Sunday Gold Review ([☭]-Soviet-Triumph-)
Since the day I first played Dishonoured I always looked forward to seeing more of this oil painting styling in games and while devs at BKOM studios captured that impression successfully most times, they resorted to use primitive AI to animate characters' faces in certain occasions which resulted a lazily, badly done animation that drags players down into the depth of the uncanny valley. It all feels like a deliberate sabotage from that one techbro in the team and it's real unfortunate because the visual department nailed it in other parts.
But enough about the looks, what about the gameplay department? Well, not ideal. They made a decision to tie both combat and out-of-combat gameplay by making most point and click actions cost action points forcing players to manage efficient use of their AP's or risk random encounters. This mechanic actively discourges players from exploring, getting straying from the set certain path and is a frustratingly bad design. Especially so because you don't get to have better weapons and enhancements to equip without consistently searching for them. A typical player may not realize this fact before facing the first boss which is the hardest in the whole game in my opinion, and at that point it may be too late for them. Fights come in the form of traditional JRPG turn based combat as you can see in the screenshots from the store page, which is a boring continuous loop of attack-heal-attack and it forces players to play defensively, skip a turn and charge characters' APs before ending the fight because of the reason specified above.
Characters are very likeable, and arguably is equally interesting to the art direction part. They may be not the most fresh looking cast of chracters but their dialogues are well written, they get along with each other and most importantly, exceptionally well acted. Too bad they're wasted on a story that is so predictable and short. Game has your typical was that the end sort of abrupt ending so lower your expectations on the last chapter. You're bound to be disappointed.
In general, for what it goes for on major sale(<$5) it is worth your time and money even if it's just to hear their banters.
Is this game a hidden gem? It's more of a finely crafted fake acrylic gem that's pretty and cool looking enough to keep but has no actual value whatsoever. 6.5/10. Not a must play, but do pick up and try if you feel bored with your usual selections.