There was a relatively small window between when I understood the broader idea of what I was supposed to really be doing, the plateau when i enjoyed it, and when it started to get too samey to carry me to the occasional plot point. Across the multiple deaths with its repetitive questions when learning, it was frustrating to not really get the point of the timelines and the way it delivers a narrative.

When I got it, I enjoyed trying to expand the narrative and hit the quests and so on, but that wanes quickly once you answer the same riddle twenty times and the new interactions are few and far between(relative to everything that's going on).

I also think that in a game about decisions you mostly want to have it feel meaningful, or consistent at least. I did about as well giving thoughtful personal consideration(or as much as a this or that question can generate) as I did randomly swiping left and right, so you have to compromise your actual thoughts to be able to play it. No big deal, but there's not a consistency to it other than to juggle your bars. And the fail scenarios when your bars do go off aren't all very logical, which feels forced. No food, sure, everyone rebels and cannibalizes you. Too... good to your people so they push you in a well? Uh.

So it doesn't really offer me a compelling card game. Nor does it offer me a narrative putting me in a convincing frame of an ancient Chinese emperor(or dude pretending to be one in a sim).

I wonder if any of the others are better but I'm a little saddened that Devolver backed a stinker in an otherwise pristine record(of what I've encountered). Oh well