In an isolated country village, the locals fear the monsters in the forest. Whenever a family member vanishes into the night, they hang posters up not to seek out the missing, but as a public shaming ritual for those who were punished by the beasts. Some adults even make gossip, delighting in how a disappeared loved one "deserved" to vanish for breaking the rules.
The wider metaphors of this small town oppression kind of gets lost to me when the only actual established rule is "don't sing." I'm not expecting something particularly in-depth and it is clearly a child-orientated game, but its just unclear how this town generally functions day to day. I was sort of expecting just generic Tim Burton-esque gothic town, but its apparently big enough that a baker choosing to search for his son instead of working comes down to "we better find a new baker" from locals. But the game's more interested in going through how a child is pressured into following the status quo. Just as Lucy seems to be launching a solid investigation into the forest's mysteries, one conversation with her father (convincingly) puts her back under the town's thumb. Being a rebellious child is a lot harder than it looks. Its just easier for Lucy to fall back in line and try to forget everything she's learned. Its a little frustrating for the game's pacing, but it felt real. Lucy wants answers, sure. But sometimes a kid is willing to listen to their parents say "ignore that stressful thing and live a happy life instead."
Mechanically, the game's not all that impressive either. Its a point and click, no need to reinvent the wheel. But everything operates on a frustrating auto-save system. No rolling back saves, no chance to return to any collectibles you might have missed. You have one chance. And if you want all four endings, you gotta replay the game four times.
I'm not gonna get into too much spoiler content with the endings but seeing endings marked as "Neutral, Good, Bad, and Best" on youtube is just stark compared to my own interpretations. Sure, I guess most people would consider reuniting a family the good ending, but on the other hand? Fuck this town. Fucking bail. Choosing to escape into the forest should not be the bad ending, that's the smart ending. They can dress up another ending as "oh you worked within the system to change the town's mind on the forest" all they want, I still think its a lost cause. If it sucks, hit da bricks.
Advice I kind of wish I took myself while playing this, but that's not fair. Its a pleasant Neutral game. A respectable cleaning-up-a-backlog-weekend game. Can't go wrong with that.
The wider metaphors of this small town oppression kind of gets lost to me when the only actual established rule is "don't sing." I'm not expecting something particularly in-depth and it is clearly a child-orientated game, but its just unclear how this town generally functions day to day. I was sort of expecting just generic Tim Burton-esque gothic town, but its apparently big enough that a baker choosing to search for his son instead of working comes down to "we better find a new baker" from locals. But the game's more interested in going through how a child is pressured into following the status quo. Just as Lucy seems to be launching a solid investigation into the forest's mysteries, one conversation with her father (convincingly) puts her back under the town's thumb. Being a rebellious child is a lot harder than it looks. Its just easier for Lucy to fall back in line and try to forget everything she's learned. Its a little frustrating for the game's pacing, but it felt real. Lucy wants answers, sure. But sometimes a kid is willing to listen to their parents say "ignore that stressful thing and live a happy life instead."
Mechanically, the game's not all that impressive either. Its a point and click, no need to reinvent the wheel. But everything operates on a frustrating auto-save system. No rolling back saves, no chance to return to any collectibles you might have missed. You have one chance. And if you want all four endings, you gotta replay the game four times.
I'm not gonna get into too much spoiler content with the endings but seeing endings marked as "Neutral, Good, Bad, and Best" on youtube is just stark compared to my own interpretations. Sure, I guess most people would consider reuniting a family the good ending, but on the other hand? Fuck this town. Fucking bail. Choosing to escape into the forest should not be the bad ending, that's the smart ending. They can dress up another ending as "oh you worked within the system to change the town's mind on the forest" all they want, I still think its a lost cause. If it sucks, hit da bricks.
Advice I kind of wish I took myself while playing this, but that's not fair. Its a pleasant Neutral game. A respectable cleaning-up-a-backlog-weekend game. Can't go wrong with that.