If nothing else, reducing one of the pillar requirements and the hint system sounds like it's going to make a huge difference

Feeling conflicted about whether I should jump back in now or wait for the final update, which might take a really long time

I can't believe this game had like SCP dungeons that I completely missed

Oh that rules!!

Well to be clear Void Stranger is like five trillion times worse. 1000xRESIST is just "kind of annoying" and "doesn't really work out", as opposed to "actively blocks your progress because you didn't figure out the one bullshit riddle"

Just similar vibes

This may be another Void Stranger case for me, where the game is permanently embedded into my brain because of all the incredibly cool and compelling things it does, but I didn't like actually playing it

It's okay. Bugs do that sometimes. Don't worry about it

Numerical scores suck for similar reasons. Objective quality is a lie and explaining the reasons WHY you liked or disliked a game is a trillion times more helpful

Happy birthday and enjoy your watermelon!

Short version:

This walking sim could have been a VN

This is really frustrating to talk about because there story really is good enough to make the game worth playing despite the thousand cuts

An amazing half and a bad half don't really average out to a mediocre game, they add up to "really good, BUT ALSO, oh my god when will this be over"

I think the intention is to give you time to breathe after important moments, but it just... doesn't do that. Now I'm focused on the waypoint marker instead of what just happened

Like everything else, it feels like the game is fighting against its own (extremely good) story

And on top of all that, it's just not that fun to _play_

There are so many segments where the game makes you run around and do pointless bullshit before you can continue the story. I want to see what's next, not to find the way to a quest marker through a maze!

I wanted to chalk this up to just low budget and not be too harsh on it. But then in the credits there's an absolutely MASSIVE voice cast! And there's even credits for motion captured animation! What??

So there WAS clearly an appropriate budget, it just... doesn't come together

The voice acting also doesn't help. It sounds like all the actors are kinda... falling asleep? They're mixed so low, and directed to sound super calm and lethargic all the time, even in high intensity moments

This works for slow, introspective moments, but it doesn't work anywhere else

The biggest issue by a LOT is the animation. There's barely any animation during dialogue and it makes the characters feel so stiff and wooden and emotionless, even in scenes that are SUPPOSED to convey a lot of emotion. It's flat and extremely distracting

It's an extremely personal, powerful and resonant story. The kind that sticks with you long after you've played the game. But... it's held back by so many little things around it