Definitely a more rich experience than a lot of the early David Szymanski games, despite arguably being the purest walking-sim in the collection. This game is aesthetically great; the visuals are very striking throughout and absolutely stunning in places, and the sparse music is used very effectively throughout.

Where the Music Machine loses me a bit is with its storytelling... sort of. There are a lot of different lines of intrigue at play in the world of the Music Machine, but a lot of it seems very disconnected and I legitimately don't understand why some of it is here. The pseudo-Christian / eldritch dimension hopping side of things is genuinely interesting and pretty well realised. But then, at the same time, you play a character possessed by a malevolant ghost, which has absolutely no connection to the underlying story. Add to this that the relationship between the ghost and his host is... really uncomfortable, and not in a good way (she is 13 and he is 35, I will let you fill in the blanks). And the dialogue of the two player characters is honestly pretty awful to read through at times. I get that it's supposed to be an unpleasant and unsettling dynamic, but I'd really rather it just wasn't here, especially as its such an unnecessary addition on what would already be a nice complete experience.

This is definitely one of the more experimental Szymanski microgames, but for the most parts I'd say the more experimental stuff landed for me. Parts of this game remind me more of NaissanceE than something like The Moon Sliver, and NaissanceE-style atmospheric art games are absolutely my kinda jam. But in the end I do feel the Music Machine tries to do a bit too much with its short runtime and ends up tripping over its own feet a little. Cut out all the awkward and weird crap about the ghost guy and this would have been a much more focused and enjoyable experience.