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Paradise Killer, a true open world detective game
- Thread starter SilentSnake
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- paradise killer
I picked this up the other day because the other day because apparently the other half dozen games I'm playing right now aren't enough.
After an hour or so, I'm not quite sure what to think of it. It is aesthetically fantastic in just about every way, which is good because that was the main reason it caught my eye in the first place. The lore and writing though, is almost too weird? It's certainly interesting, but it feels like there's proper nouns and world building every other line of dialogue, and I'm finding it a real challenge to parse and retain information, which seems less than ideal in an open-world murder mystery game. I'm hoping it's just early and some of it will eventually start to stick. I suppose worst case, I can just appreciate the ride and not worry about whether or not I'll actually put together all the pieces myself in the end.
After an hour or so, I'm not quite sure what to think of it. It is aesthetically fantastic in just about every way, which is good because that was the main reason it caught my eye in the first place. The lore and writing though, is almost too weird? It's certainly interesting, but it feels like there's proper nouns and world building every other line of dialogue, and I'm finding it a real challenge to parse and retain information, which seems less than ideal in an open-world murder mystery game. I'm hoping it's just early and some of it will eventually start to stick. I suppose worst case, I can just appreciate the ride and not worry about whether or not I'll actually put together all the pieces myself in the end.
From what I've played, a lot of the moving parts of the mystery aren't super dependent on the lore to solve, and when they are, the game makes sure to explain it to you. That said, there's a LOT of moving parts to the mystery, and everyone is tangled up with everyone else in so many ways. I love it.
Fyonn
did their best!
I've been playing this, just exploring and hoping the game will eventually hand me a [FLIRT] option when talking to Shinji. He's the only person in the game not complicit in eons of slavery. Hoping to have the option to fulfill the title's promise at the end of the game. It's me. I'm the Paradise Killer.
I am...intrigued.
Take me down to the Paradise Killer Where the Lady leaps down off a marble pillar
Oh won't you please take me ho-ome ...
Finished this the other night. There's one bit that baffles me about the game, and that's how a major lead in the mystery - Carmelina's son - is hidden in an out of the way part of the map that I entirely lucked into by exploring. I don't know if some of the character interactions I missed would have pointed to it, but if not, it's kinda a knock against the game.
Other than that, I'm entirely happy with my time with Paradise Killer. It takes open world games in a direction I'd like to see more of, and I'm a sucker for investigative games like this with twists and turns. If I had one other criticism, it's that it doesn't really do much with the premise of a society built on ritualistic slaughter beyond that it exists and the powerful people are totally unfazed by it. I would have liked to see the game lean into it a little more, but the point still comes across. Also, I'm curious how viable it would be to completely fabricate accusations and set up whoever you want with the right leads and arguments in the trial.
Other than that, I'm entirely happy with my time with Paradise Killer. It takes open world games in a direction I'd like to see more of, and I'm a sucker for investigative games like this with twists and turns. If I had one other criticism, it's that it doesn't really do much with the premise of a society built on ritualistic slaughter beyond that it exists and the powerful people are totally unfazed by it. I would have liked to see the game lean into it a little more, but the point still comes across. Also, I'm curious how viable it would be to completely fabricate accusations and set up whoever you want with the right leads and arguments in the trial.
Fyonn
did their best!
I haven't finished the game yet, but I clicked that first spoiler for intel. There are a couple of things I've found that at least suggest that could exist: birth records for two people that have been tampered with in Eyes Kiwami's apartment (one of them is Henry), and the two blood vials used to access the 3rd seal that were not council members but were still close enough to work.
That said, I haven't found that in my hours of scouring the island.
That said, I haven't found that in my hours of scouring the island.
What I mean is his location is really unintuitive.
Fyonn
did their best!
Though I was able to find that just fine, it does seem like the game's biggest flaw in retrospect. Thanks to the structure of the game, Paradise Killer only has three tools to enforce pacing: requiring hang outs to unlock information, making something inaccessible without the right tool or fresh hot platforming skills, and having to use characters to finish answers you only have part of.
While this location requires a tool to get to, it marks off like six leads simultaneously, and not only do you not need to talk to anyone about it, but you can't talk to anyone about it.
It would have been much better if the kid was already dead in the corridors, you needed to get to his original location for the key and evidence Carmelina was there, and you needed to go back to the council room to find the exit into the corridors to open them the first time.
All that said, I freakin' submerged myself in this game. Absolutely loved it. The extremely class-focused circumstances of the setting and the scapegoat combined with how much of the UI is made of pink, blue, and white suggest to me that the developers are Pretty Cool. They've replaced Swery65 for me as the developers I'm most looking forward to more work from. I would buy a Paradise Killer 2 in a heart beat. I might buy this one twice, just to give the developers more money.
While this location requires a tool to get to, it marks off like six leads simultaneously, and not only do you not need to talk to anyone about it, but you can't talk to anyone about it.
It would have been much better if the kid was already dead in the corridors, you needed to get to his original location for the key and evidence Carmelina was there, and you needed to go back to the council room to find the exit into the corridors to open them the first time.
All that said, I freakin' submerged myself in this game. Absolutely loved it. The extremely class-focused circumstances of the setting and the scapegoat combined with how much of the UI is made of pink, blue, and white suggest to me that the developers are Pretty Cool. They've replaced Swery65 for me as the developers I'm most looking forward to more work from. I would buy a Paradise Killer 2 in a heart beat. I might buy this one twice, just to give the developers more money.
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Many hours in, I'm still not particularly interested in the lore side of things, but I'm really enjoying it a lot just as some mix of a walking sim and a 3D collectathon. It's a very aesthetically pleasing space to spend time in, and oddly satisfying figuring out how to platform my way behind a locked fence to pick up a jpg of a starfish or whatever.
And for what it's worth, I still have have hope for the main mystery, even if I haven't focused on it. It's actually the random exploration that's fueled my interest; I've found a fair bit of what I have to imagine is important evidence and information, and I'm curious to see how that all winds up coming into play. Maybe next time I hop in, I finally do a loop where I actively seek out and talk with everyone and connect some of the dots.
And for what it's worth, I still have have hope for the main mystery, even if I haven't focused on it. It's actually the random exploration that's fueled my interest; I've found a fair bit of what I have to imagine is important evidence and information, and I'm curious to see how that all winds up coming into play. Maybe next time I hop in, I finally do a loop where I actively seek out and talk with everyone and connect some of the dots.
Done! This was a really great game, one of my favorites of 2020 so far. My only early concern, that the heavy world-building emphasis might make parsing the murder mystery nuances difficult, turned out to be a non-factor. The game tracks all the case data in a simple, organized way that let me enjoy the conversations for what they were, and I could review the case-relevant bits afterwards if needed. And all the stuff that I thought was great early, continued to be great throughout.