*SCREAMS ENDLESSLY* i am back. again. with a horrendously long ramble 😭 ill spoiler free gush first and then drop a lil warning
after accidentally tripping into the completed game a bit back (i dont know if im actually among the first people who found it but im telling myself i was bc i like feeling <3 special<3) i FINALLY managed to finish all the endings/routes.
the art remains just as gorgeous as ever, the music still slaps, the plot? the plot had me STRESSED at several points. it felt like the more i found out the more questions i had and even now i still feel like i have so many. every reveal and choice was intriguing, it was such an enjoyable and engaging ride going through the chapters.
the characterisation is also excellent. i love dove to absolute bits. her blushing/embarrassed expressions reminded me of how alive she is, which really hit since the art style enhances the eerie and ghostlike vibe of everyone. and yet her greed and curiosity for magic and finding out more felt frightening at times. but the feeling that she really is just a kid in an insane situation never left. all the other characters felt complex in their own right, i wanted to know more about them, i hated them and feared them and also felt for them in equal turn. it really did just slap!!
[ok im spoilering now 😭 on the off chance anyone gets this far and hasnt played thru everything yet GO DO THAT]
i teared up SO MUCH when dove burnt babels remains. the detail about the flowers just got me so hard (also yay for title drop). slowly learning more about who the ghosts were was also very fascinating altho i still have SO many questions my god. also love the significance of dove and basil's names. (in the true ending when she started calling out for basil I WAS DYING). of the bad ends i found dove mercy killing basil one of the saddest and i did just have to sit there like :(( for a bit. and hypatia's resurrection definitely felt the most chilling by far.
and finally. the true ending. screams!!!!!!!!!! with all the respect in the world, for the sake of my happiness, i am lwk going to ignore the fact its the true route 😭 or at least pretend the good ending is also a true one.
the whole time i was on the edge of my seat and my jaw just kept dropping. during my play throughs several times i kept going "oh no no no absolutely not" and i RLLY felt this in the true route. i was practically shaking basil through my screen when he left, and the reveal of belphie had me reeling. in a way im very glad dove gets a form of power, hope, and freedom, in the place of being a sacrifice and victim of her fathers/the witchs grief. but there is such tragedy that she may simply become entangled in another cycle, traumatised and abandoned yet again by someone she really cared about. altho belphie seems like a very charming devil to make a deal w sksk, i will say i did have a moment where i paused my internal shock to go 'wow belphie can GET IT' but i digress.
in conclusion, i had a blast playing dicentra and tbh i still want to know so much more about the universe (who exactly was the witch boy? what happened to hypatia?? whats up with the deal/etc between the belphie, mother reverend, and the witch??? and so forth). tysm to everyone involved for all the hard work and dedication into the game, its definitely going into my list of favourites!! now i am going to sprint back and relive the good ending to dry my stunned emotional tears<3