Had no idea what to expect going in and was blown away in every category. Gorgeous art design, brilliant soundtrack and tone, and some of (maybe The) best writing I've experienced in a game. The mechanics let you shape how you interact with the world in ways that feel consequential and satisfying. The characters are wonderfully written and feel endearingly human. The world itself feels alive and there's a sense of it moving around you. The way it integrates ttrpg elements makes your character feel real and adds to the immersion. The story is wildly huge and occasionally overwhelmingly so, but it didn't put me off as much as it encouraged me to uncover more about the world and its inhabitants. The mood and tone are powerful and its a staggeringly emotional experience. Its filled with moments where you will labor over decisions and wince as you press the button to see if you're pressing your luck, and it feels that there are countless ways to progress through the story and uncover more about the world. It could be a bit slow up front for some, and to say it's story driven is a comical understatement (to say its a visual novel is a criminal disservice, but there are Heaps of text). The final cut adds full voice acting, and its some of the absolute best I've experienced, it really sells the characters and adds life to the world. Overall its a profound and wickedly satisfying experience.

Dodged most of the hype (and spoliers) when this game came out but saw it mentioned a bunch but I'm happy to report it lives up to it. I've finally come to terms with my love of deck-builders and this game is wholly to blame. The writing is awesome, the layers of narrative are really engaging, and there are a few Really neat moments that shift things up that make for a delightfully memorable experience. The skill progression as you kinda get the hang of how the game plays and the card synergies work isn't impenetrable and its really rewarding to figure out all out. It's a little deliberately obscure at times but never to the point of frustration for me. Artistically, the visual design is dark and intruiging, and the music/sound design compliments the tone of the game seamlessly. The mechanics alone have brought me back to it several times since I've completed it, and I have a feeling it'll live on my switch for a while.

This had big shoes to fill as I was coming off of playing Disco Elysium for the first time, and while it doesn't offer the same breadth, it scratched the same itch for piecing together an engaging narrative and unfolding a really interesting world one interaction at a time. It's dystopian, existential, and charmingly anti-capitalist. There's neat conflict between exploring what options you have the dice for vs what threads you want to pursue/what resources you need that I can see being a turn off for some folks but I think makes each playthrough unique and adds some chaos to the mix that keeps it fun. Also, having a few clocks hanging over your head helps keep things tense and makes your choices feel more dire. Art design is endearing, the music is powerful and understated which accents the feelings of isolation and feeling alone, even when surrounded by people. Def not at the level of DE in terms of scope, but its shorter run time has led me to completing it more times. The writing is killer, I do wish it was voice acted tho, but I'm being greedy. Its lovely little game that i enjoyed my time with. Fwiw, I played it on switch and it crashed -a lot- but I never lost progress, just had to start convos over.