I dont trust Pendulo studio games. I played their first game (Runaway, I still have it somewhere) and it was awful. The writing was really bad, the acting was bad (and a couple characters annoyingly so), the puzzles were tedious (tons of back tracking) and I wasnt compelled to finish (although i did but I hated the experience).

Now, I'm not completely a cynical gamer. I like games some people think are bad. I can understand that was their first one and they had to learn things. I do want to give them another chance, but I need to know:

Has their writing gotten better? Good writing is the back bone of any, at least, worth playing Adventure game.

Do they use better actors, or at least better directing (maybe it's better in other languages as people act like Pendulo is so amazing, but I have never had that experience)?

Have they found their groove with puzzles and stopped relying on back tracking?

Their art style was always great, I never had a problem with that, and I did see some potential with them. I just had a really bad experience with their first game. In the quick look of their last game, "The next big thing", the game seemed a bit better. So, I am curious before I get this and The next big thing if they have actually improved at all.

Serious answers please, too. "These guys are amazing, what's wrong with you" won't really help me with what I'd like to know. (However, jokes are fine =P and expected)

Thanks in advance, to anyone that can give me some insight.

@CornBREDX: If you didn't like runaway you wont like this. If you are anything like me and preffer adventure games like Heavy Rain instead of tedious boring old school adventures, dont bother.

I don't know, but GamesRadar did review it: http://www.gamesradar.com/yesterday-review/

vinny should quicklook this

@Dimil0c0: I am not like you at all, old school gamer I am all the way and totally fine with old mechanics. Back tracking was never a good idea, but good writing can make it compelling enough to ignore it (best example is Monkey Island 2). Heavy Rain was nice, in a Dragon's Lair way (I like what Quantic Dream does), but it's a different experience.

Thanks for your input though =)

@xombi242: Thanks. Reviews are unhelpful to me as they are made by someone paid to do it, so its done in a limited time and I am currently in need of player input. A lot of adventure gamers say Pendulo is amazing, and I would like to know why that is. My experience with them was they were awful. However their metacritic reviews since then have ranged from terrible (the second runaway game) to decent (The last Runaway game and The next big thing).

I am curious what players think.

@Shun_Akiyama said:

vinny should quicklook this

It's usually Ryan that does these, but ya I agree

It's not the best Beatles song, but it's up there.

Still haven't finished it yet. I'll let you know what I think when I beat it. I'm enjoying it so far though. Here's the game's page on Metacritic if you want to see some reviews: http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/yesterday/critic-reviews

It's... functional. I was a bit underwhelmed, to be honest. Seems to be a step down in pretty much every area from their last game, The Next BIG Thing, which i reviewed here: http://www.giantbomb.com/the-next-big-thing/61-30913/user-reviews/?review_id=19329 ... wasn't paid to review it either, by the way.

the conversations are decidedly less interesting and witty, the story more run-of-the-mill and predictable... all in all, I think they made a mistake in deciding to go for the old satanic cult serial hobomurderer theme while still shying away from any serious horror. There's only so much good hearted fun you can have with that material and in the end the whole experience ends up being neither a real thriller nor a real comedy.

on the other hand there's still plenty of good moments, the puzzles are alright and if you just go along with it there's still some fun to be had from the story and setting.

In your case though, just go play The Next BIG Thing instead! Way easier to recommend to someone looking for good writing and acting. In fact the story and writing are why I was kinda looking forward to playing Yesterday, but between the 2 of them TNBT is the clear winner. TNBT should be right up your alley and if you still want more after that you can maybe start looking at this here game.

---------

edit:

having read some reviews, this one seems to correspond best with my experience: http://www.incgamers.com/Reviews/1321/yesterday-review---you-must-remember-to-forget 6/10 might seem a low score, but apparently these guys don't use the 5 through 10 scale, which is commendable as well.

I've never played anything by those guys before, but Yesterday seems alright. I'm sticking with it mostly for the story at the moment, so unless that jumps off a cliff I'll probably play through to the end. The puzzles are pretty standard, a couple so far have seemed a little silly but the hint system stops any puzzles being a complete nuisance. The dialogue is pretty average too.... the humour is awful.

If the story stays the way it is at the moment, I can forgive a lot of the puzzle based issues in the game.. it's the only thing keeping me going at the moment though.

@clush: @returnofjake:

Thank you. These have been incredibly helpful.

@clush: Ya I do kinda want to check that out. In the quick look seemed to have fairly interesting characters (from what I saw) and again I really think they have their own art style down which has always looked really nice. That review was helpful as well.

@Dimil0c0: Ya, man. I had the same reaction to Runaway. But Pendulo is still making games, so they haven't failed, and I have been wanting to give them another shot since the The Next Big Thing quick look. It seems like they must have gotten better by now if they care at all for what they are doing. I may check both TNBT and Yesterday out at some point. They both intrigue me.

@returnofjake: Ya, they weren't very funny in Runaway either. Which is unfortunate because it was intended to be haha. The review Clush linked mentions how they use humor at inopportune moments in this- possibly due to them usually going for that, so using it as a writing crutch.

@returnofjake:

TNBT is about 7 hrs, yesterday is decidedly shorter... maybe 5. So don't worry, it'll be over before you have a chance to get bored.

@clush said:

all in all, I think they made a mistake in deciding to go for the old satanic cult serial hobomurderer theme while still shying away from any serious horror.

OK, straight up tell me: is it just a fanatical cult, or is magic real and the end of the game is batshit crazy?

I really wanted to like Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit, but as far as I'm concerned, that story would be considerably better if you were just hypnotised/brainwashed by some crazy cult to commit the random murder in the opening scene; the supernatural stuff in that game was retarded, and the story really suffered by the end of it as it reached Metal Gear Solid 2 amounts of pulling things out of its ass.

So don't go into super great detail, but I do want to know: is it sorta grounded in reality, or is magic real? If the latter, do they at least handle it well, or does it get completely off the rails by the end?

@BisonHero said:

@clush said:

all in all, I think they made a mistake in deciding to go for the old satanic cult serial hobomurderer theme while still shying away from any serious horror.

OK, straight up tell me: is it just a fanatical cult, or is magic real and the end of the game is batshit crazy?

I really wanted to like Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit, but as far as I'm concerned, that story would be considerably better if you were just hypnotised/brainwashed by some crazy cult to commit the random murder in the opening scene; the supernatural stuff in that game was retarded, and the story really suffered by the end of it as it reached Metal Gear Solid 2 amounts of pulling things out of its ass.

So don't go into super great detail, but I do want to know: is it sorta grounded in reality, or is magic real? If the latter, do they at least handle it well, or does it get completely off the rails by the end?

The magic is very minimal, in the end it does drive the story to it's closing but the magic itself is not crazy by any means. No one shoots fire from their hands or anything close to that, it's more like this magic can make you survive being shot with a gun.

@CornBREDX: Vinny seems to like it so far, so that may help you. I didn't like TBG that much, but I did enjoy the Runaway series. I'll probably give Yesterday a shot.

@Winternet: I'll try it. I also noticed it has a nice "quick hints" button so that might indicate I get to keep my sanity this time around.

Hmmph. I'm still undecided about this one. I kinda want to check it out but I'm not €30 interested. I was really hoping for a quicklook of this one

@BisonHero: The ending isn't any crazier than the rest of the game. You can compare it to a Dan Brown novel. There's no 'you were dead all along' or 'it was all a dream' kind of pay off, though. I actually really liked what they did with the ending. The final reveal is in pace with the rest of the game and the final scenes (there's 3 different endings) are easily my favourite part of the game. Except for maybe the opening level, which is pretty good too.

@DonChipotle: It's a great Beatles song!

@clush said:

@BisonHero: The ending isn't any crazier than the rest of the game. You can compare it to a Dan Brown novel. There's no 'you were dead all along' or 'it was all a dream' kind of pay off, though. I actually really liked what they did with the ending. The final reveal is in pace with the rest of the game and the final scenes (there's 3 different endings) are easily my favourite part of the game. Except for maybe the opening level, which is pretty good too.

Ssupposedly there are four endings, no idea how to get the fourth though, it isn't an easy choice like the other three.

Thanks again for the responses everybody. I'm currently in the midst of finishing the wadjeteye games on steam (I didn't know they finally got on there- IVE BEEN MISSIN OUT- I was waiting for that) and The 7th Guest, 11th Hour, and The Journeyman Project 3 are on GOG.com now so I am playing those again (for my own nostalgic reasons). But I'll probably get to these 2 next paycheck or so (in like a week or two).

Oh, and they recently mentioned it on a I Love Mondays so we might get a quicklook soon.

@returnofjake: Sorry for late response. I didnt get a message telling me I got a @me comment and my work has been weird so I've not been paying attention.

Ya, I played all of the broken sword games in the 90s and whatnot (I have 3 of them still somewhere and the ones on steam, and the one that was released on GBA). I really liked that games art style at the time (especially the second one), although The Sleeping Dragon was my least favorite I think. Classics none the less.

@CornBREDX: If you haven't listened to the Bombcast yet, Vinny talks about it for a little while and seems to like it.

@Milkman: Ya, he also mentioned it on ILM this week as well.

We need a Quick Look for this. Since we got one for "The Next Big Thing", I'm hopeful.

It was a pretty good adventure game and the story moves at a good pace. A tad short for 30 bucks. I finished it in just over 4 hours.

It won't leave you indifferent.

It's a pretty good song, yeah.

McCartney at his finest.

@CH3BURASHKA said:

It won't leave you indifferent.

Burning hobos! Truly the Condemned sequel we all deserve.

It's not the best Beatles song, but it's up there.

It won't leave you indifferent.

I enjoyed it, but if you're not a big fan of point-and-click type games, I don't think you will get much out of this one.

yep really good.

Thanks again for the responses everybody. I'm currently in the midst of finishing the wadjeteye games on steam...

Yes.

Finished it recently, and while I'm not a big point & click adventure fan (last one I played was Longest Journey -way back when) but enjoyed the story and storytelling is what kept me interested (-like most adventure games usually are)

The twists are neat, some easy to predict. Puzzles were tough for a non-point & click adventure fan but the hint system is good.