Despite the controversy surrounding the game, no one seems to be able to accurately describe the game's politics. I'll take a stab at it:

• The American Republic is a capitalist police state, but Justice cops support diversity for non-Anomals while hypocritically discriminating against Anomals. This means the American Republic could represent cop-loving liberals like Eric Adams or Democrats who sided with Republicans in post-9/11 surveillance policies. True libfash representation. The mainstream and far-right doesn't care for diversity optics as much as Justice, so Justice doesn't map to them.
  
• Justice officers are treated as mostly well-intentioned and humanized people in a bad system, who aren't aware of their leaders' intentions, making this a nuanced example of cops.
  
• That said, Justice cares more about sounding politically correct than applying anti-bigotry consistently, and they still persecute the homeless and protestors.
  
• Justice's higher ups in particular want to capture and use Anomals as tools of control.
  
• It's possible the JFK alt timeline nerfed the Southern Strategy, lol. Plus, it looks like some parts of the south seceded anyways.
  
• Misinfo is represented as Echoes and misuse of Protolanguage, which can bend reality. The idea is that propaganda warps people's perception of reality, like convincing them liberals and leftists are the same. I find this a bad plot device because it takes away agency from humanity unlike real propaganda and I would prefer a proper examination of real propaganda techniques, including how misinfo can be produced quicker than real info. It's the Curse of Erebonia 2.0.
  
• The far-right isn't represented in any major faction, but traces of their ideology are found in Echo infectees. Again, my problem with this is the lack of agency and the overemphasis of Echoes' paranoia inducement. Also, I don't think paranoia is the sole motivation of far-right ideology.
  
• Since Echoes are caused by the Republic's experiments, this means the writers could be blaming the rise of the far-right on liberals.
  
• The Puritans seem to be a mishmash of capitalist techbros, religious zealotry, and overcensorship in the name of fighting misinfo. I'm not sure what these guys map to. I guess some kind of hypothetical technofascism? They're treated with less sympathy than individual Justice officers, but they also don't seem to be as bigoted as certain factions IRL.
  
• The Henry and Betty quest is meant to be a criticism of capitalism because the robots are given sentience and family-friendly lore, but are still treated as disposable tools by their creators. It's such a sad predicament that the robophobic protag feels class solidarity with these robots.
  
• In Issue 2, the game criticizes anarcho-primitivism for some reason and believes that leftism can and should exist alongside technology.

The game seems to have a "great power, great responsibility" aesop in regards to both Vox usage and normal words, since both can shape the people around you. However, the choice system doesn't express this point consistently. It is satisfying to find Voxless solutions to reconcile with people and to pick choices that make Pax's friends happier. I also like how the game notices if you're listening to the crew's words as much as possible, with this method being considered the proper use of language. However, the game has mandatory Vox usage that serve as tutorials for new Vocal abilities, and many of them feel forced and harmful, other than Normalize. I personally feel like those trying to play Pax with good choices are being cheated by not having a choice in these situations. Yes, Pax has her own flaws to overcome, but in that case, I would prefer if the game didn't give the illusion of choice in those situations, or at least make her take more responsibility for these moments. Having forced harmful choices between stretches of good makes Pax's character development feel inconsistent. My recommendation is to have tutorials in Pax's Protolanguage dreams, leaving Vox use in the story up to the player's discretion.

While I like the Librarian coda outcome for Pax because it's the most consistent with the writer's stated values, I feel like the final chapter was way too rushed. We don't know what the Herald of the Axiom is and we only get brief summaries of everyone's life after the heist.


The game is advertised as action adventure, but the combat is so sparsely distributed that it feels more like a minigame than the actual music minigame. Additionally, while Pax's resource loop is fine on paper, her attack speed and bat hitboxes need to be increased to make the combat more satisfying. Finally, guarding and countering seem to be a thing, but it's also impossible to tell which enemy attack patterns can actually be guarded.

As for her Vox usage in battle, having certain party members enables combination attacks, with Hoax/Eli being one of the strongest in terms of sheer anti-human DPS. Sadly, party members aren't always available and I feel like not all combination attacks are created equal. Also, I think it's a missed opportunity to not be able to take control of other party members directly, since part of the game's puzzle-solving involves learning your allies' strengths.

The music minigame uses two axes, which can make it difficult to judge which note is closest. However, the next line is always highlighted in a unique color, which can help with snap decision making. Unfortunately, boost mode increases point gain while taking away the color indicator for the lines, making it harder to determine the next note. The only consolation is that the two axes design correlates with the face buttons on a controller and the timing is suprisingly generous, making it easy to get used to this UI.

I did enjoy the non-combat puzzles, since they require you to think about each party member's abilities and how to use the various items you find. While you can brute force some of them with Sai, I like being able to find more intellectual solutions, like finding the code to move the fake trailer in Issue 3.

The game's dialogue system is in real time, with time creating and removing choices. It's an interesting approach, but there needs to be a visible timer for how long a choice will remain available. As for the game's coda system, Pax's coda gains need to be visible like everyone else's, since some people are achievement hunters.

IMO, the game would be better as an Ace Attorney style visual novel to play to its strengths. Or maybe make the turn-based RPG minigame the main battle system so that you don't have to worry about fine-tuning hitboxes and speed. Sometimes, less is more.


-The first impression would be better if the Purity raid was done at the start as a proper playable section, since it builds up the group's initial conflict better and has combat. Starting in the middle of an argument instead of the true beginning of the adventure is bad.
-Dialogue choice games NEED MANUAL SAVES.


7/10

This game is a very mixed bag for me, since the game feels like it's only enjoyable if you pick nice choices, but less enjoyable when you're railroaded into Vox tutorials or if you deliberately pick mean choices. Is there even a narrative point to the moral choice system? Also, I feel that the portrayal of misinfo as literal magic actually downplays its real threat and how effective it is at exploiting preexisting feelings and biases. As for the villains, I suspect they are meant to be libs who committed too much to their right/center policies while performatively supporting some minority rights. However, I feel like it downplays how bad the justice system actually is. I know my review is harsh, but I hope my criticism is more constructive than all the reviews either glazing the game or malding about it.

[h1]This Review is Thoughtcrime and Backseat Devving[/h1] [h2]Story[/h2] Despite the controversy surrounding the game, no one seems to be able to accurately describe the game's politics. I'll take a stab at it: [list] [*]The American Republic is a capitalist police state, but Justice cops support diversity for non-Anomals while hypocritically discriminating against Anomals. This means the American Republic could represent cop-loving liberals like Eric Adams or Democrats who sided with Republicans in post-9/11 surveillance policies. True libfash representation. The mainstream and far-right doesn't care for diversity optics as much as Justice, so Justice doesn't map to them. [*]Justice officers are treated as mostly well-intentioned and humanized people in a bad system, who aren't aware of their leaders' intentions, making this a nuanced example of cops. [*]That said, Justice cares more about sounding politically correct than applying anti-bigotry consistently, and they still persecute the homeless and protestors. [*]Justice's higher ups in particular [spoiler]want to capture and use Anomals as tools of control[/spoiler]. [*]It's possible the JFK alt timeline nerfed the Southern Strategy, lol. Plus, it looks like some parts of the south seceded anyways. [*]Misinfo is represented as Echoes and misuse of Protolanguage, which can bend reality. The idea is that propaganda warps people's perception of reality, like convincing them liberals and leftists are the same. I find this a bad plot device because it takes away agency from humanity unlike real propaganda and I would prefer a proper examination of real propaganda techniques, including how misinfo can be produced quicker than real info. It's the Curse of Erebonia 2.0. [*]The far-right isn't represented in any major faction, but traces of their ideology are found in Echo infectees. Again, my problem with this is the lack of agency and the overemphasis of Echoes' paranoia inducement. Also, I don't think paranoia is the sole motivation of far-right ideology. [*]Since Echoes are caused by the Republic's experiments, this means the writers could be blaming the rise of the far-right on liberals. [*]The Puritans seem to be a mishmash of capitalist techbros, religious zealotry, and overcensorship in the name of fighting misinfo. I'm not sure what these guys map to. I guess some kind of hypothetical technofascism? They're treated with less sympathy than individual Justice officers, but they also don't seem to be as bigoted as certain factions IRL. [*]The Henry and Betty quest is meant to be a criticism of capitalism because the robots are given sentience and family-friendly lore, but are still treated as disposable tools by their creators. It's such a sad predicament that the robophobic protag feels class solidarity with these robots. [*]In Issue 2, the game criticizes anarcho-primitivism for some reason and believes that leftism can and should exist alongside technology. [/list] The game seems to have a "great power, great responsibility" aesop in regards to both Vox usage and normal words, since both can shape the people around you. However, the choice system doesn't express this point consistently. It is satisfying to find Voxless solutions to reconcile with people and to pick choices that make Pax's friends happier. I also like how the game notices if you're listening to the crew's words as much as possible, with this method being considered the proper use of language. However, the game has mandatory Vox usage that serve as tutorials for new Vocal abilities, and many of them feel forced and harmful, other than Normalize. I personally feel like those trying to play Pax with good choices are being cheated by not having a choice in these situations. Yes, Pax has her own flaws to overcome, but in that case, I would prefer if the game didn't give the illusion of choice in those situations, or at least make her take more responsibility for these moments. Having forced harmful choices between stretches of good makes Pax's character development feel inconsistent. My recommendation is to have tutorials in Pax's Protolanguage dreams, leaving Vox use in the story up to the player's discretion. While I like the Librarian coda outcome for Pax because it's the most consistent with the writer's stated values, I feel like the final chapter was way too rushed. We don't know what the Herald of the Axiom is and we only get brief summaries of everyone's life after the heist. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] The game is advertised as action adventure, but the combat is so sparsely distributed that it feels more like a minigame than the actual music minigame. Additionally, while Pax's resource loop is fine on paper, her attack speed and bat hitboxes need to be increased to make the combat more satisfying. Finally, guarding and countering seem to be a thing, but it's also impossible to tell which enemy attack patterns can actually be guarded. As for her Vox usage in battle, having certain party members enables combination attacks, with Hoax/Eli being one of the strongest in terms of sheer anti-human DPS. Sadly, party members aren't always available and I feel like not all combination attacks are created equal. Also, I think it's a missed opportunity to not be able to take control of other party members directly, since part of the game's puzzle-solving involves learning your allies' strengths. The music minigame uses two axes, which can make it difficult to judge which note is closest. However, the next line is always highlighted in a unique color, which can help with snap decision making. Unfortunately, boost mode increases point gain while taking away the color indicator for the lines, making it harder to determine the next note. The only consolation is that the two axes design correlates with the face buttons on a controller and the timing is suprisingly generous, making it easy to get used to this UI. I did enjoy the non-combat puzzles, since they require you to think about each party member's abilities and how to use the various items you find. While you can brute force some of them with Sai, I like being able to find more intellectual solutions, like finding the code to move the fake trailer in Issue 3. The game's dialogue system is in real time, with time creating and removing choices. It's an interesting approach, but there needs to be a visible timer for how long a choice will remain available. As for the game's coda system, Pax's coda gains need to be visible like everyone else's, since some people are achievement hunters. IMO, the game would be better as an Ace Attorney style visual novel to play to its strengths. Or maybe make the turn-based RPG minigame the main battle system so that you don't have to worry about fine-tuning hitboxes and speed. Sometimes, less is more. [h2]Other[/h2] -The first impression would be better if the Purity raid was done at the start as a proper playable section, since it builds up the group's initial conflict better and has combat. Starting in the middle of an argument instead of the true beginning of the adventure is bad. -Dialogue choice games NEED MANUAL SAVES. [h2]Verdict[/h2] 7/10 This game is a very mixed bag for me, since the game feels like it's only enjoyable if you pick nice choices, but less enjoyable when you're railroaded into Vox tutorials or if you deliberately pick mean choices. Is there even a narrative point to the moral choice system? Also, I feel that the portrayal of misinfo as literal magic actually downplays its real threat and how effective it is at exploiting preexisting feelings and biases. As for the villains, I suspect they are meant to be libs who committed too much to their right/center policies while performatively supporting some minority rights. However, I feel like it downplays how bad the justice system actually is. I know my review is harsh, but I hope my criticism is more constructive than all the reviews either glazing the game or malding about it.