Finished it last night and really enjoyed it. Will continue to look out for any game that this studio puts out.
How do you save it?
Autosave. I quit after finishing a chapter personnally.
What did you think of the ending?
As in the choices I made or how they wrapped it up? I dont think I got what you would call a happy ending for any of the characters but I kinda expected that with the choices I made and it wasnt mind blowing or revelatory how they tied it all together but i was fine with how they brought it all together. Just some wacky stories set in a pretty mundane locale with ordinary average Joe characters. I’m definitely down for more from the studio.
Both to be honest. I found it fairly disappointing. The build up was so much better than how they’ve wrapped it all up.
Agree with looking forward to more from this team. Kinda scared this release was a bit overshadowed by other indie releases this month though.
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Finished it last night and while it starts out interesting it doesn’t stay that way.
Absolutely every character got more annoying the more I played. Decisions being offered made less and less sense.
And the last chapter…I expected a portal to somewhere but the whole last chapter is just dumb and poorly written.
I guess that’s the biggest disappointment, the first couple of chapters of each storyline are interesting and well written. It’s all setup well but then it just descends into poorly written drivel.
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This team was more interested in making a TV show than a game. There are games that would work better in TV than as a game and this is one of those (Control is another one). In this game all you can do is make choices since there is no exploration, codex, puzzles or collectibles. If 95% of all the choices the player is offered to make in the game make no difference then this simply should not be an interactive experience.
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Had mixed feelings about this.
On one hand, it engaged me enough to play through it from beginning to end – so I can’t call it bad by any means.
On the other hand, there wasn’t really a lot of choice as to how things panned out. It was more a case of ‘personality modification’ with the choice to express the same thing in more diplomatic or harsh terms through a largely on on-rails dialogue.
There was a single clear choice for each character at the end, but that was it.
I also feel, not just in this title but in all ‘interactive stories’ that they should just give up trying to be games. The crime in a true video game is where cutscenes interrupt game play. In an interactive story it feels like throwaway attempts at adding ‘gamish’ elements gets in the way of the story. Slowly walking from A-B, rotating an analogue stick to drink coffee, tapping buimpers to run faster… all so boring and just pads the experience out to no benefit.
I would rather these sorts of titles stopped trying to force ‘videogame lite’ elemtns in and put their development time into more interactivity and choice in the dialogue and story. You’re an interactive cut scene, not a videogame. Own it.
But, as I noted at the top, I was engaged throughout, the stories are good and the acting is solid. I’d play another title by the developer, but I’d hope they improved in some of the areas I mentioned.
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this was as bad as Virginia or Dear Esther
Agree, I loved both of those games and liked this one too. 
Just finished today and I enjoyed the experience. That last chapter definitely took a left turn but I liked how the stories resolved in the end.
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Donna’s story got me like:
Needed more choices that actually mattered, but overall I really enjoyed it. Would love to see a sequel. And I wanted to slap Meena several times throughout, but in the end, kinda liked her.
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Matching my thoughts here Steve.
I really enjoyed the game, It felt like you say, the supernatural aspect was there just to “trick” people into just watching some real stories. Clearly it was a budget title but I think the cast and direction did very well (though there were some “meh” bits with the teenagers, I’m not sure many would be using the phrase “That pretty lady”). Much like film in a low budget production a poor cast, script or direction is soo noticeable. They did well here.
I liked that they had a bit of fun with the accents and background details “ey up Chuck” made me guffaw as did “Frontier Psychiatrist” and the “heist planning”. It was such an authentic view of the UK too that I found it made me quite homesick. I’m not sure many games have captured the banal under-statedness of life in the UK as well.
There was a pleasing realism to the characters aside from the glowing green which I think too many games are afraid to allow to shine through, I am not afraid to have a more realistic story in some way if they can manage the pathos. I was already Heartbroken by the end of Paper Dolls Chapter 1.
I think I agree that the final chapter (pre character epilogue) was the weakest part, if anything it did a little too much I do not mind if a narrative leaves me with too many questions if the main draw (the characters) have a satisfying dénouement. In the end, though it was the weakest part narratively it did not undo the previous chapters nor the ending proper.
I think I chose what I consider the “best” ending for each character. John naturally switched back as no matter what would happen he had to give Jack back his body, and I found theirs was the “happiest” ending. Donna had grown and though it pained me not to allow her family and friends to return being left to the Strangers desires as payment felt like a betrayal of everything she had suffered through. Meena though, I loved Meena, she was Jaded, angry unapologetically selfish and such a flawed character, its so rare to see an older woman allowed to be so in a game. Clearly being manipulated by the games true antagonist, gaslit and pushed to the edge of self destruction. I just loved her arc. Meena got her good ending too, taking control away from her tormentor and responsibility for her actions.
Mechanically weak, but narratively it was just spot on for me. I would rank it among the best game in this style since The Wolf Among Us.
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