Video Review: https://youtu.be/rqXekH7r0AA
You'd have to have a sixth sense to make much sense of this story and it's purely because of the delivery. It's not simple enough for this wordless, breathlessly paced format of cutting between scenes and light little inputs needed here and there to shake the game loose to start cutscening you again.
then that means it's a good game.
I understand the low ratings though - definitely play Thirty Flights of Loving - if you love that game like I do, then you'll probably love this. I've played Thirty Flights many times over the years, it's a narrative game that I enjoy coming back to again and again, and this game feels in the tradition of that, while striking out in its own fresh territory.
There are moments of confusion, that are exasperated by a sense of not having enough time in a place, or accidentally ending it too soon, but that's alright. I intend to go back and play this again..
I imagine the themes and symbols will linger in my mind..
The music is astoundingly good. The visuals are beautiful. The animations are detailed with a big focus on emotion.
The best encapsulation of the game is a scene where you are carefully putting together a ship model with glue. This is a labor of love and care, and I really appreciate it.
This game also made me realize that the idea that the form of games is not ideal for telling stories is incorrect - there is something to the first person perspective, the control of interactions, which makes the story more engaging, even if it's in a different way than a film. I think this game has the right idea - get rid of dialogue, and have the player experience the mood and emotion through doing.
I've played this game through three times, and I still don't get what it's supposed to be about. It randomly wanders from scene to scene, abruptly changing from one scene to the next. There's no dialogue. No audio logs to listen to. No letters or journals to read. There's just a single predetermined path through each scene. I think there's supposed to be some type of symbolism in the scenes since there's no spoken work or dialogue in the whole game. The graphics are okay. The music is decent. But I have no idea what the story is other than disconnected fragments thrown while following the predetermined uni-path of the game. Don't waste your hard-earned money.
I really like this game! of course, it's linnear, it is slow, it is also short - but as a person expecting some emotions from a game - i feel like this one is exactly for me. I ended it with pleasure and really like every single second of this game