In my previous review, I complained about the game crashing in the first area and my inability to see more than thirty seconds of the furry bait cute raccoon. This hasn’t changed, I’m either very bad at using my laptop or the game is very bad functioning. But I have more to say. Too much more.

So I’ve since watched a play-through of the game and a few UniqueGeese videos. Yes, Rambley is delightful and captivating. He is also disproportionately well realized in comparison to any other aspect of the game, with the signs of development via YouTube tutorial bleeding through every moment of the experience. To say Rambley carries the game is vast understatement. He is Atlas holding up the sky with its overlarge moon texture. Without him there is next to no appeal. At least not to attract the fervent attention the game has received.

Indigo Park, the location and game proper, has no tangible identity. Many references to Disney parks and others litter the space, like the UE5 asset store wine bottle trash objects, but these allusions are illusions masking an area devoid of its own weight and cohesion. The park turns into a single hallway after entering Mollie’s Landing Pad. Structures are seen crumbling like a post-apocalypse only eight years since closure. Why? To block off areas. How? You make up a reason, idk.

There’s a theming of Art Deco and generic old American origins, I guess? And yet it clashes with the futuristic Critter Cuff and sentient AI, maybe signaling the park’s wavering popularity leading to a betrayal of its retro ideals to desperately attract guests? The intrigue of the park lies in the player’s own invention. The game wears its inspirations on its sleeve and is clothed only with these sleeves. It’s a very bare game, not just in terms of aesthetic qualities and gameplay, but also in its story.

I realize that this first chapter basically functions as a cast introduction, and future installments will (hopefully) have more to them in all aspects of content. If I take away anything, it’s that dependence on unscary monster mascots to placate an audience of children watching YouTubers pretend to scream throws away what could’ve been an interesting exploration game. Take out this shit and you’re left with navigating a dead amusement park with a growing emotional dependence for a lovable and lonely AI, tragically trying to show a half-nostalgic adult the last gasp of a fun time in this kid’s wonderland fallen to disrepair.

I’m not Patricia Taxxon and I won’t be writing out a fully realized and thematically rich tragedy for this game. Let me say that despite this glowing review, I wouldn’t call the game worthless. The train ride and, of course, all Rambley scenes succeed and land near perfect. I have the Rambley Review stuck in my head and if the game left off in a better moment dramatically, I’d even call it a good ending.

So, in conclusion, Rambley is kinda cute. Good game.