I've spent the last week going over the game and its great. Love the art, love the plot, love the puzzle. So far I've gotten 7 of the 8 endings (True Ending, Bittersweet, Gutless, Violent, Starface, Beautiful End, Dead End). I can't seem to figure out the last one, I'm assuming based on the choices it'll be based on Jon or Frank? If anyone knows how to get that last one, let me know!
The game is great and well-worth the money for the time and enjoyment. The puzzles are fun (and I really like the new "pick the most relevant clues" mini-game). The characters are all fairly interesting, and honestly even the side characters come off as endearing. Timmy and Chuck were great. All the characters feel distinct and developed by the end. The art and setting is fantastic.
If I had to give one piece of constructive criticism for future games, it would be to add a bit more variety to the routes/plot. It worked in the first game, because that game was focused more on solving the puzzles and this game has opened up a lot more (which is great!).
Some examples of where this game could've had some deviation (again I am missing one ending so I apologize if I accidentally mention it):
- Depending on early choices, an alternate victim instead of Timmy (i.e. Chuck or Tad). Something that starts a big deviation early on;
- A "bad end" where Adam ends up kind of following River's trajectory, taking drugs, etc maybe with Timmy and meets the same fate as River;
- Instead of getting Starface'd if you fail to do well with Evander, if you connect with the Johns they kidnap you in the bathroom and you have a separate segment where you are captured and have to escape. Perhaps an option where you help Jon and he turns on the others to help you;
- A Chuck route where you accept the city life and maybe continue being a pornstar (a "good end" that isn't perfect);
- Some more and/or different scene options for the porn sets. Like instead of the first time you "perform" always being the Jons, different characters show up depending on earlier actions; and
- A route where you play your cards right and they do offer you to join with different outcomes if you join or not.