Shadow of Destiny

This little gem managed to stay under my radar for quite some time. If it had not been or a friend mentioning playing this I would most likely never have known it was out there. In part this might be to blame on the fact it is flagged as an RPG on most sites. That is quite wrong, it is an adventure game. (No, not yet another damn myst clone.)

It's story starts in modern times and trough a series of events you end up time shifting back and forth causing all sorts of time travel paradoxes. (You know the whole 'back to the future" deal. Never having been born because you went back in time and bumped into your great great great great grandmother making her never meet the man she was supposed to get together with.)
The game opens up a wide range of story points and interesting plot lines. What I mean with story points are key choices that cause a major swing in the way the game progresses. In order to help you identify these marks you will be given a hint in the form of a small double take and you're asked to confirm your choice.

My biggest gripe is that a number of the things hinted at in the story are never really resolved. Even beating the game several times will not give you all the pieces to the puzzle. However replaying does have a distinct effect on the game. Your main character retains knowledge of the previous runs through the time loops. A good example is the first part of the game: Initially you are sitting at a table in some café. You've just gone through a series of rather confusing events and are startled to find yourself sitting there when the waitress checks to see if you are alright. At first you will jump up in surprise. However if you go through this event a few times you get used to it and your responses will be less and less extreme. In other parts of the game you will start to take control of conversations because of knowing what will follow etc. This too has some interesting side effects such as having to find an excuse for knowing a person's name before it is given to you and so on.

This is certainly a fascinating little game that is well worth the effort of playing trough several times. I just wish it wasn't so short and that you had more freedom, not to mention more things to do. If you can, play this on PS2. The PC port is very poor. some control issues and sound sync/stuttering problems.