Recent reviews by ByrneOut

It's okay, but it's not for people who like Disco Elysium.
But it's not awful, in some places its quite good, but comparing it to Disco Elysium is like comparing Divergent to Hunger Games. One is written by a much more experienced writer than the other and its obvious. If you played Disco Elysium first you might not like this as much.

Narratively, it's not really breaking any ground or saying anything new, which isn't a problem unto itself but... I don't feel like a character in this world. I'm not uncovering a story so much as someone watching cyberpunk/dystopic sci-fi tropes exist in front of me. There's something about the writing that makes these characters feel flat. It's got that inexperienced DM's "the barman looks you over and ask's you what you'll have" quality to every interaction. Which is not a bad thing unto itself, but the reason that works for a TTRPG is because the players don't expect a compelling story told to them, instead they want to dictate their own story. But you can't do that in a video game because of the limitation of the medium. (Unless you're specifically exploring that kind of meta-narrative relationship like in Inscryption.) The game writer *has* to give you options, you cannot just write your own and have the game respond meaningfully. So if a game writer has to do that work they also have to do the other work a TTRPG player has to do, like build a character to play.

Part of the difficulty of a video game that wants the player to do some serious role playing is giving them a character they *want* to inhabit. The thing about games like Disco Elysium or Planescape Torment (who both do this very well) is that they give a player a fully fleshed out person to play and then carefully dole out that info to the player. When done really well, it lets the player become this character and in the process learn more about themselves and their worldview.

Citizen Sleeper does not do that. The Sleeper is a blank slate for the player to jump into, but that means that the player is now required to make up so much of the character that it's impossible for a writer to know anything about how they might react. So they can't be specific or take the player anywhere personal. Much of the player's dialogue or reactions to things are generic so as to fit many possible player reactions. Sometimes it reads like a "choose your own adventure" novel and at other times like a "y/n"-insert fanfic. I don't feel like there's a strong narrative or story here beyond "things happen around you, some of them are connected".

Others have talked about issues with the design of the mechanics and difficulty flow, but I felt that with stronger writing they wouldn't have been issues at all. Some of the balance of really feeling like picking a class mattered could also be solved with stronger writing and more robust narrative design.

Overall an okay game, but not one that I would recommend.

On the technical side: the game often gets stuck loading new games or save files so it's also been hard to pick back up after a break.

I really regret not properly reading the reviews and I don't think my friends actually understood why I avoid light novels (and that is what this is) when they recommended this to me.

My recommendation and review is based on the lack of accessibility in Necobarista.

Because of my disability, I have a really hard time with light novels. I find the need to hit a button every sentence to, basically, read a book really hurts my hands and wrists. I'm unable to go for longer than 5-10 mins at a time. Even using a game controller doesn't help. Worse, because I have to sit at a desk if I want to play my Steam games I'm stuck in an uncomfortable position (for me) to do a lot of reading. It might have been okay on my phone or a mobile game device. Maybe if I get a Steamdeck I'll try it again and I'll change my review if I find that makes a huge difference.

For the interactivity:
The dialogue sections pile onto themselves and you are left wishing you could choose not to talk to someone just so you can take a break. But when you do get a break it's the usual light novel problem of a sudden jump from "just tapping one button repeatedly" to "now you are walking around" or "now you need to do this very specific action that is only going to show up once or twice" which last all of a few seconds before it's back to tapping one button for the next 10 minutes again. If the same interactions were used to better break up the "hit one button repeatedly" sections they probably would be very welcomed. But they just feel like brief glimpses into a game that could have been and that actually makes me like them less. (At least there's no quick time events, or at least I haven't run in to one yet and I don't think anyone else has mentioned them.)

For the writing:
I don't hate it, though it is VERY "I watch a lot of anime" which can be a bit much if you're not in the mood. I do find the "click to understand word" very weird/out of place. I'm not sure who it's for or how it's meant to be understood. It's got big "educational game" energy, but seems to go nowhere in terms of connection to the actual game. Like if I'm playing a game that looks like this, chances are high that already I know what a cosplayer is. It feels like it's trying to give me insight into what the main character thinks about things, but these "thoughts" are so snarky and ironic that it actually makes them less likeable. So either way, it's not working for me.

I think right now I can't properly judge the character/plot development. I was in a lot of pain after one particularly long conversation and I kinda stopped paying attention. I really wish designers would do more to break up repetitive button presses with something that allows people's hands/wrists to rest.

Which leads to my thoughts about the accessibility:
There is a real lack of basic accessibility in the design of this piece and that may be what is really contributing to the overall player drop off after the beginning. I think adding an auto-advance would help, but I would suggest that a better approach, if they choose to do Necrobarista 2, would be to be very cognisant of the effect of repetition on a player's physical comfort. A minute of button pressing followed by a 5-10 minute cool down of looking around, thinking about a puzzle or using different controls would go a long way to keep players from feeling used up by the interaction systems. The comfort of the body while playing has a big influence on if someone will enjoy a game or not. Game playing is not just about the digital, it's also about the physical and the natural constraints that come along with it.

Overall I want to like this game, but it needs a lot more consideration of the player built in before it will be something I can enjoy.

If you are looking for the experince of living in a magical Disney theme park where you have a daily repetitive task list (that's pretty chill and easy to do while listening to podcasts) then you'll probably like Dreamlight Valley. (That being said it does crash, glitch and softlock quest progression A LOT and should probably not be out of early access already.) BUT if you thought you were going to get "Disney does Animal Crossing" this is not it.

"Build the perfect neighbourhood" is such a misleading line. You have very little control over much in this game. You can fully customize exactly three things: what your character wears, the interior design of your house and the outdoor landscaping. Nothing else. You can't even customize what the outside of your own house looks like and a lot of times you don't even get to pick which neighbours show up. In fact I think Gameloft assumed you would want ALL the characters in your neighbourhood because they all have interlocking quests and it seems like you cannot progress the main plot if you don't try to collect them all. The game also doesn't really treat the characters like they are the characters from the movies/shows. They treat them like they are theme park actors and while I don't speak for anyone else it's really off putting to me. It feels like the game wants me to treat them like dolls to be played with and not characters to connect with. It actually makes doing things for them feel like a chore.

If you want a game where you are able to choose/remove nieghbours or you want to design a particular aesthetic for your neighbourhood, be advised that this game will not allow you to do either.

For the core gameplay itself, it is very minimal and repetitive, but it's hard to realize that at first since it's got that freemium mobile game flow design that really sucks you in.

For the life sim part, there seems to be a ton of things to do and lots of things to see, but by day five it started to get old fast because you will essentially be doing the same things every day. Talking to the characters every day becomes a bore even though it's clear that the team put a lot of work into the written dialogue. It's probably because each character only has about two or three voice acted phrases and they repeatedly shout them at you as you walk by, as you are chatting with them or as they walk by you. You cannot escape it unless you turn off voice for everyone in the sound menu.

For the adventure part, I'm not sure who this is for. The "adventure" itself is less about exploring /discovering and more about fetch quests. In fact I think every "adventure" part of the game so far has just been a "fetch and make" quests (as in fetch the thing, now make a thing with the thing you just found, now use the thing you just made). The worst might be the times where the game tries to mix it up and makes you wait until two characters decide get close enough to talk to each other. Then you just have to sit there, waiting, while they have a conversation without you. If you walk away from the conversation they will stop until you come back and then they will start from the BEGINNING of their conversation. You cannot make them talk faster and the quest will not progress until they are done. Then there are the "other worlds" that you can access through the castle to explore and find new characters. They are tiny. Like bachelor apartment to basketball court tiny worlds. They are basically rooms you enter and can finish exploring in less than a minute filled with even more "fetch and make" quests. You will never return once you are done unless it's part of another quest because there's nothing else to do there.

I'm not going to really go into the economy system in any detail, but it feels like this was supposed to be a freemium game that pivoted last minute to a paid game. It's not great.

And lastly, this game is barely a few months out and there's ALREADY fan controversy about one of the neighbours. Mother Gothel is a key character that shows up once you start The Curse Quest. You have no control over whether or not you let them in to the neighbourhood. If you find her triggering at all (since she is literally the personification of an abusive parent) you are going to have a bad time. She WILL follow you around until you take on her first quest DEMANDING that you help her. She will constantly be around and like all the other characters will shout one of her three phrases at you if you or she gets too close. You cannot ignore her, the game will not let you.

If you want an adventure game with Disney characters it's probably better to just get Kingdom Hearts and if you want a neighbourhood life sim it's probably best to stick with Animal Crossing. I cannot recommend this game.

Absolutely amazing! I have a hard time with anything that might be scary in games but the designers have such a fine touch to the design of the game that you don't want to stop. They really know when to push the unsettling and when to relax. It also rewards you for pushing through the scary and the difficult; something I wish more psychological pieces would consider introducing into their design.

Truly a beautiful piece and one that I think I will cherish playing for quite some time.

I really need there to be a "your millage may vary" recommendation option since I think some may love this game but others may really dislike it.

The game play is simple and slow (which can be nice) and art/animation is quite beautiful, but like others have said the mini-games/tasks feel like make-work rather than fun and the characters can be quite unlikable. As an adult there are some things I enjoy about this game and I will keep playing it but, this is a children's game written by people who don't realise (or care) that they are making a children's game. Considering that this is made in Canada they actually do fall over that legal line of "clearly marketed at young children" but there's language and themes in the game that are not appropriate anyone under 14. I'm picturing the "fun" of explaining to a 7 year old what a douchebag is (or have them repeat it ad nauseam).

Another aspect of the game that I find odd in 2021 is the pseudo-Japanese areas in the early part of the game. It really has strong weeb-vibes rather than "this is my culture and I am expressing it"-vibes. It's not offensive as in are no obvious racist stereotypes so it's not a deal breaker, but it's kinda weird to see in this day and age from a Canadian company without a majority Japanese staff.

In terms of things that actually bothered me during gameplay there are only two:
- The English dialogue needed a heavy edit. Sometimes a character talks FOREVER, sometimes the dialogue is really cringey or the words felt disconnected from the intent of the moment. Sometimes I honestly had no idea what they were trying to communicate to me. Are you happy or upset that I did a thing? Are you just a jerk? I don't know.

-There is a serious issue with interaction area overlap. Too many times I tried to talk to someone only to end up sitting on a bench or petting my cat or walking into a building. Once it took me five tries before I could talk to a character because there were THREE points of interaction overlapping that character!

There are things I enjoy a lot about this game, but I also see a lot that could create more frustration than fun which is why I'm not recommending it unless none of the above bother you.

This is a fun game (especially when playing with friends) and even as "Early Access" it's totally worth the price tag!

I actually think the dev team could have just put this out as it is as a finished game. There's a nice selection of maps and of course some bugs (but really nothing at the level that some AAA games coming out have). There is some lag when playing on the public maps, but then multiplayer is always a ♥♥♥♥♥ to get right so that is something I'm sure will be improved. The devs are planing on putting in more maps, but that could just be done as free DLC.

Great game and has so much potential to grow.
Now all I want is a "multi day" story campaign in Phasmophobia 2!

It's a meh, in terms of an overall recomendation. I wouldn't recomend it to my friends as, others have pointed out, there isn't much in the way of story for the players to read. Way too much is summerized and replay gets pretty boring. Even when I seemed to play a "main" story line I was still finished in about 10mins.

The writing is at an elementry/early highschool level and the hummour is more silly than "uproarious" and "hilarious", but not unfunny as some other people have suggested. As an English Lit student I guess I expected more...I don't know... academic humour or at least a more critical understanding of the material.

I guess I expected more because I heard about this game from Kate Beaton and I always liked Ryan North's Dinasour Comics. However, over all the writing falls flat and feels rushed. Some of it attempts to recreate Kate Beaton's anachronistic dialouge style, but it comes accross as someone who doesn't understand WHY it works.

I think it has potential and I would love to see this game redone, maybe with a bit of a "Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)" vibe and just mix ALL the Shakespeare storylines together.