I thought this was stunning. totally singular art style that feels like a mix between low poly 3d, palette knife painting, and stop motion animation. The moody glitch-synth score is a bold accompaniment to the visuals--feels like playing a pre-historical oneohtrix music video. Infinitely more captivating and mysterious than any of its post-journey peers (cough cough RIME, cough cough ABZU) that overzealously dole out their rote setpieces and discoveries with an almost algorithmic precision. Vane is still a very "directed" game with clear design choices made to steer players toward specific goals, but those guiding seams are vague and restrained, making the world feel like a vast, mournful place that exists for its own reasons as opposed to a player playground where every element is a rote guidepost to lead you to the next intended zone. I personally didn't find the slow speed of the child avatar to be "clunky" or "bad design"--the scenic imagery in the game more than warrants prolonged admiration and reflection. The slow movement came across as a completely justifiable (and effective!) design choice for a game exploring time in such disquieting, vast, and lovely ways. low key frustrating that we exist in a cultural gaming landscape that won't tolerate game mechanics of disempowerment and humility for an only 3 hour runtime in something THIS gorgeous and thoughtful.