There's no doubt that this game was revolutionary in its mocap, and because of that, a lot of the time it feels like watching a movie, and after considering the straight forward, repetitive puzzles and mechanics, the blend of FMV and video game graphics, I'm convinced that was the devs' intent: to tell a story that married cinema and video games. The premise is simple: a love story with layers. Our main character, Senua is plagued by psychosis -- a feature that I take with a grain of salt, as devs say they consulted people who live with psychosis as well as mental health professionals. Combined with 3D binaural audio, the voices are effective and the storytelling immersive, but I still feel like there's a hint of exploitation to drive the story along. And after a time, it's clear that the voices are hand hold-y and only drive the story when the story seems fit to do so.

The fighting is straight forward but frustrating in its repetitiveness and when the camera doesn't cooperate (which was often for me), it's incredibly frustrating when you get stuck in a corner and pummeled. There's only one unique fight in the whole of this game -- a boss -- and it was a very cool fight, I just wish there was more variety in enemies.

The story itself was fine, nothing incredible, and the ending scene confusing. Unfortunately the game didn't grab me enough to have me pore over ending explanations afterwards, and while I look forward to the sequel, I'll be waiting to pick it up.

This is a sweet little hidden object puzzle game about remembering the dead and exploring the afterlife. It's also about finding the right person for the job of Custodian --a caretaker of the Island you lived on-- in order to prevent an impending volcanic eruption. The nature of the puzzles were unique; you're able to click and dissect items and scenes, and the level of detail is incredible. Wooden statues had insect tunnels worming their way through; barnacle clusters had secret treasures inside, and you could even see circuitry in electronics. Each object was fun to explore!

In order to find the candidates for the Custodian you had to delve into the memories of the loved ones/people who remember the departed. Memories were fully voice acted with expert delivery from the VAs, each memory truly bringing these characters to life from a beloved fish person harbormaster, to a cranky campsite director who just loved an owl so much.

There's additional mechanics and puzzles in the form of finding "Grenkins" and the last few environs had a riddle master associated with them, but the latter wasn't utilized throughout the game so it felt out of place.

I love games of death and dying and remembering loved ones, and i really enjoyed this game. However, the ending was fumbled terribly--it was abrupt, confusing, and unresolved. You speak to the former Custodian, Aggi, a bog body from the bronze age who gave her life ahead of a volcanic eruption to save the Island, but when you speak with her, it ends abruptly, talking about what she'll do now. The imminent volcanic eruption isn't mentioned, isn't knowingly resolved. I was almost expecting an after credits scene to explain but nothing. Not even enough information was provided to keep the player wondering. It's not that it feels unfinished, it feels like a hit that didn't land. It's still a game I'd recommend, just now with a large CAUTION sticker ahead of it.

This is a sweet, unique puzzle game about the topic of death and grief -- a topic I love exploring in games, and I thought How to Say Goodbye did an ok job at discussing it. I wish the story was a little more fleshed out; I was left wanting to follow loose ends but they were never revisited, leaving me feeling disappointed. I wasn't expecting a sweeping narrative about death and moving on, but I was hoping it'd talk about it a little more. Overall I did enjoy the game and DID cry at the end. I recommend this as a cute puzzle game with charming characters -- just don't expect a whole lot of depth to the story.