i didn't mark this with a spoiler warning, and i don't think this review really spoils anything, but i do discuss how i feel about some parts of the game (ending-related) without going into specifics or saying anything explicit about the plot.
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i really liked this game. the escape room puzzles are pretty decent: nothing too difficult, but still moderately thought-provoking. having played the original DS version, i didn't have the in-game choices flowchart or any other real quality of life features in the newer versions, so it was definitely a bit of a grind to get all of the endings. the premise of the game is extremely unique, and it does a lot with it. loved the final ending, and while most of the other endings feel "unecessary," i don't think you can really do away with them for the way i felt in the final ending having experienced the others. i kinda popped off.
i will say, i don't like how arbitrary the way you get to some of the endings is. looking at a flowchart of all the possible ways to get each ending, it feels kinda random why doing certain permutations of choices leads to the endings they do. usually, the only real reason the game steers towards different endings because the characters just kinda decide to do different things that you could not possibly expect, such as going down a different corridor that they don't go down at the same point in time on another path. also, sometimes you will be in the exact same situation you have been in before but because you did something different earlier that playthrough, some characters will just suddenly have different things to say for some reason, which feels weird even though it should not affect them in most circumstances. if there's reasons why characters decided to say different things at different times or why they decide to go to X door instead of Y door when you had done different things in the past, i didn't get them.
everything really comes together in the end, but i would probably have never found all the endings if i had not looked at a spoiler-free/spoiler-light flowchart that explains how to get them all. i'm sure it's much better to do so in the newer releases. loved it overall. some stories you really can only tell through videogames.
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i really liked this game. the escape room puzzles are pretty decent: nothing too difficult, but still moderately thought-provoking. having played the original DS version, i didn't have the in-game choices flowchart or any other real quality of life features in the newer versions, so it was definitely a bit of a grind to get all of the endings. the premise of the game is extremely unique, and it does a lot with it. loved the final ending, and while most of the other endings feel "unecessary," i don't think you can really do away with them for the way i felt in the final ending having experienced the others. i kinda popped off.
i will say, i don't like how arbitrary the way you get to some of the endings is. looking at a flowchart of all the possible ways to get each ending, it feels kinda random why doing certain permutations of choices leads to the endings they do. usually, the only real reason the game steers towards different endings because the characters just kinda decide to do different things that you could not possibly expect, such as going down a different corridor that they don't go down at the same point in time on another path. also, sometimes you will be in the exact same situation you have been in before but because you did something different earlier that playthrough, some characters will just suddenly have different things to say for some reason, which feels weird even though it should not affect them in most circumstances. if there's reasons why characters decided to say different things at different times or why they decide to go to X door instead of Y door when you had done different things in the past, i didn't get them.
everything really comes together in the end, but i would probably have never found all the endings if i had not looked at a spoiler-free/spoiler-light flowchart that explains how to get them all. i'm sure it's much better to do so in the newer releases. loved it overall. some stories you really can only tell through videogames.