The Low Road is funny, smart adventure game with a great cast of characters and a great plot
Developer: XGen Studios
Publisher:XGen Studios
Release Date: July 26 2017
Platforms: PC, & Mac (steam)
Reviews on: PC, code provided by developer
The Low Road is a adventure/puzzle game that puts you in the shoe in newly minted agent Noomi Kovacks, and her superior Turn as you go to a mysterious island to retrieve two of your fellow agents Horace, and Cartwright.
The Low Road isn’t your like classic 007 spy cliché at least not in the first few hours. In the world of The Low Road those days are long gone, and most reconnaissance work is done over the phone. While most agent work mostly from their desk there are two agents who do go out in the field agents Horace, and Cartwright, when they go M.I.A you, and Turn are tasked with going out to the mysterious Rev island and retrieve your fellow agents.
Agent Noomi is the rookie fresh out the academy who is eager to prove herself out in the field, and will do whatever it takes to do that. Turn is a senior spy with a past that isn’t really explained very much but sounds interesting. Unfortunately not all the character in The Low Road are this interesting.
Some of the side characters felt mildly annoying at times and just repeat one line sentences. In addition to this, you don’t get to meet one of the missing agents at the start of the game so there’s no real sense of urgency to find them.
The Low Road has some pretty interesting puzzles, one of the most notable to me was the pickpocketing mission. This mission is in the opening hours where you have obtain a valid ID card to access the printer in the break room so you need to pickpocket Horace to obtain his ID. The Pickpocket puzzle is well done because not only do you need to move objects in his pocket to navigate a path to get to his ID but you need to switch out his real ID with a fake.
There is another in the beginning of the game where you need to contact an agent from Rev island to gather information that could be useful for the agency. It’s a great mini-game style puzzle however, it’s possible to fail the mission. There’s no chance to do it over if you fail, instead the game will sometimes refer to your failure.
The Low Road has no objective popups in the game which isn’t an issue if you intend to play the game in a couple of sittings without taking long breaks. However, if you decide to take long breaks from the game, it might just be easier to restart the game sadly.
While playing the game, I ran into a strange bug which occurred after I saved and quit the game. It caused all of my equipment to be shown but the game didn’t load into my previously continued game. As a result, I was forced to start a new game.
Overall, the stylish 1970’s style is very impressive and build a strong atmosphere for the world. The gameplay is smooth and the puzzles make the game worth playing however, they can become a little repetitive after a while. We were able to access the first two hours of the game with the code we were given by the developer and the game certainly looks very promising. If you’re on the edge with this one, we would say the game is worth a purchase.
Pros
- Interesting main characters,
- Nice timeline and setting
- Fun puzzles
Cons
- Puzzles get repetitive after a while
- Uninteresting side characters
- A major bug is still currently in the game
