Catalyst Reviews

A fantastic little interactive story with a bad and confusing ending (I think...?). I mean it's not even clear to me whether the game even ended because the days seem to just continue on indefinitely with nothing happening. No credits, no return to the main menu, absolutely nothing that would normally indicate the end of the game other than the voice on the tape saying, "This is the end," which is not sufficient to signal the end of the game because it's a completely normal phrase that fits the context of the tapes. I just let the game continue through several more days, unsure as to whether continuing to play for several more days would make me an idiot or whether quitting because nothing was happening would make me impatient. If that's the intention, well, "clever meta" doesn't necessarily mean good game design. But if we disregard the terrible non-ending, the game was great. Well written, with fantastic visual and audio design. The waits in between tape sessions, notes, etc. help with the pacing and add to the overall experience. It gets better as it goes on, particularly by the third tape. Other than the ending, it was a great game and I really enjoyed it. And it seems like there are three endings, so maybe you'll get an ending that actually acts like an ending (???). No idea. Anyway, it's still a worthwhile experience.

Good game. Interesting narrative, good story, good voice acting, good pace. I wish it got a bit more attention. 7.5/10

I played it all in one sitting fresh after installing it, kind of forgetting that I had bought this and just looking for something to play one Sunday evening with everything else taken care of, not knowing what to expect after simply rolling a die. At the very blind circumstances that I had that would be very hard to replicate, my experience was... interesting. I thought at first it would be drama or mystery, then, it became clear as the game progressed and I wanted to be right to badly that I kept playing. Well; I was right, but it was also a nice implementation of a good story. Stellar voice acting! Really sells the whole thing. One thing that I gotta say is that, despite the game being intriguing and drawing; it's not scary. Not in the slightest. Also, the protagonist could have been better. It was hard to relate to such a... guy; and without relating the diary becomes less meaningful. At horror, you sometimes root for the monster and it's fun to do so, but the protagonist should also be 'root-able' if it makes any sense. Maybe it would have worked to make him less of an irredeemable loser?