jobythedog

I came into this game knowing it had poor reviews. It was on sale for $5 and I decided to give it a shot since I was drawn in by its art style, music and trailer for the game. For $15, I can't recommend this game. For $5...maybe. I would probably give this game a 4/10, but I think it deserves an extra point for being a debut game from Painted Black. I'd like to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly in this game. The Good: - Great consistent art style with great lighting effects. - Music was fantastic during certain scenes and would give me goose bumps. - interesting story. - Genuine spooks from a pixel art game? You bet. The Bad: - Music could be better. Instead of songs looping back to themselves, they tend to have a hard stop and a restart. This makes you feel like you've been trying to solve a puzzle for longer than intended. - Anticlimactic death. This could be fixed by some screen shake, a change in music, and a more inspired death screen. - A few annoying bugs here and there, but nothing that would make the game unplayable. - Puzzles seemed to lack logic most of the time, but most of the challenge was wondering around trying to find objects to use. It's a bad feeling running around the entire area only to backtrack to see a very small object you missed. The Ugly: - As many have stated before, the dialogue is dreadful. I thought I could move past this since there wasn't any voice acting, but I found myself audibly yelling at the game to shut up. - Gameplay was tedious and boring. You have the ability to sprint, but you can't use it when looking for a new object to glow yellow since you're basically always looking for an object that glows yellow, and you can often miss it if you are running. Overall, I really wish I enjoyed The Long Reach more. This game has potential, but it is ruined by terrible dialogue, tedious gameplay, illogical puzzles and spotty sound design. The game is only saved from a completely negative review because of its pleasing art direction, some memorable music moments, interesting story and conclusion. I hope Painted Black Games can return with a game with a similar aesthetic, but better writing and gameplay.