Gemini Rue

pretty boring and very grey

Ok, damning-with-faint-praise time: it's a testament to the strength of Wadjet Eye's output that this is my least favourite game from their catalogue but it's still actually quite good. It's a neat sci-fi thriller that is not at all shy about its influences (Blade Runner!! Cowboy Bebop!!). However it also comes with a wealth of common point-and-click-adventure annoyances like timing puzzles and a completely out of place combat & death system. It's ambitious and its wonderfully moody & noir but ultimately mixing a LOT of things that you don't commonly put into point-and-click games into one sours the finished product a bit too much. It's well worth a playthrough but keep your expectations reasonable.

I'm recommending the game, but only just. I have heard a lot of positive buzz about this game, so was a bit disappointed when I finally got around to playing it. It's obviously a small-budget one-man-band game, but that's not an issue for me personally. The story is good and interesting, and definitely the strong suit of the game. It wears its influences on its sleeve in a way I personally find quite charming as well.

However, it does suffer from a lot of typical adventure game trappings. Part of it is the game's age- it came out before people realized things like pixel hunting were dumb and avoiding that became more standard practice- but there are some that I find to just be poor decisions. There are a number of puzzles with poor signposting or weird leaps of logic that make them frustrating to solve, and that combined with some pretty nasty bugs in the last 3rd of the game left me actually pretty checked out at the end, just following a walkthrough to see the story resolve, which I always hate to do with these kinds of games.

In fact, the game took me a couple attempts over a few years to actually sit down and finish, as I kept getting annoyed at it and going off to play other things. Still glad I did stick with it, though.

Another early Wadjet Eye release. I want to recommend this one, but I honestly don't feel like I can due to the amount of things that were either fiddly or annoying.

The game is a really slow start off the bat. The initial setup didn't really hook me, and it wasn't until a couple hours into the game where it started fleshing out the scenario that I got any kind of invested. Despite being a sci-fi game, I feel like this was written by someone who's not all that interested in the genre. The planet you're on for most of the game is no more advanced than modern day Earth, and when talking about space they make the "solar system / galaxy" mistake which annoyed me to no end throughout the game.

There's also just a general lack of characterization or charm in the story. It feels like the story was written backwards from the twists, and the writer felt as if any characterization early on would be pointless. For example, we know that Azriel was an assassin that betrayed his organization and turned himself into the police and became an investigator himself. However, we don't learn the particulars of this incident at all. There is a thematic and narrative reason for this, but I feel like it ultimately weakens both not to flesh out who the characters are supposed to be. Unlike other Wadjet Eye games, this one doesn't really have a sense of humor at any point, and that honestly made it a little dull in my eyes. A little levity here and there would have been much appreciated to balance out how dreadfully serious the game takes itself the rest of the time. Technobabylon did this a lot better.

The gameplay is really where the game falls on its face, though. Now, the puzzle design is actually not too bad. There are a couple instances of extreme obtuseness, but nothing so bad as The Dig. However, there is way too much gunplay in this adventure game. Yeah, you read that right: gunplay... in an adventure game. These sections are just annoying an potentially highly frustrating since if you run out of ammo, you have no choice but to poke your head out and get shot to death. Like I was saying in the review for NORCO, I typically detest combat sections in adventure games, and this is the kind of thing I was talking about. The combat is never going to be as good as what is in a game specifically designed around those elements, and it's not the reason I'm here so I'd rather devs just not even try to put those kind of sections in their games. Cause at the worst you get this where killing enemies is a fiddly process, and if you die, the checkpointing is really bad so you'll probably have to repeat not only the combat but at least one section with a timing puzzle.

I know this game is like 14 years old at this point, but I really don't think it's worth going back to. Wadjet Eye has developed and published much better games in the meantime.

Love it

Gemini Rue attempts to deliver a noir-inspired sci-fi adventure, but ultimately falls short. The story, while initially intriguing, fails to maintain interest due to slow pacing and underdeveloped characters. The crude pixel-art graphics, though aiming for retro charm, often hinder rather than help immersion. Gameplay suffers from tedious pixel hunting and repetitive backtracking between familiar locations, which turns puzzles into chores rather than challenges. The enigmas lack creativity, relying too much on fetch quests rather than clever design. Overall, the game doesn't offer enough engagement or polish to justify a recommendation, even for die-hard point-and-click fans.

Skip it. This is an early game from this developer and it really shows. Gets frustrating and annoying. Spend your money on later games from this dev instead.

leaving this review for people who liked, shardlight, strangeland, hobs barrow and felt like they wanted to go back and try some of the older stuff from wadjet.

It pains me to leave this negative review, because the publisher clearly went on to do great things, but I just want to ward off people who, like me, have gone to play this because they loved some of the more recent titles in the genre.

The game was frustrating, the story was average. Just leave this one in the past.

Really sorry to write this review, because I love this genre, and am very fond of the wadjet, but I feel like ive wasted my time and money on this title to be perfectly honest.

Really enjoyed playing this game - loved the retro style and the storyline.

Excellent game even though it could've been the hardest point and click I've played so far. The logic behind a few interaction-based puzzles were a bit abstract although I could imagine this being pretty subjective.

Another fun budget retro style point-and-clicky adventure produced by Wadget Eye. The soundtrack is amazing, but then again... so are all of Nathan Allen Pinard's.
The game itself isn't too hard (the occasional pixel search) and reminds me of 'Beneath a Steel Sky'. I think the creator mentioned somewhere in one of the commentaries that he used Blade Runner as an insipration for the game's setting, though I don't get any BR vibes out of it. Technobabylon gave those vibes, but that's a different game from a different author.

PROS
That was a really good story.
Grim, sad, cruel but also hopeful.
Atmospheric soundtrack, good dialogues. Logical puzzles. Good, reflective dialogues.
Very nice epilogue, they took their time to close the story without a rush, a feature that I highly appreciate. Who wants to spend a few hours on a game that has a rushed ending?

CONS
I had to use a walkthrough sometimes, because I didn't notice an object on the screen. So yes, there is some pixel hunting.
Whenever there are doors, you have to open them, which is pointless because there never is a moment where you actually find something useful on the door or behind it.
You have to be close to an object to take it or use it, or else your caracter will say: ''i have to get closer to reach it'', which is also annoying.

But it was their first game or at least one of the first, and when I consider The excavation of Hob's barrow which is pretty recent, there are none of these tedious elements there, they learned and imroved making the gameplay very smooth.

I enjoyed it overall! I recommend it if you like a good noir post-apocaliptic story with some plot twists

An adventure game with logical puzzles! Oh and great story and visuals too.

5/10
Difficulty: Hard
Puzzles: built to confuse. no chance for me w/o a walkthrough
Shooting: difficulty/fun level: medium
Story: enjoyable yet I feel a bit confused
Vibe: very Beneath a Steel Sky-esque
Rooms look a lot alike, color palette is grey/olive with not a lot of contrast happening
Game mechanics are a bit overly complicated but ok
Animations are ok, sprites are kinda small though, scrolling leads to very jerky movement
End is short but ok
Won't replay

Gemini Rue is an interesting adventure game. I enjoyed my time in it, the story is interesting, the characters as well and it wraps up on a bittersweet note. I did liked the theming as well, being it a dark and more gritty adventure. You can die here btw. Though the game is fair enough to put autosaves before such sections.

However while most puzzles were good to solve, despite some increasing difficulty, some puzzles are... very weird. E.g. you can and -have- to climb on a "hole"... i mean, the logic is definitely interesting here. Luckily these spots are rare, but expect to take a look at a guide when you get really stuck, since these spots can be very tricky to figure out (I at least couldn't lol).

Overall though, i can recommend it. I had a good time and the very few points where i got stuck are neglectable. If you want a interesting, dark, scifi Adventure game: You're definitely at the right address.

fun game love old point and click game. i really do miss games like this.

bit short but good story.

Classic — haven't played it yet

Clunky

An enjoyable adventure with Beneath a Steel Sky vibes.

Short, but excellent game

I love the idea of a point-and-click detective game, however Gemini Rue falls flat in execution.

At the heart of the game is the dialogue and voice-acting, however it is so abysmal and cardboard that it makes the story you’re trying to piece together hard to follow. Some of the conversations you have are outright laughable.

The point-and-click mechanics are clunky at best, with shoehorned combat mechanics that further detract from the heart of the game. Cut scenes replace player-driven actions to the point where it feels like an animated movie with quick-time events. Two concurrent story-lines mean there's a B plot that a player must endure before returning to the story of interest. Two plots may work well for television or cinema, but it removes the fun part of this game: continuous agency.

The world feels very small and it gets repetitive very quickly. I wanted to see decision trees, consequences and rewarding payoffs, but after 5 hours of playtime, I got too bored to even bother finishing it.

Game was okay until the very end where the writing shits itself and becomes nonsensical.

Gemini Rue is one I picked up a number of years back and put down, but I'm glad to come back and play it through last weekend. This game has great vibes and an awesome story! I think the story could start with a little more explanation, but so long as you search every little thing you hear and see in the consoles you'll pick up on a lot of the story. I sadly waited till the end to see much of the backstory of the world. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game, even if my playthrough finished with the assistance of a guide. I was taken by surprise at many of the ambient events happening in the background of environments of Azriel's story, making the game feel more alive. I did encounter one bug with the Easter Egg Characters not showing up where they were supposed to, but that's okay. I'd like to go back and play the commentary which hopefully then they'll spawn.

I have come back to this game twice trying to give it a fair try. I like the setting and the story is interesting, I have played and enjoyed other Wadjet Eye games (Techno Babylon) so I expected similar quality with this one. This is an earlier game (The first?) put out by Wadjet though and it kinda does seem a bit rough, The voice acting is one of the biggest complaints in that regard.

I ended up deciding this was not worth continuing because the awkward gun-fighting parts seemed to be a bigger and bigger part of the game play and I hated it.
I have mentioned in other reviews for adventure games, I HATE quicktime action sequences like these in point and click games, so if you are not as put off by that, you might actually enjoy this game. The gun-fighting is the main reason I decided I was over it.

I`m all about story and atmosphere in games, and in this one both of them were perfectly executed. Very beautiful point and click game 90`s style with an amazing story. Really a must if you are into point and click story rich games.

Rating: 9/10 !!!
It lacks one point due a bit miscalculation between the verbs, the logic and the items in the game. The game is fantastic overall!!

I played this game for a few years ago. Then I forgot if I have played the whole gameplay, so I started playing again a few days ago. It seems that I started remembering things in the final scene while the main character got his memories erased for the last time. It is as if my memories were wiped by Center 7, and then I got them back in the end of the game, haha! What a paradox!

Definitely one of the best early 90s-style point-and-click adventure games I have played, and I've played almost all the ones worth playing. If you grew up with the games of that now-historical era of games, you should play this game.