This is a top-down, 2D exploration game, with a horror atmosphere but no battles or health management. You complete old-fashioned "Resident Evil" puzzles involving fetch quests, room keys, and interactive floor set pieces. EXCELLENT pixel art/animation, especially with clothing. No puzzles require reflexes, and the small "mansion" usually gatekeeps areas you don't need to be in, so you don't waste time exploring without a clear direction of where to go. The game also does a good job of respecting your intelligence, giving you a brief setup and leaving you on your own with only a map and an inventory. This adult game feels less "adult" because of the writing or explicit content (can also be toggled from Game Preferences → Manage Installation → Configure → DLC) and more because it never spoon-feeds you the solutions to problems. Sae is very perceptive of her surroundings and will comment on various objects. Several are hints for puzzles, and she'll realize this in hindsight without giving away solutions you haven't yet discovered. You revisit most of the game's few locations, but with one glaring exception in the Spoilers section, this feels more like efficiency than backtracking. --- SPOILERS, but all of this is important --- The game's ending has three parts and a playable epilogue, the sole bit of aimless wandering. A lot of the game's (optional) explicit writing has a strong nonconsensual element, which I heavily disliked, even with Sae's internal monologues and later personality shift (from scared to enthusiastic) implying that she "actually enjoyed" her experiences at some possibly-repressed/hallucinatory? level. The second of the ending's three parts is extremely nonconsensual, complete with Sae crying, but you're given warnings and an option to leave the mansion and avoid this. The "less" adult game version ends here, avoiding most sexual references and reframing Sae's "emotional scars" to being because the house was scary. 5/5 game 1/5 story
The presentation values are excellent, from the gorgeous if slightly familiar setting to the carefully staged cutscenes (complete with realistic camera), the awe-inspiring soundtrack, and superb voice acting that makes even RPG staples like "thank you for saving my life for no payment" feel heartfelt and convincing. The gameplay felt thrown together to justify the excellent story. Playing through Death March difficulty, many enemies were vulnerable to the same tricks and strategies available early on, particularly with one spell that's so effective at stun-locking as to make some of your few others often redundant. Some foes neatly highlight certain tactics, such as 'extinguishing' a fire elemental via a wind gust. Some foes hardly seemed to notice me nearby. The melee is adequate, neither poor nor original, but focusing on magic makes your stamina quick to recharge and has few drawbacks, unlike the melee (repair bills) or potion-making (toxicity); the mutagen system heavily encourages specialization anyway by giving bonuses to same-type skill groupings. Since a spell upgrade allows you to quickly heal in combat for free, you can sell health foods to augment your often meager quest rewards. Most enemies aren't bulky or damaging enough to mandate potion use until the final, much harder boss fights, where to be fair, magic doesn't always help. One quest involving an invincible rat had a companion-AI/locked-door bug that nearly forced me to start the game over but for a backup save. The plot is incredibly emotionally moving but dubiously paced, with a dangerous if unexciting villain often sidelined for genuinely interesting but wildly off-topic tangents like dealing with a man's numerous 'girlfriends' or the poignant aftermath of a miscarriage. Romance feels like a botch, choosing between a woman who manipulates and disrespects you, and a kind one who's drunk at a party. The main story's conclusion is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in a video game.
