Majestic Nights Chapters 0 and 1 Review (PC)

Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory, no matter how outlandish or less so it might be. Majestic Nights, a new episodic game series from Epiphany Games, wants to exploit these wild tales and give players a chance to uncover layers upon layers of conspiracies and other adventures.

With the promise of blending together the gameplay of Shadowrun Returns or Hotline Miami with complex stories and big environments, the game is certainly looking promising, even though just two episodes have been released so far, in the form of chapter 0 and chapter 1.

Does Majestic Nights manage to present a good experience or should we abandon it and its tinfoil hat? Let's find out.

Story

Majestic Nights focuses, as a whole, on conspiracies, and chapters 0 and 1 are filled with such things. The first episode features former CIA "spook" John Q. Cardholder, who returns to Los Angeles and finds that the whole agency is out to get him.

Chapter 0 tries to keep a good mix of references to conspiracies like MK Ultra, the lunar landing, and many other things, while giving players some pretty decent RPG-like quests that involve exploring locations, talking to NPCs, and finding the best dialog paths to get what you want.

Chapter 1 brings forth a new protagonist in the form of private investigator Cal, a young woman who's hired by another CIA "suit" to track down Cardholder. Her adventures are a bit more confusing, especially if you don't make the right choices during some dialog sections.

Overall, the story has some potential but it's not realized all that well at least in these two chapters. There are plenty of conspiracy layers present, and it gets really hard to keep track of what's relevant to the plot and what's just a red herring.

Sneak past foes

Gameplay

Majestic Nights plays as a sort of real-time version of Shadowrun Returns, using the same isometric point of view and similar mechanics. You travel through the environments and must take down foes or hide from them using the rather clunky cover system.

Shooting guns is done first by readying the weapon, thereby enabling the laser sight to show where the bullet is going to hit, and then clicking the mouse button. The crosshair moves around a bit to add an element of unpredictability, and depending on your weapon, some enemies require more bullets to take down.

Cal can also employ melee weapons in the form of a knife or a katana, which make quick work of unsuspecting enemies. However, most of the time it's better to use the guns and just exploit the wonky artificial intelligence system.

“Speaking of the AI, enemies are rather simplistic in terms of patterns and you can kite them around the environment rather easily.”

One of the best strategies is just to run around a corner and then prepare your gun for the row of enemies that will come after you in a single file.

The whole shooting and AI systems make combat feel unimpressive, and the stealth system, which must be used in some situations, is similarly disappointing. You can't zoom out to see how enemies are scattered through the level, but by entering cover you get to see a bit more. Getting in and out of cover can be quite problematic, especially if you want to attack enemies that pass by.

The environments are decent but there are some stages that are confusing in their layout, and seeing as how you don't have an in-game map, you might get lost. Some doors can't be opened unless you try to hack a computer which prompts a not-so-impressive mini-game.

There are also glitches when it comes to doors or enemies, as some doors appear to be closed but you can walk right through them. Some enemies also remain in their patrol route despite you killing them, and you can also pass right through them.

One very annoying aspect is that there's no save function, only a checkpoint one that offers a respawn in case you die and forces you to work your way through the whole level once more. There are also some conversations that can't be attempted once you end them, which means you have to search the whole zone in hopes of finding something that can be employed in your talk with the NPCs to produce a better result.

Visuals and sound

In terms of visuals, Majestic Nights opts for a retro 1980s vibe and it works, more or less. Unfortunately, some textures are of a low quality. The framerate performs pretty well, however, but the user interface isn't exactly the prettiest or the most functional in the world.

The soundtrack respects the 1980s theme but gets repetitive after a while. There's no voice acting and the few sound effects also get tedious even though the actual chapters last around 1 to 1.5 hours.

Uncover conspiracies

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion

Majestic Nights shows some promise in terms of mechanics and plot, but the current two chapters available aren't that great. The gameplay needs quite a bit of work, the visuals are in dire need of an upgrade, and the story could use some streamlining.

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