Also:
Nothing in the cutscenes, tutorial, or UI told me to pay attention to details that were then necessary to know for the organ-sacrifice phase.

The first-contact of this game could have been definitely reworked with a bit of QA.

Out of curiosity, how far did you play?

Originally posted by WhatNames:

Out of curiosity, how far did you play?

I'm near the end of the second year.
Which fair enough, there might be more explanations to come.
I wanted to check in the forum, and get some advice, before continuing playing.

To be fair, I've come here for the same reason.

For your second question, I've something. The time your take on your limit (60) is the little hourglass next to the action. The bar on the schedule is "how much the target do this action". Like... you can take 30min in all a night to see if a person sleep.

I do agree with you - there are a couple of mechanics that seem a little obtuse, and not necessarily in a “you’re supposed to discover this” kind of way. Which I can understand being a game design choice, especially in a horror game, but it feels a little like I’m just guessing.

I’m at the start of Year Four and can answer a couple of your questions, I think:

Each time you click on a block of time, you get three choices of action. (They seem to be randomized.) They take different amounts of time, and increase your suspiciousness by 5%, 10%, or 25%. So it might take you half an hour to take out the trash, or it might take you 5 hours to bribe an official, and both would reveal that block of time and raise your suspicion 5%.

I have no idea if the available actions are completely random, or influenced by something (aside from the ones you pick on special blocks). I’m also not sure how, aside from trial and error, I’m supposed to know when a block of time needs the higher level action to be revealed. Is it just supposed to be pure trial and error, or are there hints I’m missing? Either way, personally I’ve just tried a different block of time if the available actions all take too long.

On the victims you stalk, some of them will have more specific goals later. Like deciding between several victims based on something, or finding the window of time when they’re alone. So it gets a little more puzzle-y than just filling the bar.

For the faces, I’m not sure what they’re supposed to represent but they are basically a free action. If you use one, you can take any action without raising suspicion. It still takes time, though.

The Ritual seems to have the same requirements every time, so at least after the first one you can remember them.

I’m still really enjoying the game! But I think just a couple more lines of tutorial would go a long way. If I could add one, I’d say something about the actions available being randomized or changing. (And if I could add two, I’d explain the faces. : P)

I can confirm we're adding additional tooltips and optional tutorials in the near future! It's the very next priority after improved controller support, which should help with this.

If it doesn't--please let us know and we're happy to revise 'em, too!

Originally posted by Strange Scaffold:

I can confirm we're adding additional tooltips and optional tutorials in the near future! It's the very next priority after improved controller support, which should help with this.

If it doesn't--please let us know and we're happy to revise 'em, too!

That is wonderful to hear !

Speaking of tutorials... if anyone has anything to offer the Steam guide, let me know.

Originally posted by Ζipоh:

Speaking of tutorials... if anyone has anything to offer the Steam guide, let me know.

Check this discussion. Lotta info about year 9 we popped there to help OP.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2632930/discussions/0/4355619782838270386/

Already did.