When I finished the first Project Void, my only complaint was that it was done too quickly. So I was excited to start this game, knowing what the developers are capable of.
when the puzzles are on, they are spot on. But finding one that gave the excitement of solving that the original PV did, was only about one in five. In the first third or so of the game, I was stuck in a nearly endless loop: poor quality video, code, five letter password, rinse, repeat. Even the quest-giving NPC expressed impatience with it! I almost uninstalled the game at that point. Instead, I made it as far as Chapter 3 before uninstalling.
We don’t play puzzle games for the story, true, but a consistent and engaging story is the backbone of any good mystery. The writing in this has the feel of being written by a high-school freshman: random for random’s sake, inexplicably melodramatic in parts, obnoxiously ret-conning for no reason at all, stilted dialogue, and with a flimsy sci-fi plot that doesn’t succeed in holding it all together. High school freshmen have potential as writers, but most have a long way to go before they’re publishable.
The puzzles are the thing we’re in this for. Some are really expertly crafted and make you feel like a genius when you crack them. Some though, aren’t codes when they say they are (like the pencil one another reviewer mentioned) some have unnecessary red herrings thrown in (do we need a picture of the library door, for example?), some have inconsistent clues (is it 2 minutes or 5 minutes?), some have worthless or no hints.
All in all, it felt like it was off to a good start, but the rest got rushed and forced out too soon. I got some enjoyment, but mostly annoyance, out of it.