[POTENTIAL SPOILERS] Is it me or is the ending really weak

[TangoRango]

I loved this game. I truly believed it was a 10/10 game... up until the end. The last hour or so of the game just felt so weak and dull and mundane compared to the amazing content that came before it. I still find it hard to believe that a game as good as this could end as poorly as it did.

[Ewout]

The opening scene with the Ancient Reptilian Brain had such an impact on me that I was expecting the whole game would deal with the reconstruction of why he got so drunk and forgot everything. Did he discover a dark secret or was he any part of the crime he wanted to forget about because it was to hard to handle emotionally? But no, he solved the case and would continue working as a cop together with his partner. Almost business as usual. Although I liked the game very much, the ending was quite unsatisfactory for me too.

[STUDOFMILK]

I just finished the game and really enjoyed it. The only letdown I had about the ending was that I thought it would end with a cinematic or at least a closing conversation with Harry's Brain. The way it just ends after the conversation with his police squad is somewhat abrupt, and didn’t feel like it did enough to wrap up Harry’s inner conflict which seemed to be the heart of the story.

My only other issue is, as I was playing I kept thinking how fun it'd be to redo certain situations as a different type of character in a replay. I did most quests in a "safe" way (i.e., good cop) during my first playthrough because I just wanted to see how the story played out. Now that it's over, I've seen how the plot goes and I think I got the "good" ending, I don't see much point in replaying the game. I think I was expecting a much more varied story with different paths and endings, but it's actually quite linear... different character archetypes would just lead to different conversations or methods to solve quests, but ultimately you're still stuck on the same path.

As it is, I liked the game very much the same way I like a good novel or film, but its not as deep as I'd hoped. Toward the end I also kept having the vibe that I was playing the first 40% of a much larger game that wasn’t realized (with all they hinted about a union war and other storylines that weren’t revisited), but I forgive that since it’s an indie dev, limited budget, etc etc. I assume they were merely laying the groundwork for a sequel.

Overall I still give the dev team props for its wonderful visual style, writing, music, gameplay, etc. It made me laugh and tugged on my heartstrings in unexpected ways, and I grew to love most of the characters, when most games don’t do that for me.