izigame.me

Constants and variables. Decisions and outcomes. These are what ensures a Program performs to the best of their abilities, and on the whole this small collection of Programs outside of Flynn's Grid perform their given directives to a T(ron).
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Tron: Identity is a story-driven decision-based visual novel whose story does not go on too long, but left me wanting just a little more by the end of my first playthrough. The story and characters kept me engaged, and each decision left me intrigued the further I played along. Tron is a franchise that likes to tackle ideological themes that a certain mouse tries to avoid, and this game is no exception. Each character had believable beliefs, and the engagement between the cast made this sharing or opposition of certain beliefs feel real. While the game references Flynn and his Grid, it does so authentically and just enough to keep this entry as its own separate iteration. The dialogue and narration were both so well-written, and the extra flavor text from unlockable Memories or Hotspots hidden throughout the overworld provided extra charm (Administrator's Office may shock you!).
Though it all felt rather short (I made one specific decision about a character because I thought there would be more questions to come later in the game, but alas no) and certain story beats felt simple; I can understand how this could happen as this game was seemingly shadow dropped on us—I mean, it came out of NOWHERE during the Q1 Nintendo Direct! The Defrag minigame did stretch the playtime; I found its logical mechanics rather engaging, more than I had expected, and I appreciated the touch of converting your clear time in seconds into millicycles. As a long-time fan, it's little details like that which show a lot of love went into crafting this experience.
All this being said, the one critical feature missing from this game—other than purchasing the game's soundtrack—is a timeline function us Users can use to explore every branch. In decision-based visual novels of any length, it's quite easy to lose track of which decision does what where when. This is important because on the first playthrough I mentioned earlier I managed to blindly keep all characters alive. I made it all the way up to the FINAL confrontation and nearly deescalated the situation thinking I had chosen the best neutral option when in an outcome I had not predicted my opposition gets derezzed. I was so furious that I put the stolen goods back in the Vault at the end. Now, keep in mind that the character progression trees located in the Data Logs—the only form of progression tracking—reset upon each new game. I had to play the ENTIRE GAME A SECOND TIME trying to blindly replicate an identical playthrough, struggling to keep track of who exactly I allied and who I betrayed along the way. As of this writing, I'm still working towards that Achievement. Also as of this writing, THERE'S LITERALLY A TIMELINE SHOWN IN THE TRAILER! HOW IS THIS MISSING?! XD
Thematically, a timeline function makes too much sense: The opening and end credits both feature beams of light branching off in different pathed directions, the icons that represent important choices feature a similar branching off motif, there are obscure references in certain dialogue options that imply Query has innate abilities other Disciples of Tron lack, and the jumping-to-different-moments-across-the-story mechanic could be called "Restore Points" like that of backing up data on a hard drive—something to throw in an additional challenge for the faiths of these different characters on a Grid separated from Flynn. Please, if there is any future update to this game then let it be this quality of life addition. ...Also the soundtrack as paid DLC.
tl;dr The story is excellently crafted, albeit a bit brief... The whole game is lore-friendly and the minigame engaging, the music is amazing (especially the nod to the Legacy leitmotif, legit almost cried)... Just wish there was an easier way to traverse the quantum mechanics of the Core. All-in-all, this entry in the franchise certainly gives itself an identity all its own, and I look forward to seeing how it all will ISO-morph in the future. End of line. _