This is an interesting angle, but I wonder how else the game could convey the experience of transcendence. Hyperrealism comes in handy here for producing a phenomenological singularity from which any belief or knowledge system can become magic. And that, in turn, helps the narrative convey the excitement of infinite knowledge and, ultimately, the solitude in its pursuit. -- every magical identity is so incredibly self-contained and universal that there is total ontological convergence between Tarot, peppers and math. It's vapid as an actual proposition for esotericism and its practice, I understand, but isn't it one that suits the narrative angle the game chose?

@Palas you make an excellent point on the usefulness of a hyperreal approach to this sort of game and it works for the game's system of magic itself for sure. however, for me, it is not so much an ontological convergence that is produced but an ontological confusion, where instead of a singular, unified reality to escape to, it produces a scenario where distinctions between the fantasy of the game and my reality as a player are fumbled with. this fumbling is most pronounced when the scenario is challenged by the narrative’s engagement with nuanced topics such as friendship or politics. here the game had a frustrating tendency to defer to platitudes of the “real” world while awkwardly keeping up appearances of its decontextualised mysticism. this does more to dampen than enhance the prospective excitement of the game’s premise, punctures the self-containment of the phenomenological singularity you refer to and ultimately breaks the immersion for me. i think a lot of this comes from the inherent baggage of anything becoming hyperreal

i feel more of an active initial effort to seek out the real and ground the lore and worldbuilding in some history of esotericism/mysticism would have strengthened the game’s abstractions and made for more compelling insights into its themes, with the narrative and overall immersion benefitting as a result.

@tc_sometype I'm inclined to agree that a grounded lore and a historical basis for magic would have made for a more substantial narrative. I think it might have especially prevented the game's ending from folding in on itself. But I think it was a valiant effort to emphasize self-expression in the proposed world nevertheless. It's a very... modern tendency, I guess, which the game's prose doesn't try to hide either, but it's not one I dislike. It created that sense of wonder in me -- "what would I like to use as magic if I ever ascended?" and all that, and I appreciate the game for it from another angle.