What did you think of the writing in this game?

For myself, I couldn't stand it. Instead of having any substance to it, it just felt like it was trying to impress you with its attempts at wit, sarcasm, and mild disdain for the player. Perhaps that was due to every thing having to be a tweet, meaning every bit of writing in the game had to be goofy or queer in some way, to make people interested in the game.

Ultimately, the audio (both music and sound effects) gave me a connection to the game, especially during the boss fights, but the writing almost ruined the mood at nearly every turn. It just seemed like it was trying so hard to be cool, but for no real reason.

I bring this up because Kentucky Route Zero's writing actually enhances the experience, adding another obtuse layer to the already engaging visuals and audio. I hope KRZ gets just as much praise as S&S, if not more, because S&S just didn't feel nearly as cohesive to me as it apparently did to everyone else. Kentucky Route Zero seems like a similarly simple-and-strange adventure game, except it's got the whole package.

Nothin'? No opinions to be had?

So so... Not as witty as it was supposed to be, but enough to make the game different from the rest. It feels like a video game hipster. ahah

@BisonHero said:

Nothin'? No opinions to be had?

Well, I haven't played it, yet, so I can't have any. It does have Japanese language support, so that's a plus in my book.

@Jeust Hipster gets overused as a label, but yeah, it kinda was. All the writing just had this tone of irony, sarcasm, and disdain for the very fantasy/Zelda archetypes that it would jokingly acknowledge it was using, but if it all had a purpose, I didn't see it. There's no deconstruction, or any other payoff for the fact that it calls out its own tropes, or when it says to the player "I bet you felt pretty smart for solving that." If they wanted it to be this easy, pretty game to just mellow out to while they listen to Jim Guthrie's music, they should've pulled a Journey and had no dialogue or text whatsoever. I just don't see what purpose the writing served.

@BisonHero said:

Nothin'? No opinions to be had?

Well, I haven't played it, yet, so I can't have any. It does have Japanese language support, so that's a plus in my book.

@spurious There are a handful of moments like that, that actually leave a cool impression by giving you a cool moment without saying much about it. The thing is, the text in lots of NES and SNES games is effectively broken down into "tweet-form" due to the resolution, and it didn't cause problems, because a lot of it is unremarkable incidental dialogue. In S&S, every bit of in-game text has to be potentially tweetable, and each line is trying so hard to be clever and self-contained that it's immediately irritating.

I played it back when the humble indie bundle and thought it was pretty interesting since I had no idea what the game was about. The first boss fight with the Trigon is visually striking and the music really enhances the whole scene with the way it builds up as the fight goes on. I wouldn't say the writing is amazing, but I didn't have an issue with it.

Sword and Sworcery had a lot of style in terms of music and the art design. But everything else was just dull. I can't remember any of the writing and the game play was pretty boring too. I have no idea why it got the buzz it did.

Since the follow up got announced at the Playstation event, and I somehow own this game on steam, decided to actually try it out. Just finished the first section/episode, and I don't get the appeal. Trying to put it in context of it's original 2011 release, in which case there would be some novelty, I suppose. If you just bought your first iphone/ipad and this was your first experience with a narrative driven point and click adventure, it would be pretty impressive.

But I agree that the writing style is a weak point and has a "mellow-out bro" style that puts it in a modern fairy-tale sort of narrative. I think my bigger issue is the actions you take in the game are so mindless, it feels like a tutorial on how to tap and hold on a touch screen. Not particularly cohesive or involving, in my opinion. The sound design and music are a'ight. Might give the second section a shot.

I loved it but I played it in 2011 on my ipod touch and I agree Its barely a game. Like the samorost games for example. But I dont think ive ever heard anyone praising the gameplay either, thats clearly not the interesting thing here and seems made to be unobtrusive to the stuff that does matter without making it completely uneventfull. Its just a quirky, attractive thing to interact with in short bursts, and for one of those its pretty amazingly done. Dont remember disliking the writing either, as a matter of fact I remember that being one of the things I loved about it haha but thats a taste thing probably too right. Sounds to me like y'all were just trying to take the game for way more than it ever was meant to be....

I well and truly despised the writing. The game is gorgeous, but the try hard, snarky, too cool for schoolness just sapped all my interest within minutes.

Yep the writing somehow managed to combine hipster aloofness while still seeming very tryhard. The first thing I thought about when I saw the Superbrothers logo during the ps5 trailer was how the writing really let this game down.

I don't have a lot to add to this thread because I stand by everything I said 7 years ago, but I think the part I highlighted in your statement is also very important (and something I neglected to mention when I originally made this thread). More on that topic below:

In short, it was one of the first "indie" games on phones, but I don't think it held up even 2 years after release, and it certainly doesn't hold up now.