SCAVS

(Edited version of the review I posted on the forum)

I really enjoyed this game. I liked the conceit of being diagetically behind a screen controlling other characters, and thought the interface and design contributed to make it feel immersive.

Narratively, I thought the pacing was really well-done. (Spoiler - click to show)I also really appreciated how the second half of the game tied into the first half, making for a tight narrative and also making certain mechanics, like the rapport mechanic which had felt so easy as to be superfluous in the first half of the game, suddenly feel relevant.

For the most part the cyberpunk and scifi elements were pretty standard (not a bad thing, I like a lot of traditional scifi), but the AI element of the worldbuilding was interesting and landed for me in a way a lot of attempts at criticizing modern AI don’t. I liked that take on the traditional exploitative background villain of cyberpunk narratives.

My main critique was that some of the dialogue felt a little unrealistic. I played as Karth for most of the game, and chalked it down to him getting sentimental in his old age, but it might have bothered me more if I’d started with Jyn.

Also, while I’m tempted to replay and choose the other scavenger first to see how the story changes, I’m a little afraid that if I do, I will find out that the choices that felt like they mattered the first time around didn’t actually matter. This is the kind of game where the feeling of my choices being important carried a lot of the emotional weight of the game, and if I found out that weight was superficial, it could ruin the magic.