It's probably my fault for over-hyping this game, thinking it was gonna be a new instant classic along the lines of Outer Wilds and Inscryption. Sadly, I've played maybe 7 hours on the week of its release and have been hesitant to open it since then.

Outside of its gorgeous presentation and intriguing atmosphere, I found the experience extremely tedious. The selling point of the game and its core mechanic, the car, ended up feeling like a burden instead of being a tool of experimentation and freedom. The reason being that you need to get out of your car every minute to pick up items and to explore buildings. The "drive 30 seconds, park, loot, drive 30 seconds" loop gets tired real fast.

It might still click for some enjoyers of looter/exploration game! I'll give it props for trying something new at least.

Nothing too crazy here. It's fun with a friend, but I would not recommend it for solo players. They have a cool coop mode where each player gets assigned a character and they ask you to pass the controller when it's someone else's turn to play.

It's fun to laugh at a friend who just missed a QTE or to decide on which choices to make as a group. The story and the characterization are pretty much inspired by b-horror movies so you know what you're getting yourself into. Once again, play it with someone else, that's where 90% of the fun will come from, otherwise you're probably better off just ignoring it or watching a playthrough instead.

In terms of "heavy on reading" narrative game, this is not as dynamic and interactive as a Telltale game like The Wolf Among Us nor as richly built and in-depth as Disco Elysium. It is its own thing, but not always for the better.

My main issue is that the game is to grounded in reality, trying to portrait what's authentic and how life was like in this period. This results in a myriad of conversations and small talks about villages, farming, food, religion, faith, family, etc. If this sounds like your thing, than you're in for a treat. I, on the other hand, would've liked a more fantastical approach to the narrative. The dream sequences and the inner monologues are a great starting point, but it needed to expend in that direction.

The pacing is also quite tedious. I ended up getting used to the flow of the game near the middle of the second act, but without spoiling anything, it changed back up in the last act and made thing so slow once again.

If you're a medieval history nerd or are interested in diving deeper into a religious setting, than you'll probably enjoy this a lot. I certainly respect this game for what it was trying to achieve, but I don't think it'll succeed for everyone.