A Story I Enjoyed, A Game That is Fine
Wed Nov 24 2021 AwesomeNick94Next Stop Nowhere offers a pretty compelling cast of characters to get attached to with great writing and a quirky future world. I really enjoy Beckett’s relationship with Cody and Serra and I wanted to know what they’d get through. That said, there’s several gameplay polish issues I think could use some touching up. For one, navigation with touch just isn’t consistent enough. Sometimes tapping something will just not do the thing, even when it plays the sound effect registering that you tapped it. This happened pretty much throughout the game so be prepared for micro issues that will slowly build up into a damper. Another micro issue is that dialogue will jump immediately from one line to the next without any natural pause. I really enjoyed exploring, but keep in mind that this is effectively a walking simulator. There are some minor to mid impact choices to make, but as far as gameplay goes, that’s mostly it. There’s also a ship driving mini game but that’s few and far between and not all that interesting anyways. Still, I’d recommend everyone give this a go. It’s cool to see the developers of oxenfree give Apple Arcade a go.
Not Enough Gameplay Variety and Bugs
Sun Mar 28 2021 Esc10When I first started playing Next Stop Nowhere I was excited! The characters, environments, music, and art style were all to my liking. But as the story got going a bunch of problems (bugs, lack of gameplay variety, dialogue issues, etc) started to ruin the magic of the first hour of my playthrough. First off the bugs are numerous. I didn’t encounter anything game-breaking, but lets just say it was immersion-breaking. For example: dialogue not being spoken, characters running in circles mid-conversation, items miraculously appearing in my inventory that I knew I hadn’t picked up, and at one point the robot bounty hunter’s voice changed from his usual mechanical sound, to how I’m guessing the voice actor would sound normally. The lack of gameplay variety on the other hand, made the experience start to lull as you near the halfway point of the roughly 4 hour story. The game badly needed puzzle gameplay to make the player feel as if they were accomplishing something when walking through the game’s different levels. But instead of any kind of puzzle, you mindlessly walk around diverting power to doorways and devices with no thought process whatsoever. As a result, I was ready for the game to be over once I had reached the conclusion of this little journey. I wish they had ironed out these issues before shipping because it had so much potential!
Bugs?
Sun Aug 16 2020 jiyeon96While the game is lovely and the color are my jam, I would enjoy the game more if there weren’t so many minor bugs - characters walking off into other rooms while interaction with another character is supposed to be happening in the other. The amazing voice acting is not always played and must restart the game in order to hear it again. The loading is taking forever after the mother chapter that I can’t move forward (and it’s annoying to have to restart the whole dialogue leading up to the next place I’m supposed to be just to try and see if it’ll work again). Sometimes I’ll be walking and the character is teleported back to the beginning, and I have to start the walk over.. I would say those are the minor bugs that is preventing me from giving 5 stars. Also moving between rooms in the same location is downright annoying to have to be close enough to the circle to activate a button you then have to click.. might not sound bad but doesn’t work for smooth gameplay, especially if you run too close to an entrance and the circle won’t make the button appear, you have to walk back and forth for it to pop up again. Maybe I’m being nit picking too much! Overall I do love the characters and their relationship, the story so far is good- if it would just load for me to continue on to the end.
Wasted potential
Sun Sep 27 2020 MehnousernamejustpostThis game has so much potential to be a top tier game, but the controls are touchy at best and completely game breaking at worst. I keep getting stuck when the camera decides to just switch back outside but I’m trying to go inside somewhere. It’s hard to click where I want to go and the corresponding action without the game just deciding for me. But the worst part so far has been the way these bugs interfere with the story. (Spoiler warning) For example, I am at the part where we leave Eddys place and go to the diner when Michigan and Tex call. All of a sudden Serra is saying we met Eddy’s boss? We didn’t meet anyone. I’m assuming the area where I was supposed to meet the boss was past the trip wire I needed the bolt cutters to get to, but I never got to go explore that area because after obtaining the bolt cutters I proceeded to the projection room assuming I could go back where I was before. That wasn’t the case. After seeing the projector message and unlocking the door for Serra I couldn’t go anywhere but back onto Cody. So now I’m missing key plot points but the characters somehow know about it. That completely breaks it for me so I don’t even feel like moving forward with the story now. I don’t know what dialogue choices to make because as far as I know, what they’re talking about didn’t happen. So, yeah, lots of potential for this game, just poorly executed.
Glitch haults gameplay
Sun Oct 25 2020 JesiverticaliI’m so sad. I think this game is so beautiful and well written. The character and environment design is incredibly imaginative and well executed. Plus, the dialog is consistently engaging and is accompanied with brilliant voice acting. In truth it deserves a huge 5 for story and art- I’m truly sad to give it anything less. I really want to play it in full. However I’ve run into the same glitch twice and it brings gameplay to a screeching hault.
That and there is no place to press save. So I closed out the game, hoping a refresh would fix the glitch and thinking it must be auto save (as I couldn’t find a way to save it myself). Then I discovered it deleted my entire game thus far.... so I played it all over again to only encounter the exact same problem in the exact same place. This time I went to the menu to save, and it STILL deleted my game. I am invested in the story and have spent hours now trying to play, but due to this glitch I can’t see it through to the end.
I won’t be playing again until there are more fixes and am pretty disappointed, mostly because it really is an incredible game. I know you guys will find solutions in time, and as a fellow artist I am certainly championing you all. I look forward to when I can experience your work in full.
Fun space romp
Tue Sep 15 2020 frkeeTheir previous game, Oxenfree, successfully modernized the point-and-click adventure. This has some of the same elements: excellent voice acting, much more natural banter that contributes to the story, simple dialog options that encourages spontaneous response, and a fun, compelling story. Oddly the game engine this time is a step backwards and works like a beta version of their previous game. Navigation is very clumsy and it’s too easy to go the wrong way by mistake (fortunately it never ruins the flow). Sometimes characters are talking but they aren’t visible. The interactive elements are simplistic—it’s almost pointless to have them. Flying the ship during jump sequences initially is fun but gets tedious (and difficult) later on. Fortunately these action sequences disappear half-way through the game. In fact, the latter half of the game seems less polished and more rushed. Still, I really enjoyed following the story, listening to the characters interacting with each other, the simple cartoon visual style, and the well-integrated music. I would love to see more by this developer.
Teetering on a 3.5
Tue Aug 18 2020 NikkalickIt’s a great story, the dialog is good but not without it’s awkward pauses and inconsistencies. Several visual glitches where characters are following you but are stuck in a sitting positions, or they’re spinning rapidly (especially sera when you enter the bridge). The controls are finicky, you tap one spot and end up somewhere else, or the camera doesn’t know what it wants to do and it goes back and forth. My biggest issue is when it says i did one thing in the between scene narration slides when I did something entirely different. For example, it said I failed to retrieve a med kit for sera when I definitely bought one and I have the lack of credits/money to prove it. There was also a scene where I went to watch a movie and Wrench showed up to say that while I turned him down last time he was hopeful I’d watch one with him this time, but I had already watched a movie with him right before this one. But it’s still a good wholesome story so I’ll be seeing it through to the end. I just hope things will be fixed for future players
Bugs in the game
Mon Sep 21 2020 Pandabear212Updated- many of the bugs have been addressed and I was able to finish the game! Such a fun storyline and great voiceover work. Thanks so much to the developers for working hard to fix the issues, I really enjoyed the game and may even play it again, making different choices this time!
Original review:
I really like the game (when it works): good storyline, a mix of actions, games, and storytelling; fun graphics. But I’ve had so many bugs playing that I can’t possibly recommend it. Sometimes it glitches and starts replaying old conversations while simultaneously following new ones. When I pause and reload at any point, it jumps back to older storylines and you can’t skip any of the text. The character graphics are out of sync (eg Serra spent many levels in a sitting position while walking). It’s also frozen at a climactic point in the storyline so I can’t move forward. I kept pushing through the bugs because I really do like it, but I’m so frustrated at this point.
Clumsy but cute, still worth a play.
Tue Jul 27 2021 pr071xIt’s hard to disparage this game, since it is engaging, fun, and unique. It’s style and voice acting really make it entertaining.
That being said, it’s definitely in need of some serious polish. The controls are clumsy and distract from the overall experience. Just going from one room to another can be hit-or-miss if you’re not standing in just the right spot, for example. Some areas of the game are almost impossible to get to, however necessary they are for progression. Polygons crash and disappear and jump around randomly… the diner scene, for example, is just about as clumsy as gameplay could be- you really have to want to keep going to not just quit.
Therein lies the rub. For me, it was the voice acting and the choose-your-own-adventure style character interactions (and consequent dialogue) that engaged me. It was still cute and fun, despite its shortcomings. It deserves at least one play though.
Excellent But [Formerly] Buggy. Very. Buggy. Unplayable buggy at times!
Sat Sep 05 2020 IforisaUPDATE: I have officially played through to the end for my first of many times. Latest update fixed my game halting error. Love love love, wish it was longer — May I beg for a sequel?? New chapters on this story, maybe some prequels, something? I love the crew and I know this story is tied up but I would love to see these characters in another story. I know things like this are not done overnight, and I’m guessing this game was a doozy to build, and may be pushing boundaries of current iOS hardware & software, based on how hot my XS Max gets playing this. Therefore begging for more already is crazy but I loved this game a LOT. So now I’m off to play OXENFREE then come back for a new play on NSN!
Original Review: 2/5 stars
So much to love but I have so. many. issues!! So many times, if I set the game down and do something else, I come back to a nasty glitch — my latest one, which is proving unfixable & game halting, is [spoiler] after you get the ranger med kit for Serra, Michigan & Tex video/holo call and I’m supposed to be in the main room with them to play guitar, but instead I’m locked out in the Pin Board room. The main room door has the lock icon and everything. I can access all other ship areas but no way to get to the main room.
I’ve tried “continue” and “load” to the same result. HELP! I can’t play anymore now...
