Asemblance: Oversight

« Asemblance was bottled lightning. Oversight was never going to be able to recreate that, but it comes as close as it possibly can. »

« I enjoyed my time with Oversight, but I’d have liked to see more cohesion in its storytelling, a longer running time, and a concrete idea of what exactly I was working towards. »

« Please note, this review contains spoilers for the first chapter of this series; you can check out my (Chad's) review at Garage Band Gamers if you happened to miss it. For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed stories that let the viewer draw their own conclusions. If done properly, this will promote conversation and encourage revisiting the narrative again and again; if failed, the participant will lack interest or chalk it up to poor story telling. With the first Asemblance, the story revolved around a workaholic that lost his significant other due to being away in their time of need. The story drew me in with its horror sci-fi vibe and I couldn’t wait to see where the next chapter went. The follow up Asemblance: Oversight takes place within the same world, where a shady corporation is exploring the technology behind going into memories and changing them, in a quasi-time travel-ish manner. Instead of following the same installation from the original game, this entry takes place on what we find out is one of four of the Asemblance locations and focuses more on story than the personal issues the first game presented. This answers some of the questions you may have in regards to the how’s and why’s, but I found this story to be far less interesting than the original. Much like the original, you’ll need to explore the few areas offered and interact with the world, which typically equates to zooming in or selecting an item in the game world; often times multiple things in a specific order. After the correct order is discovered, you’ll unlock one of the many endings, resulting in you at the start of the game, with minor changes being in place from the get go. All in all, this is another walking simulator. The controls are carbon copies of the original, with only a few face buttons being used, the sticks being assigned to movement and looking, and the triggers resulting in zooming or sprinting. The controls work as they should, although sprinting feels like you are often walking in waist deep water, which makes exploring the small areas much more time consuming than it should be. Not only is the overall theme different, the presentation has changed quite a bit; the horror themes are barely present in this entry. The AI’s constantly changing voices, tones, and directives, creating a small sense of mystery or dread, but very rarely did I feel threatened in my time with the game. I am glad they opted to take the high road and avoid some of the off putting jump scares that the first included, but there isn’t much here in the form of creepiness. You’ll see a few ominous beings in hazmat suits as well as a room that looks like an oil drum exploded, but outside of this everything looks pretty normal; and let’s be honest, normal is boring. The textures found in the game have been cranked to the max. While the first entry was pretty to look at, this go around almost everything looks photo realistic, from the wood grain to the rocky textures of the outdoor setting, almost everything looks perfect. There are some plants that appear at times in the outdoor setting that look a bit flat, appearing even more out of place when they move gently with the breeze. Much like the first game, the title is a bit short on content; I was able to complete most of the endings in under an hour with little reason to revisit the game. If you have already invested in what the world of Asemblance has to offer, I would recommend purchasing Oversight, even if there are just as many new questions (if not more) than the original; the titles both offer a thought provoking look at the mind. »

« Asemblance Oversight The charm is gone Asemblance Oversight is the direct sequal to asemblance, if you’ve played that game you’d know it’s a very short game only taking about 30 minutes to get to an ending.. Asemblance Oversight is about the same length, but not nearly as good as the first game.. That’s not to say oversight doesn’t make improvements… this is a game about uncovering a mystery, reliving memories, in some vr portal, oversight doesn’t make you work for it though, which is good and bad.. its good because the game feels much more straightforward.. you have an idea what you’re looking for as soon as you enter the room and the game will prompt you to end the simulation once you have what you need to continue the story... But at the same time, this hand holding kind of drains the life of the game. The first asemblance was full of mystery, having me zooming into every item I could come across in hopes of triggering a new location to explore..i was genuinely intrigued and curious with the story and the world.. oversight though is just a game about collecting 2 voice samples, so you can stare at a cube… there was no cool room shifting or tense moments. it was actually kind of lame, feeling more like a dlc to the first game than a proper sequel. I felt nothing cool was done here… but like the first game there are multiple endings for players to figure out, which is what makes asemblance really special aside from the cool layers of fear style room shifting it did in the first game you have to search for those triggers to uncover the truth of this facility.. but the environments this time around were so lame that I didn’t care to keep searching beyond a couple of endings. I give Asemblance Oversight a 5/10 »

« The first Asemblance was a brilliant short story ****, and Oversight is just as wonderful. One can consider this series a collection of short, Sci-Fi, Psychological Thriller styled experiences. The puzzle work at play here is a mixture of collecting evidence in your own head and knowing what to look for in the game. Anyone looking for something fresh and original would likely enjoy what these have on offer, and at under 10$ it’s a safe bet for the curious. »