A psychological horror game centered around a woman, a cabaret dancer, on the cusp of turning 30. It touches on themes such as sexual objectification, fears about aging, expectations to start a family, and disordered eating, however I didn't feel these were explored in any meaningful way. I’m not necessarily looking for insightful, revelatory explorations of womanhood in video games, but something more than surface-level metaphors would be nice. It certainly wasn't the worst depiction of these themes I have experienced, and I appreciated that the game didn't feel self-important, but just don’t expect anything too impactful from this. My biggest gripe with the narrative was just that it dragged too much - the game took me about 7 hours, and 2 of those hours could have easily been cut. It felt like there was a lot of padding to the story, and I would have preferred a shorter game with a tighter narrative.
The art direction is absolutely fantastic, with unique art and incredibly smooth and expressive pixel animation, and a moody yet understated soundtrack that bolstered the game (with contributions from Akira Yamaoka). The game is worth playing for this alone in my opinion. Although, in the last couple of chapters especially, there are visuals and scenes that feel like they were included because the developers felt like they looked cool, and didn’t actually contribute anything to the narrative or themes of the game.
The actual gameplay is the major fault of this game. Gameplay here is minimal, which is fine, however when it’s included it’s quite clunky and jarring, feeling like it was shoehorned in so the game wouldn’t just be clicking through text. There are a couple of good, albeit simple, puzzles in this, I wish they added some more and dropped all the random, poorly-executed mini games featured sporadically throughout (especially the terrible and repetitive rhythm game that features several times) and just focused on puzzles.
Overall, I think this is worth playing if you’re a fan of horror games and are looking for a unique and visually delightful experience, just don't go in expecting to get a lot out of this story or scares wise.
The art direction is absolutely fantastic, with unique art and incredibly smooth and expressive pixel animation, and a moody yet understated soundtrack that bolstered the game (with contributions from Akira Yamaoka). The game is worth playing for this alone in my opinion. Although, in the last couple of chapters especially, there are visuals and scenes that feel like they were included because the developers felt like they looked cool, and didn’t actually contribute anything to the narrative or themes of the game.
The actual gameplay is the major fault of this game. Gameplay here is minimal, which is fine, however when it’s included it’s quite clunky and jarring, feeling like it was shoehorned in so the game wouldn’t just be clicking through text. There are a couple of good, albeit simple, puzzles in this, I wish they added some more and dropped all the random, poorly-executed mini games featured sporadically throughout (especially the terrible and repetitive rhythm game that features several times) and just focused on puzzles.
Overall, I think this is worth playing if you’re a fan of horror games and are looking for a unique and visually delightful experience, just don't go in expecting to get a lot out of this story or scares wise.