Developer: Epiphany Games
Publisher: Epiphany Games
Platforms: PC, Mac, iOS, Android tablets
Tested on: PC
Majestic Nights: Chapter One – Review
Majestic Nights, an episodic action adventure game from the Australian developers of Epiphany Games, has been released on Steam a little while ago. With the release of the game, Chapter Zero and Chapter One are available. The conspiracies we learned about in Chapter Zero, set in an alternate version of the 80s, continue in Chapter One: Covert Genesis.
Story
In Chapter Zero, which acted as a prologue, you played as the former intelligence operative John Cardholder who tried to unravel the mystery of the disappearance of a famous film director. During this prologue, one of the biggest conspiracy theories, namely the moon landing hoax, has been tackled quite successfully.
In the first real chapter, Chapter One: Covert Genesis, you are playing as Cal – or Callie – a female private investigator who has been tasked with finding this elusive operative that is John Cardholder. Little does Cal know that searching for this individual will bring her life in danger as every location she visits is crowded with agents that are more than eager to kill her – including some very dangerous ninja’s. While searching for clues about Cardholder’s whereabouts, Cal crosses paths with evidence of more conspiracies that seem to be true after all – although this is more for the player to interpretate in his own way.
Graphics
The visuals in Majestic Nights are, as previously explained in the preview, inspired by games such as Hotline Miami. The graphics are heavily cartooned, almost Borderlands-styled, with some fairly dark outlines. Most of the times, the color pallet is consistent of dark tones and hues. However, there are several locations that have an extremely colorful pallet. These locations are in theme with the concept of the game – an alternate version of the 80s. Every location will have hotspots, which are again represented in flashy colors so that the player cannot miss anything that might be useful to them later in the game.
Sound
Since the game is set in the 80s era, most of the sound design sounds very retro and nostalgic at the same time which fits the entire theme the game has going. At the same time, the exact type of instrumental sound is hard to pin point but it does have a very techno feel to it. Personally I’m not extremely fond of the sound design but you might end up liking it more than I do. If not, muting is always an option since the sound design does not trigger any kind of warnings.
During the gameplay, the sound design is altered to add some authenticity to the various locations you visit. This, on the other hand is a great feature that truly adds something to the game.
Gameplay
The gameplay hasn’t changed much since the preview. Moving around is still done via the WASD-buttons. Using your weapon, whether it is a pistol, rifle or a katana, is done with the left mouse button. Additionally, you can aim with your firearms by clicking the right mouse button. There is a slight pause between clicking and being able to actually shoot an enemy because the aiming happens fairly slowly. Since the game is quite action packed, this is a big annoyance. Especially since there are so many ninja’s in Chapter One: Covert Genesis.
As for the movement of the character itself, the animations still feel far too stiff and clunky for my personal liking. If you do not mind stuttering animations, the storyline does somewhat make up for it – especially since more and more conspiracy theories pop up the longer you play. The conversations you can have with both friendlies and enemies give you a few options to choose from but many of the options do not feel significant enough to change the storyline. When talking to an enemy, it is however a matter of becoming friendly with them or not.
As for the puzzles – or mini-games – in Majestic Nights, they have been upgraded positively. The puzzles are now more engaging and less dull, even though some puzzles seem to repeat themselves a few times in the game. Picking the lock is my most favorite kind of puzzle since it does require some reflexes and failing can cause the lock to become jammed – which makes it unusable for you. Thus you will need to find other means to get whatever it is you need. This does make the game slightly more difficult but the game remains to be incredibly easy – if you do not count the hundreds of times overpowered ninja’s killed me at least. Although this has more to do with the imbalance of the damage itself and not the difficulty or learning curve the game might have.
Conclusion
The first chapter has an extended, action-packed gameplay filled with mini-games that have been upgraded positively since the preview. While the puzzles still repeat themselves every once in a while, they do feel less dull. The animation remains to be slow and choppy. Visually the game is not something to write home about either but the storyline continues to be Majestic Nights’ biggest asset.
No Comments