Talon City: Death from Above

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 649: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆☆☆☆ (5/10) This review will begin like most of my previous reviews: praising a game's beginning, perhaps admiring its characters, prose, or worldbuilding, before critiquing an [insert negative adjective here] ending. Perhaps I should work on a template at some point to save myself some work. Anyway, if I did, I would apply it pretty neatly to [i]Talon City: Death from Above[/i]. I've only played it for about two hours, but I love Eric Moser's humorous prose, his surprisingly charming cast, and unexpected lore. Seriously, the world of [i]Talon City[/i] is one of my favorites. However, I will be honest and say that I did not finish the game. You see, Moser has decided to involve an intriguing yet baffling design decision: RNG. Specifically, a six-sided die. Unfortunately, the dice-based mechanics and stat checks frequently left me feeling like my carefully built owl wasn't actually good at the things I'd specialized in, or like luck mattered more than preparation. [b]Still, big thanks to the staff for the free review copy![/b] [b][h2]Pros:[/h2][/b] ✅[b] Hilarious, heartfelt writing.[/b] One minute you're p…

I've been playing a lot of interactive fiction lately and this one is the most unique experience I've had. It is hilarious to imagine an owl so into themselves that they make the turkey that is giving a statement to a crime take the notes for them because "owls don't take notes". plus the balancing was the night before and he's in need of a new assistant... You can give your owl whatever view of the world you would like, but all I can say is the current one I am building could give some of my extended family a run for their money in biased behavior. it's funny to read in the eyes of a bunch of birds though. at the moment I'm trying to survive an average play-though as my first was set on easy. I have no intention of trying the hardest mode. lol but who knows.

Nope, sorry, that's a big no-no from me I'm afraid... Disclaimer - the actual premise of the story was fairly unique; &, from what little of it I actually got to experience in the demo, I'd reckon there was some definite potential here... Alas, ultimately, none of that actually ended up meaning anything, since the game committed what I have come to consider a cardinal sin with this particular genre - WIPING MY SAVE FILE FROM THE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ DEMO!!! For reals, to say I am growing thoroughly SICK of this happening would be an understatement at this point... the worst part being, it occurs seemingly without rhyme or reason, leaving me baffled as to whether it's simply some random glitch, or, worse yet, the producers behind these games are deliberately forcing players to start from scratch simply to pad out their play time..?!? Either way, until this issue finally gets addressed somehow, any game that pulls this stunt is pretty much an instant downvote from me I'm afraid... Of course, perhaps it's unfair of me to judge a game purely over a -mostly - technical issue; but, let's just say, after one TOO many forced restarts, I'm afraid both my patience & my good will are starting to wear …

A good story with some really cool worldbuilding

Probably my favourite recent CYOA game. Very compelling story, strong characterisation, and draws you into a world of alternate morality.

It is written very well.