This game is incredible. I tend to prefer character-focused, romance-focused game and this gave the impression of an impersonal resource manager, so I thought I’d just try a few minutes. I kept playing. The whole night. I think it took me about 15 hours to complete.
I have a lot of thoughts and couldn’t structure them well, but I did my best and hope it’s helpful feedback. 
Connection and recognition
The whole game I was starved for affection and recognition, which I think says a lot. First, how much I cared about the characters and the mission. But also how uncommon it was and still is to express affection and recognition in plain terms, rather than action merely implying them. And there’s a lot to be said about society and war in relation to this.
Another part, however, is that there was a need the game didn’t quite fulfill for me. Part of that is because of the character I played. Overall, my MC was very tactical-minded, who cared about the men, but showed it more often by planning the next steps rather than spending time with them - which means I, as the player, made it harder for myself to form connections (though I tried to course-correct later). Still, the game mentions other commanders and what they meant to their soldiers. I can’t think of the name right now, but one man is shot and everyone grieves him because he had such a strong connection to his men and just his presence would calm everyone. It made me keep wondering how the characters saw my MC. And the game does bring up at the end there is not that strong of a connection and he does not have that same calm presence, which is a shame. And at the same time it makes sense because I gave up on the devotion stat at some point as it was too difficult to balance with the discipline stat and at least the discipline stat was easy to raise. So I played an MC who was pretty strict with his men, who made them improve their current position for hygiene so they would not die of sickness, who made them stay their heads down in uncomfortable positions so they’re not shot, who made them stay put and listen to men dying rather than rescue them. It all draws ire, but it keeps the number of deaths lower. And who really sees that? The men in the company don’t track that. Pierce commented on it once, which I’m grateful for. But did the superiors see it? I was wondering if maybe Heath would come up in the epilogue and gives us some of his thoughts, but he did not. It feels like much of our effort is something ultimately just we know. And that feels lonely. But, as so many points I will bring up, it also makes sense. A leader often carries many decisions alone and does not get the recognition they deserve for their effort.
Since I’m talking about my MC, I want to post the paragraph that gets written about the MC at the end. This is what I got:
“He held ground. He picked it himself, and he picked it forward of where a careful man would have picked it, and having picked it he did not give it up. He was slow to decide and immovable afterward. There were officers who mistook the first for want of nerve, once. He knew the men. Not the way officers say they know their men, but by name and by county and by what was waiting for them at home, and it cost him something every time the returns came in. He never once, in my hearing, spoke of what any of it would do for him. He felt it, all of it, and did not always get it hidden in time, and the men thought better of him for the times he failed to. He did things the way the service did them. There were officers who called that want of imagination and there were mornings when it was the only reason the regiment was where it was supposed to be. He had no use for a plan he could not walk over first. He was too far forward too often. The regiment loved him for it. I have written to his wife twice about it and I never sent either letter.”
This paragraph is amazing. This was pretty much the character I played (and for the most part the character I intended to play), so the stats tracked him really well and it was put together into something that long and correct and I love that. (The only thing not correct is that my MC is not married xD I romanced Wilkes.) It is also the most recognition I felt the game gave my character and I really, really appreciate that.
I do think I will play again with another character who is more socially focused and see how different it feels.
I want to emphasize that much of this this might read like criticism, and in a way some of it is, but it is also what most strongly resonated with me about the game and it what I most love as well. It is precisely these emotions that make me still think about the game and make me want to play again, to stay with the characters a little longer, to see another side, and wonder how it could all have been different.
Various other positives
I do not know much about war and the military, but I do think it was depicted remarkably well. The immense death and horror, the incompetence of command that is not on the frontlines, the strict rigidity in hierarchy. I was surprised that so many of the soldiers extended their service and voted to continue the war after all the horror they had seen, but I can see it make sense. War is what you know and this was also a war of ideals; not continuing would mean giving up your ideals and life as you know it.
The epilogue was fantastic. I’ve long held the opinion that epilogues should take the reader by the hand and gently guide them to the end with many scenes that wrap up the story and the emotions tied to them. Too many stories end with “and you killed the bad guy and saved the day! The End.” which feels very abrupt and lacking to me. So I’m really happy with how you handled it.
Stats and choices
Stats were a little confusing.
I already mentioned that I felt my MC was depicted well in the paragraph about him at the end. But during the game itself it wasn’t that clear to me what choices had what effect. There were a few choices where I understood which stats they were linked to (e.g. discipline, speed, spirit). But it wasn’t clear if it would raise/lower the stat or test it. In the beginning, it showed in the stats page that my MC keeps a hard composure under pressure. And at some point it changed that and it said his temper runs hot instead. And I don’t know what changed that and if I had any influence to change it back (and I really tried) because in my mind my MC was pretty cool-headed and focused.
Also, regarding choices: they largely seem to be based on luck. Which is very fair for this setting. But I do like succeeding in skill checks and will unapologetically savescum so I can enjoy the story I want to. Two thoughts on this:
- it is not clear how my stats influence the success of the choices. Is chance always a part of it? Is it like a dnd system where your stats give you a bonus and then the dice get rolled and you see if the check is cleared?
- Currently, the roll happens on the page itself. So if, for example, I go to the stat page and then back to the game itself it will reroll and potentially give me a different result. I’m not mad about that and, in a way, I would prefer it stays that way. This is such a long game and I prefer to have more control over my checks where it would be a shame that after 10 hours I’m unhappy with where I’m at because of failed stat checks.
Characters
This is also tightly related to stats, but it’s long so it deserves its own section.
And characters: I loved many of the characters. There was also an overwhelming number of them. A character glossary in the stats page would have helped so much. You finally get a brief description of the company captains when you get to choose which company to send where and I made a screenshot of that and kept referring back to it for a long while.
On a more emotional level, I felt there was never enough time to interact with the people and get to know them sufficiently. I understand that this, too, makes sense for the story, but it was also frustrating and felt lacking.
Related to stats: I don’t quite understand which characters were chosen as key relationships. I feel like the relationship to Harrington and Heath also matters, but they’re not listed in the stats page. Gaines also frequently comes up in the story, but isn’t there. In contrast, there is a “1st Lt. Jackson Parker (Company E)” that constantly showed up as a good working relationship for me, and I have no clue who that is.
What was frustrating and a little heartbreaking was how much I struggled to have a good relationship with all of the officers and… just couldn’t. As I said at the very beginning, I was starved for affection, and I kept interacting with the officers as much as I could. Walton simply didn’t like many of the choices I made and I don’t know which, I just constantly saw the relationship with him go up a little and then inevitable down again. Bishop was fine for the most part, but then I never took part in his marketing schemes and then there was always a huge drop in approval. Which is… okay, fine. The more disappointing part is that I did have strong relationships with Winters and Lynch. I even reached “Absolute trust and brotherhood” with Winters!! And then two scenes later saw it drop down again to “Strong mutual respect”. Really? You have absolute trust and brotherhood in someone and they make a choice you kind of disagree with (which choice? who knows) and then go “eh, I mean I trust you, I guess” (it did go up again later and stayed there). But even more than that I kept picking Lynch for almost every interaction I could choose. I played him as my MC’s mentor and confidante, someone who can speak plainly around the MC and inform him about the people’s mind that the MC lacks insight into. He was recommended by the MC to be awarded a medal, and got to gloat when the MC was turned down. And all throughout the game we had “Strong mutual respect”. And then, again, inexplicably, it drops down to “Good working relationship” near the end. With the strive for connection, I kept wondering if he might have said something warmer near the end if the relationship was better.
I’ve always liked the idea of a flag system rather than a point system for relationships. It would make sense that when you feel absolute brotherhood with someone, only a major thing you disagree with would make the relationship drop down. But this is a difficult thing to do and I know why authors don’t do it. So… it is what it is I guess.
Part of what I’m saying is, I cared a lot, and I’m really happy I played through the story. My favorite characters were Lynch, Harrington, and Hox. The relationship development with Hox meant a lot to me.
The romance is lacking, of course. But I think it makes sense for this game. It is not there as it’s own story beat, but rather to round out the reality of war: of having a home, of waiting for letters full of longing, of writing letters not knowing you’ll live another day. I like heavy romance elements, so the few scenes we get do not feel enough. I keep thinking whether I would prefer to have a more fledged out romance or no romance at all. But ultimately, I think, what is there might be just right.
What could potentially be improved is that there are many of the same passages if you do focus on romance. Every time you write you get more or less the same set of choices (for Wilkes: assure him the door is open, write cautiously, don’t write) and more or less the same descriptions (for the first: You don’t know if you trust him, but you write him anyway, with a candor that might not be wise). The benefit of the current state is that you can largely ignore romance and focus on the war and come back to the romance when you feel like it, having lost nothing.
Potential improvements
There are a lot of repeating paragraphs and scenes and if I would fix anything, it is that. For example, one of the black soldiers told MC that they fight differently to white soldiers because they know they will not be imprisoned and I got that scene somewhere during the middle of the game and then again at the end. There are a lot of instances like this. I think I’ll play the game again and can perhaps make a list.
Related to that, but not quite as necessary to adjust, is that there are a lot repeated terms and phrases. There are a few times I made a choice in a fight and it gave me a similar set of descriptions results, sth along the lines of “the rush half-failed”, “the movement bogs down [sth]”. It might make sense to go back and create more unique descriptions of those outcomes, but it also works, so it depends where you set your priority.
Also related to this, the way choices for the regiment play out become rather similar at some point (maybe from the middle on?). You make a choice, the choice plays out, a character comes to the MC and makes a comment indicating their disapproval, the MC says “Yes”, and the character responds with “I just wanted it to be heard”. To make this scene structure feel less repetitive, you could point out the repetitiveness, evolving it with every scene, sth like “You made your choice and now you wait for the dissenters. It is never the people who approve who come to you afterwards”. But again, it works as it is, and the effort of adjusting it might not be worth it.
Regarding romance: your RO comes down at some point (during a winter or spring I think). And you can make the choice to spend every possible hour with them. When romancing Wilkes, it still shows “you took every hour you said you didn’t exist. […] The company teases you in the way that they tease when they are pleased by something”, followed directly by “You only get 20 minutes”. So I think the choice and the description need to be adjusted here.
Additionally, in the epilogue, there are some confusions about the house that MC lives in. There’s a brief description that he lives with Wilkes. And then many descriptions implying MC lives alone.
All in all, this was a great game and worth the lack of sleep. There is more I could say, but it is already a lot and it is most of it. Most of this is just feedback so you know about reader experience. The one actionable improvement I recommend is sorting out the repeating paragraphs and scenes.
I could potentially give more thorough feedback, especially about the repeating passages and the like, if I had access to the code. Would you be interested in sharing that?
Also, I’m curious what kind of awards and commendations the MC can get and how high their standing can rise. Do you have a list?
Edit: some things I wrote down got lost when I rearranged it yesterday, so I’ll add them down here. Also, after sleeping on it I want to add one or two thoughts
History, terms and nuance
All of this is a very subjective issue, but I still want to bring it up 1) so you have the reader feedback that people like me might read the story and miss some nuance and 2) because I have some questions which I hope you can clarify.
I’m not a native English speakers and I don’t know a lot about US history or the military. A lot of the terms that were used I kind of glossed over, substituting a vague understanding and moving on. It’s basic things like the word “picket”, “refuse the flank”, the army ranks, the history of the states (i.e. when choosing a US state as origin, I just pick one at random),
Only while writing this yesterday, I also looked up what a volunteer company was, and then only understood what it meant and why Hox disliked us for it.
Beyond that, there were some scenes I was confused by. The two ones I can remember off the top of my head are both related to Harrington:
- early on Harrington shares his worries as the new commander and you can offer your support by taking on tasks. Harrington responds with “You are very quick” and someone, I believe Winters, thinks less of the MC for the resulting arrangement. Does quick in this case mean ambitious? Does Winters think that MC is reaching above their rank and finds it distasteful?
- then, later, the MC can share their high opinion of Harrington, saying Harrington kept waiting to be found out, but there’s nothing to be found. But the men are displeased by it because “a major has taken their commander in hand” or the like. I looked up what “take in hand” means and I do think I understand the words, but not that sentence. Is the issue here that Harrington showed emotions and soldiers don’t like their superiors appearing “weak”? Or is it that two superiors are bonding/showing affection and that friendship is unusual in some way?
More thoughts after sleeping on it
I do think I said this in some ways yesterday as well, but I want to emphasize that all the emotions I brought up (the hope, the frustration, the longing, the grief) are exactly the emotions you should feel when playing this kind of game.
I wanted more affection, but the war, the constant death, and the hierarchy / the power imbalances make that difficult.
I wanted more recognition, but in a way, my MC reached pretty far with commanding a brigade. Everything he did matter, even if there is no one to acknowledge it.
The life of every individual soldier matters. The rank and the awards matter. The efforts to lower deaths, including hygiene standards matter. There is little thanks or recognition for these efforts, but they matter.
But people die, and on that large a scale a single person becomes just a number. And history reports it wrong (like MC’s rank) and forgets things (like battle fields). And at the end, all that is left is a fading flag and no one knows the struggle and the people behind it. It makes me emotional and is a large part of the reason why I appreciate this game so much.
One thought I feel more strongly about today: Grant sucks. I don’t know if history buffs look at this and understand the intentions behind Grant and the necessity of his actions, but looking at it through my MC everything went to shit after Grant joined the east. The men’s spirit degraded, there were gigantic slaughterfests, and no significant victories. Do other people have insight and thoughts on Grant?
