Sovereign Syndicate

Sadly, this game was a disappointment. I hoped it would play out like a steampunk fantasy version of Disco Elysium, but the similarities are just an empty shell. It's a text based point & click adventure with some different character traits that affect some checks in dialogues, but most of the checks seems insignificant and the leveling up system is boring. There are sidequests but they're mostly unrewarding. When you finish them nothing meaningful happens. The artwork has its charms here and there, but mostly it's dark, greyish and uninspiring. The soundtrack had some pretty tracks, but they're really short and repetitive so I ended up muting the background music because it drove me nuts. In the bottom line, it's basically a visual novel with some illusion of autonomy and interactivity and with some minor choices you can make along the way. The main story is relatively interesting, but it feels like a drag to go thorugh the game and all the other side missions until you reach the conclusions. If you like text based visual novels and semi-fantasy worlds, maybe get this on a discount. Otherwise, there are better games like this to invest your time in.

I don't know who decided to have the camera automatically shift around the player's character in an isometric rpg, but playing this title have been giving me the worst motion sickness in years.

Love steampunk. Interesting setup with this game. Basically a long storyline with choices, no action. Has some replayibility. Camera was a bit wonky. I'd say 7/10

The game is really just OK but I did enjoy aspects of it. It's only a half-step way from a visual novel and towards an RPG so don't let the aesthetic fool you. Go play Disco Elysium first if you have to pick a game in this direction. It's just better. Now some specific thoughts: - There's far too much running around the same areas over and over. Yes it make some amount of sense in the story (since you play as 3 different characters encountering the same things from different angles) but it does feel very repetitive. - The skill/advancement system is ... odd. It does add the most "game" mechanic in the game and it is at least somewhat interesting when you're trying to decide how you want to reply and how that's going to affect your stats. It's weird how the choice at the beginning of starting builds almost leads you to not using the skill you're best at since you end up more capable in raising your worst skills up to usable levels. - I liked the 3 perspectives. It did a good job of layering the world and making it more interesting in the repetition due to different problems and perspectives. I do wish the 3 characters had more connecting them instead of it almost feeling like 3 …

Great value if you get it on sail. My only complaint is I don't want to replay and see different builds because a lot of the aspects of the story rely on mystery. Once I knew the twists I didn't want to play again. But if you take your time with it you'll get a good 10-15 hours. The if you're looking for something Disco Elysium adjacent then this is a good choice.

Great story!