I truly enjoyed Radiant One (Free)when it came out; in my review I gave it 4.5 stars and praised it for the narrative involving mental illness, astral projection, and the supernatural. The developer then announced the game was turning to a subscription model, and I cringed. Based on what I played though – which is now episode one, The Awakening – I wanted to give this new model a chance. The future of gaming is kind of up in the air, with some companies wanting to turn to a Netflix-like model, so it’s not an unreasonable thing to do. The second episode, The Secret, is now available, and I was anxious to dive into it (ironic, based on the narrative).
Jared has already detailed the subscription model, but briefly: the subscription is $2.99/month. If you bought the first episode, the second should unlock for free. For a limited time you can purchase the first two episodes for $4.99; otherwise, each episode sells individually for $5.99. This is where I had my first problem: I had to pay for a subscription to access The Secret, despite already owning the first episode. Still, I did it for the sake of… I don’t know, science" I also have a hard time with change so try to push through that, which is what I’m trying to do here. Each episode takes an hour or two to play through; personally, I find $2.99 is reasonable assuming one episode is actually released per month; otherwise, for an hour of playtime, $6 seems a tad expensive.
This episode...