Review: Paradigm

Goutham Jayaraman

Ravencrow Game Review #3

Paradigm

https://store.steampowered.com/app/600370/Paradigm/

Genre	Point and Click
Platform	PC
Developer	Jacob Janerka
Publisher	Jacob Janerka
Playtime	9.4 hours
Date Completed	5/5/2021
Date Reviewed	9/5/2021
Overall Grade	S+

 

Paradigm is a point and click adventure that brims with surreality and strangeness at every corner.

For starters, the game takes place in a fictional east European country in a post-apocalyptic setting, although the game world looks oddly beautiful rather than desecrated.

The protagonist in the game is a weird humanlike creature with a bizarre tumorous growth sprouting from his head. He seems talented at producing phat beats and humorous utterances.

Your goals…. well, they are about as random as you can imagine.

If all that hasn’t convinced you of this game’s originality and made you want to try it, then you’d better keep reading on.

What I liked

-          The game world immediately stood out as something unique and enchanting, whilst still having some semblance of reality.

-          The characters were highly likeable and well designed

-          The game’s abundant humor

-          The fact that there was an integrated help system in the form of a tumor.

-          The high level of interactivity woven into the game’s gorgeous locations.

-          I actually did enjoy the story despite the fact that there is no overarching plot and it feels like the game just improvises as it goes along. It’s actually quite charming.

-          Despite all the weirdness, the protagonist was highly relatable.

What I disliked

-          Well, I admittedly was playing this game less than other point-and-click games, and I think it had to do with the fact that other games had a deeper more engaging storyline.

-          But even then, you won’t find another game quite like this, so talking too many points away from the story or lore is not possible.

Gameplay 21/20	+ Mostly just your standard point and click game mechanics. + Some minigames do exist, but they are implemented in an interesting manner and offer additional entertainment. + Very high interactivity + Good amount of funny moments thrown into the mix
Game Design 20/20	+ Puzzles felt original, fun and well designed + Somewhat linear but there are areas in the game where you have multiple tasks to work on at once. + Puzzles were logical + Integrated hint system + About the right level of difficulty
Graphics 20/20	+ Beautiful graphics throughout + Well designed game world and characters
Audio 20/20	+ Full high quality voice acting + I wasn’t paying much attention to the music, but there are some good tunes in there, especially considering that Paradigm wants to work on his new album.   + OST
Story 18/20	+ Weird, random and humorous story will keep you happily entertained + Very original - Seems simplistic and slow-moving at first but becomes a bit deeper as you get further in. Still doesn’t quite compare to other titles in the genre.
Lore 18/20	+ Game world is charming, although not entirely indicative of a post-apocalypse. + Characters have interesting back stories and very strong personalities + High immersiveness - The high level of surreality might be off-putting for some - No real explanation of how the world came to be
Value 16/20	+ Decent game length + Minigames do pad out the playtime somewhat + Abundant laughs do make the game worthwhile + Highly unique game - Game Length quite a bit less than cost - Not much replay value
Overall Grade 19/20	S+
Score	95

 

It’s strange, honestly. I actually preferred playing other point-and-click games over this as Paradigm just seemed a bit too weird for my tastes.

But then again, everything about Paradigm is strange.

The world, the characters, the puzzles, the story. It’s all just downright bizarre.

But hey.

I think that really is the biggest draw of this game. Its humor and setting are about as first-rate as they come.

So if you are a point-and-click fan (or even if you’re not), I’d reckon you can’t go wrong with buying this game even at full price.

Go make some phat beats with your talking beetroot.