Zaskakująco ciekawa przygodówka, w której wcielamy się w androida pomagającego ludziom na stacji badawczej. Przygoda trwa dwa tygodnie, podczas których nasze decyzje wpływają na to, co się stanie z kolonistami. To jest najfajniejszy aspekt rozrywki, bo jedna (nie)właściwa może prowadzić do śmierci wielu osób i to dopiero w parę dni później. Wszystko to jest okraszone filozoficznymi pytaniami znanymi choćby z "Ja, robota", a które sprowadzają się do rozważań na temat istoty inteligencji i człowieczeństwa (androidzieństwa? :P). Mamy jeszcze różne zakończenia (w zależności od tego, których kolonistów doprowadzimy do końca), choć momentami miałam wrażenie, że są do siebie zbyt podobne.

Muzyka jest bardzo przyjemna, grafika już trochę mniej (acz fajnie oddaje "pylistość" planety i sfrustrowanie badaczy), a zagadki dośc proste - głównie sprowadzają się do zadań typu "przynieś, posprzątaj, pozamiataj", ale ani razu się nie nudziłam, ani nie irytowałam. Podsumowując, całkiem spoko gierka.

Sentience is a RPGmaker scifi adventure game that explores transhumanism, AI rights, epistemology, as well as more familiar concerns of faith, fear and prejudice. As a game, it's passable. You are placed in the robotic shoes of an android who has been dispatched to a small work site on an otherwise uninhabited planet. You move around, speak to people, and interact with things. What you normally expect from an adventure game. I thought the visuals were superior to what I've come to expect from RPGmaker, and even gave me a classic Fallout feeling. Sound effects and music were sparse, and I would have loved a little more audio. Feel free to play your own music while you play. Your android avatar is very special, and demonstrates free will. Of course this comes through in your actions, but also in your dialogue. When presented with speech options, one options is highlighted, and represents what your programming dictates you should say. You can make whichever choice you desire, but it's interesting to see just how often your natural responses feel pre-programmed. On the subject of choices, there are many of them throughout the game. Some have little impact other than slightly different dialogue, other choices can have results that completely change a characters actions, attitudes, and even if they live or die. Sometimes these consequences are more obvious than others. The colonists you interact with are all believable, and it's an interesting perspective to an automaton. Some humans treat you as a friend, some as an alien or monster, and some see you simply as a tool. Sadly, for a game about humanity, this game lacks much of it. Except for hidden video cutscenes, you are rarely treated to spontaneous situations or colonist interactions that don't directly involve you or your current tasks. Without these, the pacing and development felt a little stilted and robotic. Although I completed the story, I didn't develop particular interests in the characters until halfway through the game. Sentience is elementary as a game, but it's a game that enables a science fiction story. I"m not a literary critic, but I found it worthwhile, especially considering the cost of the game is that of a small paperback.

Impressions

Nice futuristic RPG maker game. You play as a human shaped-like AI gifted with free will..
Pros : Very good plot, interesting storyline if you're into AI, if you wonder the role they should have in the future, the position we should give them towards humans. Philosophical reflexion ahead. These concepts and questions are fully exploited by the game.
Not much difficulty if you follow your tasks log, look everywhere and talk to everyone. Except for one thing : how identifying which event you triggered (by making some specific choices) will cause or allow which endings. Be aware and cautious. Be prepared to read a bit (dialogues, for you'll have many decisions to make).
Really liked the music, perfect for the genre.
Cons : Little replayability, though necessary to watch all endings (and get all achievements). Despite that point "Sentience: the android's tale" really is a good and enjoyable game.

A nice point-and-click adventure with a great soundtrack and an engaging story.

Choices you make have an impact on certain elements of the story - I'll definitely do another playthrough later to see what would have happened had I chosen differently.

Humanity never stood a chance.

Sadly, I can't write a full review with out spoiling a lot. So, I'm just going to say this is an easier point and click adventure game this is more about the intellectual exploration of artificial intelligence.

I have to admit, I really, really liked it, and as of this writing I've unlocked MOST of the endings.

There's a lot of discussions and points brought up that are sourced from real world scientists and their talks about A.I.

If you aren't super familiar with the subject, it'll make you think.

If you are, it'll be amazing to see such a realistic approach to how humans deal with A.I. and what we consider sentient or merely a copy.

Be mindful of your choices.

My Playtime: 11.3h (100% achievement, finished the game)
My First Playthrough: 6.9h
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (22 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.

Sentience: The Android's Tale is a choose-your-adventure game that spans over 14 days, where you have to do daily tasks and make choices. The choice that you make will change the story and determine the fate of most of the residents.

Pros:
- Your choice matters
- Freedom in accepting and refusing quests
- Area map if you ever get lost

Cons:
- It's hard to remember people since they look similar
- It's hard to see objects since they blend with the background
- Very slow walking speed
- It's hard to find where people are since the quest log never states it

Specs
Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650

No.
There's too much walking and I didn't find the story to be that captivating for the slow pace.

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The game tries to use realistic-looking visuals for its characters and monsters, while buildings will look more futuristic despite losing their realistic touch. However, I'm not particularly fond of this style because it's hard to differentiate everything, both objects and characters. Characters look too similar to each other and object blends too well in the background, making it hard to find and recognize them.

I like how your choice matters in the story. There are a lot of choices that you can make that can determine how the story will end later. Although the major event is still the same, the personnel that survive and how they treat each other will be different, sometimes changing their actions for certain events. That being said, that's all that I could say about the story. Since there are too many possibilities and choices, you'll have to end up with a lackluster ending that mostly looks similar or has no importance.

Gameplay
The game basically focused on quest-based gameplay. You'll have several daily quests that you can do that will determine future events. Some quests can be refused, some will have different outcomes. The interesting part is that the outcome might not happen right away; what you do on the first day might possibly affect the events several days after.

Most quests are simple. You just need to talk to the quest giver and do the job. They are mostly related to interacting with certain objects, delivering some items, or talking to other people, which means that you have to run around. However, this is where the game falls short. The base you are located in is very big, and your character walks very slowly. It makes the game feel very slow and dragging, especially when there is nothing happens after one in-game day has passed.

Another gripe that I have is also about the quest givers. The quest log tends to not give any information on where the quest givers are. I know it's hard to do since they tend to be in several different places, but at least giving some general hint will help. I ended up having to explore every building in the base because I didn't know where my quest giver was, and spent more time reexploring the whole base whenever I had to find other people. Sometimes, the quest also can be vague, forcing me to explore every nook and cranny just to figure out what it wants.

Length and Replayability
I finished my first playthrough in ~6.9h. By that time, I already reloaded my save several times to get all the endings that I could in that playthrough, which means that you can finish it in a shorter time if you just want to be done after finishing one ending. The game has several endings, depending on the character that you bring to the end and your choice, but they mostly look similar. I don't think it's worth it to spend hours just to replay the game and experience other endings if you are not interested in the achievements.

The only thing that I had in mind when playing Sentience: The Android's Tale was that I wished that it would end soon. It's just too boring and the story doesn't really interest me. Sure, your choice matters, but it just takes too long to take effect. The game was boring whenever there is nothing major happened, and that covered almost all of the game.

To me, this game is a metaphor for corporate life.
You play a game of trust, taking sides, fulfilling your duties as you see fit.

If you enjoyed The Deed, you will be happy to know the writing in this game is also very juicy. Characters recollect many things that you did / told them and every dialogue choice you make is responded by NPC's like how a real life conversation would flow.

To top it off, the game has meaningful philosophical themes which culminate in the multi-endings.

This was quite an interesting point and click story. You take the role of a robot that's been given a complete free will and sent to assist some colonists on a faraway planet on a mission. At first the mission appears trivial, but over time, interesting turns start to happen. I won't go into any details so not to spoil the story, but it is pretty decent, even though the final parts do feel a little cliche to me. Perhaps what will keep you playing are the characters and their interactions, because they all behave like real people. Although I wish some of them would've gotten more screen time and dialogue. A lot of the time when you try to talk to them, they just give you a one-liner. However, I suppose, having a lot of dialogue for such a large number of major NPCs would've been a hefty task. Nevertheless, the character development was great overall.

The game has plenty of choices with consequences. This ranges from simple dialogue that might cause someone to be suspicious or distrustful of you, to being able to decline some missions, to some big decisions that can affect if someone lives or dies. With the amount of times your choices can affect the fate of the NPCs, it's pretty impressive. There is also a large number of different endings you can get. Most of the endings can be witnessed via a final choice in the game, but some would require you to replay bigger parts of the game, as I imagine you might need some of the NPCs alive to be there at the end or for some of the story paths to be chosen differently.

The overall presentation is nice and suitable for a game like this. There's a mission log and also a database of all the NPCs and also alien creatures you come across, which is a pretty nice touch. I can't say visually the game looks pretty, but the visuals do suit the feel of a faraway almost-forgotten desert planet. And most of the music creates the atmosphere well too.

Don't be put off by the fact that this is an RPG maker game. It's got good storytelling and worldbuilding, and this is what often makes point and click visual novel-like games immersive. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes story-driven sci-fi games, especially relating to the topic of artificial intelligence.

Loved it. A bit buggy, froze a couple times and had to load a save because one of the quests wouldn't complete. Also the movement speed was a little slow for my liking. But a fun thought provoking sci-fi with a dozen different endings to choose from. I just had to replay it over and over to get all the endings!

I love games that let you be a complete sociopath, and this one gives you countless opportunities for that!

In the line of the Space Pilgrim games but darker and with more of your choices affecting the characters around you. Pretty good replay value too, there's no way you'll get all the achievements and story branches in one playthrough.

Give it a try if just to be in the role of an android with free will!