Finding The Time Demo

Blockbuster movies, bestselling novels and triple-A video games all feature relatively simple plots that almost always end the same, even if the actual events appear to be different. If the cosmetic touch-ups are removed and you only look at the bigger picture, it’s either about good versus evil, the guy who gets the girl (or vice-versa), or the hero with a unique case of total empathy.

Finding The Time is a text-driven story game that resembles a visual novel, except that it features less artwork and more text, as well as more ways for you to intervene and change the story on the go. It tries to portray a different kind of relationship and not fall prey to the same old cliches, but unfortunately it ends up tasteless and unattractive in the process. Granted, this is merely a demo, but things really need to get better until the full version is released.

You play the role of a woman by the name of Andrea, and your goal is to somehow protect her romantic relationship by doing or saying the right things. Her character is designed to be in some sort of antithesis with the classic view of a woman, since she holds an important job and assures the financial stability of the couple. It’s not at all an original concept, and it’s a bit forced in this case, but it’s certainly different from the sea of indigo stories out there.

Although classic visual novels allow you to intervene only during crucial points in the plot, Finding The Time features a lot more interaction. It’s not always clear whether the choices you make affect anything other than the immediate response from your other half, but at least it keeps you intrigued. Even so, the demo is too short to form an accurate opinion on anything.

As far as the artwork is concerned, the style is pretty neat, but there are a few issues when it comes to character design. In essence, it’s worth noting that the main character’s face never looks the same, since her facial features change from one picture to the other. This is distracting, and it makes you unable to form any kind of connection with her.

In the end, Finding The Time may very well be a good game, but the presentation is terrible. The demo tells you nothing you couldn’t find out from a two-sentence description from the developer, and there’s no real incentive to wait for the full game once you finish it, because nothing actually happens. It’s meant to be a more realistic story than the artificial trash spewed by Hollywood, but the alternative seems to be something boring that goes nowhere.

Note: You can help the developers by supporting their Kickstarter campaign and by voting for the game on Steam Greenlight.