Recent reviews by masteratt

Eh, it didn't really grab me. The writing can be good and is witty but not witty in a way I enjoy. I also didn't find many characters memorable or got through to me personally. And while I was OK to recommend still by the end (as it's OK and acting and art are great), what pushed me over the edge to Not Recommend is some bits near the end don't make any sense. Like I barely interacted with one character after first couple of episodes, due to my choices, and we ended up having a heart to heart. And a character I supported all the way, the game said I "neglected". What?

So overall, as the Steam system requires, if I HAD to pick, I would go with "Not Recommend". It ends up feeling a bit weird and disjointed and not as well put together by the end and lacked that emotional investment for me.

Everything from story to soundtrack to build flexibility to characters to game flow is 10/10. I absolutely loved it.

Such a perfect relaxing game with great attention to detail.

I was skeptical of the supernatural elements as I'm usually not a fan of stories with those elements featured hevily, but such is the skill of Wadget Eye Games it turned into a strength if anything. Another brilliant adventure.

I've played it after patch 9, it feels like you're playing an online game with a bad connection with how bad the stuttering and hitching is. Is it improved? Yes technically. Is it comfortable to play without getting a headache while running around with the constant stutters? Not for me.

Awesome game, enjoying it on PS5 now after I gave up on the PC version but it's a huge shame. If it was a polished PC experience, it would be on another level.

As it is, no way I can recommend it on PC. I didn't really support it either, EA Play was 99p on PSN, got that and paying the game through that. I really hope they do better next game on the technical side.

This was a fun little game. Two quick complaints out the way: Puzzles were a bit too easy. I will stick by thinking puzzles are the hardest thing to balance but it definitely felt like they were over cautious. So to me, none of them felt that satisfying to solve.
And the other thing is SOME sections have a bit too much of "just hold right" with not much else going on so while minor, it would have made my experience more fun to lessen those a bit.

Now that those slight issues are out the way, overall it was a very fun premise with a fun execution. It's basically you are in the Truman show and you get help from outside to get out and there are twists and turns along the way. It made me chuckle out loud couple of times so writing is fun and most importantly, at 7 hours, with the light puzzles and the good heart-ed writing, it never overstays its welcome and I was more than happy to play through the whole game in just couple of sessions and if you are in the mood for something like that, I would be OK recommending this game.

A game with canon holes I couldn't help but have nagging me throughout my play-through. It is also supposed to be a prequel but makes very little effort to be one in the true sense. It's basically a separate game that just happens to be three years before the main one.
We don't learn anything new about Chloe here in any meaningful way. Still hates her stepfather, is still a rebel and so on. It does explain, rather in a rushed way, why Rachel was so important to Chloe, but that's about it. And I say that in a blasé way because it does that in a very rushed and unsatisfying way, to the point it made me think the 3 episode choice wasn't the dev's as they seemed to have rushed the key story beats. They just happen without any satisfying build-up.
And then near end of Ep 2, it suddenly becomes solely about Rachel, Chloe almost becoming a sub-character. This made me think they are going to focus on key Rachel arcs and tie her character to Season 1. Well, they don't. The game just ends without explaining any Rachel story arcs that tie Before The Storm to the main game.

So honestly I'm not really sure what I played here. I did really enjoy the couple of 'set pieces' the game offers, one of which I will spoil because it's in the Steam screenshots (the theater play) but otherwise haven't really felt satisfied with the characters, what it told me or how it supported the main story as a "prequel" in any way.

A good game, well made and what have you, but really lacking in overall purpose I felt. Top that with the canon inconsistencies and an unsatisfying tie to the main game, and I simply can't recommend this.

Very quick summary with elaboration to follow: This game was an absolute blast from beginning to end. 1) Excellent level design 2) Very fun writing and characters 3) Perfect challenge (played all levels on Normal) and 4) Very tight mechanics.


Most levels introduce mechanics to freshen up the experience. From snow mechanics ("hey, whose footprint are these?!") to night mechanics ("hey, what happened to the torch!?") to water, to interaction within levels like breaking ice so they fall on enemies or pushing rocks or using an ox to cause what look like accidental deaths. Great thing being these accidental deaths don't raise an alarm.

Thanks to introduction and how well those mechanics (and more) are used, I have never once felt bogged down thinking "oh ffs let's do the same old...".

Not only do levels change but so do your objectives within those missions. Assassinations, escorting (it's not annoying I promise, for reasons I won't spoil), rescue, escape - Again, these help the game feel constantly fresh and keeps you on your toes. You never get into "grind mode" and just go through the motions.

So best thing to summarise levels is that each one keeps you stimulated.


The way the game introduces the characters and stays true to who they are throughout is absolutely brilliant. From the cut-scenes, to the dialogues that play out within the missions is constantly charming and well written.

From a mercenary with a heart, to a young girl who is desperately, and very amusingly, seeking a senpai, this gang of characters not only kept me entertained for the duration of the game, but I wanted to go on more adventures with them (though please note devs, sometimes great things are only great if they are left as they are). I'm more than happy these characters left me wanting more, as opposed to being fed up of them.


This is very tricky to write as difficulty is of course subjective. What I can say though is what may seem like "oh f'ing BS!" levels of difficulty, only serves to give you the most satisfying feeling as you slowly 'unpick' it and get through it.
I am also rating the difficulty of this game with high regards because the levels usually have options. From bypassing some parts by for example hiding in a wagon (but it may be tricky to get to that wagon) or simply stealthing your way through a very cover-heavy area, or even taking out a mass enemies with a full on attack and running back. There's usually options, depending on what kind of challenge your brain is better at unpacking and simply how you prefer to play.

I have never felt like the game was challenging me in ways I didn't want to be challenge. For example having to line up and click 100 things at once or anything like that. If you are someone who likes doing that and is capable of it, you can probably solve many puzzle I couldn't or get through areas in much better ways, but I have simply played by taking out enemies that were key (ones I felt stopping me from getting to my goal), hid them and then advanced slowly and nicely.

The only part I feel is a bit "bad" on difficulty side is that the disguise mechanic is pretty overpowered. Though again, in later levels they are tricky to get the disguise in the first place. And to be honest, I welcomed a bit of (again, a bit) a cheesy mechanic.


It's just a joy to play (K+M just for reference). The ONLY time I felt like I was fighting the game was sometimes when trying to jump down, or throw down enemies from a higher level to a lower one, the mouse position can get a bit tricky for the throwing / jumping down path to appear. So I move around the mouse in the lower level wondering why they character's jumping line isn't coming up. It did cost me a quick load only one time (I couldn't get the jump down line to appear and it was a tight timing plan, and the fact I couldn't get the line to appear as quickly as I'd wanted spoiled the plan).


I had an absolute blast with this game and it's been the most satisfying and fun 'puzzle / RTS' game I have ever played.

PS: I enjoyed the Metal Gear references ;) [won't even hint at this for fear of spoiling couple of very cool and amusing moments].

Started out badly, with strange reason given (or rather, not given) for the investigation to begin with in the first place. The main character is really annoying at first as well; straight out of a Nirvana music video with the attitude of Avril Lavigne. Somewhat relevant perhaps since the game takes place in the 90s.

But after the rough start I started to get into it. The puzzles were logical, she started to become more relatable and it was all going well.

And then....It started to turn religious and supernatural. For me the worst combination you can have. Not to mention, these elements were done very badly. Not only that, the characters suddenly started changing characteristics. The sheriff went from being a cool but unhelpful sheriff to being a total ♥♥♥♥ to reasonable cool sheriff. Very drastic change in character, as was the relationship change between Kathy and her roommate. From an annoying but friendly religious friend, to an absolute best friend, to not so good friend, to "I would die for her" friend.

I would say the inconsistency in characters and for me the mind numbingly dull tail end of the story just didn't flow well at all, and ultimately did not work for me one bit.

If you find characters that magically know things because "supernatural" and boring God man talking about how he does things "because God." to be bad story devices (as I do), this adventure is definitely one to avoid.

It is not the greatest RPG ever made, so if you're after only that, look past this game.

However, if you're a fan of the genre, this game does have its own personality and charm. Look past the sometimes horrendous VO and the dodgy dialogue flow and there are characters here that are very interesting and relatable. Most scenarios also leaves the player with a choice (check the brackets in the following paragraph).

An ex technomancer (one of the powers) who you play as, who has given up his past but is drawn back into it amidst this war escalating and for personal reasons (or you can not care about the kid).

A companion who doesn't trust technomancers but overtime someone you can win over (or not).

A general who is a great war strategist and is both honourable and dirty in the way he achieves his goals (or you can side with rebels instead).

A woman who was "rescued" by her -what she goes on to call him as- her master, who went on to use her as a sex slave (you can take advantage of this yourself, or try to set her on a better path).

So there's sprinkles of interesting stories and characters throughout that I've enjoyed. And all of that is put together by what I would describe as simple yet fun combat system along with conversation branching story and also gameplay mechanics feeding into your character (i.e: you can kill downed enemies for currency of the world, but it has negative impact on your reputation).

So if things like that draw you in, you will be taken in by the game and since it doesn't drag on and is not padded out, the story can finish probably under 20hours (and I've tried to find every side quest).

A lot of reviews have already touched on the crafting and what-not but I wanted to point out the above feeling of characters was what made it very fun and easy to make my way through this game. So for the £12 it asks for on Steam at the moment, it's to me well worth it.