Beautiful JRPG about the true nature of war and finding optimism in the bleak reality. This one is pretty special to me, having picked it up in early access, and I'm very enthused to see its success.

On the parts that are left to be desired: Machine translation errors in the language I played (German). A few janky bugs, but they did not hinder progress. The combat becomes repetitive and is pretty trivial; resources are always in a surplus, and I didn't genuinely struggle with a fight once. But it enables easy, smooth storytelling, which is where the heart of this game really lies.

Vague spoilers for the ending: I think the nature of the story was (beautifully) idealistic throughout, and that made the more sober ending where the characters actually don't effect much long-term slightly disappointing, realistic as it is. However, it paints the realities of the military industrial complex and military occupation uncomfortably well, all while managing to be sincerely, genuinely heartfelt about hope in community, in your friends, in citizens around the world against the war machine that wants to profit off your despair. The characters and story will stick with me for a long time. ❤️