Tales of the Neon Sea Review (Ltm1900)
Played 1.5 hour then gave up.
Pro:
Beautiful graphic
Con:
Frustrating finding clues on an object
Weak speculation leads to unreliable reconstruction of the crime scene
Many dull mini games
Boring and bland text
I bought this game mainly because of the pixel art, and I was not disappointed. I enjoyed the architecture as well as the neon lights of the city, all well made, every room looks unique, to see more places is the main reason push me play. The lights, metal limbs and robots bring a nice feeling of cyberpunk, regardless of the people, society and its ideology.
Made by Chinese devs, the original game title is 迷雾侦探, which is clearly a detective story, the door plate above the apartment building presents the same title. However, this game tells little about detectives. Game had an interesting start, with some bizarre questions left to answer, but as soon as the investigation of the crime scene began, things became less interesting.
1. Finding clues is frustrating. Player needs to constantly move the mouse and press the E button on objects to scan, not knowing where exactly to look, searching inch by inch is no fun, not to mention repeating the actions.
2. Once all the clues are gathered, instead of letting the player look into them carefully, the game skips the important part and automatically states what happened, the worst part is the conclusion is given recklessly, without thorough thinking and credibility. Then, the player is given several gears to put into the right places, an unrelated mini game to re-construction the crime scene. After 3 similar mini games, I believe this game has nothing or very little of the real detective part, more of a visual novel with limited clues - I can't proceed when I am not convinced by the conclusion.
3. Text feels like lazy work, especially when the detective interviewed no one and refused to knock on neighbors' doors because "No need to bother them."
Sad to pass this game, it has potential.