Everyone knows Mario is cool as fuck. But who knows what he's thinking? Who knows why he crushes turtles? And why do we think about him as fondly as we think of the mystical (nonexistent?) Dr Pepper? Perchance.

I believe it was Kant who said "Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play." Mario exhibits experience by crushing turts all day, but he exhibits theory by stating "Lets-a go!" Keep it up, baby!

When Mario leaves his place of safety to stomp a turty, he knows that he may Die. And yet, for a man who can purchase lives with money, a life becomes a mere store of value. A tax that can be paid for, much as a rich man feels any law with a fine is a price. We think of Mario as a hero,but he is simply a one percenter of a more privileged variety. The lifekind. Perchance.

̶I̶ ̶a̶m̶ ̶b̶e̶g̶g̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶e̶e̶b̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶b̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶t̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶a̶l̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶u̶f̶f̶ ̶p̶e̶a̶k̶ ̶f̶i̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶
Honestly, I don't get the hype.
The story on paper had some cool ideas and twists, but it is told in the most long-winded and slowest way possible. Even beyond the 20 hour long "prologue", the rest of it has atrocious pacing, every time the story gets going it has to reset and start a new vignette and delete any momentum that existed, I just could not stand that. The prose was supposed to be beautiful and evocative, but honestly it reads like an average novel, when it's not bogged down by repetitive and saccarine dialogues, at least. The translation's amazing tho. I couldn't connect to most of the characters personally, in the end it all turned out to be one giant trauma porn interconnected blob and that's just not my vibe.
The art and music slap so hard though, only part of the game I really enjoyed. I'm just kind of sad I can't connect positive memories with that beatiful soundtrack.
So yeah, get the writer an editor, shave off like 40% of this game's useless dialogues and maybe you get a decent story.