Struggling to Enjoy

[seifertim]

I bought this game in early access on Steam a long time ago. I loved the idea and the style and everything - but ran into too many problems with the EA version. (A lot of which may have been my PC).

Seeing the game out on PS5, I picked it up there... and I'm very, very disappointed.

First, the technical:

Trying to read some of the text on a screen several feet away is a nightmare. There should be an option in increase font size or something.
Yes, some documents that are "handwritten" have an option to toggle between 'handwriting' and 'typed' but some of the documents with scratchy thin writing don't and are nearly impossible to read.

I picked up jobs where I was given a photo of a location to go to - and after pinning the photo to my board, I can't see it anymore. It's just a white card that can't be opened.

Whenever I try to make a phone call, the option: "I'll make it worth your while to tell me your name [$50]" is on the screen the whole time the phone is ringing - and if I make several calls in a row it keeps adding more instances of this option to the list of dialog options.

Next, the AI:

Trying to interact with any people in this game is overwhelmingly frustrating.

I can't ask *any* pertinent questions about the case, and the few questions I CAN ask I get 'none of your business' type answers. I *feel* like some people (the partner of the victim) may be more inclined to help once they know you're trying to solve the case.

At *most* I might get a useless "I saw them at place at time" when asking about people - and usually that place and time was the same as the murder event.

On my most recent case, I had someone I went to the victim's house and spoke to their partner (who refused to tell me anything) I eventually was able to bribe them to let me look around their apartment (for $400). I went inside, started looking around the living room - they walked up next to me and turned off the lights. So I turned them back on so I could see - and they immediately walked back over, turned them off, and then got undressed and went to bed... allowing me to search the whole apartment in peace, but it was very weird.

Finally, the cases themselves:

I have NO IDEA how to actually figure out any of these cases.

My first game, a murder happened right away, so I rushed to the location and could not figure out how to get inside without the cops beating me up.

After a lot of trial-and-error I made it in through the vents into the closet, and immediately got caught making a sound as I opened the closet door.

I got shot and ended up in the hospital.

Frustrated, but not deterred, I tried a new game.

This time I found a job next to a phone and it was to steal an envelope from someone.
It took me *forever* to find the person I was supposed to steal from (I don't remember how I figured it out). I went to their apartment - they were gone - snuck in and searched the whole place for the envelope. Couldn't find it. They came home and I punched them out to keep searching. They woke up, shot at me a couple of times, then ran outside to pull the alarm - and I punched them out and dragged them back inside.
This happened about 4 times - I would be searching, they would wake up, punch me once or twice, run outside, pull the alarm, I would knock them out and drag them inside.
Without handcuffs on me, there was no way to restrain or subdue the person. I found duct tape and thought I could use it on their unconscious body but it didn't work.

The fifth time they pulled the alarm I ran out to punch them and someone with a katana ran up the stairs and cut me down.

I quit.

New game, new job: managed to bumble my way through an arrest job from a job board.

Then a murder happened.

I have now spent an entire in-game day trying to figure out ANYTHING for this case. I went to the scene of the crime (a lab) searched every drawer, every room, every computer that I could log into, scanned everything, nothing but fingerprints (Types A-H)
I have the files on every employee (because I guessed the boss's passcode), I have gone to every employees house, paid my way in to search, except for one employee who lives in the purple zone and I can't even knock on their door to talk to them.

The *only* lead I have is the security camera from the scene of the crime has the victim, a copy, and (not even during the time of death) an 'unknown citizen' walking around the lab.

But I suspect that 'unknown citizen' MIGHT be ME because - if I'm understanding the surveillance stuff right, they showed up AFTER the cop and after that person stops showing up all the drawers in the lab are open (from me searching them) But I'm not *SURE* if it's me. Everyone I ask about this person says they "saw them around city hall"...

But I've run out of clues entirely. Most of the fingerprints I've matched to employees, except the one I can't talk to. No one looks anything like the "unknown citizen", there's no bullet casing, weapon, footprints, or anything at the scene. I can't figure out the victim's password. I found the exact same threatening note that said something like: "keep quiet rat": at the scene, at the victim's home, at the boss's home... and randomly on the floor of City Hall... which makes me think it's not a clue at all...

So I'm totally at a loss of how to even proceed - and I can't figure out anything in-game that would help me out.

I really wanted to love this game, but its just so janky and clunky...

The menu interface on controller is AWFUL.
I think a LOT more work could be done improving NPC behavior and giving the player more ways to ask about things... or something...
And I guess the tutorial mission had given me a false sense that crimes would be solvable... and not rely on guessing bad passwords (1234) or finding out that EVERYBODY sticks their password on the wall out in the open.

[seifertim]

Does sleeping in bed *actually* make the time pass any quicker? I went to sleep at 11pm, set the alarm for 7am and after waiting on a black screen with ⏩ for about 5 minutes, I 'woke up' to see that it was still only like 12:30.

Then it said I was hungry and thirsty so I went downstairs to the diner, glitched into the door and then fell through the world into the sea and ended up in the hospital where they charged me a ton of money.

I have uninstalled the game.

[JudgeMental1337]

Right thing to do, there is still so much to do and it isn´t nearly 1.0

[Monkey Punisher]

This is a perfect definition of Cash Grab.

I regret not refunding it in time with all my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ heart

[†̸̮͆͒̇̉͌̈́̋̕̕͝͠]

So solving cases is sometimes fiddly, but here is 3 things you can do to solve basically any case anyway:

The killer is in the victims phone book usually, unless they got shot from across the street. They also leave a clue. Its always connected by work or home to the victim - so you just pick up stuff the murderer left (always a fingerprint on the door) then search the other places for those.

Or just search every name from the phone book in the goverment database, which also gives you fingerprint, so you instantly know who it was half the time :)

[Captain Vangray]

Originally posted by seifertim:

Does sleeping in bed *actually* make the time pass any quicker? I went to sleep at 11pm, set the alarm for 7am and after waiting on a black screen with ⏩ for about 5 minutes, I 'woke up' to see that it was still only like 12:30.

Then it said I was hungry and thirsty so I went downstairs to the diner, glitched into the door and then fell through the world into the sea and ended up in the hospital where they charged me a ton of money.

I have uninstalled the game.

It makes the time go in seconds rather than 5 seconds but yeah it does

[Captain Vangray]

Originally posted by Monkey Punisher:

This is a perfect definition of Cash Grab.

I regret not refunding it in time with all my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ heart

Dude this is their second game and they are still fixing it give it time, they are a small team

[Captain Vangray]

Also to the Dude that made this post
1. Best way to knock someone out is knock on the door wait for them to open it, close it and sprint and right click to barge in and knock them out, search them for a wallet or throw them in the bathroom with a door wedge.

2. Secret Docs can be in their work place too, and yes it can be anywhere at the work place so don't just search their desk

3. Move the body sometimes there's clues under them

4. Wait for the enforcers to walk out of the apartment to charge in there

5. get a code breaker if you can't find their password or raid their workplace + Home for it, it will only spawn in their desk at their work(unless they are the CEO then it's the code to the office itself) at their home in the office room or in desk/ small end tables near the bed

6. people ALWAYS have files of themselves in their home like date of birth, workplace, and who their landlord is

7. If you just have a name on someone go to city hall, go into wards or enforcer free offices check the printer/broads there's a code, punch that code into that free usable computer and go to GOV database for all the info you need and want

[Astrobia]

Originally posted by Captain Vangray:

Originally posted by Monkey Punisher:

This is a perfect definition of Cash Grab.

I regret not refunding it in time with all my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ heart

Dude this is their second game and they are still fixing it give it time, they are a small team

We did give them time. We gave them an unlimited early access period. They chose when time was up and to end it.

[NakedPorcelain]

I don't understand my character's motive. Unless I'm mistaken, they're forcing their way into a murder investigation that's being handled by the police. The police clearly don't want any help. Why am I having my character do this? I can only imagine there must be some sort of hero complex involved.
I've never come close to solving any kind of case. I just can't see the logic in illegally breaking into a crime scene actively guarded by the police in order to solve a crime.
And the NPCs are so surly and uncooperative I sometimes find myself secretly rooting for the killer. I'd be perfectly content to flip burgers somewhere and leave the crime-fighting to the professionals, smirking to myself every time a self-defeating jerk gets killed.
I thought this game was brilliant when it first hit early access. I almost suspect they went out of their way to make it formulaic. I mean, even the people in this thread offering constructive advice on how to solve cases for the better enjoyment of the game are pointing out how rinse-and-repeat the path to victory is.
Yeah, I honestly wish I had refunded this as well. Oh well, live and learn...

[†̸̮͆͒̇̉͌̈́̋̕̕͝͠]

Originally posted by NakedPorcelain:

I don't understand

Your trying to get out of the city to the good stuff, you get there witrh more social score. You choose how you get it, you could just find lost items for along time.

[NakedPorcelain]

Originally posted by |̴͎̑̊͊̾͊͒̿͗̂͋̍͘̚:

Your trying to get out of the city to the good stuff, you get there witrh more social score. You choose how you get it, you could just find lost items for along time.

Thank you for the explanation, but that technique for achieving a victory just reinforces my previous impression.
I'm now pretty sure that I'm not right for this game, but that's how it can be. Life goes on...