No one likes to feel like they are out of the loop, especially if your job and even your life may be on the line. From Drink Cider, Make Games, developer of Somewhere In England, 1928, one of our CGDC 10 winners, comes One Step Behind. another clever point-and-click adventure.
The game is less about adventuring however, and more about piecing together a story. Click on one of four chapter titles to begin in any order you like. Click to interact with people and objects, and drag your inventory items onto objects or each other to use them, or double-click some inventory items to check for any other uses. I don't want to say too much, because part of the fun is watching the story be revealed one segment at a time. I will say this: along with the main character always being behind, One Step Behind makes the player feel behind as well. It makes you want you to keep playing so you can figure out what is going on. If you're looking for a short but compelling mystery, give it a try.
I hit a game breaking bug in the McQueen level. Did anybody else have this problem?
I went in circles for a while trying to trigger the right flags in the Club; you should try to talk to everyone before you talk to your friend. At the House:
most of the level is skippable, and then it just fades to black at the end. I get how that fits into the mystery aspect of the game, but it would have been nice to have some acknowledgement that you finished all the scenes, and maybe some kind of ending blurb or image that changes depending on whether you take the briefcase.
Unless I'm missing something. I'm going to go back and play the scenes in chronological order, see if that affects anything.
ONE STEP BEHIND WALKTHROUGH
CELLAR
Click WOMAN IN RED.
Click LOCKERS twice.
Click BUCKET to get SCREWDRIVER.
Drag SCREWDRIVER to BRACKET.
Click PIPE.
Click HANDCUFFS on the ground.
Click RED�S HANDCUFFS to get HAIRPIN.
Drag HAIRPIN to HANDCUFFS.
Click DOOR.
MCQUEEN
Click LADDER.
Click WALL above GATE.
Click CROWBAR.
Climb back over WALL.
Use CROWBAR on PADLOCK.
Use LADDER on SCAFFOLDING.
Click LADDER.
Click LAMP.
Click sparkly spot on ground to get OFFICE KEY.
Use OFFICE KEY on MIDDLE DRAWER.
Click MIDDLE DRAWER to get LETTER OPENER.
Use LETTER OPENER on DUCT TAPE.
CLUB
Click ALLEYWAY.
Use LETTER OPENER on WINDOW.
Go to FRONT OF CLUB.
Go in MAIN ENTRANCE.
Go to TOILETS.
Pick up LETTER OPENER.
Exit TOILETS.
Go through DOORWAY.
Talk to BOUNCER.
Say �THERE�S SOMETHING YOU SHOULD SEE��
Say �I�VE SEEN SOMEONE SUSPICIOUS.�
Say �A SHIFTY-LOOKING GUY.�
Say �I HAVE TO GO.�
Talk to BONES.
Say �YEAH, WHAT JOB�S THAT?�
Say �TELL ME ABOUT THIS PSYCHO?�
Say �WHAT�S THAT PAUL LOOK LIKE?�
Say �LATER, BONES.�
Go to DANCEFLOOR.
Click CLUBBER that fits the description of PAUL.
Use LETTER OPENER on PAUL.
Click DOORWAY.
Talk to BOUNCER.
Say �THERE�S SOMETHING YOU SHOULD SEE��
Say �I�VE SEEN SOMEONE SUSPICIOUS.�
Say �SOMEONE WITH A KNIFE.�
Say �DEAD SERIOUS.�
HOUSE
Click WINDOW.
Click WINDOW again.
Click DOORWAY.
Click WOMAN IN WHITE to get CAR KEYS.
Click BRIEFCASE.
Click brown DOOR.
Even though you can play any chapter at any time, it still feels like there is a linear and chronological way to play the game. Well... not "feels like" so much as there IS a chronological way to play.
It's not like a clever puzzle that could make sense if you played it in a different sequence. The ability to choose chapters at random is pointless. Maybe it's just a way of covering up a severe lack of narrative. Like pixels camouflaging an inability to draw.
All that plus annoying music too. Awesome.
Yeah, the pixel hunting was a little extreme for me. (Even if this is a feature, it seems a little extreme to require that finicky level of precision when clicking on inventory items.)
I liked it quite a lot. Liked the story, the music, the visual style. It was gritty without being gross, which is something not a lot of games manage.
My only gripe is that some of the puzzles were a bit finicky, such as
having to click on the handcuffs _twice_ in a row to get the hairpin, and having to click on Paul to ID him before you can plant the knife.
I think you guys are making too big of a deal out of "choose your chapter". It's almost certainly an easy way to implement checkpoints without saving anything on your computer - ie after you finish chapter 1, you can quit, and come back later for chapter 2.
This game was nonsense. No ending, just 4 "room escape" scenes with little story explaining why you're doing anything.
Yes it was short and kind of buggy, but I actually quite enjoyed it. I liked the story and the dialogue- it had a good sense of humor.
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