Second Thoughts

About

Second Thoughts is a single player action game with a horror theme. It was developed by Gestmorph Games and was released on July 12, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Second Thoughts A short, psychological experiment where each day you are tasked with executing someone based on the limited information provided until one person remains with their full story revealed. You will be required to evaluate data on eight different subjects. Each day you will select one of these subjects to be executed using the data provided to make your decision. For each time an exe…

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74%

Audience ScoreBased on 77 reviews

story4 positive mentions

graphics3 negative mentions

The game presents a thought-provoking and unique concept that challenges players to question their own morals and biases.
Strong emotional engagement, causing players to feel guilt and second-guess their decisions during the narrative.
Well-crafted atmosphere with effective writing, audio, and retro-style visuals that contribute to immersion.

Gameplay is slow-paced with lengthy text segments and waiting times that cannot be sped up, making it tedious for some players.
Repetitive menu navigation and poor UI design lead to frustration, especially when reviewing character information multiple times.
Some story twists are predictable and writing suffers from grammar and clarity issues, reducing impact and engagement.

story
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
50%
21%
The story is generally praised for its emotional impact, thought-provoking moral dilemmas, and well-developed character backstories, despite some predictable twists and occasional grammatical issues. Players appreciate its unique premise and psychological depth, though some note a lack of a cohesive overarching plot. Overall, it offers a reflective and engaging experience, especially considering its low price point.
- “There isn't a dull moment in the story, and the backstories of all the characters feel well-written, real, and filled with unexpected surprises.”
- “More than a game or a story, this creation offers you a reflection on psychology, morality, and human nature.”
- “Play it if you enjoy a good story, refreshingly unique and fun premises, and like to think about very difficult ethical choices.”
- “No real ending and no real plot to the game.”
- “Each subject just gets what barely passes as a paragraph's worth of fairly uninspired story.”
- “The 'twist' in each character's story was almost always immediately predictable, compounded by constant grammatical errors, very little punctuation, and generally poor writing that often felt cheesy, childish, or so badly worded it was hard to understand.”
graphics
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
33%
50%
The game relies heavily on text and outdated ASCII-style art instead of modern graphics, offering no resolution or graphics customization options. While the visuals are low quality and minimal, some users found certain aesthetic elements appealing despite the simplicity.
- “As simple as it is, I still appreciated a few things about it, mostly aesthetically.”
- “A choice was made to use obsolete, decades old retro text/ASCII art as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics, or any real graphics at all for that matter.”
- “There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customize the graphics settings.”
- “There's no way for gamers to try to improve the low quality graphics.”
gameplay
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The gameplay is praised for its simple yet engaging mechanics, offering a unique and refreshing experience centered around moral and legal decision-making. However, the core mechanics provide little to no replay value, with some players finding certain features, like the observation mechanic, less accessible. Overall, the gameplay's strength lies in its thought-provoking premise despite its simplicity.
- “I have a special fondness for games where the mechanics are utterly simple yet extremely absorbing.”
- “In terms of a premise and mechanics it feels refreshingly unique.”
- “I really like it, even though I didn't get the observation mechanic in the game, I really liked the idea of choosing who lives and who dies and using law as well as morals to dictate who lives.”
- “It's got literally zero replay value as a core mechanic.”
- “Not so much in terms of mechanics as I think their simplicity kind of makes the game what it is, but perhaps something like an audio file the last survivor sends to you when the game ends.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players experienced varying emotional engagement, with some becoming deeply invested in the characters, while others found the game slow and emotionally manipulative. Overall, emotional impact depends largely on the player's willingness to immerse themselves, resulting in mixed reactions from a subtle connection to intense emotional highs.
- “I became emotionally invested in characters I knew virtually nothing about, and I think that investment depends on how much the player wants to be immersed.”
- “We both had an emotional roller coaster with it.”
- “I felt things, for sure, but I wouldn't consider it a huge emotional experience.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers little to no replay value as a core mechanic, making it a short experience. However, sharing it with different friends or family members can provide varied approaches and keep the experience engaging.
- “If you buy this game, do keep in mind that it is a short experience that has no replay value.”
- “It's got literally zero replay value as a core mechanic.”
- “Even if you might feel discouraged due to the lack of replay value, this can always be shared with friends and family (while respecting the age rating, of course), because every different person might have a different approach, and that's what makes this experience interesting.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The atmosphere is enhanced by effective audio design, with a simple background buzz and heavy key tapping creating an oppressive and immersive mood. However, some users feel certain artistic choices, like extensive reading, do not contribute positively to the atmosphere.
- “I love the audio, just a simple background buzz and some heavy key tapping sounds, it's very effective and oppressive, made the atmosphere feel perfect.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding in the game is considered tedious due to repetitive screen transitions and having to cycle through information multiple times, which slows down the overall pacing.
- “During each screen change, there is a one second pause as it shifts over... but doing this for eight people, cycling past screens of info you've already read, made things feel a lot more tedious to me.”