MetaHuman Inc.

This game is amazing! Exactly the kind of text adventure I like and a great cyberpunk magical story. I enjoyed it. I play one of these every weekend and I recommend coming back to Choice of Games to cheer yourself up on a Sunday evening before the work or school week.

If I were to give a review on the various endings I got from finishing the game a few times, it would be a scathing and negative one, but as it stands, most of the game is fun. The choices are interesting, and the outcomes are reasonable. The game’s not in any way a masterpiece, but far better than some of the other alternatives available. All in all, I’d say it’s worth reading through at least once. (5/10)

It's not bad, but it's not good either, and that's why it's a mediocre snooze-fest of a game. The characters feel like cardboard cutouts, not really doing much to make them stand out, and the story feels like it's trying to rush past certain sections of the game that ends up making you wonder why they even bothered including them instead of trimming the fat and extending the better parts of the story (the mall, a ton of the office encounters, the vacation section that's awkwardly used to push the plot along).

In the game, you're tasked with coming up with different incantations or technologies that you can use to influence certain situations, and the game tries beating you over the head that the two paths are unique. However, the magic and science aspects are just flavor as each choice from one of the two has a counterpart from the other path that fills almost the exact same role, and it just changes a few lines of text when used. Ultimately, there are really only two big choices that impact the story, and they're at the very end, so you won't really get to see the consequences of your choices other than a few lines of text in the epilogue. I'm surprised a choose-your-own-adventure game with such little choice has such a high rating when other, even older, games from this publisher blow it out of the water in every department, including character development, player agency, and overall writing.

Had lots of fun playing it multiple time. Only bad thing is that you can't save and try new ways during the same game. so if you dont like a choice you have to start over

It’s honestly refreshing to find an interactive novel of this quality. After reading a few duds, I was sure that this was a genre not worth investing into anymore. I am pleasantly surprised in this instance.

The game is perfectly designed to be what it's meaning to: An interactive Novel. Choices GREATLY affect the story from all standpoints. From what abilities and choices are available at the moment, from the parameters dictating what is the path of least resistance, to numbers and the allocation of them - which was done incredibly well - having a weight chapter by chapter on everything you do. I had never seen a game of this genre so masterfully crafted.

My personal first experience surprised me so much. As my character in their fictional universe, I had a plan A and a plan B and they LET ME. The book somehow accounted for me to have a plan to fall back on if the first venture went awry. I did my best to let plan A succeed but a enemy that I made early came to spite me; which is also commendable that this happened. When my enemy indirectly ruined my plans and forced me to switch sides very fast, the game also let me. The amount of agency I'm seeing in this book is unprecedented and it all made sense from the narrative standpoint.

There are two development paths to follow; there are two moral paths to follow; there are three or maybe more main allies you can go for all of it adding for a fairly unique experience that you craft from the first choice you make upon reading it.

Well done, writer. Well freaking done.

Interesting story, well written and captivating. I would have enjoyed more alternate paths in the way to deal with the global situation. You are mostly on a track: the events unfold before you with little to no ability to avoid them. The game was easy and rarely punishing for wrong answers.

Great game/book. Interesting and diverse. Actually replaying it over and over improving my outcomes and choices kept me very interested and proud once I earned all the achievements. Some of them can be a little frustrating to get but again that was part of the fun in replaying the game repeatedly to learn all the nuances of the story.

Well done and I highly recommend it to those who enjoy "choose your own adventure" stories.

I love a lot of COG games (especially those related to superhero stuff). But this one was definitely not my favorite and sort of a let down

Pros: I really really really loved the business aspect of this game, managing your companies assests and stuff just seemed so fun I could play a whole game if it was just that. I literally would have prefered if it was just that instead of the weird story it has.

Cons: the story wasnt necessarily bad but unlike in other COG games I couldnt get invested in the characters or the story of what was happening in the world I solely just enjoyed the business aspect of stuff not the "world saving"
Also if you like me and enjoy really getting to sort of roleplay as your character and their personality and sort of embody how they feel about whats going on and why they do what they do I could not do that in this game. You couldnt really give your character much of a personality or identity besides sleezy businessman or goody two shoes
Also I dont know if your a lonely guy like me and you love to have different romances and relationships in these types of games but as far as ive seen there is non of that in this
And for me this COG just felt incredibly short and I really feel no inclination to replay it because really I just dont feel invested in any of the story or characters to try and do things differently

This game if it was based as a freaking business management game would easily be an 8/10 and could become a nine if the game solely focused on that aspect and fleshed it out just slightly more
But as a COG i can only give it a 4/10 personally. It just wasnt for me which really sucks because I really did love the theme for the game and the business aspect but the story and lack of any real characters or personalities did bring they joy of the game way down.

Not great at putting thoughts and feelings into words but I hope this helps somebody out

MetaHuman Inc. is satisfyingly long and has a more complex, detailed plot than average for a Choice of Games product. I had thought it was one of my favorites until replaying it after spending time in other CYOA games this week. I found myself more critical afterwards. The supporting cast are rather bland and making divergent choices didn't effect the plot as much as I would have liked. I do like the resource allocation elements to the game and feel like it helped me feel invested in the success of the company itself and added to the sense that I was indeed the CEO and responsible for success and/or failure of my company.

But I found myself unimpressed with the setting itself. Choice of Deathless, Choice of Robots, Midsummer Night's Choice and Tin Star are examples of CoG products with a satisfying and immersive setting, whereas MetaHuman's ended up feeling very flat. Nevertheless, I'm giving it a recommendation because I feel its positive features outweigh its flaws.

This is the only story bad this company I've felt a need to not reccomend, as most of their other work is fantastic.

In this game, you suddenly find yourself forced to be the CEO of a company that sells human augmentation fueled by super science or occult magic. You make major corporate decesions and choose what staff to hire and what kinds of tech to develop with the benefit that you can have any augmentations developed for free. In the background is a mystery involving extra-dimensional beings and the disappearance of the former CEO, which escolates to involve no less than the fate of the world itself.

Unfortunatley, without wishing to give any spoilers, there are, practically speaking, only two endings for this story, which is a divergence from the many combinations involved in this company's other works. If you don't make choices that perfectly fit in the narrative of the two endings the writer wants the game actually has a time loop that dumps you back at the start of the story, convienently giving the player character amnesia so you can't have new decisions from foreknowledge, and tells you make all the same choices again, until you pick the ones we want you to. This defeats the purpose of the story having any player agency whatsoever. I was very disappointed and after my third time loop the shoehorned choices became very clear and I abandoned the game.

I've bought pretty much all the games the developers (Choice of Games) have made and released on steam. I really enjoy them, some of the games they release have way too much information on the first couple chapters and sometimes stuff story down your gullet before the real fun part starts. But MetaHuman Inc got very interesting really quick. You become the CEO of a company that creates super powers or enhancements and are able to choose from a range of ways you will manafacture them. I wont go too far into the story, but its very entertaining to be incharge of a large company and becoming a millionare. The story can get a bit much and boring at times but is fairly addicting as you start to have more freedom. I reccomend this game to those who love super powers or a bit of Sci Fi and Mystery to their games.

A great and interesting piece of writing. The world has depth and a lot of freedom in how you guide the company as CEO.

Needs a save function. I spent 4 hours on my playthough and having to dedicate the same amount of time for any additional playthroughs isnt appealing.

This Is by far the most technical choice of games game I've played so far. It makes full use of it's engine and I was often suprised at things I encountered. It features the pleasant suprise of going "the writer can do THAT?"
On a note for you trolls out there, this story is also very politically correct, when asked "?" I was given not 2, not 3, but 5 choices. There is also a very complex story with plenty of twists.

The good: Amazingly realized world, great writing. If you're the kind of person that cares whether a game accomodates non-binary gender pronouns and the like then you'll find they've taken every measure for sensitivity's sake. The power fantasy of running, lets be honest here Massive Dynamics from Fringe, is great fun.

The Bad: Unlike most of their games there appears to be one path to win, or at least a narrower set of them than the usual. At points it becomes less-than-realistic. There is way more randomness than many Choice of Games entries with your resources which are what determines how much you can do and thus how much you can make. So a bit of bad luck or one bad decision quickly snowballs into an unwinnable playthrough.

The Bottom Line: A great game, but not as superlatively awesome as others from this publisher. The skill development system (which normally is a glorified decision tree system, if you've skilled up in a given area more than X times then you can sweet-talk the guard if not... he kicks your butt) is reused to provide more freeform options. It's a shame that they never really go anywhere interesting with it because it boils down to "have you checked enough boxes to win?" Relies a bit much on guessing, the results of actions are not always logically connected to the input: a fatal flaw in a text-based game like this! This is especially apparent in the first act. Also, a lot of threads like the Romance options seem shoehorned in so they can say "has X romances!" on the promo blurb and have no bearing on gameplay in a significant way. In one playthrough I was gay, in the next a lesbian, and the lesbian romance option was slightly more fleshed out (ooh, controversial!) because they went on vacation with me. But beyond a few more scenes and a chance to piss off my partner by ignoring her wishes and engaging in corporate skulduggery she asked me not to, nothing of consequences was gained or loss.

Buy this if you like: Power fantasies, reading unique novels and genres, streamlined management sims

This game reminds me of a term from dungeons and dragons called 'rail roading', used to describe gameplay sessions where you only think that you have some agency in deciding your fate as a player but really youre just riding along on a straight line so the dungeon master can show off all the pretty scenery and plot he wrote up.

Fantastic game. Typically, I find stories with this format rather unappealing due to the vast scope of the world and its unnatural setting combined with a familiar story (magic/Aliens - CEO of corporation). Which typically make getting immersed in the story difficult because you are given such a narrow view with which to see what’s going on around you and with so much is going on its easy to get confused or hung up on certain details.

However, that is not a problem with this game you very quickly learn its focus and what you are setting out to achieve which lets you focus on the intrigue of the main story and the satisfaction of seeing your metrics improve month on month make you feel like a real super powered CEO with plenty of scope to be the good guy philanthropist or the brutal cut throat businessman.

I love that fact that you get to play a little allocation of resources game month on month as a method of establishing focus and showing the player the consequences of their actions and I hope to see more of this kind of mechanic in future games.

Simply put I cannot recommend this game enough

I don't have much experience with these choose your own adventure things, but I've played a few visual novels in my time. All I can say is that this offers a large number of choices in comparison, and these choices have real impact on what happens and what options you have later on. More than your average Telltale Game I would wager. You also have a lot of control over your companies strategy and which augments you develope for profit or your own use (and you WILL use them).

Also, you can enter your own name to be referred to, and pick a gender INCLUDING options for "It's complicated but I guess I'll put ___" or "I won't answer this question". Nice touches.

If there is one downside, I couldn't find a "save" or "bookmark" option, so I had to do it all in one sitting. I'm probably overlooking something really obvious but in case I'm not, something to keep in mind.

Oh, and before I forget, the story is well written and memorable, with characters that I found interesting and believable in the world they're in. I caught myself sacrificing my own needs to protect them on occasion, and I was trying to be self-serving.

9/10 would tamper with what makes us fundamentally human again.

You´re appointed as new CEO of the leading firm for Hightech, Witchcraft and Extraterristic science. Now doesn´t that sound just splendid?

Sadly this has to be the first choose your own adventure ebooks, which really fell flat for me in some regards.
The development of your own character skills is at nearly no point an important decision, the only thing that matters is research and the stats of the enterprise. While this may be realistic for a CEO, it is kinda dull and mainly influenced through the budget sessions.

Also the romance part (which for this kind of game should normally offer some options) is a bit lackluster... i kind of got forced into the gay romance line, as he was the only one available.. which didnt matter much anyway in the end.

Regarding the story, it also got somewhat over the top for me, when time travelling became an issue. That´s naturally a very personal taste, but that part just didn´t work out for me.

To round it up, the end game also has some bugs into it, where people appear twice, while they should be actually dead already (mind you, that was also an important part of the ending judgement, so no small lapsus imo).

So, while the writing is mostly ok the overall game just had me dissapointed, especially so, since the premise made me very interested in it.

Conclusio: You surely can get more refined CYoA books by now, so if you´re no hardcore fan of the topic, you can skip this one.

Rating: 5/10

I like these choose-your-own-adventure stories in general, but they have been very hit or miss for me depending on how much the writing disconnects from the choices I make. I don't want to give anything away about the story so I will start with an analogy, *not* an actual example. Imagine you are asked by a story to choose your favorite beverage - water, cola, or liquor. You answer water, only to be told you would have preferred liquor and now you are sad because you wanted to get buzzed. I am? I did?

Again, trying not to give anything away about the game, but give an *actual* example of what I mean this time ... on my playthrough, the story severely broke down in the end. It was clear that the later elements of the story were written from the perspective of the character struggling against the crisis unfolding, even if your previous choices made it clear you did not view what was happening as a crisis. In other words, I had to choose the same option about six times in a row to get to the next page so the story could tell me how worried I was again, even though I had just chosen not to be worried. To paraphrase the responses ... "It's terrible, you're distraught, you can't believe this happening. Now is the time to act!" Why? I've told you six times I don't care. Next page please ... "OK, but it's terrible, you're distraught, you can't believe this is happening." I can't? I have repeatedly told you to let it happen. Please just get on with it! "OK, but you view your special item as your one hope to stop this terrible, terrible thing!" No, I don't - get on with it! "OK, but ..."

The result of this defect is that for me, this title wasn't really choose *your* own adventure, more like choose *someone else's* adventure and be told how they feel about it. Therefore, I can't recommend this game based on my experience. I think the reason I don't find this defect in non-text-based games that feature choice is that there is no inner monologue to contradict how you personally feel about the choices. Just something to keep in mind, in case you are thinking of purchasing the game, but would be disappointed by such a disconnect should you deviate from the author's perspective. On the other hand, if you happen to agree with the viewpoint of the author, you would never notice the defect and might really love the story.

Another well done release by Choice of Games.

I probably did not take the most entertaining route but the ending was a big surprise for me considering the choices I made. The story is great, the choices have meaning and I will need to play through again.

It is not all just about making choices though, there is plenty of variability beyond multiple choice answers when you control the company. I gave myself a bit of a streamlined path but I am sure I can twist things up a bit next time around.

Sorry if I am not much of a critic but I can say that there weren't any real negatives for the type of game and I would give it a play through if you like the genre.

Honestly, I don't know how the other reviewer (Red Steel) apparently played through the game enough times as to experience all the coice possibilities in just 24 mins (0.4hrs at the time he posted the review). I've only done one playthrough, so maybe there's things I've yet to discover, but from what I've played, I liked the game, and you get what you paid for, maybe more.

-Good storytelling. The story is solid and the pace at which it's told goes nicely with the gameplay.
-Nice management mechanics.
-Would've liked a longer game, with a longer/more expanded story
-"Romance" didn't feel like I accomplished anything

EDIT: Horrific spelling mistake. BTW, I deleted a comment accidentally. Sorry about that.