developers are too stupid or cowardly to take on. I'm mostly writing this because I'm livid, like I have been ever since I started really loving video games about a decade ago, about the absolute *state* of things! I've liked the concept of Unrest ever since I first heard of it when it came out. You play as several different characters in a kingdom in the midst of some unrest. First of all, the writing is just elegant. It's good. The characters are real and packed with perspective and the conflicts are complex. Normally when I play RPGs I have to really clench my teeth and use my imagination to make the storytelling go down better--not here. It was a genuine pleasure and something I craved more of. Secondly, the setup, where you play several characters--it made me think in new ways that only an RPG could do, and I've never seen it quite done like this. It's not "like a novel," it creates a totally different experience with text. You play many characters, some in opposition to each other, and every story is richly told. Where is your allegiance as a player--your character, the city, what parts? It's strategic and I was always excited to see how things would turn out. I didn't get excited about The Outer Worlds after playing for an hour the way I got excited with this after an hour. The killer--and maybe I shouldn't write this, because I really admire the devs and this project--but it doesn't go very far. It's 3 hours. It surprised me with its abruptness. If you care about video games, you should get it anyway. To have a fun and interesting time, to support the devs, and to remember what RPGs could be. I'm patiently awaiting a world where this is just a demo for a fully-fledged, 100-hour game set in Bhirma, a sprawling epic where you're a coauthor. Isn't that the point of RPGs, to be the coauthor of stories that you then carry with you? I'll carry this with me. I just wish I knew what happened next. Like a dream, from which you're awoken prematurely. Life sucks!
