I bought it dirt cheap on Steam a week ago, but didn't have a chance to play it yet. I've heard that people here praise it and recommend whenever it's okay. What should I expect? Does the gameplay still holds up?
It's one of my favorite games, but you should definitely read a Beginner's Guide before starting it to avoid some annoyances.
http://shshatteredmemories.com/greenvale/ is a great site if you want to learn or read up on stuff (spoilers are hidden or marked around the site)
Some tips:
-Play it on Easy, the enemies are weaker then. The combat is the worst thing about the game and you want to get through these sections as fast as possible.
-Get some items as soon as possible via Side Quests. Especially the Radio (arguably the most important one, allows fast traveling), Infinite Weapons (SMG, Wrench) and the Weather Doll
-Use the flamethrower for the Crawling Shadows, the most annoying enemies in the game
I'll copy the rest from an IGN post since I'm lazy:
- Run at doors while pressing the "open" button. This does the fast door animation and not the slow "peek around the door" one.
- Press the Back button when acquiring items and entering/exiting your car to skip said animations.
- Don't feel pressured to rush from one Main Quest to the next. If someone tells you that you have to be at a location by a certain time (say, at the Diner between 12pm - 4pm), you can totally blow it off and just show up 24 hours later without penalty.
- Use downtime to do side quests. People on your map have a notepad over their head when they have an available side quest. Not only do you get good items, more importantly you experience some deep and interesting/bizarre back-stories on the town's inhabitants. This is why you're playing the game...the utterly unique story/characters.
Have fun!