Deadlands Noir - That Old Time Religion Reviews

Good for what it is, which is a short story to bring to life a setting for the pen-and-paper RPG setting, Deadlands Noir for Savage Worlds. Viewed in that context this story has flavor and writes in the proper voice for the genre.

While simple, this visual novel captures the 1930's noir setting perfectly. I would have preferred more decisions to change the plot, but I enjoyed the story and especially the music. What people need to realize is this is an introduction to the Deadlands Noir world, so the story is relatively basic to ease people in. If you're a fan of the setting or want to check out Deadlands Noir for the first time, this is worth the coin.

Pros: Cheap Cons: no setting customization bland writing no choices very short bad graphics assumes you know everything already no character depth in total, forget this game, just save your money!

I read one review, in which the player complained that the clues were too easy to come by. The way I saw this game, the point wasn't just to find clues - it's to follow the detective on his journey and choose the path he takes. I assume that most choices will eventually lead to him solving the mystery, but even if they don't, it's fun choosing which informant he speaks to next, which action he decides to take, etc. It's your classic choose-your-own adventure novel, and for me, it brought back tons of great memories from my childhood. I personally loved this game. And I loved the visuals. The artwork was amazing, and I thought the music was great too.

Good game: a decent story with original noir-styled art and music. Possibly a bit short but that would be my only complaint Edit for Episode 2: Where episode 1 felt short and had a story that was a bit linear, episode 2's story is a bit longer and feels more fleshed out with a few more branching paths because they've added a little bit more weight to the choices you make. Overall the game feels more complex but in the good way, it makes you feel more invested with the characters and the story. This is a good Deadlands story and I will be pleased if the devs make more.

While I briefly played the Deadlands tabletop RPG back in the 90s - yup, I'm THAT old! - I'll confess to having never so much as HEARD of this Deadlands Noir phenomenon. Now, considering that Deadlands was more-or-less a transposing of Call of Cthulhu-style antics into a Western (read: cowboy) setting, I'm not quite sure what the purpose of transposing Call of Cthulhu-style antics into a 1930s setting is, considering that that's precisely when the original Call of Cthulhu RPG was set anyway! BUT...I'm not here to query the existence of a tabletop RPG, I'm here to review a video game/"visual novel" set in that universe. So get awn wit' it, already! Now, while I played plenty of Fighting Fantasy-style gamebooks when I was young, and read the occasional "Choose Your Own Adventure"-style book as well, I'm not going to pretend that I'm especially well-versed in the world of the "visual novel". I've played a couple, and that's about it. And in all honesty, they're not a medium terribly well-suited to yours truly, considering that I speed-read too fast to become truly immersed in whatever it is that I'm reading, and, well, basically, that's the main thing which these kinds of "games" are comprised of: Reading! I'll further add that I'm a little ambivalent about the VALUE of text-based adventure games in an era where video games are capable of graphics arguably more convincing than a lot of the CGI you see in BLOCKBUSTER MOVIES these days (fuck you all, I'll take the visual aesthetic of Bioshock Infinite or Outlast over a frigging MARVEL or recent PETER JACKSON movie, any day)! But again I digress, as I'm here to attempt to objectively review this game for what it is, rather than query the very validity of its existence at all. So how does this stack up as a "visual novel", given my understanding of what this genre aims to achieve? Well, the visuals themselves are...well...they're okay. A bit sub-standard considering the whole nature of the project, but certainly nowhere near "bad" enough to significantly diminish the experience...though there's precious few images actually on offer (perhaps mercifully), and they don't always illustrate what is being described in the text 100% accurately (invisible fedoras, anyone?)! So what about...the writing? Well, being a "noir" (read: detective) piece, the writing is certainly appropriate and on the whole, pretty good...sure it's not Raymond Chandler, but whad'ya expect? It's fine, it really is, and even served me up the occasional chuckle. Try this one on for size: "He looked as nervous as a rabbit at a coyote convention." Now, if that don't float ya boat, then you're probably not gonna have a very good time here. It certainly does "the job" it's meant to do, in my humble opinion. As does the music, which is nice enough without being anything to write home about. Unless your mother is especially into a mix of moody jazz and pseudo-orchestral horror movie soundtracks (in which case she'll probably appreciate your letter). What about...story? Hoo boy. Here's the kicker. IT'S REALLY FRICKING SHORT. How short?! Well, under an hour, if you read as quickly as me...maybe an hour-and-a-half if you're a super-slow reader. And "gameplay"? Well...again, I'm not sure I made much more than about eight to ten "decisions" during the course of the entire game! Sure, none of those led to me DYING, so maybe you get a bit more bang for your buck if you DO manage to snuff yourself at some point; and perhaps there's even a teeny, tiny bit of replayability* if you start all over again, and make a few different choices here and there. But there's no surely no justification for the four-dollar asking price. Oh, and it ends with an ADVERTISEMENT for the tabletop game, so if its main purpose is to be a shameless advertisement for an altogether different product...maybe it's worth a BUCK, if that?! (FREE also occurs to me as a reasonable price-tag, but let's not quibble.) If I haven't managed to talk you out of it yet, at least wait until a significant sale. Consider this a very WEAK recommendation at best, and only at a bargain-basement price. Verdict: 5/10. (* Google tells me that "replayability" isn't a real word. Google can go fuck itself. I'M OLDER THAN IT IS, SO IT CAN LEARN TO RESPECT ITS FUCKING ELDERS, SO IT CAN.)

A really short VN, but enjoyable. I liked the noir style and I’d definitely read another VN like this one. Get it on a sale tho, since it’s really short and not so worth paying the full price. 5/10.

Sam Spade [Humphrey Bogart ~ Maltese Falcon (1941)] has nothing on Harvey Jenkins when it comes to being a hard boiled private detective. This is 'Film Noir' without the film. Stories are set in 1935 New Orleans, Harvey Jenkins is a man about town who has unlikely friends and makes powerful enemies. But that is what happens when one is a private detective that takes on unusual cases, those of the supernatural kind. He and John Constantine (Vertigo comics Hellblazer/2005 movie) are much alike, one foot in Hell and the other in Heaven. Nearly a kinetic visual novel but reads and plays like Choose Your Own Adventure game. Make your choices and see what happens, just try not to die - again. Game consists of two stand alone episodes, with options for autoplay or having the story contents read (computer voice, so no voice actors). About 90 minutes an episode, if slow like me (and/or get interrupted). Worth the read, and asking price, for a nice blend of a visual novel that has choose your own adventure choices.

[b]Edit: Please note that this review concerns the initial release of this game (episode one).[/b] Games made to advertise other games aren’t particularly uncommon, and for choice-based games, you only have to look as far as Love In Space’s [i]Sunrider Academy[/i] or (as a more relevant example) Epiphany Games’ [i]Majestic Nights[/i] series to see that it’s very much a thing. But while most tie-ins put in the effort, [i]That Old Time Religion[/i] doesn’t. The crux of it is that [i]That Old Time Religion[/i] wasn’t made to be a visual novel. Everything about it points to being an illustrated short story shoved into Ren’py, given a rolling music track from the main product and a few choice points. The game really shows a lack of understanding of what visual novels are, what they can be, or at the very least shows the lack of thought that went into this whole endeavour. While I can empathise that making a visual novel isn’t easy – even if you’ve made plenty of other games before – there’s just too much thoughtlessness here to ignore. The options that ultimately don’t lead to consequence, the art being a handful of stills, the narration sometimes not matching the art, the narration intruding on the dialogue, the music not entirely suiting the action, the default Ren’py UI, the default resolution, the lack of sound effects, and a bunch of things that come down to taste just gets in the way of any experience you could have. Future content is promised, but I doubt any additions would change this without giving the whole thing an overhaul. As a visual novel it’s lazy, as an introduction to the RPG it lacks flair; the only thing it suits is publication in a place targeting existing fans. It’s honestly disappointing to see established developers create this and think it’s remotely good enough. Play it if you’re desperate.

[b]Edit: Episode 2 has been added since this review was written. Episode 1 has had "minor updates," so some of the information in this review might be outdated.[/b] I don't want to pile on here, and I wouldn't go so far as "dreadful," but yeah, this isn't very good. It feels really rushed, character development is largely tell not show, and things mostly happen one after the other for no apparent reason. If you choose poorly, you just get rescued. Nothing really matters. There's one random choice that will lead to an explanation of a major plot point and give you an important item. If you don't make that choice you still get the item; it comes out of nowhere. In addition to the plot issues, as a visual novel it's technically pretty sloppy. There are weird things like narration in character dialog windows and single choice decisions. There's no CG gallery with percent completion, even after playing through once. Considering that the whole thing ends with an ad for the Deadlands Noir tabletop RPG, it probably just should have been free. There are trading cards (set of 5), though, which isn't currently listed on the store page (oh, it's in the description, but not the sidebar), so if it's on sale for fourteen cents it might be worth buying.