abra got tired of all the westwood x oliver jokes so she made another yaoi couple we can obsess about! :D
seriously tho, this was REALLY great and creepy as hell!!
(SPOILERS)
despite the short length, the repetition of your tasks really sells the feeling of mundanity and hopelessness. each day you need to check some stuff, start the drill, and read the old logs that get printed. it's really simple, but it quickly sets in that these guys may have been doing it for who knows how long, and every timeskip drills (hehehe) that thought into your head further. it's not boring at all though; this game is a really effective example of building dread throughout the mundanity. the drill is your main task and keeps you warm, but when you learn what it does you can't help but feel nervous when using it... (i'm drilling two feet into what?). you have a partner to keep you company, but who knows what's he thinking about... (why would he want to sleep far from me?). reading the logs is really intriguing, but every time you do there's the underlying feeling you'll find something you don't want to know... (when will i reach the logs that were written after the incident, and what will they say?)
and eventually, when your friend can't handle it and it's only you in the facility, the dread goes from an underlying feeling to coming around full force. the mc talking with his conscience, the days going through without anything except using the drill, and eventually not even knowing what day it is, all worked wonders in unsettling me haha. and the twist was really great, really unexpected but with really clever foreshadowing. suddenly it makes sense why your partner did what he did, why you're going insane from guilt... and the concept of being trapped in an abandoned building with no way of keeping you alive except torturing an innocent creature (btw i loved how we don't get to see what it looks like, and that it's up to our imagination) is so cruel and tragic on its own. and the ending was really great; abstract and open to interpretation in the usual superb abra geroni way :>
overall a really absorbing and incredibly well crafted experience. looks like the polar expedition jam is off to a great start! :D