This game, along with Grand Inquisitor, instilled within me a deep, burning passion for the adventure game genre. While I prefer Grand Inquisitor for its humor and greater levels of polish, I am in love with this game's perfect, twisting story. The puzzles are brilliant, the acting is surprisingly great, and the dark atmosphere is unparalleled. It also gets you emotionally invested in the story; you will find sympathy and anger in surprising places. A bit of a warning for the younger folk here; this game is brutal. There are stabbings, decapitations, and gruesome imagery all around. I was freaked out by all of it when I was seven or eight. If you're second-guessing yourself, look up the intro video on YouTube; the cinematic will show just what you're in for. This is a must-play title. If I taught a course relating to games, this would be on my Required Reading list. To this day, there is nothing quite like it.
This game is worth so much more than $9.99. It's easily one of my favorite adventure games ever. It's also one of the longest, so don't expect to go through it all in one sitting. Amazing story, characters, dialogue, puzzles... this game has it all. I won't go into any details because I don't want to spoil anything, but it truly is incredible.
