-snip-
Don't worry, it's not just women getting a good-old taste of values dissonance. Although it is never stated in-game, one character has a terrible secret so horrifying that it is implied to have driven him to commit multiple murders to hide it: (spoilers)he's gay(/spoilers).
Good thing this game is almost universally praised for its gripping plot and storytelling. It's the realism that sucks me in.
I suppose these things probably aren't even noticeable to most typical straight male gamers, but seriously, it's massively problematic. Stuff like this, especially when it's so highly praised, sends the message to people who share those outdated and often dangerous views that they are perfectly justified in their thinking. Look, the characters in this game fit those ideas perfectly, and everyone loves this game! Must be right, then.
Gah. Sorry, I could very easily start ranting about this, but it's clearly not a good idea to start this kind of discussion in the Sales thread. In fact, I'm a bit tired of having that discussion in general. I'm just going to let that one go for now and say, yeah, probably don't buy this game. Not only is the story horrifyingly offensive to various groups of people, the gameplay is also tedious and frustrating. I'm going to go play something better now.
On a more positive note, I do recommend
Words for Evil. It's on sale right now (and is cheap anyway), was gifted to me by one of our generous giveaway-hosting residents, and I've already lost a couple of hours to it. It's not perfect. The controls can be slightly glitchy, and you have to focus so much on spelling your words that you don't really get to watch the action at the top of the screen. It seems to exist more for the entertainment of onlookers than the person playing. But the music and visuals are just so gorgeous, and the mechanics work quite well. I expect to lose quite a few more hours to this one.