SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE ENTIRE GAME

So I just finished Contradiction, and I was hoping we could use this thread to discuss what we thought of the game in terms of spoilers. There is a lot to unpack in this game and I thought I would just put down my initial thoughts.

• The Rand Brothers are the best characters in the game, the first time you meet Paul Rand in particular is incredible, he really plays into the ruthless evil businessman vibe.
• I found everything dealing with Liam's death to be interesting, and it's a shame it is never really elaborated upon further.
• James was the weakest character in the game, seemed like he was only used to move the story along.
• I wish there was more to Lisa's character, again she seemed used purely as a plot device.
• The doll fire sequence was probably my favorite sequence in the game, in that it proved completely insane. The mirror room was a close runner up.
• Rebecca is an interesting character in that anytime you asked her anything significant she almost immediately sent you off her trail and to Ryan.
• The tape trail at the end felt too convenient, and poorly thought out.

What did everyone else think?

Yeah, I thought the conclusion was kind of weak too. I figured the tape would come in somewhere since it was on the license and it wasn't some plain piece of Scotch tape. I think they wanted to go a bit deeper into the Rand's background and "true" nature, but ran out of time/money.

I'd definitely support these guys doing a sequel, though.

Considering this game was primarily made off £4010 ($6200~) from Kickstarter, it's pretty good. You can definitely tell that the ending wasn't where they wanted to stop. At least the team still has hopes to actually continue the game if they receive enough funding (through sales? another Kickstarter? not sure). Up until the reveal I was pretty into it, though, and wish we could have seen more about Atlas, Liam, and that woman on the edge of town.

I didn't mind the ending itself if they had been able to tie up some bigger threads, but still really enjoyed what they put together overall. Really hoping they get a chance to make a sequel and explore their "business" connections. Chance for some real, slimy American Psycho-esque characters in a sequel lol.

I was hoping some of the late game new plot points (pods) had some resolution.

The ending was ridiculously weak compared to the rest of the game. I totally believe the theory that they ran out of money and just had to end it all of a sudden. I also WANT to believe the ending was supposed to be getting everyone together in the town hall that was never used and then having a big dramatic thing there where the killer got outed. Either way, I'd definitely be down for playing the sequel in the hopes that they tie together more loose ends.

I enjoyed my time, but yeah, apart from the crazy lady at the end of the street, the GBeasters have seen pretty much all of the best stuff. I agree that it feels unfinished. Like the unused village center, the Post Office that was marked on the map but never actually seen, the fact that the Rands were talking about killing Jenks only to have that never come to fruition, and that 90% of your items were total red herrings; although I guess that's kind of par for the course for a mystery story. I wish the game had gotten more crazy, but it ended up more like an episode of Law and Order. Still, I loved the acting, and would play a whole series based on Inspector Jenks.

I agree about the Rands, there were some fantastic moments with them - Paul's 'You mean "whom", not "who"', and Ryan's raging outburst near the end where he spills his drink everywhere. I was super charmed by this game once it became clear it was totally aware of its own silliness.

When Ryan tossed his drink out of his cup there at the end I had a good laugh.

I'd love to see a longer version of this with a larger budget.

Additionally, are search and seizure rules more lax in the UK? As Jenks I rifled through a bunch of private property without telling the owners... I understand as a game it wouldn't have been a lot of fun to be getting search warrants all over the place but when I got into Ryan's car and took the check my ability to kind of gloss over that stuff got pushed a bit jard

Can you ever find Simon again after he runs off? I ended up talking to Rebecca and ending the game before I'd finished looking around for him. So suspicious...but then they all are.

I tried looking for Simon in the woods and at Atlas but nothing.

Especially with went down in the woods with the knife, like shouldn't they have been arrested right there? Or is "intent to harm" not a charge in the UK?

All in all, I matched that tape right away in the first quicklook, but I am very happy with how it turned out. Only other complaint is that the description of Mirror room CD and "test" contradiction was hard to match up.

I wish they dip more into the Super natural, but not go crazy. Like the Mirror and Ghost doors opening! Remember when Emma was staring into the mirror and lost her train of thought? That subtle attention to detail is stuff I LOVE.

Rebecca seemed like the most obvious choice. Not only was her husband having an affair with another woman, but Kate was going to blackmail her too. You get that in the very beginning when she admits to hearing them fight in the ally. I love the game. I really home they make another.

I am not sure how it works in Great Britain but I assumed since Jenks is an investigator, like a detective in the US, his job is investigating the murder, not dealing with public vandalism, drugs (James), and assault like a regular police officer would. He interfered because he cares and wanted to get her out of potential harms way. He may have believed Ryan was doing one of Atlas' weird tests and not actually trying to hurt her, since he didn't know if Ryan had murdered Kate at that time (and rightly so since it turned out he didn't murder Kate).

Not to suggest those end scenes couldn't be better and it is obvious it was rushed, but I think it is still within character that Jenks isn't busting people's ass on every offense.

Totally agree with second paragraph there. Loved that level of creepy "what if...?" uncertainty. I also got stuck on the mirror room/test contradiction, to the point I had to find the only walkthrough on the internet.

What I love about this game is that there are so many details and side stories that you are always trying to make connections. While stuck on that contradiction I was flipping back and forth between the "Prime candidate" topic and the "$500" topic looking for anything, and became stuck on Paul mentioning Ryan had a preference for blondes. In thinking over this detail and wondering if it was hinting at yet another hidden relationship of Ryan's, I tried to think of which characters were blonde. And the only one I could come up with was Simon (I think ? Lisa's blonde too, but Simon popped into my head first). And once I started thinking about it, I could not unthink it. It totally works. Simon, who is so into Atlas and desperately wants to please Ryan, Ryan who enjoys having power over others...oh what a dysfunctional relationship that would be. Yep, I am officially a Simon/Ryan shipper. Please look forward to my fan fiction, "Secret Nights in the Mirror Room."

It was appropriate that Rebecca was the killer and seemed to wrap up all to well. Honestly I thought she was the killer all along as she never had any contradictions. I was waiting for a piece of evidence that pokes holes in everything she had ever said but all it took was the tape to end.

What I want is another mystery for Jenks with eerily similar characters/actors. I think returning to the same people, events, setting would ruin what was special the first time. This is the reason I enjoyed Puzzle Agent 1 way more than 2 even though 2 is a far better game in terms of playability and non frustrating puzzles.

All in all I loved Contradiction and could see it being my goty potentially.

@nightriff said:

I think there is more story that could be played out, but I mostly agree, Although, I think it could involve the Rand's again.

I'd probably read that, lol. Also, please solve the Liam mystery!!! I totally don't think he killed himself, but I need to know... Or maybe Liam was the previous Simon/Emma!!! Maybe Lisa was dating Liam and Rand was doing freaky things with couples...

I don't have much to say other than to echo others in that the ending was abrupt and Rebecca's status as the murderer wasn't really all that well seeded/foreshadowed. The game lacked a eureka moment that tied together all the deductions into a satisfying logical conclusion.

That said, it was a ton of fun to play, I want more, and I hope the developer will make enough money to make more.

Tape was the first thing I noticed in the game, I saw immediately it was the same tape on the boarded up window as on the driver's licence and it bummed me out I couldn't ask the bartender about it immediately,amd with every clock change I kept going back to see if I could interact with the window again.

And yeah, the Rands were great. Really hope they come back for a sequel.

Just finished it. Really enjoyed it a lot, and I'd definitely back a Kickstarter for a sequel.

I knew from reading RPS's WIT (which had scared me away after initially thinking the game sounded neat from its Steam description, till some friends thankfully convinced me to pick it up still) that the ending would be a little unsatisfying, but I was particularly disappointed by Rebecca. I was hoping she'd end up actually being somewhat of the mastermind of ATLAS/the cult, given that some prior scenes made it seem like she was definitely the more dominant personality in her relationship with Ryan. Also, I was bothered for most of the game by a blatant contradiction in Emma's responses that you could never do anything about- she says she saw James' poster while at college yet also says she only joined Third Eye after college, and the posters were made after Liam died, so... not sure how that's possibly true. Also, Simon was apparently still at college during their rebranding, if I'm remembering correctly, so that's off as well.

Also, why is that amazing contradiction where Ryan spills his drink somehow the only one that's not repayable from a menu? I was distracted during it too, which makes it even worse. I guess I'll get to rewatch it when I watch GBEAST play it, at least; I was putting off watching any of their play through till I beat it myself.

God I hope there is another game and it still teases the ambiguous supernatural stuff again but never confirm it one way or another.

Wow. I just finished the game, and had a blast. I'd definitely throw down for a Kickstarted sequel, especially given how good the end result was given their original budget.

I haven't had much time to reflect on the plot as a whole, but I feel pretty good right now regarding plot holes. We got a reasonable means/motive/opportunity/confession of the actual crime we were trying to solve, and any loose ends not directly pertaining to that crime are fodder for a potential sequel.

The only practical concern that left me uneasy was how Jenks just shrugged off the attempted ritual murder in the woods and didn't maybe insist that the victim of said attempted ritual murder not wander off in the woods towards her captors' compound. Eh, what can you do? Still had fun.