Sorry We're Closed

Usually not a big fan of horror games but the trailer and the game's style lured me in.. only played it for about 1,5 hrs but I loved EVERY second of it so far!! I will update this review as I keep playing the game. Off-Topic: (Also there is someone who unfairly left a 1 star review and I hate to see something like that dragging the overall score down, I mean come on it's this studio's first release and you gonna troll the review section? come on...)

Gameplay is challenging enough, but not overbearing. I like how the game exploints the contrast of dim Silent Hill-like esthetics and vibrant Jojo-like flamboyance. The horror elements are countered with bright colours and "third-eye mechanic" . Graphics and fixed camera angle remind me of my childhood and simplier times. And character art pieces are very stylish and sophisticated. Storywise I got so engaged that almost finished it in one go. And it helped me understand quite a bit about myself - while healing after a breakup and contemplating about nature of love I really needed this kind of gaming experience. I think, if there would be "healing games' kind of genre, this would be one of them. Thank you for this beautiful work of art! P.S. I wish I would know Dutchess true name! And the devs nailed it with Angel of Love design!

I know this is a deep cut but, "What if LJ Smith's The Forbidden Game series was a video game and the main character could choose to love her beautiful sexy demon?" I went in blind, just really intrigued by the trailer, and was unsure this was a good fit for me. I get scared easily and I'm clumsy in FPSs. Thankfully, while there are tense moments, it's not trying to scare the player and I was able to get a handle of the shooting. I'm glad I gave it a shot because it's easily one of my favorites now! --- STORY: A classic Girls Underground tale :) Michelle is thrown into the Demon World after she's cursed by a demon looking for love. If she doesn't break the curse in a few days, she'll be trapped for eternity. The story explores love and the frightening ways it can change people. MUSIC: The tracks all gave life to their respective locations and/or battles. Unfortunately, naming my favorite track would spoil a story moment LOL There are a few vocal tracks and they don't have subtitles. This won't affect gameplay but hopefully they'll get added in the future because the lyrics have insights into the characters. GAMEPLAY: Split between third person exploration with environmental puzzles and first person combat. To fight, you need to aim (ie, enter first person view) and then you're rooted to the spot. It took me a while to get a hang of switching between the views (and opening/closing the third eye). There is an accessiblity feature to turn on infinite heals (Water of Life). I didn't really struggle with ammo thankfully. Controller is noticeably slower than mouse and doesn't currently have options to change speed. There are options for mouse speed. There's four possible endings. Each ending is unlocked by completing tasks for an NPC. Three routes are easy to achieve together and there is a spot where you'll be able to select the ending you want. --- Well worth full price! But there is a free demo if you want to try it out first.

A dizzying mix of Silent Hill, Resident evil, Persona and Killer 7 of all things. Also comes out swinging with an artistic style that cant be beat, the gay poppy colors mix deliciously with the grungy PS1 gore. And the story is queer to the max, the duchess is an instantly iconic villain/love interest. There really is a lot going for this one. But it has some sticky issues. The survival horror exploration is well tuned with RE style score rankings on levels for people who want to run them again. I dont think they are as dynamic as RE1-2 but if you WANT there is stuff to challenge yourself on. But the stop and pop shooting from killer 7 creates some inherent problems. They enemies dont stun as long as you'd think they would when getting heart shots and i cant even imagine playing this on controller with the rapid precise first person aiming. So keyboard and mouse, but then that has the issue of movement being limited. There's an option to play old tank controls that I liked using but there are currently some puzzles that are just bugged when you play in that control style. You can switch away from it to do the puzzle but thats annoying. I really liked what this story was serving in terms of relationships and how scary love can be. Combining that with angels and demons to discuss love as annihilation of the self is a really strong hook. But i dont think the endings serve that idea as well as they could. The multiple endings feel a little rigid in how you get them. They aren't arbitrary but there really isn't room to role play stuff, you have to aim to be on the ending you want. And the consequences of your choices feel muted to so that you can get a wrap up with all the characters regardless of your choices. I ultimately had a good time with this game and am so glad for its existence, more really queer games please. But the beginning was so strong I thought we had an all time classic and it just didn't quite get there.