Reply To: Impressions

[rnlf]

#6384

I finally finished it, too.

Overall, it’s a brilliant movie with (some) very clever puzzles. The atmosphere is great, music, art direction everything just perfect.

Sadly, the gameplay itself was frustrating at times for me. I also hit a bug when transitioning from part 2 to part 3. First time I didn’t meet Kahina after steeling the briefcase from Kronos, so I didn’t get the scene with Kronos where he takes the scarf. Somehow that kept the things after Vienna from properly unfold. Neither did Tatiana come to my compartment to ask for help with her Alexei problem, nor did the conductor make my bed (he entered, stayed for a couple seconds and returned without doing anything). So I couldn’t get the dream that foreshadows Alexei’s death.

Second time, I had the briefcase with me while arriving at Vienna. While everything worked as expected (Tatiana came and I could go sleep), I couldn’t put the briefcase away anymore, which meant I couldn’t equip the master key to get into Alexei’s compartment and find the detonator.

I had to replay from all the way back from the beginning of the concert several times to get it working. I had to consult a walk through to understand what was missing and try and fix it.

Anyway, some of the puzzles do not give proper feedback, which is sad. Figuring out how to get past Vienna in the first place was problematic, with so many things that need to be done in a short amount of time.

I also have some open questions regarding the story: Why didn’t I just give the firebird to Kronos? Except for the story to proceed past Belgrade, there was no reason not to, as far as I can tell? Also, how did Kronos and Kahina get back onto the train? How did they outrun it to be in Ottoman Empire before the train got there?

Also, what did I miss about Robert and Anna? Where did that love story come from all of a sudden? In my playthrough, they only talked like two or three times before getting to Budapest.

Anyway, all in all I’m glad I finally tried the game. It does have some nasty issues in game play, but that’s easily made up for by the brilliant writing (except for my two questions above, which are probably explained somewhere) and atmosphere. Clearly a work of art and directed by someone who’s clearly interested in making movies more than games.