Retention: A Love Story

[h1]Before I played Retention: A Love Story, I had a small pp, no friends, no gf, depression, and no life. These things havent changed, but the game is pretty good[/h1]

This is yet another student project, one of literally thousands self-published on Steam Direct. It's from SCAD. This is an academic exercise, not a professional game. While it has more quality than most amateur games, it's not a complete gaming experience. Student projects have limited value for gamers because they're not fully developed games, just barely functional demos that show the students progress. Steam is not a place for for-profit colleges to dump student homework assignments... and having thousands of these is not good for gamers. The students made a first person adventure game with a few mini-puzzles, tackling the topic of an elderly lady succumbing to Altzheimers disease and losing her memory. As usual with student projects we have something that might have been successful if it was fully developed, polished and playtested, but as a student project this was rushed out the door full of bugs that will never be fixed because the students got their grades and moved on. The graphics in this game are passable, but could be better. And while it's vital for any game to have impressive visuals (gaming is a visual medium, after all), there's more to a game than just the gra…

Игра "Retention: A Love Story" подкупила своей необычной концепцией и ретро-эстетикой. Пиксельная графика и простая механика идеально подходят для истории о забытых компьютерных персонажах, пытающихся сохранить свое существование. Юмор здесь специфический, но иногда действительно заставляет улыбнуться. Сюжет, хоть и кажется простым на первый взгляд, поднимает интересные вопросы о ценности, устаревании и смысле жизни, пусть и в цифровом пространстве. Выбор, который предоставляет игра, пусть и не кардинально меняет концовку, создает ощущение личного влияния на судьбу персонажей. Не могу сказать, что игра идеальна. Иногда сюжет может показаться затянутым, а темп повествования - неровным. Однако, оригинальность идеи и искренность, с которой создана эта игра, делают её достойной внимания. Это не блокбастер, а скорее инди-жемчужина, которая оставит приятное послевкусие и заставит задуматься о виртуальном мире, окружающем нас.

Hard game for absolutely understanding. I didn't go to final, acurattely I can't(( This game not for my nerves. Interesting conception with cool animation, but plot - not for me!

This kind of game is normally something I go for and really enjoy, but the graphics are so nauseating I actually can't stand to play it, and the tiiiiiny bit of story that hints at... nothing particularly interesting, is not worth suffering through the headache, nor the sub-par controls. Its like they designed this game to be as hard on your eyes and head so that no one would even try to play long enough to see if there was an actual story or not.

I got stuck at the end of the hallway with the invisible floor, but I think you guys did an amazing job with the time and resources you had! 10/10