Really enjoyed it for the most part, a sad but harsh true tale about living in the cusp of fascism. The writing is strong and despite being set in 2010s Austria, I feel familiarity with classic latinamerican literature I read in my youth. I had trouble with the more poetic and obscure language, but given that english is not my mother tongue, I don't feel qualified to comment on that further. The art was wonderful and I liked the gameplay's ties to the narrative.

As of right now I can't wrap my head around the more meta elements, particularly endings S and R, I mostly find them confusing and underbaked.

But at the end of the day I recommend this game, it's unique and worth your time if anything about it seems interesting.

I've yet to play a game that so thoroughly allows for such compelling moral decision making, weaving narrative and mechanics perfectly. While you yourself are a victim of the totalitarian regime you work for, you wield a large amount of power with that stamp. Of course you have to think of your family, but what benefits your family often time comes at the expense of other innocent people. It's not about whether you are complicit or not but about how complicit you are willing to be. Making these decisions are not easy and are made even more difficult due to your limited time and need for enough money to survive. I felt a ton of pressure to just send people one way or another as quickly as possible and put them out of mind so I could focus on the next person; the constant stream of monotonous work is numbing and yet there are real consequences to your actions whether you know it or not.

But sometimes there aren't. Sometimes you send someone away who desperately needs to get in and nothing happens, you just have to live with what you've done. Games focused around morality are difficult to make because they require confidence that your audience with fully engage with the game and unfortunately I don't think Lucas Pope had that confidence because the inclusion of an endless mode gets rid of everything that makes this game amazing and is not something I'd ever want to play. Yes, being good at the job is very satisfying, but that is a source of horror for me not one of pride or accomplishment.

At the end of each day you get a report on your earnings, expenses, and the well being of your family. It is incredibly distressing to have to decide if your family will go without food or heat for the day, or having to pick which sick family member gets medicine and which does not. Choosing who to trust, who to help, who to ignore, who to throw under the bus, all while keeping your family safe, is virtually impossible and creates an incredibly stressful and sometimes disorienting experience. One moment that really stuck with me out of all the little story threads is when your son gives you a drawing of yourself, calling you a hero. Of course, if you make it to that point in the game you most certainly are not. I'm amazed at how well made this game is it's so fucked up.

Hyper Light Drifter is a pretty simple game, a 2d hack and slash with a liiiiittle bit of souls and a fair bit of zelda in it, and it's just gorgeous. Gorgeous and sad and hard, just like anything that takes influence from souls should be. The exploration is fantastic, the soundtrack is phenomenal, and the art is just jaw dropping. The combat's tight as fuck too. Maybe a little overtightened in places, where bosses can stunlock you to death from full health, and a tiny bit loose in others, but 95% of the time it's satisfying as hell. It's worth playing, even on an easier difficulty, just for that good good neon depression

Hello Charlotte

This game is raw, and at a lot of times, very uncomfortable. I think, all in all, I prefer the 2nd game, but I think about that, and I think about this game and I can't help but sit uncomfortably with that. This game isn't written to be liked. In fact, it feels written to be disliked. Like the creator, etherane, wants you to stop, or to be mad, or uncomfortable, or even hate the game. I think in that regard the story is highly effective.

I'm glad I played this series.

Goodbye Charlotte.

Deluge is a little RPG maker game, that's short, cheap, and like loads of these games, punches WAY above its weight class. The art is on point, the atmosphere (especially in the main section of the game) is this strange mix of cozy and filled with dread, which is kinda exactly my thing, and the plotting and moment to moment writing are wonderful, full of meaningful moments and interesting reversals! I definitely recommend playing this, even if you're not into horror games, since it leans mostly on atmosphere for that. Just prepare for some combat that's tougher than you might think. Use your healing items lol.

But yeah definitely grab this and play it, you've got no excuse

OH ALSO THE MUSIC IS SUUUUUPER GOOD!!!!

Seeing the game's developer, Jonathan Blow, dunk on Japanese-made games under the lead of Phil Fish, a similar mistake to indie gaming, raises some eyebrows when you look at the not-so-subtle influences this game took from other platformers. Talk about biting the hand that fed them.

As an aside, this is one of the worst designed puzzle platformers I've played and this is someone who loves puzzle platformers. Also, neither Jonathan Blow or Phil Fish are relevant anymore and the Japanese gaming industry is still booming. Who knew?