what the fuck did i just "play"

This is actually my first exposure to the series, although I started the anime right after finishing this. To call this a game is a stretch, it's not even really a visual novel. It's more of an interactive audiobook / cd rom.

The manner of progression was very abstract and I kinda gave up on beating it until recently. That said, I greatly enjoyed the narrative this game was presenting and felt really smart for piecing it all together. It disturbed and intrigued me and I just love the overall feel of it too.

one of the most wild, profound, interesting, terrifying, depressing and miles ahead of its time works of fiction i have ever experienced, one which is far more relevant today than it was at the time. just about every single topic you could think of is covered by its story, from technology to romance to philosophy to mental illness to purpose to existentialism to breasts. compared to the anime, this game is not only much more linear and obvious in its story progression, but this lain winds up far more psychopathic (which the less said about the better) despite seeming very normal at first. she has no one to lean on here, never figuring out what the knights are and how deep their rabbit holes go, with few mentions of crucial components of the anime like protocol 7. it all culminates in a brutal and deeply unfortunate ending.

it's a very disturbing game, a bleak look at a lonely girl's utter mental decline of her and those surrounding her, and certain cutscenes from its ending will never leave me.

you navigate this unbeliveably well told story with a menu designed, created and coded by gibbons.

Audio Companion

The only thing even remotely bad about Lain PS1 is the menu navigation. Which sounds good, but unfortunately the 'gameplay' is the menu navigation, and the issues with it get more apparent and irritating with time. The actual idea of experiencing these tidbits of audio logs and flipping between them to try to piece together a story is really cool! In fact, the story itself is great, the writing is well done, the voice acting is immaculate, and the few video clips are all damn great on top of that. I can't say that I like it more than the anime, but its fantastic in its own right. I wish I could have experienced it all, but I seem to have been hit with a game breaking bug while going through the postgame, so I possibly missed some important info locked behind the postgame. The 99% of it I was able to experience was great, but the menu navigation is almost comically bad at times, it really brings down the whole package. I'd love for a modernized version or remaster to be made, but I know there's no chance of hell for that to occur. Regardless, this game is something special, and I advise anyone interested to give it a shot.

PS: You can play the game in browser here

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