The Samaritan Paradox

About

The Samaritan Paradox is a single player action game with drama and thriller themes. It was developed by Faravid Interactive and was released on April 18, 2014. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"The Samaritan Paradox" is a point-and-click adventure game where you play as a retired professor trying to solve a mystery surrounding a dead friend and a controversial ancient artifact. Using your wits and the help of questionable characters, you'll explore a world of intrigue, moral dilemmas, and dangerous consequences. The game features challenging puzzles, a rich narrative, and multiple endings based on your choices.

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Play Modes

Single-Player

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73%

Audience ScoreBased on 155 reviews

story54 positive mentions

grinding4 negative mentions

The Samaritan Paradox features an intriguing dual narrative that intertwines a modern mystery with a fantasy tale, providing depth and variety to the gameplay.
The game boasts clever and challenging puzzles that require logical thinking, reminiscent of classic point-and-click adventures.
The pixel art graphics and atmospheric soundtrack enhance the overall experience, creating a nostalgic yet engaging environment.

The game suffers from technical issues, including frequent crashes, unresponsive controls, and a frustrating lack of a proper save system, leading to potential loss of progress.
Some puzzles are overly obscure or illogical, resulting in pixel hunting and frustration, which can detract from the enjoyment of the game.
The ending is abrupt and leaves many plot threads unresolved, which may disappoint players looking for a satisfying conclusion to the story.

story
167 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
60%
8%
The story aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its intriguing and original narrative, often highlighting the dual storylines that intertwine a detective mystery with a fantasy element. However, criticisms include plot holes, a lack of character depth, and an unsatisfying or confusing ending that detracts from the overall experience. While some found the story engaging and well-developed, others felt it was marred by poor execution and frustrating gameplay mechanics.
- “I wanted to like this game as there is clearly a strong story and you can tell a lot of thought has gone into the plot and characters.”
- “The story is amazing.”
- “Fantastic, gripping story that leaves you eager to see what will happen next.”
- “The Samaritan Paradox is an okay game that got rushed at the end and left some big plot holes.”
- “I think SP is meant to have a sort of dark and gritty tone, but it never shone through, making some of the story beats feel horribly out of place, especially the 'twist' ending, which was utterly unpredictable and came entirely by surprise with no foreshadowing of any kind at all.”
- “Sadly, this point & click is plagued with all the classic issues of its genre...mediocre graphical design, arbitrary puzzles, and a very bad story.”
graphics
53 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
63%
9%
The graphics of the game are a mixed bag, with many reviewers noting the simplistic and pixelated art style that evokes nostalgia for retro games, yet often falls short in execution. While some appreciate the charm and atmosphere created by the visuals, others criticize them for being lackluster, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences due to poor visibility and pixel-hunting mechanics. Overall, the graphics are seen as a significant factor that detracts from the overall enjoyment, despite some moments of artistic merit.
- “While it has minor rough edges, its ambition, aesthetics, and clever puzzle design elevate it above many contemporaries.”
- “Nice pixel artwork, fitting music, suitable sound effects, and a thrilling and unique story!”
- “The story was pretty interesting, complete with a sick twist; the puzzles were fairly challenging and varied; and the graphics, though pixelated to bring old point-and-clicks to mind, have fairly fluid movement that makes sense.”
- “There are lots of pixel-graphics games out there that look way better than this.”
- “This is a basic Scumm engine-like point-and-click adventure game with a paint-dryingly boring, badly written mystery/intrigue storyline and some incredibly mediocre pixel 'art' used instead of proper graphics.”
- “Without any other substantial graphics tweaks, it's not possible for gamers to improve the lackluster 2D visuals.”
music
35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
51%
40%
9%
The music in the game has received a mixed reception, with many praising its haunting quality and ability to complement the game's atmosphere effectively. While some players found the soundtrack exceptional and fitting, others noted instances where the music did not align with the game's themes or became tedious. Overall, the voice acting and music were highlighted as strong points, contributing positively to the game's experience despite some technical issues.
- “The soundtrack complements the mood with finesse.”
- “This attention-grabbing style of storytelling and graphical coolness was supported soundly by a great soundtrack.”
- “Worst adventure game I've played in a long time, really bad. The music stops as soon as voice acting starts, controls suck, horrible scrolling, washed out graphics, horrible font, locks up when you alt-tab out of the game to read a walkthrough, almost no sound effects. The puzzles are just weird, not smart, not crazy, just weird; I don't understand what I'm doing most of the time.”
- “Dialogues and characterization are below average, and the music was so tedious that I turned it off almost immediately.”
- “The music strikes a personal liking with me as well.”
gameplay
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
78%
11%
The gameplay is characterized by a dual narrative mechanic that enhances the experience, but it is marred by classic adventure game pitfalls such as obtuse puzzles, pixel hunting, and inconsistent mechanics. While some players appreciate the charming retro graphics and the notebook mechanic, many find the gameplay frustrating and lacking polish, leading to mixed reviews overall. Despite its ambition and engaging story elements, the gameplay often detracts from the overall enjoyment, with several users recommending the use of guides to navigate its challenges.
- “The dual narrative mechanic - shifting between the modern mystery and the fantasy tale within the book - adds texture and variety to what might otherwise be a linear affair.”
- “Samaritan Paradox combines old-school adventure game mechanics with modern treasure hunt story composition.”
- “I particularly liked the 'two worlds' gameplay, which offsets the rather serious and somber tone of the main story.”
- “As a first problem, the gameplay features obtuse puzzles, pixel hunting, and frequent quick-timed actions, all of which are extremely frustrating.”
- “The Samaritan Paradox is an ambitious point-and-click adventure game that tries its best at political intrigue and some more personal character issues but ultimately fails because of very poor puzzle design (pixel hunting, arbitrary gating, and its basic use/examine mechanics being very inconsistent and just plain unfriendly) and a generally underdeveloped story.”
- “However, gameplay-wise, after the half-point (and it's not that long a game) the polish wears off, and you kind of need to guess a couple of interactions that the game won't even hint at.”
atmosphere
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The game's atmosphere is enhanced by subtle animations and detailed, old-school graphics, contributing to a bleak and immersive experience. While some players appreciate the artistic quality and atmospheric ambition, others find it overly depressing. Overall, the atmosphere is noted as a strong point, showcasing the developer's potential for creating a more engaging environment.
- “Subtle animations, such as reflected water and moving trams, enhance the game’s atmospheric ambition.”
- “It adds greatly to the atmosphere!”
- “Graphics are old school, detailed and provide a good atmosphere.”
- “The main characters and general atmosphere are so bleak and depressing that it's kind of made me depressed as well.”
- “Let me reiterate that the game does have nice artwork and puzzles, and occasionally, atmosphere, and the quality of these show that the developer is capable of greater things.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be frustrating and tedious, leading to a loss of immersion. While some puzzles strike a good balance in difficulty, the overall experience is marred by repetitive tasks, lackluster dialogue, and distracting music.
- “As a result, frustration and tediousness take over and completely break any sort of immersion.”
- “It also combines tedious pixel hunting with a plethora of forgotten or dropped plot threads to reach its disturbing end.”
- “Dialogues and characterization are below average, and the music was so tedious that I turned it off almost immediately.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with players reporting frequent crashes, numerous glitches, and a long-standing issue where pressing escape freezes the game, which has remained unaddressed since 2014. Additionally, players experience problems with item duplication and malfunctioning achievements, contributing to an overall frustrating gameplay experience.
- “Pressing escape freezes the game completely. The developers have been aware of this issue since 2014, and it seems they never bothered to actually fix it.”
- “Boring story, buggy game.”
- “There are so many glitches, constantly crashing, and items are duping for no reason, forcing me to reload my save and the game, which thankfully I saved often.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The emotional aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players finding the story to be shallow and lacking depth, while others feel that the emotional elements seem forced and not well-integrated into the gameplay. Overall, the combination of a boring narrative, clunky interface, and bland voice acting detracts from the intended emotional impact.
- “You are looking for a deep emotional story; however, I felt the characters were a bit shallow despite the seriousness of the narrative.”
- “It feels like the emotional elements have been included primarily for their impact.”
- “Boring story, buggy game.”
- “Pixel hunting game with a clunky interface, bland voice acting, and a boring story.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game lacks humor, with users noting its dark and twisted narrative that feels more Nordic than comedic. Unlike classic titles like Monkey Island, it fails to incorporate any lighthearted or humorous elements, resulting in a serious and ultimately boring experience.
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Replayability is considered limited, as the main ending remains largely unchanged with only minor variations. The game's point-and-click format contributes to its low replay value, making it less appealing for multiple playthroughs.
- “Replayability is very limited as the main part of the ending is the same every time, but there is one other small thing that can be changed in the ending to give you a slightly different outcome.”
- “The game is a standard point-and-click affair and has very little replay value.”

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5h Median play time

5h Average play time

5-5h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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The Samaritan Paradox is a action game with drama and thriller themes.

The Samaritan Paradox is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 5 hours playing The Samaritan Paradox.

The Samaritan Paradox was released on April 18, 2014.

The Samaritan Paradox was developed by Faravid Interactive.

The Samaritan Paradox has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

The Samaritan Paradox is a single player game.

Similar games include The Blackwell Legacy, Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, Gray Matter, A New Beginning: Final Cut and others.

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