izigame.me

Coming fresh off of finishing the game so I can write this review with my feelings as clear as possible.
Words can't express how disappointed I am with this. Me and my gf waited years for this game and this is what we got. There is so much potential that is absolutely torn to shreds here, story threads that show real promise that are just left in tatters.
Let's start with the pros, I guess.
- Brilliant voice acting, as per usual. As expected from Wadjet.
- Lovely backgrounds and art. The sprites are an interesting change up.
- The chapter set in 2001 was the best of the bunch. Gilbert's writing at its peak.
- The final chapter has a little bit of the above in it as well.
- The music was stellar.
- The technical aspect of the time travelling element was handled well.
Now the cons.
This I will write out properly. The "love story" between the protagonist and another character is a joke. No chemistry to speak of other than one sided flirting that was out of nowhere and then a series of events that are downright creepy and intrusive including drugging said love interest to sleep. It could be a reference to a previous game but it's not cute or funny in this instance. The love interest is locked into the main story line so there is no choice in the matter of whether or not you follow through with it, which would have been nice. This is honestly a problem with a lot of the rest of the story as well; there is this illusion of choice where in the end you actually have little agency in the matter. I don't know if this was supposed to mirror the "point" of the game, but if so, it was done very poorly, because at the end Fia makes her "choice" and it doesn't matter anyway. Is that the point? That choices ARE pointless? If that's the case then why play at all? It is extremely off putting to rip away the agency of the player like that if you're going to give dialogue options in the first place.
I can see what was potentially trying to be done with this relationship but it absolutely did not work. As Nozzo questioned at the end, why did Fia do all of this for a person she barely knew? Just for the chance of something? The chance of love? My brother in Christ you had love. You had it right there. Noz was RIGHT there. Speaking of Noz. He was done SO damn dirty, like. To a ridiculous degree. Why would you create such a gentle, funny, caring and interesting character and then just not give a flying fig about his feelings or character? Literally all of it was thrown away for the sake of Fia's "love story". He was tossed aside to make way for a relationship that was hollow. Devoid of any kind of proper build up, chemistry or foundation. The only thing really connecting them was sex. Which I find distasteful and is already a stereotype within the gay community. Noz is by far my favourite character because of the way he was written and him seemingly being the only one who had genuine concern for Fia's safety, well being and happiness. He was complex in that despite his affinity for the rules and guidelines, he would always put her above it all. He would listen to her concerns and desires and do his best to compensate them. Surely that makes more sense for somebody to want in a relationship, no?
They both were about to say something to each other before they died in their respective times and I couldn't help but feel like it was the big three words. That would have been so much more organic, meaningful and have more impact than whatever the hell Fia and Imani had going on. I just don't understand why you would build up a relationship of this calibre and have that suggestion if you're just going to... abandon it? For the sake of a nothing relationship between two characters whose time together was just going to be wiped from existence anyway? It just doesn't make sense to me.
Even if we were to take relationships out of the equation, Noz was quite honestly treated like crap for literally no reason. There was NO reason. To put him through the hell he went through, and to get nothing out of it in the end? Only him being alone, and questioning why in the heck his synched colleague and close friend had decided to completely abandon him for a relationship which was built on nothingness? I am reminded of Rosa Blackwell from the Blackwell series who was also treated abysmally as a character for no reason. I’m by no means saying that a ‘nice’ character cannot face struggle or difficulty or even tragedy, but to the extent that Rosa did and then Noz in this game… it’s just too much. And unnecessary. It added nothing to their story or character and in the end just made it feel. Mean? It did nothing to further develop an already fleshed out character who already faced traumas and trials and overcame them.
I also don’t appreciate the run around at the end with Fia and assuming she died, and then finding out she hadn’t really, and then went to live her life with Imani, which in turn implies that she let Duffy go. Because she heard his plight - which wasn’t very convincing by the way AND I did not care enough for Duffy to really appreciate that he was the ‘master villain’ all along - and decided she would do the same. Which again goes back to an earlier point; why give the illusion of choice if there simply isn’t one in the end? Noz doesn’t get to choose whether to turn off Fia’s PFE or not, so there’s no point having other dialogue options. Fia doesn’t get the option to kill Duffy or let him go, so there’s no point having other dialogue options. Fia doesn’t get the option whether or not to sleep with Imani, so there’s no point having other dialogue options. See where I’m going with this? This loss of agency becomes extremely irritating the more and more it goes on.
Gilbert seems to have this habit of starting up a really good story thread and then completely abandoning it as though it wasn’t the most interesting plot point of the entire game. I don’t know how this happens; is it because he becomes afraid of where the story will go and backs out, choosing the more obvious and much less interesting route? Is it because he’s worried it will not please his audience? Is it because he simply loses faith in the storyline he set out with? I don’t know, but it is extremely frustrating because you get glimpses of just how good his narratives could be if he just FOLLOWED THROUGH. But he doesn’t. The biggest issue for me with this is the whole, Gavin Chord Grace Group corrupt cops thing. WHY bring that up if you’re just going to abandon it?! WHY weren’t the brass involved in the end?! WHY wasn’t this opportunity used to finally bring to a close or at least explain a little more?! This annoys me to no end. I would rather there were no connections WHATSOEVER to this, because it already frustrated me that there was literally no resolution to that story thread in Epiphany, and that was literally the most juicy narrative going. Gavin was a terrifying and interesting villain. Madeleine was not. She was a distraction from the true villains of the story, just like Duffy was at the end of this game. It’s just so annoying. Alex Silva being brought up again is another kick to the stomach while I’m down as well. Like just do not bring those things up if you’re just going to completely forget about them later.
On that note - things that don’t make sense or are just brought up for seemingly no reason. Annoying too. Like, skimein syndrome. What the hell is that? Why do so many people have this made up syndrome that we literally never learn anything about? Why does that not lead to a greater story and conspiracy which could tie to the people involved with the Grace Group? Because it’s just a random irrelevance, I guess that’s why. Also there was no Sam Durkin cameo which is an actual crime like, what the heck. Why would you NOT have Sam Durkin in your BLACKWELLVERSE. I know there was a Rosa mention and even a Lauren cameo, but that makes less sense to me than Sam appearing. CONTINUED