The characteristics of modern life that make you feel most deeply are not its cruel side and precarious fear, but life itself has become synonymous with desolation, grayness and loneliness - "Nineteen Eighty-Four"
When the time came from 1984 to 1989, and the prohibitions such as Apple were gradually legitimized, the society seemed to be gradually getting better, and the great leaders would lead the people to the light, but they did not know that this was just a beautiful illusion made by different factions for power. The struggle between the different parties is intensifying, and the fate of every little person living in this society is entangled in this struggle, and the fate of each person is in the hands of the elite at the upper stage.
The player plays the role of Frank Schwartz, a civil servant affiliated with the government, who does not smoke or drink, has a car and a house, and lives a happy life. But one day, an anti-government picture appeared on the protagonist's computer desktop, everything changed, the protagonist was framed, in order to avoid going to jail, he made a deal with a senior official, in charge of a building, ostensibly as a landlord, but secretly a government spy collecting information from the residents and reporting the residents who violated the regulations; on the other hand, the protagonist will work in the government building as a ministry employee, and the advantage of the struggle between the two political parties is to make the protagonist climb up step by step. Is this the battle for the so-called "truth of change", or is it to keep the status quo and start a new life? It's all up to the player.
As the third work of the bystander series, the gameplay of the game is not innovative and alternative to the first two works, to put it bluntly, the core gameplay of the game is basically equal to the stitching of the first generation and the second generation. On the one hand, the player plays the role of the landlord of the building and controls the fate of the tenants in the building; On the other hand, as a migrant worker in the government department, he strives to rise to power in the struggle between the two parties, get rid of the control of others, and regain a new life.
In terms of plot, I don't know if it is because of the change of the development team, on the whole, the game completely lacks the depth of the first two games. The utopian atmosphere created as the core theme is very blunt, which can be seen in many settings. Whether it is about the ban on green apples and red apples, or the differential treatment of music performances at home and abroad, it can be seen that the developers want to express the absurd behavior produced under totalitarian rule, but the plot does not expand these contents well, so that it looks like a gag of small irony, a small joke, completely unable to arouse the player's deep thinking.
From the experience point of view, it feels like the developer lacks an understanding of the authoritarian totalitarian regime and the utopian spirit, relying only on the traditional single perspective and stereotyped first impression, and relying on his own imagination to rigidly copy the product. This also leads to the distortion of the feelings brought by the plot, and the artistic treatment of the place seems to be uncreative, the imagination is lacking, and it is slightly disappointing. In addition, the dates pointed out at the beginning of the game, as well as the description of the epidemic, only lead to an insignificant penicillin and have nothing to do with the overall plot. I don't know if this is to export some of the political ideas that the West holds as a guideline for bootleging, but if it is, it is not necessary, and it makes sense to be deep and let the player think.
In addition, in terms of character design, "Bystander 3" is also thin, as the protagonist, basically equal to a tool person, only need to follow the task prompts to complete the task. In the depiction of the family, it is completely impossible to reflect family affection and love, which makes the player basically not feel the same entanglement and struggle as the previous game when making a choice; and the content of the work in the unit is completely like a wall grass without independent thoughts, serving two completely opposed thoughts, but not fully believing in or supporting either party in the heart, as if everything only needs to be followed step by step, lacking a sense of substitution. This experience continues until the end, which also leads to the fact that after playing the ending, most of the players' feelings are still flat and unremarkable.
Moreover, I personally think that this third work is more like an alternative sequel to the passage of time after the first work, its screen still continues the 2D screen of the first work, the scene layout is very compact, there is no unnecessary and useless scene, the task guidance prompts in the game are mostly quite sufficient, in addition to some tasks to play dumb puzzles, do not know how to solve, the overall design of the game is not much different from the first two games. Of course, in the process of playing, there are still many bugs, characters wearing models, and mission props disappearing out of thin air.
When the daughter is punished with a huge amount of money to go to jail for a demonstration, the son faces a lifelong disability because of an accident and needs a lot of money to operate on, and the upstairs neighbor's child suddenly falls ill and needs expensive antibiotics to treat, in this dystopian world, money is so important, how to choose this time? Is it to be a good person who is always firm and kind, and not to frame the excess tenants, and to cause the daughter and son to have a tragedy, or to start an evil act for his own family, to blackmail and frame the tenants, just for the safety of his own family? Now, these two can be wanted, the game is very conscientious to set a cheater mode, you can secretly change money, can let the player experience a good feeling, in addition to the built-in cheater also has the function of skipping levels, encounter which task card shell, you can jump the level, for novices, or more friendly.
All in all, this work is decent compared to the first two works, there is no unique innovative gameplay and setting, but it still retains the original taste, the plot is compact, and the characters have distinct personalities. Factional feuds, so-called high-sounding righteous rhetoric, are nothing more than lies for the struggle for power. As the protagonist of the player, struggling between the left and the right to survive, the choice of human nature is perfectly exposed in this dark world, goodness is precious, but it is also a weapon that can easily kill people, evil can make material life better, but also accompanied by the pain of others. So what would be the choice of human nature in such a world? You may wish to try this work, of course, the quality of the first two works is also good, it is also recommended to try.