The mind palace sequences then ask you to link the clues in ways that are either painfully obvious or simply a case of cycling through limited combinations until you find the one the game wants. Investigation is a menial process of combing scenes for highlighted objects, and since things often have to be found in a certain order, you’ll have to do multiple laps just to collect everything you need. Once you’ve gathered clues in key locations, he envisions a model of the scene constructed from glass fragments and works through the angles to piece them together. Sam is socially awkward but can see the workings of the world by entering his ‘mind palace’. Soon enough you’re trying to find out what really occurred, picking at the scabs of past relationships and town traumas as you go. You’re journalist Sam Higgs, returning to town for the funeral of an old friend, Nick, who died in an accident. But whatever the case, it feels like there was meant to be more. Perhaps it’s significant that the game was originally planned as an episodic release before being amalgamated into this single lump. Whenever it looks like it might break through the surface, it backs off and changes focus. This narrative-driven mystery adventure game from Dontnod Entertainment ( Life Is Strange, Tell Me Why) never really gets beneath these stock images of American life. I’ve never lived in a decaying mining community in West Virginia, but I’ve seen bars in places like Twin Mirror’s Basswood more times than I can remember. Neon sign on the door, old photos speckling the walls, a jukebox in the corner, baseball-capped rednecks filling a booth by the entrance. I’ve seen films and TV shows set in small town America, I know the decor. He hasn’t been there for a couple of years, but it’s still familiar.
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