A stunning sequel to Pitstop in Purgatory with a whole new story that could stand on its own, though I recommend playing the first game if you enjoy this one as it adds a lot more to the story and characters! I love the new features, and it's easy to see that this is really just the tip of the iceberg with so much more to follow as more content gets added later. Despite this only being the first act, there's a lot to enjoy and plenty of content already, with some exciting twists and turns in the plot.
Fans of Pitstop in Purgatory are likely to enjoy this fabulous new entry to the series, with all the attention to detail and little in-jokes that you've come to know and love from the creator. Newcomers to the franchise have an excellent introduction to the universe and story, too.
To say a bit more about the actual content, though: POiP is a blend of point and click exploration and puzzle solving gameplay combined beautifully with choice based visual novel storytelling, where your decisions impact the story and characters as you go along. You're able to flavour the protagonist's personality, which changes some of her responses and how other characters speak to her in turn. There is only one romance route so far, but with more on the horizon it looks like we will have an excellent selection to choose from, and we are also able to pursue relationships and connections with multiple characters in a single playthrough, too, so we won't have to choose only one route per run through the game. The art is beautiful and unique in style, with strong personality in each of the characters. The music is also pleasant to listen to and adds a lot to the mood and atmosphere of the game, it's well written and fits the game beautifully. The writing is compelling, with a great balance between a serious and compelling story and the moments of humour throughout.
This review is getting a bit long now so I'll leave it with this - I look forward to seeing what comes next in the story as the game updates.
I had so much fun playing this game! Isobel is such an endearing and relatable MC that I could easily put myself in her shoes - and it was great being able to shape her personality as I like. As a goodie two-shoes myself, I played her as a paragon and I was really impressed by the clear care you put into conditional dialogue and writing the story around players' choices. That's honestly really tough and you pulled it off well!
And as always, your world-building is super fun and there's always this wonderful sense of mystery lurking behind every double-meaning set besides what characters say... which of course makes the mystery gameplay and riddle solving even more fun. I'm looking forward to more on this game!
And that's slam it endlessly until I got yelled at, aaaaaa!!! xD
Little interactions like this are always my favorite - I think they truly help a game shine, and there are SO MANY. EVERYWHERE I LOOKED.
And with so many well-thought out details buried into every part of this game, it all adds up to an amazing and unforgettable experience. The GUI? BEAUTIFULLY SLEEK. The writing? EVOCATIVE AND POWERFUL. The characters? UNFORGETTABLE.
Really digging our leading lady already - I find myself feeling so protective of her. :( In all her versions, from paragon to renegade to abstract, she is so, so lovable. I am so excited to experience the rest of her story.
Well done, well done, well done!!! Truly stellar job. <3
LMAO I was hoping for the bell to elicit that very response! XD
Thank you so much for this lovely, LOVELY comment! I'm *SO* glad that you like my weird lil' game that much. Thank you thank you thank youuu and more to come! :D <3
Honestly, I'm not even done with what is currently in game yet but I had to leave an early comment because GOODNESS, it is so good?????
The universe is immaculate, the characters endearing yet upsetting, I found myself frightened, tormented, comforted and THAT'S JUST THE BEGINNING???????
The GUI is beautiful, the music is amazing, the art is superb, I really don't know what words would convey how beautiful the whole experience is! And the writing is funny, yet melancholic, yet dark, yet...
I do love Isobel as a protagonist and how, even as a Paragon, she still manages to be sassy and not to be a goody-two-shoes!
I'll complete everything once I'm done with the demo, but goodness, you and your team did a fantastical job!!! Clearly one of the most fascinating VNs I've ever played, AND IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING!!!!!
AHHHH omg... thank you so much for this lovely comment!! :) <3 I'ma cry from all this sweetness ;___;
It means the world to me that you're enjoying it so much! You're getting the exact feeling that I'm trying to convey LOL (frightened, comforted, everything in between...)!
I hope you'll enjoy the rest of it just as much! And thank you again for sharing this with me! <3 <3 <3
A good slice of what's on offer. It already looks better than the first game in terms of QoL (no more sluggish recognition of what my cursor is on during the point and click parts!) and the story already has a grander scope from the get go.
Route development does seem a bit too quick, but I'm assuming in the later updates when more routes are released it's not gonna be an issue because you'll probably be encouraged to jump around to different people. (Doesn't seem like there's anything discouraging maxing everyone's bonds first before doing Big Plot Advancement Things)
Will our alignment selection be a one-and-done thing, or will there be opportunities to change it later?
Hi there! Happy that you enjoyed it and that you feel like it's improved upon the last game. :)
I agree on the routes, with one character and no artificial wait system in place, it feels a bit "turbo". Like you're saying, having multiple side-quests/routes going at once will likely alleviate that. I was considering an aforementioned wait system like many games have, where you have to wait a set amount of time segments before continuing, but I know in my own case that when that happens I always just spam "skip" to progress so I don't know if it would make the game more fun. But definitely something I'm considering in terms of having the game's continuity, time-wise, feel more "real".
Right now the plan is to have it one-and-done. The reasoning behind it is that besides the choices and flavor text interactions, the various alignments often have Isobel making interjections which are alignment-specific (you might notice that if you replay with a different alignment), and it would feel weird to have her do a complete personality switch mid-game. But that also depends on what the players would like to see, of course. So I'm keeping my eyes open for more feedback on the matter. :)
Honestly, I agree with you that adding in a mandatory time requirement would just be more frustrating.
re:Alignment, yeah that makes sense, though the change I was thinking of was making it a sliding scale. However I would definitely prefer seeing work on the overall plot, character routes, and variety of character-defining choices rather than changing alignment. Excited for what's on the horizon!
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A stunning sequel to Pitstop in Purgatory with a whole new story that could stand on its own, though I recommend playing the first game if you enjoy this one as it adds a lot more to the story and characters! I love the new features, and it's easy to see that this is really just the tip of the iceberg with so much more to follow as more content gets added later. Despite this only being the first act, there's a lot to enjoy and plenty of content already, with some exciting twists and turns in the plot.
Fans of Pitstop in Purgatory are likely to enjoy this fabulous new entry to the series, with all the attention to detail and little in-jokes that you've come to know and love from the creator. Newcomers to the franchise have an excellent introduction to the universe and story, too.
To say a bit more about the actual content, though:
POiP is a blend of point and click exploration and puzzle solving gameplay combined beautifully with choice based visual novel storytelling, where your decisions impact the story and characters as you go along. You're able to flavour the protagonist's personality, which changes some of her responses and how other characters speak to her in turn. There is only one romance route so far, but with more on the horizon it looks like we will have an excellent selection to choose from, and we are also able to pursue relationships and connections with multiple characters in a single playthrough, too, so we won't have to choose only one route per run through the game. The art is beautiful and unique in style, with strong personality in each of the characters. The music is also pleasant to listen to and adds a lot to the mood and atmosphere of the game, it's well written and fits the game beautifully. The writing is compelling, with a great balance between a serious and compelling story and the moments of humour throughout.
This review is getting a bit long now so I'll leave it with this - I look forward to seeing what comes next in the story as the game updates.
Thank you so much for your lovely words! Glad that you enjoyed the game! <3
I had so much fun playing this game! Isobel is such an endearing and relatable MC that I could easily put myself in her shoes - and it was great being able to shape her personality as I like. As a goodie two-shoes myself, I played her as a paragon and I was really impressed by the clear care you put into conditional dialogue and writing the story around players' choices. That's honestly really tough and you pulled it off well!
And as always, your world-building is super fun and there's always this wonderful sense of mystery lurking behind every double-meaning set besides what characters say... which of course makes the mystery gameplay and riddle solving even more fun. I'm looking forward to more on this game!
Thank you very much for the sweet comment, I'm happy that you liked the game! :)
Truly a gorgeous game. Immediately engaging premise and amazingly well made!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that! :) <3
The minute I saw that bell...
I knew what had to be done...
And that's slam it endlessly until I got yelled at, aaaaaa!!! xD
Little interactions like this are always my favorite - I think they truly help a game shine, and there are SO MANY. EVERYWHERE I LOOKED.
And with so many well-thought out details buried into every part of this game, it all adds up to an amazing and unforgettable experience. The GUI? BEAUTIFULLY SLEEK. The writing? EVOCATIVE AND POWERFUL. The characters? UNFORGETTABLE.
Really digging our leading lady already - I find myself feeling so protective of her. :( In all her versions, from paragon to renegade to abstract, she is so, so lovable. I am so excited to experience the rest of her story.
Well done, well done, well done!!! Truly stellar job. <3
LMAO I was hoping for the bell to elicit that very response! XD
Thank you so much for this lovely, LOVELY comment! I'm *SO* glad that you like my weird lil' game that much. Thank you thank you thank youuu and more to come! :D <3
Honestly, I'm not even done with what is currently in game yet but I had to leave an early comment because GOODNESS, it is so good?????
The universe is immaculate, the characters endearing yet upsetting, I found myself frightened, tormented, comforted and THAT'S JUST THE BEGINNING???????
The GUI is beautiful, the music is amazing, the art is superb, I really don't know what words would convey how beautiful the whole experience is! And the writing is funny, yet melancholic, yet dark, yet...
I do love Isobel as a protagonist and how, even as a Paragon, she still manages to be sassy and not to be a goody-two-shoes!
I'll complete everything once I'm done with the demo, but goodness, you and your team did a fantastical job!!! Clearly one of the most fascinating VNs I've ever played, AND IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING!!!!!
AHHHH omg... thank you so much for this lovely comment!! :) <3 I'ma cry from all this sweetness ;___;
It means the world to me that you're enjoying it so much! You're getting the exact feeling that I'm trying to convey LOL (frightened, comforted, everything in between...)!
I hope you'll enjoy the rest of it just as much! And thank you again for sharing this with me! <3 <3 <3
A good slice of what's on offer. It already looks better than the first game in terms of QoL (no more sluggish recognition of what my cursor is on during the point and click parts!) and the story already has a grander scope from the get go.
Route development does seem a bit too quick, but I'm assuming in the later updates when more routes are released it's not gonna be an issue because you'll probably be encouraged to jump around to different people. (Doesn't seem like there's anything discouraging maxing everyone's bonds first before doing Big Plot Advancement Things)
Will our alignment selection be a one-and-done thing, or will there be opportunities to change it later?
Hi there! Happy that you enjoyed it and that you feel like it's improved upon the last game. :)
I agree on the routes, with one character and no artificial wait system in place, it feels a bit "turbo". Like you're saying, having multiple side-quests/routes going at once will likely alleviate that. I was considering an aforementioned wait system like many games have, where you have to wait a set amount of time segments before continuing, but I know in my own case that when that happens I always just spam "skip" to progress so I don't know if it would make the game more fun. But definitely something I'm considering in terms of having the game's continuity, time-wise, feel more "real".
Right now the plan is to have it one-and-done. The reasoning behind it is that besides the choices and flavor text interactions, the various alignments often have Isobel making interjections which are alignment-specific (you might notice that if you replay with a different alignment), and it would feel weird to have her do a complete personality switch mid-game. But that also depends on what the players would like to see, of course. So I'm keeping my eyes open for more feedback on the matter. :)
Thanks for playing and commenting! <3
Honestly, I agree with you that adding in a mandatory time requirement would just be more frustrating.
re:Alignment, yeah that makes sense, though the change I was thinking of was making it a sliding scale. However I would definitely prefer seeing work on the overall plot, character routes, and variety of character-defining choices rather than changing alignment. Excited for what's on the horizon!