I absolutely LOVED this blend of genres. Played this game for 3hrs & while I'm not normally a Tower Defense girlie, there was just enough of it & the story-driven, management sim aspects of the game counterbalanced it perfectly.
Pros:
- The world-building, art, & aesthetic are TOP-TIER AMAZING! But, I do think it can be presented in a better way vs TONS OF TEXT ON-SCREEN.
- Progression was really good overall, but I could definitely see the grind for the Liberty Fund (going from 500 to 3k is insane!)
- Policies, while I didn't get to unlock too many, seemed really cool & gave off "Roguelike" bc of how tasks would refresh at the end of the week & how you can mix & match the effects to optimize your play. I'm not sure how many different policies there are or if there are rarity levels to them, but I expect this gives everyone a chance to customize their play experience.
Cons:
- No accessibility options. I'd really love a way to control the size of the elements on my UI. Specifically, the text. It was way too small & the dashboard - while very cute - was also difficult to read.
- I felt like we were given too much money to start... I bought everything (I felt were) worthwhile & the game slowly devolved into an idle management sim.
- While I do like that we can access our current Menu Items while at the grocer, I wish we could also access our Fridge Inventory & other Recipes.
- Limited Defenses & Weaponry.
- For a game that's focusing on story, I wish there were more A-B interactions. I remember Nancy telling us to look out for Pritchard & when we do find him, we're not able to:
→ Direct him to Nancy
→ Punch him (as a direct consequence of us learning that that's how Nancy dealt w/ a similar problem)
→ or Call Nancy Over - In that regard: As soon as you were done purchasing all the Special Offers, dialogue seemed to come to a complete stop. No more unique dialogue after that.
Critiques:
- I feel like the game intro can be worked on. There are definitely better ways to start a game than having TONS of text on-screen. I would love to see an actual animation!
- I ran into a problem of not being able to unequip a Policy. Is it a mechanic where... once you unlock a policy it MUST be in effect?
- I wish we could teach Wallace/Our Cooks how to butcher meats. I found myself with an overabundance of Pit Pug Legs early on & while I know we can exchange them for the Purple Stuff, I wish I could (I dunno) send my Employees to Jericho to "research" how to more effectively butcher meats for specific cuts whenever Incursions occurred. Maybe this could be tied to the different defenses, too? Maybe a Sword/Slashing mechanism would yield more meat or something?
Regardless, I'd love a way to "Exchange/Break Down Ingredient" for "Other Ingredient". - I'm hoping we'll be able to upgrade our Kitchen Equipment later on that reduces fire hazards!
- I ran into a few instances where I would forget to close the door or the door would bug on me but the NPCs would close it for me anyway. I thought that was too forgiving TBH lol!
- To follow up with that: I would love more consequence to not closing the door during closing time. When it came to Monster Incursions, it felt like they triggered at the same time every time they happened. So, I'd love more timing variety & monster variety added to those.
For my full playthrough & initial thoughts on the game, you can watch it here (timestamps available):
Thank you for the game!