The timer is horrible; instead of starting at the moment you're shown the image, it starts at the moment you click "next level". Any delay between that click and the appearance of the next level counts against you.
Lazy way of doing the maze: Just keep turning left (as in: if there's a left arrow, then pick it; otherwise, go forward; otherwise, go right; otherwise, turn around - in this order). You're bound to end up on the other side eventually ;)
I like that these games have a lot of hints for you, but I don't like that they give them to you even if you don't want them. There should be a way for me to get a hint only when I'm stuck and actually want one.
We see your point; we often have issues balancing the difficulty level, because some puzzles are WAY too easy for some players and almost impossible to other... in the complete game we'll try to give hints only when needed. :)
"After all these loans you gave out maybe you need to think who the real monster is" - err... still you, dude. You run the business, I'm just an employee here >.>
Good graphics, but that's just the packaging. Gameplay? Horrid. Plot? They weren't even trying. Battle strategy? It's such a joke that the autoplay option does just as well as the player. Pay-to-win? Blatantly so. And they're very very obviously using sexual nudity as a lure for their game; I can't even play this with other people around, I'm afraid they're going to think I'm on some kind of porn site. 1 star from me.
One last thing - I'm surprised that people are complaining so much about the slider puzzle. Have some patience, folks. This episode places more emphasis on logical puzzles han point-and-click ones (which sort of makes sense character-wise, since the "detective" personality is supposed to be figuring things out rather than just exploring and experiencing). Some of those puzzles are going to be difficult. A 3x3 slider is not unreasonable.
(And apart from the technical issues, that chapter went a bit too far... while I understand the atmospheric effect of time pressure, there was no reason to make the timer so strict; most people just ended up memorising the moves and then trying over and over again to click through fast enough, while knowing precisely what they had to do... that's more annoying than anything. But I wouldn't rate down just for that.)
Now the bad: I've had to deduct one star from this episode because of the incompatibility with certain browsers (horrible horrible lag). While this problem was present in the previous episodes as well, at least they didn't have a tightly timed chapter. Chapter 4 makes the game literally impossible to complete for people with certain OS/browser combinations (I'm on a Macbook atm and on this system it lags for Safari and Firefox). On their fifth game I would expect the developers to have fixed the issue already, or at the very least to be aware of it so they don't include time-based puzzles. 4/5 until those selective lag issues are fixed.
Let me take a shot at it: I gather there's a feeling of disgust at something either the dreamer did or happened to the dreamer (symbolised by bugs and other disgusting things throughout). The detective is a fictional identity of the dreamer (Vandermeer is a fake name, since apparently it means "from the lake" in Dutch) symbolising their desire to "outsmart" the dream world and wake up. It is no coincidence that the freakiest chapter happens to the detective; the dream is warning him that the real world is unbearable because something horrible happened. Van Gogh (another Dutch character - the dreamer is probably Dutch themselves) symbolises the dreamer's self-destructive tendencies, since Van Gogh mutilated himself and eventually committed suicide in real life; this either means that the dreamer attempted suicide or that they feel guilty for a murder they committed. The box is probably an element from real life that contains something directly related to the incident.
First the good: I love the series. I love the atmosphere. I love the way symbolism is used, even when I can't figure out what it means. I'm very interested to find out where this is going. My theory is that this is all a dream about an (attempted) murder or suicide and we have to use the clues to deduce what really happened. I'm reminded of the way David Lynch's Mulholland Drive presented a dream meant to process a real-life traumatic event. As far as I can tell, this is top-notch art.
@smeata haha, same here! All perfects, level 83. But it's partly because I'm a perfectionist and I give up on a daily as soon as I make a mistake (too lazy to start over :P)
Cool game, I love the concept, but to make full use of the potential you should make some harder levels (or a level editor so we can make our own). Also, it would be nice to see a "congratulations" screen when you beat it. I agree with other suggestions in the comments (volume control, timer, make "mistake" more visible when you fail etc) but those are secondary imo - basically it needs some more challenging levels. 5/5, looking forward to the sequel. :)
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Hehe, I wondered how many people would realize that :) Just go left every time.