorius code or getting copper wire
And I did use pen and paper :P

Great story, great voice acting and logical puzzles.

Only negative is that the game is 4:3 aspect ratio. Low resolution looks really great and adds to atmosphere but why not wide screen format?

Now time for Resonance. I hope its as good as this and Gemini Rue.

[Nefylym]

love love LOVE this game and its world guys!
i am playing through a second time to get the better endings and plan to go it a third time to listen to the commentary, the guy doing Horatio's voice sounds like Batman! I love Ever-Faithful the most, his language and dedication to his faith are so compelling. Please let us explore Civitas, Municipa, Urbani and Lunar Station next!!!!

I kept waiting for Horus to lift his mask and show us his human face .... :P

[Mark Y.]

Glad you guys liked it! I hope Wormwood can keep entertaining you in the future, whether in Primordia's world or others!

[Nefylym]

Factor could wake with his legions. Then Lunar Station could descend with its forces, who turn out to be the shells of humans taken over by cybernetics. Horus could be version 100 by then. We never did meet Steeple ... unless Leo was more once than he appears to be now...
Hmmm ... think I might write some fan fiction. :)

[Mark Y.]

You're more than welcome to take things and run with them. The thing I ever wrote that got any notice whatsoever was a piece of fan fiction for Final Fantasy III -- must've been almost 20 years ago (good God!). What's in game is what it is, but beyond that, where your imagination takes you is no less legitimate than where mine takes me!