Fun movement mechanics and exploration; keys to my heart.

Even without items just running sliding and jumping around feels pretty good. A good chunk of the items you come across let you just completely break any sort of intended platforming challenge; but with them comes the new challenge of how you can get around in the most quick and efficient fashion.

It's hard to explain why it's so compelling to explore the city of Babbdi. It has some intensely Slavic atmosphere that's foreboding at first, almost comforting by the end. There's not much "content", in a game-y sense - you'll find some characters with a few lines of dialogue along the way, some odd scenes here and there, not much else. The city just feels fully realized in some sense, like you could potentially go anywhere and find exactly what you'd expect to be there.

Mostly a very atmospheric city to run around in - the scale feels both small enough to remember but huge enough to feel grand which is honestly its coolest part. The lighting and sound are big things that stuck out to me. Didn't know it used AI art till i saw reviews and double checked it - which is a bit disappointing. I feel like the best parts of this game were already there and it didn't need generated textures to feel uncanny.

One can assume it was the point to use AI to give that uncanny feel, but considering the current climate around it possibly taking my job, I really can't find enjoyment or artistic fulfillment in something like that. Just kinda how it is.