Pendula Swing - The Complete Journey

⋆˙⟡ Pendula Swing is a charming surprise. I absolutely love the 1920's fantasy setting! Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins, Elves and Humans all living in a beautiful stylized world. Exploring the town feels genuinely satisfying as you experience many 'firsts' together with the main character. The dialogue is witty, natural and fun to read. A cozy, story-rich experience with a lot of personality! ⋆˙⟡

I thought I'd love this game but after a few hours of playing I realise it just feels like a chore. The game is pretty boring, the character designs are ugly and there aren't really any riddles to solve. Npcs just send you to talk to some other character or find something in order to advance the plot or win achievements and you're more of an errand girl than an explorer. There are a lot of characters to talk to - all text based and no voice acting - and for some reason or gaming logic, most of them are willing to share their life stories and troubles with a stranger, so you can learn about their life and try to help some of them (which as I wrote, it usually means to go and talk to someone else for them or give them something they need). So if you like text dialogues and fantasy worlds you might enjoy this.

I have very mixed feelings on the game. I genuinly like it, it's very charming, I love the world that Pendula builds and love being able to change everything on you, the poly option etc But some stuff I was eh on. For example the elf on the cover is not a regular love interest or character, you can interact with him like once. And the game imo bites off a bit more than it can chew? Trying to talk about systemic racism in regards to orcs and goblins, talking about colonialism and how it would look with long lived races involved. Imo it maybe would have been better if it stuck to only one thing? Talking about the struggles about immigrant goblins or the inequality of orcs or about the stereotypes and problems of class mobility of dwarves who are only hired for specific jobs (hard labor). There are some bugs or weird things, like me unable to talk to the magician after I backed out of the dialogue to get to have him do a ritual for me. And for anybody who got lost as me and thought their game was broken, you can walk through to the frozen dwarf/protest, but there is a LONG way around, not through the small gap you see when you enter the industrial district. Over all, I enjoyed t…

I really liked this game but mid way i encountered a bug that never allowed me to progress and finished the game. I can’t recommend this game being out with such big problem. And I won’t reply another 8hours to possibly encounter it again.

This is a recommendation with reservations. There is a lot to like about Pendula Swing; however, you should also know a couple of things going into it. We’ll start with the good. The lore and worldbuilding in this game is fantastic. It’s a mixture of typical fantasy fare (e.g. the hierarchical breakdown of the races, the clear social commentary, the various gods being a source of conflict among mortals, etc.) with some interesting twists and iterations. I enjoyed learning about this world’s history more than any other part of the game. You find out about this lore by completing a variety of tasks for people around the city you’re exploring. There are a lot of tasks, but none of them are particularly difficult or long. This is almost a cozy game in terms of how little challenge there is - and I say that with affection. Now for the neutral: this is not an RPG. It’s a visual novel stylized as a CRPG. Giving it an isometric perspective makes it look like you’re going to be playing something like a Disco Elysium. To their credit, the devs are very up front about the fact that there’s no combat in this game. But there are no skills or abilities or anything of that sort. The RPG tag …

I LOVED this game. I cared about so many of the characters that fulfilling their quests felt so good. They're the kinds of quests I always wish I could do when I meet downtrodden NPCs in RPGs so it felt great to finally live out that bit of fantasy. I really hope you make something similar again but either way, thank you for the experience.