jesus this game is a nightmare. the environments are lovely but everything else feels at least a decade old, including the character models and gameplay. the combat is okay but clunky, and the UI looks like a default asset. the voice acting isn't anything to write home about either and to be honest the worldbuilding is a bit lazy and boring. the writing is incredibly shallow as well.

besides that, and i'm sure this is what you're reading this review for, this game is politically fucking atrocious. the core philosophy seems to be "french colonialism was cool and right", which is alarming but not all that shocking. if you want an essay on why colonialism is, in fact, horrifying and wrong, this is not where you will find one - do some googling.

i'm really not sure why we're allowing games like this to become popular when there's dozens of amazing indie games that don't allow you to side with and aggressively support racist imperialists who want to convert everyone to Fantasy Christianity and think that the indigenous peoples of the island they're colonising are disgusting savages.

at least 80% of this game is playing politics, and that's a low estimate. your player character is basically The Prince Of Colonialism. it's the game's entire premise. if you're really that curious about it, do yourself a favour and find a way to play this without paying real money for it.

unfortunately, for me, this ... felt pretty shallow. another reviewer (eccol here on backloggd) put it perfectly: this game is clinical. it's very removed from the issue at hand, and its portrayal of abuse reads like a text book. i didn't find the experience of playing this satisfying or cathartic or even really that enjoyable. the experience is too linear and sort of obtuse, and the writing degrades pretty rapidly from the start to when it's being "revealed" to you that ben is abusive. i wish i had a better review for this, but i don't.