The Stroke of Midnight

I already wrote a precursive review for [i]The Stroke of Midnight[/i], when I just started playing it. It was a very positive review, full of joy and hope. And, after reading TSoM in its entirety (aside from several story-flavouring options leading to the same consequences), I still stand by it. This narration begins as Ontological Mystery, with a person in a very strange and unnatural circumstances; this person does not know who he is and what is happening to him. Gradually, this mystery unravels and becomes a part of much bigger and much more complex story; the story, that goes deep into the past, rooting back in times when he hadn't even been born yet. Rowan's existence is intertwined with past and present events, but in what way, and what these events specifically are, we'll get to know after reading every route until we reach the True Ending. That said, I cannot say in all honesty that I've got answers to all the questions that arose in the process of reading. For majority of them, especially initial ones – yes. Each "preliminary" route (Stan's, Chloe's and The Girl's routes) gives lots of keys, little reveals and insights during its course. Some of them answer you question…

I haven't made it through all the routes in the game yet, just one, but that was enough for me to decide that this game appears to be criminally underappreciated. A long, interesting read with a fascinating story, characters with plenty of sprites, hand done backgrounds, the game is clearly a labor of love by the developers. The voice acting uses British talent, which especially makes sense with the game's setting in London. While they're not 'AAA' talent, the voice actors clearly put their hearts into the characters and are enjoyable to listen to, with a few minor exceptions of lines where for whatever reason were very poorly captured by the recording. Still, a minor quibble that doesn't detract from the experience. The game is light on sheer number of choices, sticking to presenting them only when they're major and otherwise leaving the protagonist to have his own defined personality. Choosing a route is thus less of complimenting character A over character B repeatedly and more about the major path you turn down. The routes also seem dramatic in nature and not romantic (although since I haven't played all of them I don't know for certain). I was initially somewhat hesita…

I'm a bit biased as I'm one of the voice actors in the game, but I'm enjoying the story and I'm happy with the results. I'm also happy that this is another game added to my Linux library.