Good things: - the game is gorgeous. It has the best-looking 2.5D system I've seen, with smooth and natural depth transitions between 2D planes. The animation is very good, and there are plenty of small touches that show great care, such as the fact that the main character was animated by someone who obviously has worn skirts, and she interacts with her clothes in a natural way that makes them feel real. The hand-drawn parts blend in well with the "3D" parts of the world. - voice acting is mostly excellent. There's a wide variety of English dialects, and they're all pleasant to listen to. Very few lines were anything less than great - it's obviously a labour of love Mixed: - there's a lot to see and plenty of very dramatic choices, but in many places, the game actually railroads the player heavily and forbids approaches that were OK to take elsewhere Less than good: - the plot is painfully obvious. The big "twist" is foreshadowed within the first 5 minutes - the protagonist is aggressively dumb. Despite the hamfisted foreshadowing, she has no idea what's going on all the way till it hits her in the face, and even then doesn't seem to grasp it. She misses the most obvious clues, and generally behaves like a drunk child in the fog - that infuriating thing where you can choose what to say, but the choices presented have nothing to do with what your character actually says. Not the tone, not the content. A couple times the actual line spoken is the opposite of what the summary suggested - the puzzles are perfunctory, boring and unnecessary. There are only two types, and both are boring, with occasional one-off mechanics that were never introduced, are annoying to figure out, then never feature again - the platforming controls are meh at best Overall, despite the flaws, this is very promising first title, and I'll be looking out for whatever the studio releases next. With a bit of polish and experience gained on Forgotton Anne, they have the potential for greatness.
