I'm not interested in this whole "walking simulator" debate. Games are art and art can take many forms. Thats all I am going to say on the matter.
Now back to the actually important part of this review, I really enjoyed my time with this game. It only lasted me an hour or two but stuck in my room on a depressing Monday, this was a good bit of relief. The story is a fairly simple one and I cant help but laugh at all the reviews mocking it for not being something profound or having some cool twist at the end. Thats not really the point of it (although there is a darker subplot you can figure out if you explore enough) The people calling it pretentious are baffling too as the game never tries to be deep and I am curious why so many people without basic comprehension decide to play games like this, but nevertheless. Of course there's nothing wrong with disliking this game. Despite its runtime it still pretty slow and if it didnt click with you or you just dont like this type of game, all perfectly valid. I know its a cliche thing to say but if you find it pretentious then you probably "didn't get it", lol. Its simply a simple story told very well. The worldbuilding is really great. You explore a very well crafted and interconnected house at your own pace, and for a genre lambasted for linearity the level design is really good. While yes most of the gameplay consists of inspecting items and reading notes, besides a few things that felt a bit too conveniently placed they do a really good job of giving you insights to the different members of the family. The environmental storytelling is very strong as well, where things are placed or hidden telling a story of its own. Its not too common but theres also some voice acting that I felt was really strong and added a lot to it. It was really easy to get immersed in the story through all this and I genuinely cared for what all the characters were going through. When I finally reached the end, it wasnt some big revelation but it stayed true to what everything before it was: a heartfelt story, not some grandiose plot but true to life and touching. I teared up a little bit at the end, and when the credits rolled i had a smile on my face. I think thats all a game needs to do really.
Time Played - 2ish hours
Nancymeter - 90/100
Game Completion #32 of 2022
April Completion #1
Now back to the actually important part of this review, I really enjoyed my time with this game. It only lasted me an hour or two but stuck in my room on a depressing Monday, this was a good bit of relief. The story is a fairly simple one and I cant help but laugh at all the reviews mocking it for not being something profound or having some cool twist at the end. Thats not really the point of it (although there is a darker subplot you can figure out if you explore enough) The people calling it pretentious are baffling too as the game never tries to be deep and I am curious why so many people without basic comprehension decide to play games like this, but nevertheless. Of course there's nothing wrong with disliking this game. Despite its runtime it still pretty slow and if it didnt click with you or you just dont like this type of game, all perfectly valid. I know its a cliche thing to say but if you find it pretentious then you probably "didn't get it", lol. Its simply a simple story told very well. The worldbuilding is really great. You explore a very well crafted and interconnected house at your own pace, and for a genre lambasted for linearity the level design is really good. While yes most of the gameplay consists of inspecting items and reading notes, besides a few things that felt a bit too conveniently placed they do a really good job of giving you insights to the different members of the family. The environmental storytelling is very strong as well, where things are placed or hidden telling a story of its own. Its not too common but theres also some voice acting that I felt was really strong and added a lot to it. It was really easy to get immersed in the story through all this and I genuinely cared for what all the characters were going through. When I finally reached the end, it wasnt some big revelation but it stayed true to what everything before it was: a heartfelt story, not some grandiose plot but true to life and touching. I teared up a little bit at the end, and when the credits rolled i had a smile on my face. I think thats all a game needs to do really.
Time Played - 2ish hours
Nancymeter - 90/100
Game Completion #32 of 2022
April Completion #1
3 Comments
glad you liked it, its pretty special to me
This game was great, more people should give it a chance.
Assenemy
2 years ago