Ulasan

• gamedeal user

  Jun 19, 2023

  Want to preface this with up until the final act I would have given this a thumbs up. I could look past all the shortcomings and praise it as an incredible first effort at a game release. But it just took took one leap too far into the red at the end there. :: The good :: Art/Vibe Fall of Porcupine is a beautifully presented game. The art and atmosphere is incredible. And at times I questioned whether I actually preferred the art-style and atmosphere over that of its spiritual predecessor, and honestly I think I do. They have done a great job at building the world and vibe they set out to. And must make an extra note of the character rigs. They are so bouncey, full of life, and expressive! The game feels great. :: Not a deal-breaker :: Music The music itself was very good. However something I noticed while playing is that it is a very quiet game. Occasionally I felt like something was missing and very quickly realised little to no sound was present in the scene at all. I understand this is used intentionally in some cases but too often it just seemed to be missing, and would have otherwise boosted the atmosphere and general feel of the game to another level. :: The not so great :: This game had massive potential and has obviously drawn a lot of comparison between another game involving a town of animals, fall themes, crisp picture-book-esque lineless art direction, dialogue balloons, and sarcastic humor, packed into a narrative based side-scrolling platformer. And it initially looked like it was going to be able to stand on its own two legs against it very very convincingly. However unfortunately it just doesn't quite make it there on a few levels. Bugs/Gameplay Certain keyboard keys don't correspond with the UI prompts. Gamepad can be unresponsiveness at times. Moved back onto PC only to find that some games were literally uncompletable on keyboard. For example, one mini-game requires you to hold down multiple keys (4-5 keys) which seems to stop working after holding two, causing you to immediately bomb multiple unrepeatable parts of the game. Another mini-game seemingly has no instructions on how to play it and despite playing it multiple times through the game, still could not figure out what was required for an "A grade" by the end. NOTE: And on the briefly on subject of grades (because I don't want make a whole other section for it), the grades/mini-games are such a large part of padding out the game time just for them all to seemingly not mean or amount to anything by the end. The game also suffers from some clipping/z-axis issues where parts of characters or props will clip/overlap over one another in passing. I once witnessed this following what should have been a hard hitting scene. Instead I woke up immediately following that scene then proceeded to fly from my bed to the other side of the room while still laying down and asleep, which sort of ruined the mood. NPC movement AI is also quite buggy causing them to be left behind often. Writing For the most part the writing is solid. At times the humor seems to attempt to emulate that of its spiritual aforementioned predecessor and kind of falls flat when it doesn't quite meet that mark, which can feel a little awkward at times. Otherwise the dialogue is perfectly fine and enjoyable to read. The structure of the narrative on the other hand is not great. Most of the time when it comes to your relationships and learning more about other characters it seems to be a bit of an exposition dump. Instead of building a relationship with the characters throughout the game and the payoff being some personal reveal or hard hitting scene near the end, characters you are hanging out with for the first time seem to abruptly give you their life story by the end of your first hangout and then aren't much further developed upon after that. I was enjoying myself regardless for the first two acts but felt like something was missing that was stopping me from getting fully immersed in the story. It turns out it was because of the seeming lack of one, which was subtly missing from the chit-chat up until that point. The overarching story beyond "slice-of-life pigeon goes to first job and is nervous" doesn't really take shape until the final act and then the game is over. I spent the first two acts wondering what the main plot thread actually was. In retrospect the seeds of the final plot are dotted around the early game but they mean very little until the last act and don't give you a solid enough sense of what the mystery is, or even if there is a mystery in the first place. At best they are hints that there could be a plot, maybe. So by the time it actually comes out that there is indeed an actual overarching something going on to be theorising about, you're already an hour or two away from the credits. The game does a great job at setting the immediate scene (and town in general) and capturing the everyday events taking place presently in-front of Finley, but has a hard time developing on both characters and the story outside of that over the length of the game. The Ending I was writing this review as a recommendation in my head as I was playing as I could look past everything that has been said, enjoy it for everything it does well, and praise it for being a great first release. But the ending just put an unforgettable damper on everything. (Vague spoilers) As mentioned, the final act finally confirms an overarching plot and goes full steam ahead, packing the entire story into that final act. It poses a very interesting mystery and opens up a bunch of questions about the true nature of the events taking place. Then proceeds to answer none except for one of them. And that reveal is given in the shortest most unceremonious exposition-dump I've ever seen which takes place between two characters you just casually walk into chatting in a hallway. And even then it proceeds to answer none of the other questions such as: -Why/how did the 5th floor suffer the fate it did? -Confirmation on how the entire town got sick -Who was in on it? -How/will the town tensions be resolved? It then proceeds, in the last 20 minutes of the act/game, to set off what feels like the start of the climax of the game. And then the credits suddenly roll. Nothing answered. No resolutions or even hints at what those resolutions might look like. The one reveal that does take place seemingly has zero consequences as literally no one broaches the issue from the point until the credits roll, everyone present sort of just glances over it. In fact with regards to everything that happens, the player is not given the opportunity to experience any of the repercussions or outcomes of it all, apart from some fleeting stills in the credits. No characters even get an opportunity to talk about or address literally anything that happens in the last 20 mins. It just ends. And then in the post credits scene throws another stray random attempt at a hard-hitter which falls flat since, much like the majority of the other characters, no time was spent actually building the players compassion & familiarity towards said character. And it doesn't go about it in a way that would be effective even if they had. It sort of just randomly drops it in your lap and then kicks you back to the main menu suddenly. With pretty much no buildup or time to fathom it or let it set in afterwards, or to experience the consequences of it, it just doesn't really work. As a side note, funnily enough I found one of the side characters (fisherman) to have left the largest impact on me as you actually visit them each day and develop your relationship with them throughout the game, evidence CritRabbit know how to do this. I can only theorise the ball was dropped in order to meet time restraints. The game had immense potential which is skewered by that ending and handling of the wider narrative, and failure to deliver on the buildup it creates.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 16, 2023

  This is a difficult review. While I am loving the game so far, it has a great story and art design... I have run into a game breaking bug. I cannot interact with any doors/rooms/people in my current situation. I've tried to quit and retry the sequence but the same bug followed me into a different area where I became trapped again. Hope the developers squash this soon as I was really enjoying the game up until this point! 6/10 only because I can't continue playing. :(
• gamedeal user

  Jun 17, 2023

  I love this game. It's super relaxing to play - the music, characters, story and mini games are all enjoyable and great. Absolutely love the artwork! I haven't come across any huge issues despite it just being released, a couple typos here and there. I would definitely recommend this to anyone that loves laid back story games. Very familiar to Night in the Woods (I think there's even a painting in the pub of Mae but maybe that's just my imagination).
• gamedeal user

  Jul 4, 2023

  Bought this game day of release, hoping to enjoy it as much as Night in the Woods, which is an obvious inspiration to this game. However I had multiple issues, not including bugs. To be honest, the bugs weren't all that bad for me and I was fine with things clipping weird occasionally and only had to restart the game once due to a room never loading. PROS: - good, likable characters (which honestly? All the characters were so nice, it was somewhat bland) - amazing art style - A trigger warning at the start of the game which I found to be greatly helpful CONS: - story has no real hook, plot or ending. You're basically just walking around town for half the game. I kept playing, and thinking "when's the plot gonna kick up?" but it never did - The minigames are pretty awful. The entire "game" part of the minigames is things like... playing "Mastermind", pressing buttons quickly enough, etc. Where there's no real fun to be had. I played every minigame, and to be honest they were really boring. - If you suck at the minigames, you get nothing but a bad grade. Aside from ptsd from my school years, it literally affect the plot ZERO times. if you do badly, the evaluator will be like "not your best work" and that's it. - The plot is super slow and sub-par. I kept wondering "how are they going to end this?" and they just... didn't. - Nothing felt like it really mattered. - the "platformer" bits are genuinely so easy I was curious as to how or why they were even in there. THAT BEING SAID... if you want to play this game, just expect it to be a more "slice of life" thing than a grand adventure. Personally, I just found it to be a waste of my time and money.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 10, 2023

  I really, really like Fall of Porcupine. It's a lot of fun, the characters are nice and interesting, the story and plot that's set up has me engaged, and the world they built is fun to see and feels like a great town. Unfortunately this game is also a buggy and broken mess and it's just not something I can recommend in this state. I hope it gets fixed because what I've seen is a genuinely fun and interesting story that I do recommend, it's just part of a game that's broken and buggy.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 19, 2023

  Initially I was so excited to play this game, it seemed like my perfect game and i was eagerly awaiting its release date. However, after completing the game I am left with an unsatisfied and angry feeling due to how slow the game was initially followed by a sharp build up and no climax. For their first game they have the artwork and music down beautifully, but where it fails is its story. The conversations are long and tedious, you don't really learn anything from them. I didn't enjoy talking to any of the side characters as I felt it was unnecessary. I found only two of the mini games enjoyable, but even if you fail them there's no consequences so there's no real sense of pressure to do them right, you'll pass anyway. A 'C' grade is the same as an 'A' grade, it doesn't affect either short or long term performances. The game has a slow build up, which isn't bad for a more relaxed gameplay, but the story suddenly spikes and claims to have all this tension with no release. There's no explanation for the town suddenly getting sick, they just are. The reveal of what the director did wasn't shocking and the characters very quickly moved on from it with no further mentions . The ending was so abrupt it left me staring at the credits in utter shock because there was no resolution. The story felt cobbled together for the third act, as if they didn't have enough time to develop it and so decided to go with a half-assed rushed idea. I also experienced many typos, which for a story driven game is unacceptable. The dialogue between characters is what makes the story and it really broke your immersion to constantly be seeing typos. The dialogue would also sometimes repeat itself, or just not start so the screen was just frozen. There was a few graphical bugs, such as some of Finley's outfits appearing in the wrong scenario (winter hat and scarf with pyjamas). Also when waking up in bed Finley would sometimes float across his apartment. These bugs were to be expected from me, seeing as the game has only just released and it is their first game, but I hope they get them fixed soon. They've managed to portray some of the struggles health workers go through, but that seems to be the whole game. There isn't an overarching story that makes you want to invest more time exploring the town, and the game has no consequences for any action you do. In my opinion it's an insult to compare this game to Night In The Woods, whose story is crafted so elegantly.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 4, 2023

  Let me tell you a little story. I'm roughly 2/3 through the game, coming off of a very emotional scene where our main character is confronted with the inevitability of death. In the moments immediately afterward, other characters reel from the impact of this death in the community and grieve together. As I go around back of the local bar, I encounter another of the hospital staff, wracked with survivors guilt, and help him come to terms with the fact that there are things we can't control, actions can have unknowable consequences, and we have to move on regardless. Tragically, while entering this part of the game, the main character's torso despawned, meaning that this lovely dialogue was coming out of a raymanesque pile of floating limbs. Fall of Porcupine, frankly, is riddled to the gills with bugs. Some are serious enough to require a restart (talking to a certain NPC after a cutscene disables your movement controls, pressing the wrong button when starting the dancing minigame changed my game language to French, etc.), but even the purely cosmetic ones are a hammerblow to the immersion and atmosphere. This is a 2D talk-'em-up, and is somehow as broken as a modern AAA release. It's a shame, because I really enjoyed most of my time with Fall of Porcupine. The story was quite touching up until it abruptly stopped, and the art design, obviously, is excellent. There's a lovely game in here, but I can't in good conscience recommend it until it's fixed.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 18, 2023

  To be perfectly honest, I wasn't familiar with Fall of Porcupine until very recently. I saw the trailer for the game at one of the summer conferences and was immediately interested in the art style and the premise. A lot of people seem to compare it to Night in The Woods, but I believe this is a little bit disingenuous because, while maybe the devs took some inspiration from NITW, Fall of Porcupine has a lot to offer as its own product. The game was a welcoming surprise that kept me invested from start to finish. The narrative actively explores themes of freedom, loss, sacrifice, and the never ending resilience of the human spirit. You're a young doctor that just moved into a new city and started taking first steps by working in the local hospital. During the daytime, you will be tasked with numerous hospital chores in the form of mini-games and I felt that there was enough variety there to keep you engaged as your progress through the story. The main theme of the game is to show that working in a hospital is not an easy task, and you can't expect to be able to save everyone. In your downtime, you'll be able to socialize with the local crowd, plus you can hang out and explore deeper relationships with your friends. There is a city to explore, but there are not a lot of side activities to be done, there is some roof climbing and the odd tidbit in your apartment with which you can interact, but most of the interactions with the environment are tied to story stuff. In my playthrough, I noticed some bugs. Some of the button prompts didn't work, and the notes app on your phone wasn't showing, until you started the app again. Part of the dialogue was repeating or wasn't showing it all and there were some grammatical errors, but mostly it was nothing that affected my enjoyment of the game. I truly believe that this title deserves more attention, there is a demo you can try so if you like story-driven games with some fun mini-games and interesting characters, give it a try!
• gamedeal user

  Jun 28, 2023

  The only good things this game really has going for it is that the art and characterization were solid. No real story, no real character progress, definitely no ending. A largely empty game that thinks it's making some great point but is really just one of those people who loves to talk but doesn't really have much to say. Plus all the bugs (one of them actually game-breaking - the snowball fight), the terrible mini-games with terrible instructions... A game of great promise that sadly falls short of that promise in nearly every category.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 11, 2023

  I really wanted to love this game and it pains me to leave a negative review but I honestly just can't recommend it. There are lots of things some big and some small that bring this game down and it could've been such a great experience. I picked up this game mostly because I was interested in the story. I feel like topics around healthcare aren't explored nearly enough so I was extremely interested in how they handle representing underfunded hospitals and overworked staff but I'm really sorry to say I was disappointed at best and I felt kind of insulted at worst. The healthcare system isn't perfect. I feel like everyone has been critical of it at least once whether you complain about high prices or long wait times. These topics are tackled in the story as a passing mention but the people that are most vocal about these issues are portrayed as a couple of angry idiots and the game makes it very clear that you should see them as such. Very disappointing to see a portrayal like that especially because a lot of the criticism for the healthcare system has a lot of nuance to it. I do not need this game to hold a really deep philosophical conversation about healthcare but I was really hoping for a story that's grounded a little more reality especially how I saw it mention that they interviewed healthcare workers when writing the story. And another thing I disliked about the story came nearly at the end. I was convinced the hospital was bearly holding on by a thread because of the system as a whole. But turns out it's just a matter of the director embezzling money from the hospital which was really disappointing because then you can just solve the issue by getting rid of the director to solve the problem and not question the system as whole. The story also feels kind of slow. I get that you'd want to develop the characters before the drama to make the player care about them more, but for how abruptly this game ends, the time spent outside the hospital feels disproportionate. And this feeling is only made worse by the lack of animations, music and weird sound mixing. The characters regardless of situations rarely change their expressions and don't even look at each other while talking. All of them have maybe one idle and one talking animation and this coupled with almost non-existent talking sound effects made the conversations really static and quiet regardless of what was actually being said. The music was very nice when it was there but the majority of the game is spent in complete silence or just ambient sound effects of wind or crickets that are sometimes so loud that they drown out the already quiet music. The game also has some weird tonal shifts kicking off loud and bright minigames in the middle of a quiet and dark moment. There's one pretty serious event in the game that pretty much starts most of the drama of this story and has major consequences later but while you're doing it it's just a funny rpg-like minigame with funny music and goofy attacks! I just couldn't take that moment seriously because of it. With another moment like this happening after the outbreak of that mysterious disease and a patient abruptly flatlines in a room with 3 doctors and a nurse and Dr Krokowski instantly calls them dead and sends their doctors home! I just couldn’t help but laugh at the idea that Dr Krokowski didn’t even try to resuscitate the patient and instantly pronounced them dead. Again I wanted to love this game! The art style is cute and nostalgic, the lore that they came up with for the town of Porcupine is cool, and the characters all felt distinct, but the issues I mentioned above dragged it down too much :(