Visibly embattled, from its lifeless vestigial third-person combat to its then-unprecedented use of product placement; one can sense the Microsoft execs bristling at the idea of ponying up the big bucks for a video game with a writer protagonist. The lack of confidence on display is only exacerbated by the overexplained cosmology and intertextual references, Remedy tossing fish to clapping seals who may or may not be media-literate enough to recognize a visual cue straight from The Shining. Using obscure collectibles as narrative scaffolding and the cryptic ending at least suggest some measure of interest in letting the player piece the world together themselves, as befitting a game about narrative and mythmaking. The stormy PNW atmosphere is also a major positive tilt for me, and you do have to give it some credit for attempting an unconventional starting point for genre entertainment.