A New Beginning: Final Cut
- December 10, 2012
- Daedalic Entertainment
- 8h median play time
It's a great game, that's recommended to anyone with any interest in science fiction, eco-criticism, or environmental politics.
Get on Steam"A New Beginning - Final Cut" is a graphic novel-style adventure game where players control bioengineer Bent Svensson and time traveler Fay. They must travel the world to prevent an impending climate catastrophe, while ensuring that Bent's research doesn't fall into the wrong hands. The game features a thrilling story, hand-drawn illustrations, and voice acting.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Engaging story with a strong environmental message.
- Quality animation and unique comic book style cutscenes.
- Challenging puzzles that encourage logical thinking.
- Terrible voice acting and awkward dialogue that detracts from immersion.
- Frequent bugs and glitches, including untranslated text and game crashes.
- Some puzzles are overly cryptic and not intuitive, leading to frustration.
- story575 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 55 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The story of "A New Beginning - Final Cut" is a mixed bag, with some players praising its engaging narrative about climate change and time travel, while others criticize it for being preachy, riddled with plot holes, and poorly executed. Many reviews highlight the game's intriguing premise and character development, but the execution often falls short due to awkward dialogue, inconsistent pacing, and subpar voice acting. Overall, while the story has potential and offers thought-provoking themes, its delivery leaves much to be desired, making it a polarizing aspect of the game.
“A really good classic point-and-click adventure game with an unexpected plot and a great script.”
“I absolutely enjoyed the characters and their development throughout the game; the story had lots of good surprises and was well written.”
“The story is original, the overall theme interesting, and the locales well designed, especially the backgrounds.”
“The story lacks any creativity or imagination, and is horribly designed.”
“The entire story is boring, badly paced and without even an attempt at logic or reasoning.”
“The story is uneven and riddled with plot holes and bizarre contrivances.”
- graphics128 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 34 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their beautiful hand-drawn and comic book style, creating an engaging atmosphere that enhances the storytelling. While some reviews note that the animations can be choppy and the overall graphical fidelity may feel dated compared to newer titles, the artwork is consistently described as vibrant and appealing, making it a highlight for fans of the genre. Overall, the visuals contribute positively to the game's charm, despite some minor technical issues.
“The graphics are beautiful, this is already a trademark for Daedalic.”
“A new beginning's beautiful artwork, amazing soundtrack, interesting story concept, and sudden twist makes it one of the better recent point & click games.”
“The art style is fantastic and keeps me coming back for more.”
“Graphics and animations look cheaper than, for example, Deponia's graphics (which was released just a year later).”
“The game does also have its bad sides, like low resolution graphics and over complicated controls.”
“The 2D graphics make it seem dated, and it's riddled with little bugs that cause it to hang from time to time.”
- gameplay77 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its traditional point-and-click mechanics and puzzle-solving elements. While some appreciate the immersive story and beautiful art style, others criticize the gameplay for being slow, clunky, and occasionally frustrating due to illogical puzzles and outdated mechanics. Overall, the gameplay is seen as serviceable but lacking polish, with a few bugs and interface issues detracting from the experience.
“Simple gameplay and an interesting plot help to spend a couple of evenings in good company.”
“It has a pretty immersive story, and the gameplay of exploring and solving puzzles can be pretty fun.”
“The gameplay and use of right-click and combination is a little refreshing and is a step in the right direction for point-and-click interaction in a game, but could use a few tweaks.”
“I'm a fan of Daedalic and their other works, so if anything I'd be biased towards their games, but I'm struggling to recommend this game based on the issues with gameplay.”
“The gameplay is mediocre at best; the game is painfully dull to play, the story isn't particularly well-told, and the game seems to be riddled with small bugs.”
“Gameplay is a typical point and click; the interface is poor, the voice acting is atrocious (in English), and there are plenty of translation errors and issues as well as a few bugs that are blindingly obvious and haven't been fixed.”
- music51 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 37 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some praising its ability to enhance the atmosphere and emotional impact, while others find it forgettable or poorly balanced with dialogue. Many players appreciate the variety and fitting nature of the soundtrack, though issues with sound control and occasional lack of memorable pieces are noted. Overall, the music contributes positively to the game's immersive experience, despite some inconsistencies.
“The soundtrack for the game fits the moods and tones of the game very well.”
“Great music and voice acting.”
“Everything complements each other well, and creates the ambience tied together with a great musical score.”
“The soundtrack is held back and sparse; there are sections with no ambience whatsoever, and some of the sound effects are, frankly, awful (the car engine sound, for example).”
“I tried turning the music down lower and lower when it kept blasting louder than the dialogue, but never did manage to hear a nice balance of audio.”
“Aside from all the calming artwork and moving tale, the only thing that was out of touch was the overly dramatic music in the background.”
- humor31 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is described as inconsistent, with some players finding it clever and engaging, particularly in character dialogues and certain absurd situations. However, many reviews note that the humor is sparse and often overshadowed by serious themes, leading to a mixed reception where some moments are unintentionally funny due to poor voice acting or translation issues. Overall, while there are glimpses of good humor, it does not reach the comedic heights of classic point-and-click games.
“The dialogues were interesting and especially when Bent Svensson was involved, full of humor.”
“The puzzles were interesting and there was a thoughtful backstory, but the dry humor totally made the game for me!”
“With this game, Daedalic has managed to take a very serious topic and create a funny and intriguing experience.”
- stability27 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including numerous bugs, glitches, and translation errors that detract from the overall experience. Players report problems such as audio and text inconsistencies, interface malfunctions, and occasional crashes, leading to a frustrating gaming environment. While some enjoy the story and artistic elements, the pervasive instability makes it difficult to recommend without reservations.
“The result is an infuriating slow and unstable gaming environment, with crashes, freezes, and deadly bugs to be expected.”
“It's a great game, but it is way too buggy.”
“These issues, plus weird glitches like dialogue cutting off at the end of a sentence and poorly matched lip-synching, give the impression of a lack of polish for the English translation.”
- atmosphere18 mentions
- 39 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising its stunning graphics, music, and sound effects that enhance immersion, while others criticize it as bland or depressing, lacking likable characters and effective voice acting. Despite the strong visual and auditory elements, the overall emotional impact varies significantly among players, with some feeling drawn into the story and others finding it unengaging.
“The game is very atmospheric, has great graphics, music and sound effects, and the voice acting is top notch.”
“The music also corresponds with the atmosphere and will show up at the proper time.”
“Looks amazing the whole way through and it has an amazing atmosphere.”
“The characters aren't really likable either, the overall atmosphere is bland.”
“For me, this is a rarity in games of this genre, because they are usually 'softer' in moral terms; the atmosphere of this game is quite depressing in general.”
“Such atmosphere also does not allow much positive rating of this game for me...”
- emotional12 mentions
- 92 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding the story touching and capable of evoking a sense of loss, while others criticize the dialogue and voice acting as robotic and uninspired, detracting from the emotional impact. The soundtrack is noted for enhancing the emotional experience, but inconsistencies in character development and dialogue can undermine the narrative's depth. Overall, while some players feel deeply invested in the characters and themes, others find the emotional execution lacking.
“The game's soundtrack fits its theme and purpose; the music is not demanding but adds to the emotional effect during various scenes.”
“I would love to know how it ends because I have gotten emotionally invested, but the game keeps crashing halfway through!”
“I loved the subject matter, and the game made me feel a sense of loss when I finished playing it as I grew close to the characters.”
“It's about global warming and environmental issues, which ended up being a more boring story than I expected.”
- grinding10 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and unengaging, with many describing it as a slow and clunky experience that detracts from the enjoyment. While some appreciate the underlying story, the repetitive nature of tasks and puzzles often leads to frustration and a sense of anticlimax. The lack of challenging achievements is seen as a positive, but the overall execution leaves much to be desired.
“This game is one big unpolished, tedious, clunky, glitchy, anticlimactic, and slow waste of an art.”
“Dull, slow, and tedious.”
“Just generally tedious, don't waste your money.”
- character development7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is noted for its predictability, with some characters, like Fay, showing a balanced evolution influenced by the plot and surrounding events. However, others, such as Bent, are criticized for lacking depth and consistency, resulting in a shallow portrayal that fails to engage players fully. Overall, while there are moments of growth, many characters remain one-dimensional, detracting from the overall experience.
“I did enjoy seeing that there was some character development throughout the story, even if the way they developed seemed pretty predictable.”
“Fay, the girl you play in the game, has the best plot story. Although I'm almost done with it (1 chapter left), I find her character development a great balance between what the plot indicates and the situational events occurring around her.”
“Bent's character development is intriguing; in the first half, he goes into denial, and in the second half, he goes through reasoning, which adds depth to his character.”
“Bent: I find it difficult to understand his reasons for collaborating within the plot. In the first half, he goes into denial, and in the second half, he goes through reasoning, but his character development doesn't change through that. When you arrive at the laboratories at the sea, you might think it is boring, and yes, because our limited options prevent us from doing anything at all by that stage.”
“The characters themselves are also shallow, and even though in some reviews I've read about 'character development', that mostly means that they grow from one-dimensional to maybe two.”
“Character designs look kind of off too.”
- replayability4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game's linear structure and lack of meaningful choices significantly limit its replayability, with many players noting that once the story is known, there is little incentive to replay it. Overall, the consensus is that replayability is minimal.
“And as for adventure games, its replayability depends on how good you are at forgetting, haha.”
“The replayability is impressive, with multiple paths and outcomes to explore.”
“Each playthrough offers new challenges and surprises, making it highly replayable.”
“Since the game is linear and there are no areas where choices are offered, a walkthrough pretty much means no replayability here.”
“Replayability is probably minimal.”
“Is it replayable?”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been criticized for its clunky and janky performance, resulting in a stuttering and laggy experience, particularly due to the abrupt transitions between sentences that leave little room for pause.
“Overall clunky and janky performance.”
“At the end of sentences, the next one starts almost instantly, leaving no room for a pause, making it a very stuttering and laggy experience.”
