My impressions through the Hello Charlotte series were pretty ambivalent, sometimes very negative, but after Childhood's End I can confidently say that I really liked these games, and especially EP3. It’s the best of the bunch, and just a very strong game. My grievances with former episodes never really went anywhere, but EP3 made a surprisingly good finale, both in thematic sense, and in the sense of tying most of the narrative's loose ends. It retroactively made former episodes a lot more interesting.

Hello Charlotte is a really interesting example of semi-amateur work that doesn't really have writing that I can call “good”, feels very juvenile, but also has an inner drive, a burning desire to say something, and it really goes through to the player despite all problems in the construction of its narrative that it may have. The way it operates all the elements of its story has glaring weaknesses, but it feels really sincere despite that. I still think that this story has way too broad number of themes it wants to touch, and point it wants to make is still barely comprehensible sometimes, but in EP3 it started to feel like torturous tangledness of this story is a proper artistic choice, an emotional state this game wants to put you in, a state which complements the overall story.

And I like this ardent juvenile energy. Sometimes not being “professional” contributes to the raw, sincere feeling of art. Hello Charlotte is one such case.

Substantial improvement over Trigger Happy Havoc in nearly every way. The cast is so endearing and lovable, and much more consistently written. Even people who I disliked or didn't care for at the beginning ending up completely changing my perspective of them. When the murders eventually start happening, it genuinely hurts to see a character you've gotten to know so well either die or be found out as the culprit - there's some real emotional gut-punches to be found that just aren't there in the prequel. The gimmicks within investigation periods are also brilliant; the separate game to find out the culprit, the funhouse, the main idea of Case 5, it all feels really experimental and it definitely paid off, every case (excluding 3) is superbly written and so damn engaging. The trials are much more involving as well; attacking with the correct piece of evidence and figuring out the culprit is actually more challenging since you don't have someone like Kyoko giving away all the hints, the addition of agreeing with someone in Nonstop Debate is also a clever addition. The Run-2/3-esque Logic Dive is fun as hell to navigate. The truth blades... kind of fucking suck and feel redundant, I would much rather just play another Nonstop Debate, and well Hangman's Gambit will just always be complete shit - but somehow they made it worse here. Really the only other aspect that THH does better in, is the setting and atmopshere. For what it's worth, Goodbye Despair is a near perfect sequel.

Has really cool vibes and striking visual style, but ultimately I found it to be shallow. Narrative feels like quirky, edgy randomness for randomness sake, without a clearly defined characters, theme or a point through most of the storyline. There is an idea behind it, apparently, and I think I quite like it. I like the concept of a whole story and its world being a surreal mirror or a character's psyche - but in this state it feels like an ineffective cliché, because aforementioned fixation on edgy randomness prevents these ideas from saying anything meaningful, or form a compelling narrative experience.

And gameplay consists of obnoxious puzzles with instant death traps. It was not interesting to explore this game's world.

But I really do like the vibes.

A must-play game. In-depth healing system that is far ahead of its time, a vast array of melee and movement options - a flaw at first due to its time period, understanding an enemy's line of sight is difficult to pin down at first, your silencer breaks after a while, your radar is far less accurate making stealth tricky, but over time you get used to it, something I find the entire series does extremely well - a massive setting that’s constantly changing environments with differing atmospheres, masterfully made boss fights that will test your thinking and make you reflect on your actions, glorious soundtrack that permeates throughout important scenes and of course an exceptional story with some of the most intriguing characters in video games. Much like MGS2, Snake Eater’s story heavily relies on recontextualisation although even from the beginning you are hooked by the betrayal of Naked Snake’s “boss” and her defection to the Soviet Union. By the end of the final fight you will be crushed by the weight of your actions throughout the game, unbeknownst to the actual ending sequence which could be very well argued to be the best in the medium, a complete subversion that will leave you simultaneously heart-broken and shocked. A masterpiece that lives up to its massive hype, play it for yourself if you get the chance.
10/10