Were your expectations met or am I being too picky?

[⭕⃤ M×cFr∑nzϒ]

This WILL contain spoilers for the game and I will blank them so it won't ruin your play-through

Although this game had a massive improvement for the graphics, I have to say, I was quite disappointing with the story...

The game felt quite tedious constantly eating the stew to revive yourself. The character Lorelai and her goals at the start of the game felt very important, but all characters died off so quickly and without much explanation that I didn't grow much of a attachment to them, if not at all. This game felt like it was constantly building up to something more but as I continued to play, previous scenes soon became quite forgetful. We got to know characters that I thought would play a bigger role later in the story, like the caretaker and Bethany. However, the game just lead to a very simple and dumbed down "point A to point B" playstyle, IMO. the options felt like they didn't have a big impact at all, because they lead to the same plotpoint each time

Another aspect that annoyed me about Lorelai's character is that she never questioned much or used any emotion about the situations she's in and reacting to deaths, gore and horror sure you had options too (sometimes) but she seems like a character that will just follow commands and take life how it goes, no matter how obscure and obscene the rooms and situations she's placed in

The tasks given were very straight forward and before even knowing the new area I was introduced to, I had already gained the items and combined them before triggering a scene for that moment. It was the easiest game out of them all for puzzles and it didn't feel like a challenge because of that.
The UI was numbed down to any lack of style and the continuity of the horror felt like it just forgot about itself. The pigs mask, representing John later became irrelevant to the story, never seeing it again and not gaining any knowledge about the chains and random red rooms Lorelai's placed in, The Queen Of Maggots has became less scary and more sounding like a dog with all bark and no bite to her

I am a massive fan of The Devil Came Through here series and would be one to argue that Downfall Redux is better than the Cat Lady (controversial I know). I guess I feel like the developer spent more time on animations, graphics and sound that the story lacked any real emotion towards me as a player.

I'd still recommend the game because in my experience, it was short-ish and it's always nice to see an improvement in graphics and in general, a new game from Harvester Games. If you've played The Cat Lady or Downfall Redux then you're expectations might not be met as well as the other games.

I did enjoy the voice acting for the most part, small parts like the care home were a bit "distracting" from how obvious it wasn't an old persons voice but rather an edited forced croaky sound. However Lorelai's voice acting and use of effects were very immersive and sounded genuine, despite most of it sounding like small talk.

I think the main problem with this game is that each decision that was made, felt like it had no impact on the story. Bethany, we learn soon she dies anyway, taking the whole motive away from the game. We save her, we had lots of chances to save her, but we die without any control, then we come back, and she's already dead. The story feels like it's just supposed to make you mad at John all the time when we're given Al's story that can give us a mixed signal about John and his alcohol addiction but are still made to kill him anyway, despite not knowing Johns backstory but we soon learn about the Chef, Al, who we never had the chance to interact with at all

The ending for the good ending felt very mondane, it's message is quite mediocre, life goes on, you struggle and so do other people. It just seems like a rush project for a deep meaning that everyone knows and deals with Sorry to ramble on but this is my opinion on it and would like to hear yours too.

[Stigma]

Originally posted by Erebus:

I liked it... but I think losing the clunkiness the prior titles had got rid of a bit of the charm. Other issue I think is it kind of rushed headfirst into "explanations"-ish. Once you met QoM and Jimmy there's no suspense left, you're just going through the motions to get the ending you want.

In TCL and Downfall Redux you were left in the dark for a lot of the games about a number of elements that "mystery" isn't here. Hell in both of those for the first play through the player has basically no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ clue what will happen next. The lack of suspense/tension lessens the impact of the horror. Well that and to be honest it felt like sometimes it was more experimenting with effects, filters, and animations rather than adding to the narrative. TCL and Downfall Redux are clunky enough they couldn't fall back on "pretty effects" they had to get the job done with storytelling.

I still liked it, but I think the other titles were stronger.

Pretty much spot on. Regarding the mystery aspect, I'd like to quote something that was said on a Silent Hill forum some years ago: "The best thing is to keep the protagonist and by extention, the player, in the dark regarding the going ons until the end where you're forced to make a (devastating) choice".. I think the same train of logic applies pretty much to this series as well

[MaryArts]

I think it was less metaphorical than Downfall. In Downfall you meet interesting characters and just towards the end you truly get a grasp of the relationship and what needs to be done. The Cat Lady was somewhat different because it played in the present real world but somehow merely the character of Susan made it fantasticly.
Lorelai lacks all of this. It is straight forward, barely meaningful metaphors, characters are fine though, but the puzzles are not as abstract and clever as always.

[Reconder]

Me expectations weren't met. When I found out that new game is called "Lorelai", I was 100% sure that it's going to be about QoM, based on the fact that she used that name.

In truth, the first few chapters of the game were good, but then it flops. it starts with Al. QoM told us that we either destroy his life, or we will have to kill the baby or Zack. But after NOT destroying Al's life QoM is angry, she jumps on us... and nothing significant happens.

Killing QoM is wierd as hell. You kill her, she takes form of Lorelai, which was expected because of the whole Lorelai=QoM thing. But there are no clear connection between them. Was that just the whole devil thing? Like devil in yourself and stuff? Then why did QoM use Lorelai as her name? That doesn't make any sense and that's disappointing.

QoM is disappointing overall, because, unlike in TCL, she's not scary and mysterious at all. I think the reason for that is priceless returns to life. In TCL you HAD TO kill someone and watch them die. In Lorelai you eat ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SHARK SOUP?! Wtf?

I think the biggest problems of the game is that there are lack of price for resurrections(♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SOUP) and no consequences for disobeying QoM. I REALLY HOPE that the game was rushed due to financial problems or something like that and we will get a patch/update/remake that will make story what it should be.

[Erebus]

Originally posted by Reconder:

Me expectations weren't met. When I found out that new game is called "Lorelai", I was 100% sure that it's going to be about QoM, based on the fact that she used that name.

In truth, the first few chapters of the game were good, but then it flops. it starts with Al. QoM told us that we either destroy his life, or we will have to kill the baby or Zack. But after NOT destroying Al's life QoM is angry, she jumps on us... and nothing significant happens.

Killing QoM is wierd as hell. You kill her, she takes form of Lorelai, which was expected because of the whole Lorelai=QoM thing. But there are no clear connection between them. Was that just the whole devil thing? Like devil in yourself and stuff? Then why did QoM use Lorelai as her name? That doesn't make any sense and that's disappointing.

QoM is disappointing overall, because, unlike in TCL, she's not scary and mysterious at all. I think the reason for that is priceless returns to life. In TCL you HAD TO kill someone and watch them die. In Lorelai you eat ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SHARK SOUP?! Wtf?

I think the biggest problems of the game is that there are lack of price for resurrections(♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SOUP) and no consequences for disobeying QoM. I REALLY HOPE that the game was rushed due to financial problems or something like that and we will get a patch/update/remake that will make story what it should be.

Well they do die like right after. She never said she'd do it directly herself. That said I've only played through once so idk what happens outside of the "golden end".

[Diakonov]

In my humble opinion, having more characters, more chapters, more than 1 villain, improving the storytelling of the past of Lorelai stepfather, more endings with the option of embracing the QoM fully would make the game even better. Cat Lady was a masterpiece because the story was always open, but Lorelai have only 1 mission, 1 main situation.

[Stigma]

Originally posted by Hyrenapth:

In my humble opinion, having more characters, more chapters, more than 1 villain, improving the storytelling of the past of Lorelai stepfather, more endings with the option of embracing the QoM fully would make the game even better. Cat Lady was a masterpiece because the story was always open, but Lorelai have only 1 mission, 1 main situation.

Agreed. Also, the entire chapter focusing on the elderly home literally amounted to nothing. It came off as filler

[RebHead]

I don't have the time at the moment to write out my thoughts but I agree with a lot of the posts here, especially this.

Originally posted by Hyrenapth:

In my humble opinion, having more characters, more chapters, more than 1 villain, improving the storytelling of the past of Lorelai stepfather, more endings with the option of embracing the QoM fully would make the game even better. Cat Lady was a masterpiece because the story was always open, but Lorelai have only 1 mission, 1 main situation.

[Double-D]

Sadly, I am kinda disappointed.

SPOILER ALERT


The game feels shorter than first two games of the trilogy (I know it's technically not true at all) and there are too many things that are just meaningless. Like the whole chapter in an asylum. I get it from the methodical point of view - we can see how Laura interacts with other people, especially those who are in need of help - all that is supposed to establish the main character better. The problem is - and it's very clear, since we know (or supposed to) that good old Queen named herself Lorelai once - Laura basically has two different personalities, depending on the route you take. She can be all nice and caring, if slightly rebellious, or - just a straigth up ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Which basically means that the whole story is either a tale of a good person struggling with life or a tale of a downfall, where Laura really becomes Lorelai and takes a crown of a Queen of Maggots. The second option would make far more sence to me - I've been with Rem's games since the original Downfall, I know the guy has a taste for morbid and depressing stuff. Yet everything aside Laura's personality in the game is written in the way that makes bad outcome unnatural and pointless.
Guess that kind of inconsistence is the main complaint to me.

And I'm not even speaking about Zack (Really? Self-inserted character as a love interest for the protagonist? Really?), Jimmy (Really? So now we have the "I know far more than I'm willing to tell, God, I'm so mysterious!" dude we've met in countless anime, starting Sailor Moon?), the way police is shown (Aren't they supposed to call for backup immideately in case of shots fired? Or seeing officer down? Does British police force use firearms routinely at all?) and absolutely one dimensional antagonist (I know The Cat Lady parasites weren't deeply written folks either - Ok, except the good doctor - but at least we've had several of them and they were different).



Overall - I'm willing to give it a pass, since it's new game engine and working for ten years on a series can burn out the best of us, but I really do hope that Rem will find a fresh breath. He's clearly talented. Maybe he should just try and go over the top with grim and desperate stuff, rather than be tame and optimistic.

[Kitty]

I didn't read all of the comments /reviews, but I loved it.

[Prudence Duodenum]

I agree with EVERYTHING you said. I wrote a review about the game. I'll post is here.

Part 3 of the "Devil Came Through Here" trilogy, the previous two games being The Cat Lady and Downfall. I've got a lot to say about this game.

Let's start with the graphics: They were a massive improvement. So beautiful and surreal that I was in a bit of awe. The music also was great. Admittedly, I enjoyed the graphics and music more than the story.

The story, I thought, was rather mediocre, and the climax was rather anticlimactic. The game didn't have that... charm; the plot wasn't as mysterious and compelling whereas the previous two games were. A few characters without importance were simply there just for the sake of the plot importance. One of the villains had a role I thought to be unnecessarily vast as an obstacle, but not THE main obstacle in the story; just a nuisance in order to build the plot, but still stalled it somehow. It seemed one-dimensional. However, I did enjoy how evil the character was. Another character was there for the plot with no other importance, as if they were a pawn with the specific role to just move the plot forward. The game never fully explained who the character was or their background.

What bothered me the most was the main goal in the game. The main character was determined to save two important characters, but notwithstanding the direction toward that goal, the focus kept shifting. That prompted a bit of disorganization, and then a mild decline in interest ensued after a time. The game focused on the character from trying to save said characters, to doing an evil's biddings, to trying to eliminate the main evil once and for all. All connected to the main goal, but I thought the progression was unnecessary. And without giving spoilers, depending on your choices, the main goal isn't met, after all that work you did. It's hard to make a great story where the main goal isn't met, and this game did poorly when it came to the normal ending. Made me feel like I accomplished absolutely nothing. The choices you make didn't have much impact or importance in the story.

Another thing that annoyed me is that Lorelai doesn't have major connections to the previous two games. The only connections there were the name "Lorelai", TCL's main character making a cameo, the Axe Man from Downfall (why was he even in Lorelai?) and a character that's important and essential to the plots of all the three games.

I also thought Lorelai wasn't a good protagonist. She was weak and allowed herself to become a pawn of TQOM because she wanted to save her loved ones. Unlike Susan, she didn't even attempt to break from from TQOM's influence on her own; it was Jimmy who showed up out of nowhere and told her how to stop TQOM. Lorelai was constantly making mistakes because of her clumsiness. Her clumsiness and actions made you repeat what you had done before (getting a new bottle, making a new weapon, etc), and some things she had to do (lockpicking, saving Bethany from falling into a fiery pit) were nothing but in vain. What was the point?!

One thing I liked about the plot, however, is the different approach of focusing on disorders and diseases. In The Cat Lady, the plot is about depression, and is told by the main character's point of view of the world when it comes to depression. In Downfall, the plot shifted the focus point on a couple of characters when it came to their illnesses (schizophrenia and bulimia). In Lorelai, while the main character didn't really suffer from any disorder or disease, the point of view was focused on their experience toward someone else's disorder or disease (alcoholism, depression, cancer). Instead of the plot being about the main characters trying to get rid of their disorders, the plot focused on the main character trying to escape from someone else's disorder. And essentially so, all three games give the atmosphere and feeling on what it's like to be hopeless while under dire situations you feel like you cannot escape from.

Overall, I thought the game was good, but not GREAT. It's definitely the weakest out of the three. I was a bit disappointed, but it's a game I would play again in the future. Worth it. No regrets.

I'd give the game a rating of 6.5/10