The Descendant

I would describe most of the game as busywork to get from point A to whatever point they're tryna make with the story, everything here is sloppy and can't be bothered to even try to be looked into.

This game is slow and simple but a nice post apocalyptic mystery story.

I knew from the very first quick-time event but the second really clinched it.

Please note, that i'll write the review for the whole game (including "The Descendant: Rest of Season") here.
Though this package itself only contains a demo/trial-version (Episode 1).

I sometimes check out Indie-games, since there can be real nice ones along.
Glad, to tell you, that this is one of these times.


If you install the game, start it and can't access anything, don't just rant about and uninstall it, like many others in the reviews.
Try to either unplug any kind of gamecontroller, or just activate the Steam-Input for the game manually.
Last thing worked for me, after i've read along the discussions, that removing gamecontrollers worked for others.


The game:

This game has Steam-achievements, which are - except for 4 of them - pretty easy to be done for an average person - though some require replaying chapters from certain episodes, especially if you failed at first attempt.
It is preferrably played with a controller, since it contains some quicktime-events and the mouse-controls remind of good old 2D-Adventure-games, but unfortunately don't come in that handy on this 3D-Adventure-game.

Once you played the game through, you just can copy the finished game to slot 2 or 3, and select 1 of these, replay the chapter of choice (e.g. to unlock missing achievements or see alternate endings) and either can delete it afterwards or just copy slot 1 again until you're done with the game. A very user-friendly way of handling savegames and making it possible, to test different approaches.

There barely are any bugs afaik.
I encountered 2 visual (beginning and end) and 1 functional bug (when shuffling cryopods) - only and really only - in Episode 5, else everything worked out smoothly.


The story:

The world has fallen by multiple missilie-encounters, only few "Chosen ones" remained and survived within Shelters - no, this is not Fallout.

You start as Donald/"Donnie" - a former ARK-janitor - who's along a (former) politician on the quest, to open and recover ARK-01, which - for unknown reasons - hasn't opened yet.

On your way in, you'll switch and also play Mia (one of the actual ARK's janitors), which - in a time-swapped version of the game - will pave the way for Donnie...the more or less.

Decisions and efficiency matter a lot in this game, referring to progress and outcome.
So be wise...


PRO:
- low hardware-requirements;
- nice visuals (kind of "Borderlands"-rendering for the outlinea, suitable like on "The Wolf Among Us");
- works fine with Playstation-controller (gamepad increases playability, mouse and keyboard feel a bit odd sometimes);

CONTRA:
- can't skip everything at any step, even if you reloaded or replay a chapter;
- have to "play by the book", in order, to unlock accessibilities of items/interactions (e.g. check sth., to figure out, you need sth., which becomes accessable after that and not before already);
- for some reason, the game seems to be used by bots (for trading Steam-cards) and scammers (referring to other reviews and mentionings among Steam's "discussions") but if you just install it, play it offline and go online to sync-savegames, you should be safe and sound - just in case, you're afraid of anything;


So yeah, the game is nice.
To convince yourself, you may install the free Episode 1 and if you like it, you can purchase the "The Descendant: Rest of Season"-DLC, and if you don't, just uninstall it - no offense, no harm taken.

Even though the playtime is pretty low, referring to the quality and the storyline, the price seems to be ok, so probably you can't go wrong, buying it on a discount or in a bundle.

Sad, that not more developers, offer such reasonable approaches, but beneficial to this one.


P.S.:
You can manually save your savegame, which commonly is located in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Descendant\My Games" contained by the folder "The Descendant" by simply copying it to another folder or drive.

About the bug at the puzzle in Episode 5...

To avoid the cryopod-bug, just solve the puzzle from the upper tier level.
When i tried to shuffle the pod into the slot from the same/lower tier level, the free slot and a cryopod collided or the game just got stuck and enforced me to reload.
When having the free slot on a higher tier and descending it in exchange for a cryopod (any of them, so it's a general issue of the puzzle), it worked. So did it vice versa, when you want the free slot on the higher level as well.

It is more annoying, since you have to go to the upper tier level, place everything as needed, go to the lower one, do so as well, go to the upper one and start the transfer...but at least, it won't break the game and you won't have to reload and retry it from the beginning.

I played the 1st episode and saw it potential. I do not regret buying and playing the entire season. It was a great experience with all the timeframes you can play and the characters are well written. I liked the way you can move around and interact. It's a bit linear, but as someone who likes the Fallout main background, this was cool!

could not get into this point and click

A truly hidden gem for me. Once I started playing, I couldn't stop until the end credits. Highly recommended to all of the narrative heavy adventures Telltale style games fans.

To be honest, i am kinda of impressed with this game. The history that this game is based on is simply amazing. I was just anxious to get to the next episode every time. The graphics are cartoon type and the history deppends on the choices you make. Every choice you make will have consequences on how the game progresses and what will be the end of the game. I highly recommend this game, buy the other episodes, it is worth it!

i like

The game is okay, but the Controls are awful.