Review: Tales of the Neon Sea (Steam)
Pros:
- Beautiful pixel art graphics.
- Controller support.
- Puzzle point and click gameplay.
- Well written story.
- Murder scenes–you get a selection of scanners to inspect the scene and each scanner will search for particulars.
- Clues-Once you find clues/evidence it gives you parts of a watch which you then must assemble it in order to get the recreation and subsequent results.
- Clues before getting watch parts do allow you to *verify* your findings and get a conclusion which can then help to gather more information.
- Many puzzle types.
- A tutorial area at the start then you get help tooltips.
- Question/interact with people and parts of the world.
- Can re-read/examine evidence and clues?
- Vibrant world to explore.
- Once you solve the crime you get treated to a cutscene.
- Minimal controls making it a lot easier to engage with.
- Lush soundtrack.
- Have you thinking out of the box.
- Few times I had scribbles of clues and theories on a notepad.
Cons:
- Mouse cursor stays on the screen.
- A lot of backtracking.
- Bare minimum tutorial.
- The controller shows its clunkiness on the watch puzzle.
- No hints/tips/skip option.
- No voice work.
- Watch puzzle has to be exact even though all cogs may well move how they are supposed too.
- Puzzles can become very obtuse.
- Few instances of puzzles locking you in a set area and won’t release you until you solve the puzzle.
- Graphics - 8/108/10
- Sound - 8/108/10
- Accessibility - 8/108/10
- Length - 8/108/10
- Fun Factor - 8/108/10
8/10