izigame.me

The game is fine as-is, but not great. Characters are intriguing, but the DBD story ruins the game's full potential, along with bad optimisation.

If you're expecting to play a Supermassive game on par with Dark Pictures or Until Dawn, then this game won't be for you. Simply put, it's too short as a whole, and the way the story jumps between different time periods makes tense or dramatic moments and scenes in the game pass too quickly, unlike the other games where they're drawn out to be longer. There's less chance of things to go horribly wrong in this game, because before anything can, you've completed the chapter and you're onto the next one, which is likely in the other time period. Regardless of your opinion, knowledge or playtime - the reason behind the short story is because of the Dead By Daylight tie-in.
To elaborate on the story, with minimal spoilers:
The game takes place in two time periods: 1980 and 2024. The prologue takes place in 1963. Throughout the game's entire story - which is about 5-6 hours long, you are jumping back and forth between the two main time periods. In the 1980's period, you are a playing as an amateur film crew trying to make a movie, whilst in 2024, you are playing as 2 characters (even though there is a third present, but not playable), who have inherited pieces of the finished film and have been invited to a mansion in regards to them. The 1980's story is much more intriguing and interesting because it has the elements of a classic Supermassive game. While there are a few DBD references sprinkled in the form of repairing a generator and skill checks, it's mainly collectables that make up the bulk of the DBD content in this timeline - which for people like me who've never played DBD, works just fine. In 2024, the overall story is just walking around a mansion and trying to find out the nature behind the lady who invited the 3 characters there. It's not until the very end chapter, that things really amp up, and start to become life or death. But by then, the game is over. The 2024 timeline, is where the bulk of the DBD content and references lie, in the form of The Entity, more collectables, another generator, skill checks, and a whole museum with DBD killer statues.
If you're hoping for a pure Supermassive experience, sorry to disappoint, but there's only 1 overall ending, and the only difference lies in who's alive to witness it, and that's because of the DBD tie-in. Adding to this, because of the DBD story, it feels like the entire 1980's timeline doesn't have meaning because of the multiverse , and therefore your choices don't matter - because the 2024 time period carries on as normal. For people like me who've never played DBD, I feel like the game would've been better without the DBD content, and instead just focused out on fleshing out the 1980s time period. As it stands, because the game is so short, the story is lacking in fleshed out characters, good pacing - as the story rushes itself massively about halfway through, and a lot of characters lose out on a lot of screen and playtime, because of the bouncing around between time periods. Ironically, one of the characters who's got the most 'presence' in the game (Jaime - pronounced 'Hi-May'), and is my favourite of the group, gets the least amount of playtime and is one of the most easiest to get killed.
In my opinion, the characters in the 1980 time period are actually quite likeable, and, maybe more importantly, memorable. The way they interact with and talk to each other is realistic, and each of them has a very distinct personality. It's enough to intrigue me, and want more - but, again, the game is too short, which further fuels my wish for a full regular Supermassive game with them. Make each of them as playable as any other, add to their backstory, give them character development, and actually make the relationship feature have meaning - because as it stands, it doesn't.
The game has a feature called the 'Cutting Room Floor', which, if anyone has ever played Detroit: Become Human, it's this game's version of the flowchart. Except, the CRF is a bit more long-winded, because you only zoom out so far, and you have to click and drag a lot to get from one end to the other, whereas Detroit separates it by chapters. For those who aren't familiar, you can go back and replay from specific moments of the game where certain choices were made, and do something a bit different. However, you only have access to it once you've either completed the story once, or purchased the Deluxe Edition.
Moving onto the graphics, and this is Supermassive's first game in Unreal Engine 5. While the game and characters look really good, the optimisation is horrible. My computer is more than capable of running the game on it's highest settings, yet I can only run it on high, even then the game drops FPS when loading into new areas and scenes. Certain areas will lag for a moment, while the rest of the game runs smoothly, but I think I got the better end of the stick, because I hear that some people have had worse experiences. There also seems to be a huge bug where somehow people are losing their entire save game, and have to start from scratch? I've not experienced it myself (yet), but that might be something to lookout for. Just remember to backup your save.
I'd say for 10 extra dollars, it's worth buying the Deluxe Edition. The alternate outfits that everyone can wear actually look really good, and add a bit of flair. Having access to the CRF from the beginning is also handy. You also get some bonuses to use in DBD, if you own the game and link your accounts.
So, is the game worth buying? I'd say yes, ultimately, but maybe only on sale. I like the game as it is, but I really wanted more with the 1980's group. The story and characters are intriguing, I just wish they existed in a game that excluded the DBD story.