Blackbar

This game was delightful, and I’m glad for every moment I spent with it. But I finished the whole thing in a night! The creators did just enough with the censorship mechanism to keep it interesting and I definitely wanted more—maybe some DLC? The one mechanism I’m sad wasn’t explored more was *SPOILER ALERT* the single puzzle that had TWO possible correct answers for progression. Granted, one led to an immediate game over, but finding other ways to implement this would’ve been amazing. Thanks for the great game, looking forward to trying Grayout!

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A few of the puzzles, even after googling the answer, made very little sense and I can’t see how anyone would come to that conclusion as the answer had the vaguest connection. Developers, that is definitely not how a raven is like a writing desk. One literally has no clues or context whatsoever, you’re just guessing words until you find one that fits, only then do you have context for the rest. The game was great in concept, truly unique, but at times poorly executed. It killed the pacing of an already cliche, but well done, dystopian story. Unlike some I actually really liked that it was supposed to be a short game, if the developers would just get a few of the puzzles to make more sense this could be a very interesting brief experience. $3 for an hour or two of interesting entertainment is well worth it. This game could so easily be fixed to be the interesting experience it set out to be.

I played Grayout before this one, which made the story more familiar to me and it probably helped me figure out quite a few of the answers. BUT, often the answers were difficult, sometimes ludicrously so. I ended up looking up answers many, MANY times, and more often than not my reaction when seeing the solution was “How the hell was I supposed to get THAT?” This was especially true with later puzzles that involved some kind of riddle or clue-most of the time, I found the “clue” to be too vague for me to ever get the answer on my own.

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The concept of the game is fun and original. The game itself is pretty dull. Not a lot of clever; not a lot of fun. The cute little twists all leave something to be desired, I think because the medium itself—like a worse kind of crossword—is sorely lacking. The plot, which is really the only thing worth keeping on for, isn't worth keeping on for at all; it's a heavy-handed, childish take on a dystopian government, the sort of thing a teen comes up with after reading 1984. The characters are shallow, the Evil Government is boring, and the one attempt at tugging your heartstrings manages to be simultaneously melodramatic and boring. This is not a good game, for all it was created by a great guy.

GREAT game. Terrific story, good puzzles, quite challenging at times. I recommend playing with a friend so you can bounce ideas off each other. Some reviewers thought it was too hard. It can be difficult, but it just takes time and thought to figure it out- this is not a game for people who want to zip easily through puzzles. Well worth the price, and I just bought grayout too! Thanks for such a great experience- I hope there will be many more games like this to come!