A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
This was genuinely a really fun game to play!
The atmosphere was fantastic. The music was perfectly picked and the sound effects really brought home what type of story this was meant to be. Same thing with the art! All of the character portraits showed an inner complexity with the characters. I wondered what type of people they were and if there was something they were hiding from Aidan.
Speaking of, the sprinkles of characterization for Aidan was wonderful! You can really tell that he's a reasonable, kind person. Despite him being respectful, he can also be sarcastic and short with people who don't treat him right. It was nice to see!
You can inspect almost everything in this game. It has descriptions for something as simple as blankets on a bed. To full-on paragraphs showing off snippets of storybooks. It makes you want to interact with the environment constantly. I've spent probably an hour just running around, inspecting every possible tile I can spot just to see if there was another text box.
The bonus room was a wonderful addition! Being able to learn more about the inspiration behind characters, the meaning of their names, what people they were based on, etc. Even the mansion has a personal inspiration behind it! It makes the entire story feel special. Like you are being told and shared a portion of someone's life.
The walkthrough was also really nice! I downloaded it just in case, but the game was so fun to explore that I discovered everything before the walkthrough showed it to me. But it's very to the point and you get what you're supposed to do if you're ever stuck! A very nice, courteous addition to the game!
Oh! I almost forgot the voice-acting! There are small voice clips of the characters speaking on occasion. It was a nice touch! It helped me get a feeling of what these characters are meant to sound like. It wasn't overbearing and I was still able to use my imagination for most of it. But the voices were wonderful and they fit the characters super well! Very well done! As someone who is a voice-acting hobbyist, this was truly a treat to listen to and admire!
I ended up getting the three endings that were available. Because I was so taken in by the story that I wanted to see what would happen! All of them were satisfying in their own way! Of course, I loved the true ending (Promise in the Dark)! But I also found a nice charm with Blood Calls Other Blood and The World Burning! I can see people preferring one ending over another, depending on how they personally interpret the message of the story or Aidan as a character.
In the end, this was a really compelling story! I'm so glad I found the time to sit down and play it from beginning to end! I loved every second of it!
