Edited on: November 2, 2025
Posted on: November 2, 2025
Completely fantastical yet realistic
This is an amateur visual novel in many ways, but if you let yourself be immersed in it, it is well worth a play for it's unique premise and subject matter and style. The Russian voice-acting seem quite well done. The English translation is good: a bit convoluted, but that only gives the game more of a Pathologic-type flavor. Like the best games it lives in multiple realms - as a exploration of an ancestral way of experiencing the mysteries of the world, as a more scientific look at unusual and often self-inflicted experiences, and as an allegory for childhood and growing up. I started the game looking at things from a purely modern and cynical lens, but by the end was putting true effort into making sure I got the spells and incantations correct. How could I not, when the characters themselves believe so strongly? It's overall a linear game, but here that's almost a positive as that only furthers the mystery of which viewpoint is most "accurate". By the end, for better or worse, things are never fully explained and many plot threads are left hanging. What's the truth? That's up to you to decide.