I have conflicting feelings about this one. Before I give my thoughts, I absolutely recommend this game despite any negative feelings I have, and I genuinely enjoyed playing this. I would say its more fun to play than Downfall, but objectively probably tied with Downfall for their "worst" game. Worst in quotes bc this studio hasn't really made a bad game lol.
Artistically their best game for sure, I am obsessed with how burnhouse lane is depicted, almost in this silent hill/ evil within alternate-realm horror. The burned cat is a fantastically designed character, the backdrops to this game are beautiful and filled with amazing art, and I also think the tumor imagery works incredibly well.
Overall, the characters themselves are very compelling even if flawed. But the story was an absolute flop and a disjointed mess. The tasks given seemed disjointed, and didn't have meaningful payoff in the end. They were fun to go through in the moment, but looking back feel a bit random, and I keep trying to search for the point of them existing (to no avail). Some characters motivations seemed weird as well. I understand the MC being bland was the point of her character, but for the first half of the game, that really made it hard to become attached to her. I also think some of the burnhouse lane is this really happening or not sections worked to the detriment of the actual story and characters. I found myself wanting to go back to reality to figure things out rather than go through another arbitrary burnhouse lane section. This was more an issue in the late game, as the stakes were getting higher.
In terms of gameplay, this was their most confusing game by far. Never has a game made me feel more stupid for not understanding the solution to a puzzle. Yes, this is embarrassing for me lol. But it also genuinely feels like an issue of fitting different sized pegs all in a square hole. And it happened multiple times. I also think some of the non-puzzle gameplay was lacking, specifically the cat platforming was pretty janky and rough.
I know this studio's games are a lil janky, but for a game that came out in 2022 it was kinda jarring at some points. Interact with stairs to then painfully slowly go up or down, for example. Or the mess of the UI, where you can't hold left or right on the controller in the menus to move more than one item down. Or the fact that you couldn't hit left to go to the right-most item. Or that you couldn't sort your inventory in any way so you had to mash right to get to the most recent (and often most relevant) item you're holding. Just some very odd UI choices that I can definitely look past, but also did negatively influence my experience.
Anyways if anybody actually reads this, I would recommend to anyone who's a fan of this studio or this genre of point and click puzzle horror. Just know this one isn't perfect. Which is fine! I see the growth from their previous works, even if they weren't able to surpass games like Lorelai or The Cat Lady.
(Also loved the Mitsi cameo yes yes yes ty for that one)
Artistically their best game for sure, I am obsessed with how burnhouse lane is depicted, almost in this silent hill/ evil within alternate-realm horror. The burned cat is a fantastically designed character, the backdrops to this game are beautiful and filled with amazing art, and I also think the tumor imagery works incredibly well.
Overall, the characters themselves are very compelling even if flawed. But the story was an absolute flop and a disjointed mess. The tasks given seemed disjointed, and didn't have meaningful payoff in the end. They were fun to go through in the moment, but looking back feel a bit random, and I keep trying to search for the point of them existing (to no avail). Some characters motivations seemed weird as well. I understand the MC being bland was the point of her character, but for the first half of the game, that really made it hard to become attached to her. I also think some of the burnhouse lane is this really happening or not sections worked to the detriment of the actual story and characters. I found myself wanting to go back to reality to figure things out rather than go through another arbitrary burnhouse lane section. This was more an issue in the late game, as the stakes were getting higher.
In terms of gameplay, this was their most confusing game by far. Never has a game made me feel more stupid for not understanding the solution to a puzzle. Yes, this is embarrassing for me lol. But it also genuinely feels like an issue of fitting different sized pegs all in a square hole. And it happened multiple times. I also think some of the non-puzzle gameplay was lacking, specifically the cat platforming was pretty janky and rough.
I know this studio's games are a lil janky, but for a game that came out in 2022 it was kinda jarring at some points. Interact with stairs to then painfully slowly go up or down, for example. Or the mess of the UI, where you can't hold left or right on the controller in the menus to move more than one item down. Or the fact that you couldn't hit left to go to the right-most item. Or that you couldn't sort your inventory in any way so you had to mash right to get to the most recent (and often most relevant) item you're holding. Just some very odd UI choices that I can definitely look past, but also did negatively influence my experience.
Anyways if anybody actually reads this, I would recommend to anyone who's a fan of this studio or this genre of point and click puzzle horror. Just know this one isn't perfect. Which is fine! I see the growth from their previous works, even if they weren't able to surpass games like Lorelai or The Cat Lady.
(Also loved the Mitsi cameo yes yes yes ty for that one)