Resonance (2012)

Classic Wadjet Eye adventure game - great atmosphere, strong writing, memorable characters, and a genuinely excellent twist. I love these kinds of games and Resonance absolutely nails the vibe. That said, the UI and interaction design drag the experience down HARD. So many puzzles aren't about figuring out the solution, but figuring out what extremely specific interaction the game expects from you. Multiple times I had to check a guide only to realize I already knew exactly what to do - the game just wanted me to drag the correct item into STM on a specific character, or trigger progress in a very particular order. The whole system feels inconsistent: - some puzzles branch depending on which character you used - progression can completely change based on who interacts with something first - constantly swapping between characters becomes tedious - some solutions are obvious conceptually but weird in execution - even the ending has important dialogue options hidden behind memory mechanics in ways that feel arbitrary I still enjoyed it overall because the story and atmosphere carried it (and the way the storytelling worked to lead into the main story twist), but this i…

Enjoyable game - Great plot, interesting puzzles with the added dimension of multi-character solutions, with from what I can tell - multiple solutions to different problems.

Yet another thoughtful dystopian point-and-click published by Wadjet Eye! Relatable and clever with a great story and great voice acting.

I normally really love Wadjet Eye published games, but this one just did not do it for my. my score says 16 hours, but i didn't even beat it. That's 2 separate attempts to try to play it over teh years, both failures. The plot is interesting, but playing the actual game is so cumbersome you can't even enjoy it. Too many characters, too many "items" (yes I include "thoughts" as items since that's how they are used basically). Not enough fun adventuring.

I've really enjoyed other Wadjet Eye games in the past, and they set the bar rather high in terms of my expectations for this game and games in general by that developer. I hate this. I hate it so much. The gameplay aspect of a Point-And-Click is almost never one of its strong points. But here, playing through what seems like it's going to be an interesting story is SO. DAMN. TEDIOUS. I am going to drag myself through this because of the story, but I have to keep consulting a guide just to be able to progress in what should be the most basic ways because of how frustrating and unintuitive the gameplay aspect is. Too much pixel-hunting bu*lsh*t and vague or non-existent progression cues. Is it so much to ask for an option that makes pressing the spacebar highlight what's actually interactable onscreen? It has some interesting ideas, but they were not well-executed. I liked some other Wadjet games that were published well before this one, so that indicates this games flaws weren't merely due to a lack of experience in creating PACs. WTF

It is really interesting how a whole generation was so much inspired by the graphical adventures of the 90s. Part of that inspiration is seen in indie games like Resonance. The game has simple yet detailed pixel art old school graphics, atmospheric music, simple yet intuitive mechanics that include using the keyboard to type and the mouse to manipulate certain objects to solve puzzles, much of them using common sense. The game difficulty is well balanced and the story and how it unfolds keeps you hooked until the very end. This is definitely among the best point & click games I have ever played. Totally recommended if you are a fan of the genre.