The Maker's Eden

This is a tough one to rate. On the one hand, this is one of the better visual novels I have played. Quite a lot of effort was put into world building, and the story, dialogue, and pacing are all very good. The artwork is stylish, and the game does manage to create a cool sci-fi noir atmosphere.

Unfortunately as of February 2022, nearly eight years after its initial release, the game is still unfinished. There are only two hours worth of content, and the second episode ends on a huge cliffhanger that leaves the entire story feeling very much unresolved. It has been several years since there was any word from the developer as to whether or not the third and final episode will ever be completed, which is a shame since it sounded like it would be awesome.

Should you buy the game in its current state? I don't know. Normally I would have said, wait and grab it during a sale if you want to take a chance on it, but it never goes on sale any more. I happened to buy it years ago during a sale, so I am not going to complain too much (the first two episodes are certainly worth a few bucks) but if you pay full price for an unfinished product then you should prepare to be disappointed.

Note to the developer: If you ever do complete the third episode, I am willing to edit this review and change my recommendation to "Yes".

It's a short, cute and occasionally witty visual novel, but the third act got stuck in development hell and may not emerge. That's fine, just know it beforehand.

Game launched 8 years ago. 3rd Chapter still not here. Total scam. Do NOT buy!


Here is a compilation of all the lies, excuses and promises:

___________________________

*Replies in "Act 3" post by Retr0, June 2016 to March 2021 ( https://steamcommunity.com/app/313360/discussions/0/351660338683896374/ ):

24 JUN 2016 - 20:26

rustybroomhandle;351660338690044934 wrote:

Hello thar!

The plan is to quit my regular job end of July and devote the full month of August to finishing it, so with any luck, around September.

rustybroomhandle;152392786906838215 wrote:

Act 3 going slow, mostly health and financial issues, but it's not a too long way away from done. Thanks for popping in!

Ya know... I'll send an Indiegogo update to let all backers know how things are going. Hopefully not too spammy.

rustybroomhandle;1368380934267336480 wrote:

Thanks magitaan, Thankfully it won't be that long. ;) This thing hangs over my head like the sword of Damocles and will until it's done. Well at least my health issues seem to be improving. This helps a lot.

rustybroomhandle;1726450077624459762 wrote:

Hi hi, Re timing. There's a gaming event here at the end of November, so I'm thinking it'd be great to have act 3 out in time for that. And without giving any detail, if all goes well, from next month I should have more time to work on it too. Keep ya piggies crossed!

rustybroomhandle;1741101364294521290 wrote:

Heh yeah, I think that was a bit optimistic. The momentum right now is great though, despite me spending most time on contract work. There's a 3 week break in that contract from 14 Dec though. I will post some screenshots around then. Right now there's still way to much placeholder art. ;)

Actually, I should just release the game in its current state and write it into the story:
PLOT TWIST: It was The Matrix all along, that's why all your friends look like placeholder art.

rustybroomhandle;1742227898973321765 wrote:

daloco1 - that's the smart move, I guess :) Also, what if once it's finally done, people don't like how it ends and reviews go down the pooper? :P

WelshPixie;34093781577931842 wrote:

Good question! Ideally, if everything goes smoothly, no more than 4 to 6 months for all of it - but that depends on how busy our artist and musician are; it might take a while longer. We will be releasing frequent-ish mini content patches though; extra conversations, vignettes, stuff like that, to tide the gap between releases.

WelshPixie;611702631211789172 wrote:

http://makerseden.screwylightbulb.com/?action=view&url=progress-update---act-2

Jaco, the main dev, has a full time job that includes 2 - 4 hours travel time every day. He has to work on the game outside of those hours, and if he spent 100% of that down-time working as well as spending 12 hours a day out of the house at his day job, I think his head would explode. I know we've been lacking on the updates front and after several months of gently and not-so-gently poking him about making an update he's finally made one (linked above). The game IS getting worked on, but not without Jaco taking some breaks in between so that he doesn't burn out.

rustybroomhandle;517142892069361576 wrote:

[quote=FORmica;517142892069340769]@rustybroomhandle -- Oh cool, you are still here! How much have you gotten done since the last public announcement? How much left to go?

The games has some amazing art and sound. I love the comic-like storytelling and it's a wonderfully crafted world that has been created.

For only 5.99GBP, this is a cheap fulfilling game that is sadly still incomplete though is still being worked and is not abandoned.

My only gripes would be the duration between acts, but of course there is only I believe a small team not all full time working on this game so it is understandable.
Lastly would be the usually minor bugs, aspect ratio issues, UI being cut off, sound bugs.
It's only a real big impact is when the sound stops all together or when the UI has cut off in a way that you can no longer proceed.

Overall though at the price it is being sold at I love the game! How I can tell? I've gone out of my way to write this review AND submit bug reports.

The game and characters while sometimes basic are intriguing and captivating and this is what has brought me back time and time again to play it.

EDIT: I will agree that some voice acting or voice sounds even could be a nice addition.

Very cool game with nice artwork and a thrilling story.
Very cyberpunk and philisophic.
Addictive.

This is my first review on Steam, but I wanted to let people know how much I love this game. I love the atmosphere, the story. I love the fact there are multiple choices in dialogue. I like the art style, it could be better, but it could be a lot worse as well, plus it has its own flavor. All in all, the game is a good purchace even when not on sale. I'm looking forward to the third and final installment.

Excellent sci-fi / cyberpunk take on the classic point-and-click adventure game in the tradition of titles such as King's Quest or Myst.

A game with beautiful art and music, a surprisingly interesting story with some pretty good and funny dialogue, well-written characters and interesting ideas. It took me only 2 hours to play Acts 1 and 2, but it's definitely worth the price and I plan to play it again when the third act finally comes (probably a year from now). You will take longer if you stop to admire the art in more detail, soak in the atmosphere and listen to the music. The puzzles are not terribly challenging, so that cuts the play time short as well.

There are a few minor technical issues: if you exit to Windows for whatever reason, the music may stop playing and it won't restart until you restart the game. Occasionally text is cut and only partially visible but you can still make out what it is supposed to read. In the bar scene, you have a conversation option available when it shouldn't yet be, but you can guess that you shouldn't pick that one yet and it won't ruin anything. Moreover, the dialogue could have been proofread more thoroughly, as I spotted a few missing or incorrect words, but overall the dialogue and texts are very well written.

I don't have the heart to fault the game for these small issues when the overall experience is so pleasant and inspiring. You will like this if you like scifi/cyberpunk stories, beautiful art and atmospheric music. And you can always wait until the final Act is released and it won't feel so short.

This game has excellent music (kind of ambiant/electro/jazzy) which for me made it a pleasure to play. I also enjoyed the semi-3D environments that move with the mouse. It is more like a visual novel than an adventure game, but it’s a nice way to spend a little less than an hour. For the most part you just have to click on anything that’s clickable in any order to make the story progress; there is very little difficulty.

The story is short and quite raw and unrealistic (random strangers trust and help you almost immediately), but not uninteresting. Very little happens in Act 1.

Due to its very short length I recommend buying it on sale. Act 2 is supposed to finally be released this month, but even if it adds another hour it will still be a short game.

Seems like the developers had an idea about a world full of human-shaped androids (which is not so bad) but lack the time and resources to actually work on it. If the art and soundtrack is appealing to you, maybe you should buy it and wait to see whether there would even be a sequel. But considering how unpolished the plot and dialogues in this game is, I doubt act 2 is getting any better.

Episode 1:

I've played through the whole Chapter 1 in one sitting. You play as 905, someone who doesn't know what or who they are, and why you are being hunted down. The game play is simple point and click- but the story really draws you in, giving you little information at a time.

The graphics are not terrible, but I was expecting more. The game is marketed as a motion comic, but I beg to differ. It's got some of the black frames and dialog boxes but still lacks in a true comic book style feel. It shys away from really reaching that graphic feel that it needs. There needs to be more reference in the direction. What are they going for? Is it concept art? Is it sketch-y? Is it graphic? Is it rendered? I'm not sure. It's a mishmosh between styles and it looks poor. The only good design choices are the several perspective shots (that are repeated with differnt environents may I add, some variations would be nice), and the color pallette. Even the intimate moments with memorable characters are tossed aside frame panel to panel in quality. I'd expect more of a final design when I'm speaking to a character. It seems that the art style is unresolved and needs refinment for the next two chapters.

Tossing art direction aside, this game does a great job with its characters. They're memorable in their own ways and it's interesting to see how they interact with you with various dialouge trees ( I love me some dialogue trees). Each character molds well into the world. Without spoiling any of the storyline, I'm just going to say that I'm very excited to see how the other chapters unfold with them.

Overrall, the gameplay is super catchy. Like I noted before, the story really draws you in without giving you much of a bone when you get more information. Good games work because of interesting storylines and gameplay. Graphics wouldn't make this type of game more fun, but an upgrade would really help to make this game stand on it's own even more.

An intriguing cyberpunk premise with some dismal parrellels to modern capitalist society. The puzzles aren't too difficult but the writing, art, and worldbuilding is superb. While only the first act (plus a few side-stories) is currently avalible, the developer is showing consistent evidence of progress, and it looks like the second act is coming soon.

This is a good buy if you're a fan of easy adventure games where the point is the actual adventure, not the puzzles.

I would only caution you that the developer is working on this project part-time, so while progress is being made, it might be a while for the series to be completed.

Unfortunately, I have to admit that I am rather disappointed by "The Maker's Eden".

I've just installed that adventure game a few days ago, but after an hour and a half, the action's over yet. Meanwhile, I've seen about 10 different scenes in a cartoonish style, telling the story in typical bubbles. I've solved two major puzzles (cracking a door lock terminal and setting together a recording with soundclips) that took about five minutes to figure out and accomplish each. There are only a few animations, sometimes the game just feels like looking into a picture book - and that in turn seems rather unlively.

The soundtrack sounds quite decent to me, but no accents at all. There's no voice acting or material sounds either, and the music gets repititive after half an hour.

So far, that's a big minus for atmosphere. But what about the story? Maybe it is able to compensate the lack of it, at least a bit?

Well, for me, it does not. You don't learn much about the character you're playing. Circumstances are: You're awakening from cryostasis, world has changed, one big company to rule it all, no more humans but lot of androids populating the city/world. An underground union planing an uprising that you are joining. You want to know who you are. But the way the game tries to keep you motivated, creates tension, introduces characters - it just doesnt work well. The world simply does not seem credible - I think that is the closest word I can describe it with.

The game has to improve a lot in my opinion, in all areas - the state the game is in at the moment, I'm not looking forward to playing episodes 2 & 3.

The idea is great, but right now we have acces only to chaper one which is really short (one hour more or less). You should keep in mind that the game is more about telling a story, like TWD and The Wolf Among Us from Tell Tale but really indie. The art behind the game is gorgeus and the puzzles aren't hard at all but they bring some very welcome interaction.

If they keep it up and release the other 3 chapers it has potential to be a really good experience, but if you're looking for a more common gaming experience, this probably isn't meant for you.

The sci-fi/noir story in the first act of The Maker's Eden is excellent.

That is the real attraction here, the great story. I really enjoyed how it unfolded, slowing revealing more about the mystery. I also really liked the artwork. The music enhanced the atmosphere, making me feel like I was a charactor in Blade Runner.

The game is kind of a cross between a visual novel and a point and click adventure. It's simplicity works really well allowing you to sit back and enjoy the story, but still feel like you are involved in the progression.

I am reallly looking forward to the next two chapters.

I love it, but I've gotten stuck on one of the first puzzles, the museums door lock. I would love to move on with the story but can't figure out how. I'm not much of a gamer, probably no fault of the games.

I really like it. The design - although simple - has a voice of its own, the atmosphere is dark and the sound is amazing. The story seemed to have some refrences to half-life (2) and blade runner.

Just sad, that not all the chapters are out jet.

a respectable first outing from Screwy Lightbulb.

Cons: it's a bit short, but that's at least partly because it's only the first episode out so far.
The puzzles/interactions could be a bit more complex/challenging.
Pros: It's a good story, loaded with style. I'm very much looking forward to learning more about the characters and the world.
The artwork is well done, especially the scenery/locations. Very moody. Likewise the music.

All in all, I enjoyed playing it, and I'm looking forward to learning more about the characters and the world. This is a game that focuses on storytelling, rather than in-depth interactivity, so if you're big on shooty stuff, or complex branching dialogue or skill trees, maybe it's not for you. But if you like interactive storytelling, you might want to pick it up. It's fun.

There seems to be lack of negative reviews, so I write one.

1. The gameplay isn't fluent. There is a long delay when changing locations.
   
2. The game is quite huge, about 1 GB. However, it is only text and images. WTF.
   
3. Voice acting would be great.
   
[*] The Act 1 is ridiculously short, the gameplay mechanics are ridiculously simple.

It is as it is - an interective comix-like with small quest elements. The story seems OK. The graphics and OST is good quality. The price is rather high for that kind of experince for only act 1. But when act 2 and 3 will come out (free of charge) - we will see. I liked it.