itch.io

Okay, I knew I would love this just based on It Paints Me, but I finally had some time this evening while procrastinating on stuff to sit down and check it out. I meant to "just start it", and that was at 10pm, and it is now ummm 12:40am. Suffice it to say I could not put this down.

The music is wonderful - it's slow paced and ambient but the melodies are still captivating. The tone-setting is ON POINT. Moreover, I am the biggest sucker in the entire universe for diegetic music so I went nuts over this. The scene where Kit played the piano waltz I was absolutely just losing it. Incredible stuff.

The narrative pacing is masterful, honestly. You introduce this skeleton in a chest and of course I as a reader am spending the whole time going "GO FREE THE SKELETON!!!!!" which makes this really powerful tension whenever Kit is, you know, dealing with his own shit; because on one hand I am captivated by his own story but on the other *points to skeleton* GO INVESTIGATE THAT. THAT'S A SKELETON. COME ON BRO. But the pacing is very stubborn because Kit is stubborn, it is slow because he is exhausted and hurt and processing and dying, and it just really forces the reader to experience a taste of the hell he is going through.

The visuals are wonderful, the TEXTURES can't really be described by any word better than "delicious." I want to eat this game. I mean that in the best possible way.

So many of the narrative ideas, symbols, and concepts being touched on here are things that deeply resonate with me in ways that are really hard to express. Like playing a game I really like is one thing, playing a game I really like that I have a very specific and personal connection with is something else entirely. This already feels like the latter.

I am so beyond excited for more whenever it is ready. In the meantime I'm going to be annoying at everyone I know and tell them to play this right now immediately.