A confusing time travel tale best left in the past
GoG.com doesn’t let you update your review so I’m doing that here….
After finishing this game I’m left wondering why I even started.
The heart of this game should be the story it is telling, but the entire time I was playing A New Beginning I was dodging plot holes like Indiana Jones dodging bullets in any of his adventures. There’s a lot that doesn’t add up or completely falls apart in this time traveling thriller, but we’re supposed to believe it was meant to be – it’s explained away during a twist in its final act. Well, the biggest problem with that idea is this twist doesn’t do that. Some of the bigger plot holes are filled but more are opened up which include character motivations and questions about what you played was truth and what was fiction. In the end you’re left scratching your head which is never a good conclusion to a video game you just spent hours slogging through.
The characters are either absolutely horrible or utterly stupid… if the story you are told is even the truth. Read the old review below to understand more on this. I can’t help but think that the core story of the father, son and his old team would have made a much more compelling, emotional story than the additional sci-fi time travel drivel we got added on. It’s extra baggage that detracts from the true heart of this game.
The graphics do look great throughout, but the animations start to fail as you notice they skimped on frames causing an almost stop-motion animation look to the characters. In fact, beyond the graphics, most of the game starts to fail. The descriptions for actions on screen randomly change (back to German, I think?), the audio that isn’t forgettable sounds chopped together or like an A.I. voice is reading it to you. Sometimes it overlaps or crackles when it starts/stops. It’s a mess.
The gameplay works when you know what to do, but the steps to get there will sometimes elude you far too easily. Sometimes you’ll be faced with a futuristic puzzle that you don’t know anything about (because it’s a futuristic device) and be expected to solve it through trial and error. There are times where you try every solution or combination but come to realize that you just needed to click on something a second time in order to advance. In traditional adventure game style, you’ll be grabbing things early that you will miraculously need later on and then you’ll combine them in even odder ways which I’m grown numb to but can’t we expect more from a game released in the last decade?
Bottom line: The entire game is all over the place like a time traveler trying to find the right destination in time. Much like the crew in A New Beginning, it misses its mark.
OLD REVIEW
I’m currently halfway through this game and will update it upon completion
I went into this game with elevated expectations knowing what Daedalic has put out in the past, but I’m currently sitting at mid-game with feelings heavily skewed to the negative.
First of all, this story is wild… and I don’t think in a good way. Yes, it has to do with global warming and climate change which is fine with me, but man do they really pound this message home. Don’t worry though, our heroes have a plan to get this message across to any non-believers – a truly asinine plan that I hope backfires just because of how silly it is. Bottom line: the writing is mediocre in its best parts, and horrific in its worst – especially the characterization. There is one character in particular that is a misogynistic pig that constantly berates our heroine every chance he can get. Of course, she doesn’t do herself any favors when her one job is to set up radio communications after traveling to the past… but she skipped the mission training! Still, it would be nice to know the future we are trying to save isn’t utter crap.
The graphics and animations are great as can be expected. Every location you visit is interesting and has a unique atmosphere without being too wild. The audio accompanying it is decent at best. There are a lot of crackles during cutscenes when audio starts/stops. Sometimes audio will overlay each other. Most of the time, during conversations it sounds like a computer is piecing together words to form sentences which can get annoying.
The gameplay is generally good, for the most part. There are some scenarios where I don’t know what the game wants me to do after I’ve literally searched everywhere only to find I have to click on something a second time or combine items in a way that doesn’t make sense.
Overall, it’s an interesting ride I hope improves but only time will tell.