The Fabulous Fear Machine Review (sowizosowizo)
Reading about this, I was immediately intrigued about the concept of spreading fear to push your particular agenda, although even after seeing the screenshots I was unsure how it would work gameplay-wise. I definitely like staring at maps though, so I picked it up pretty soon, at full price even.
So a bit of a gamble, but it definitely paid off because I thoroughly enjoyed it. The gameplay turned out to be rather straightforward, with new mechanics added or basic ones slightly changed every so often to keep it interesting. In terms of complexity or originality I guess it's nothing to write home about (assign certain messages you want to spread to regions, pick the right conspiracy or horror stories for each region/message, acquire resources and fight enemies with the machine's minions, level up the stories and minions) BUT since the whole ordeal is executed very well it kinda is something to write at least a positive Steam review about.
Not to mention the whole visual style and presentation. The illustrations are so well done I didn't want to miss a single card in the album, so after finishing (which took me 12-13 hrs) I played through half of the levels again to get 100%.
If I had to criticize something it'd be QoL-related, like the fact the game always automatically starts on normal speed even though I like to play with faster speed, pausing whenever there's something to do... I forgot it would do that pretty much every time, which led me to reload a lot since I can't stand it when a minion is idle for a week, especially this early in the level. Then again, it probably wouldn't make much of a difference, since my second criticism is that the game is a bit too easy overall (and I usually like it relatively easy). There was one level I had to restart twice, other than that it was a walk in the park. So for future DLCs or sequels: I wouldn't mind failing more often, within reason.
As for the themes and stories, the philosophical implications if you will, it's kinda silly to assume that spreading any kind of urban legend and conspiracy theory would further whatever goal you're after, but since the game doesn't take itself too seriously (despite the serious nature of its topics) it's easy to suspend your disbelief. In the three scenarios you're playing (which I'm not gonna spoil), the idea even makes sense in a way and there often are connections between the stories and the goals, but abstract "fear" is just not enough to explain the phenomena we're dealing with here. Good thing that's not the point of the game. It's to tell dark stories in an entertaining manner, and I think it's doing that absolutely fabulously.