This review contains spoilers
well, i can't say i'm that surprised, but i am disappointed.
i want to start off with the positives: this game is really fun! i really like the gameplay loop of both innocence and requiem, and this is the first game i've managed to play straight to completion in a long time. the first ... i wanna say 14? chapters are interesting and pretty well-written!
unfortunately that's where my positives end. the ending message of this game is "everything is actually hugo's fault and he needs to die". the ending message of this game is "being chronically ill and/or grieving and/or traumatised is burdensome to your loved ones. have you heard of MAID?"
like, you could say this is a bad-faith reading, but the macula is quite literally described more or less as a chronic illness exacerbated by trauma. like, textually. i did not realise, probably because i'm a normal person who doesn't think traumatised children who lash out are demons, that every time hugo goes on about everything being his fault that the narrative is siding with him and trying to get you to believe that the child, who is only put into these situations by adults who use him or take advantage of him or otherwise refuse to listen to his wants and needs, is actually the cause of everything wrong and needs to die for the world to not end.
like, for most of this game i THOUGHT the story was about thriving against the odds, but then the last hour happens and it turns out it's about letting go. which would be fine if "letting go" didn't involve executing your brother with a slingshot. like ... what the fuck lol
i want to clarify: i think this ending would be fine if it didn't feel extremely cheap and contrived and if it didn't send such a deeply unpleasant message about trauma and grief and chronic illness. and if the actual death scene wasn't literally "kill your brother with a rock". i LIKE sad endings. i LIKE endings where things aren't magically okay. but when the entire story rhythm is predicated on "things get bad but then they're ok again," it feels very, very weird to suddenly go "but not this time because uhhhhhhhhh." like, come on.
i want to start off with the positives: this game is really fun! i really like the gameplay loop of both innocence and requiem, and this is the first game i've managed to play straight to completion in a long time. the first ... i wanna say 14? chapters are interesting and pretty well-written!
unfortunately that's where my positives end. the ending message of this game is "everything is actually hugo's fault and he needs to die". the ending message of this game is "being chronically ill and/or grieving and/or traumatised is burdensome to your loved ones. have you heard of MAID?"
like, you could say this is a bad-faith reading, but the macula is quite literally described more or less as a chronic illness exacerbated by trauma. like, textually. i did not realise, probably because i'm a normal person who doesn't think traumatised children who lash out are demons, that every time hugo goes on about everything being his fault that the narrative is siding with him and trying to get you to believe that the child, who is only put into these situations by adults who use him or take advantage of him or otherwise refuse to listen to his wants and needs, is actually the cause of everything wrong and needs to die for the world to not end.
like, for most of this game i THOUGHT the story was about thriving against the odds, but then the last hour happens and it turns out it's about letting go. which would be fine if "letting go" didn't involve executing your brother with a slingshot. like ... what the fuck lol
i want to clarify: i think this ending would be fine if it didn't feel extremely cheap and contrived and if it didn't send such a deeply unpleasant message about trauma and grief and chronic illness. and if the actual death scene wasn't literally "kill your brother with a rock". i LIKE sad endings. i LIKE endings where things aren't magically okay. but when the entire story rhythm is predicated on "things get bad but then they're ok again," it feels very, very weird to suddenly go "but not this time because uhhhhhhhhh." like, come on.