Date played: April 19th
Platform: PS4
After the quiet introduction in the photography classroom, things took a very violent, disturbing turn. Max went to the bathroom to freshen up, when suddenly, Nathan, a student in the school's elite, came in and started talking to himself, giving himself a sort of pep talk. Then a blue haired girl came in and started threatening him, though it wasn't super clear why. With a bit of a crazy look in his eyes, Nathan took a gun out and shot the girl!
That's when the game's main mechanic was revealed. Max can reverse time at will, but can only go back a few minutes. She can also carry objects and information back in time. So I reversed time back to the classroom and tried to get out of there quickly to reach the bathroom. This led to some interesting conversations where I used information gained to reply to people and tell them what they wanted to hear. It's a very cool mechanic and it's interesting to see how things change based on my dialogue choices.
I eventually reached the bathroom event and pulled the fire alarm before the girl was shot. After they left, I was intercepted by both the school's security guard and the principal. The guard seems like a real asshole with a superiority complex, while the principal wants to protect Nathan because his family funds the school a lot. At first, I told the principal about the gun, but when it was clear he wouldn't be helpful, I reversed time and chose not to tell him about the bathroom event.
There was a long segment where I explored the school's main outdoor area and the dorm. I had many conversations with students and such. There's a girl, Rachel Amber who has gone missing for months. There was an amazing little segment where the rich bitches wouldn't let Max through to the dorm, so I used my time powers to sprinkle them with water, then cover them in paint so that they would move. I also resolved a fight between two girls by stealing an email from Victoria, the rich bitch who I recently covered in paint.
Many of the stories and characters are very interesting and fun to interact with. There's a lot of high school drama of course, but the characters are mostly believable, but a little bit exaggerated. This whole time, I had to get a flash drive back to my friend Warren, so after all this, went to meet him in the parking lot.
Unfortunately, Nathan interrupted us and threatened Max with the gun, because she had interrupted him in the bathroom. Out of nowhere, the girl with blue hair showed up in a pickup truck and told me to get in to get away from Nathan. Warren got a beating from Nathan in the process, so that was horrible...
It turns out, the girl with blue hair is actually Chloe, Max's estranged best friend. They caught up a bit, but it's rough. Chloe's dad died a while ago, and her mom got a new boyfriend. Chloe has become a bit of a loser, smoking lots of weed, having a trashy room, a bad attitude and a very negative outlook on life in general, but she still seems to be a good person deep down. The two friends went back to Chloe's house together and chatted a bit. During the confrontation in the parking lot, Max broke her instant camera, so she wants to find tools to fix it.
That's where I stopped playing, but I'm excited to see more of this game. The story is really the best part, but the time manipulation stuff makes it more interesting as a video game. I think I'm really close to the end of Episode 1, and there are 5 episodes.
Platform: PS4
After the quiet introduction in the photography classroom, things took a very violent, disturbing turn. Max went to the bathroom to freshen up, when suddenly, Nathan, a student in the school's elite, came in and started talking to himself, giving himself a sort of pep talk. Then a blue haired girl came in and started threatening him, though it wasn't super clear why. With a bit of a crazy look in his eyes, Nathan took a gun out and shot the girl!
That's when the game's main mechanic was revealed. Max can reverse time at will, but can only go back a few minutes. She can also carry objects and information back in time. So I reversed time back to the classroom and tried to get out of there quickly to reach the bathroom. This led to some interesting conversations where I used information gained to reply to people and tell them what they wanted to hear. It's a very cool mechanic and it's interesting to see how things change based on my dialogue choices.
I eventually reached the bathroom event and pulled the fire alarm before the girl was shot. After they left, I was intercepted by both the school's security guard and the principal. The guard seems like a real asshole with a superiority complex, while the principal wants to protect Nathan because his family funds the school a lot. At first, I told the principal about the gun, but when it was clear he wouldn't be helpful, I reversed time and chose not to tell him about the bathroom event.
There was a long segment where I explored the school's main outdoor area and the dorm. I had many conversations with students and such. There's a girl, Rachel Amber who has gone missing for months. There was an amazing little segment where the rich bitches wouldn't let Max through to the dorm, so I used my time powers to sprinkle them with water, then cover them in paint so that they would move. I also resolved a fight between two girls by stealing an email from Victoria, the rich bitch who I recently covered in paint.
Many of the stories and characters are very interesting and fun to interact with. There's a lot of high school drama of course, but the characters are mostly believable, but a little bit exaggerated. This whole time, I had to get a flash drive back to my friend Warren, so after all this, went to meet him in the parking lot.
Unfortunately, Nathan interrupted us and threatened Max with the gun, because she had interrupted him in the bathroom. Out of nowhere, the girl with blue hair showed up in a pickup truck and told me to get in to get away from Nathan. Warren got a beating from Nathan in the process, so that was horrible...
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| Max and Chloe after they escaped the parking lot incident |
It turns out, the girl with blue hair is actually Chloe, Max's estranged best friend. They caught up a bit, but it's rough. Chloe's dad died a while ago, and her mom got a new boyfriend. Chloe has become a bit of a loser, smoking lots of weed, having a trashy room, a bad attitude and a very negative outlook on life in general, but she still seems to be a good person deep down. The two friends went back to Chloe's house together and chatted a bit. During the confrontation in the parking lot, Max broke her instant camera, so she wants to find tools to fix it.
That's where I stopped playing, but I'm excited to see more of this game. The story is really the best part, but the time manipulation stuff makes it more interesting as a video game. I think I'm really close to the end of Episode 1, and there are 5 episodes.
