A dense knot of mysteries providing a steady feed of intrigue as it unfurls, using a cycle of speculation and strong twists.
Its narrative puzzles are its greatest strength. The lock-and-key structure keeps the overall story beats paced well, giving the player space to hypothesize before catching the curveball. The puzzles range in difficulty, but broadly keep a consistent quality. Philosophically, it brings little to the table, and its emotional core is thin. That being said, it's hard to care when getting to the bottom of what's really happening is so engaging.
The presentation is strong, with excellent voice acting & music scoring every scene. The character visual design is notably up and down, with a few standouts, several middling, and two scantily-clad women that the game's protagonist makes an uncomfortable number of horny comments about (even if it seems like the reader should find most of them gross). The UI is also makes navigating the game's convoluted plot fairly seamless, though it could have offered more in remembering how each decision branch differs.
The ending's deluge of twists and exposition is harder to digest (both in its quantity and some of the suspension of disbelief it asks), but it by no means ends with a whimper. Fantastic game, though be sure to play the previous entry first.
[Played via the Nonary Games remaster/port]
Its narrative puzzles are its greatest strength. The lock-and-key structure keeps the overall story beats paced well, giving the player space to hypothesize before catching the curveball. The puzzles range in difficulty, but broadly keep a consistent quality. Philosophically, it brings little to the table, and its emotional core is thin. That being said, it's hard to care when getting to the bottom of what's really happening is so engaging.
The presentation is strong, with excellent voice acting & music scoring every scene. The character visual design is notably up and down, with a few standouts, several middling, and two scantily-clad women that the game's protagonist makes an uncomfortable number of horny comments about (even if it seems like the reader should find most of them gross). The UI is also makes navigating the game's convoluted plot fairly seamless, though it could have offered more in remembering how each decision branch differs.
The ending's deluge of twists and exposition is harder to digest (both in its quantity and some of the suspension of disbelief it asks), but it by no means ends with a whimper. Fantastic game, though be sure to play the previous entry first.
[Played via the Nonary Games remaster/port]