Recent reviews by positivestress

I loved this game! I think it's an instant classic up there with the best of the genre. mysteries upon mysteries upon mysteries, so much to read, incredible QOL in the automatic notes (I know sometimes the note-taking is part of the fun but if you're going to do it for the player, absolutely do it like this) and a great sense of tension with the in-game clock that moves forward on every conversation and every item you examine. a must-play for detective game enjoyers

A fun document-based deduction game, about three hours long and worth the price imo. I thought the puzzles all worked well and nothing felt super obtuse, with a handful of the satisfying "a-ha!" moments you want from a game like this

I do have one criticism which for me was pretty inconsequential but still worth thinking about. This game is shaped and structured so much like The Roottrees Are Dead that I have to assume that was the main inspiration for A Case of Fraud. Which is totally fine, and I don't mind a game that is unsubtle about what it's trying to replicate, but I wasn't personally satisfied with the execution of that imitation. In Roottrees, there is a very specific story reason that your investigation takes the form that it does. In A Case of Fraud, I don't think it makes sense that I'm doing... most of what I'm doing. Why is a private investigator with access to police documents wasting time determining the corporate structure of this tech startup? Why don't they just have the CTO's name? Why do I have to work out who sits on which side of the room? Why do I care about the name's of a staff member's pet guinea pigs, except that they can be used to lock in a set of three names, because that's how The Roottrees Are Dead did it, because that's how Return of the Obra Dinn did it?

Again, it all works as a puzzle but there's a sort of disconnect between the first 95% of the game, which is just a fun investigation for the player's benefit, and the last 5%, where the detective character puts together the information that they probably should've had free access to from the start. It didn't detract much from my overall experience, which is why I still recommend the game for anyone who is a fan of the genre. It's good! But I think the premise could've been a bit stronger

Really nice minigame-based narrative life sim. Life is extremely hard sometimes but you can always buy things online to solve all of your problems

more like the hundred danganronpa games in one game. I'll write a real review when I finish it. this game rules

the first Citizen Sleeper felt like a game that was extremely up my alley, but something about it never quite worked for me. it had strong moments here and there, but they were floating around (zero-G style. video game reference) in a bunch of mildly engrossing tedium. I liked it, but I didn't love it. thankfully, I'm nothing if not an impulsive buyer of video games, and I picked up the sequel immediately. I loved it!

the themes of human connections vs. isolation and depersonalization and finding hope in a hopeless world hit so much harder for me this time around, and I think it comes down to the crew. in the first game, I vaguely recall a few characters I connected with. the dad trying to escape with his daughter. the chef trying to grow mushrooms for reasons I no longer remember. the mercenary trying to do something I no longer remember for reasons I no longer remember. they were fine characters, but there was a sense that they blinked out of existence when I wasn't around. the crew in Citizen Sleeper 2 feel like persistent residents of the world. they have agency and pursue their own objectives while you're busy. they might drop in and out of the adventure if they have something else going on. some of them I didn't trust or care about, and I mean that in a good way. it made it all the more meaningful when I saw my sleeper forming genuine connections with the others. there is a real feeling of tenderness and care in some of these relationships, and it carries through to the ending in a way that I will not explain except to say that I thought it was sincerely moving

I have one mild criticism that almost isn't a criticism. it wasn't a problem for me, but it could be a problem for someone. the game starts off tense and desperate, as you and your singular ally scrape by on whatever resources you can scrounge up doing odd jobs while staying on the move. at a certain point, I assume through a combination of character class, RNG, build, crew composition, and my own gaming excellence, I felt like the game started to get really easy. I looked back and realized I was hours past the last time I'd ever have to worry about money. failing rolls no longer mattered because I could easily rest off the stress, pay for food, etc. the game has an entire "repair your broken dice" mechanic that never once came into play because I never failed to manage my stress. arguably, this is a narrative arc. I developed my strengths and my friends compensated for my weaknesses. again, it wasn't a problem for my experience. anyone who would be bothered by this could probably just play on hard difficulty and it'll be fine

that being said, the contracts (unique missions in one-off locations) were always tense because of the hard limit on supplies. no matter how good I got at engineering, three people will never have a perfectly easy time exploring a derelict space station. the contracts were excellent, always tense, and often came right down to the wire

maybe someday I'll come back to this game, try a different class and make different choices to see what happens! or maybe I'll just be friends with Juni again

posting this immediately after finishing the game while my I'm Mad at the Video Game is perfectly fresh. this game starts out kind of cool (horrendous combat and clunky controls aside) and just gets worse and worse and worse until stumbling into the worst ending I've ever seen in a video game. how did anyone ever think this game was good??? no conclusions for any of the characters, just boring admin about which rulers get which territory. I do not care about any of that. geralt doesn't care about that. why should I care about anything that just happened? what was the point of any of this? what was the plot of The Witcher 2???

love this series. can't wait to see how the bozos of the 26th century use the idol to destroy themselves in the golden idol 3

this is the best game ever made. by geniuses, for geniuses

great mix of addicting shop management and a weird, funny RPG story. one of my favorite games this year

the idle game of all time