It’s easy to see how much love and dedication was put into this game. It shows, and that’s why the game is worth checking. But honestly, i feel there are two major flaws: writing and puzzle design.

If i had to describe the writing (both story and dialogue) in one word, that word would be “naive”. The whole conception of politics implied here, at least the most superficial one, is just naively manicheistic. And i understand that the ending is supposed to justify all the sillyness we’ve seen so far, and that just like it happens in films like The Wicker Man or They Live, you are supposed to see stupid characters being stupid while the story at some point shows how self-conscious the whole thing was. But somehow, it fails. Even if it made sense, you would've been kinda forced to see a very bland dialogue reminiscent of the worst early 00’s tv shows. And the voice acting doesn’t help at all.

Then, the puzzle design, whose main problem was relying too much on moon logic, in a story where that kind of logic just doesn't fit at all. The somber mood and general story wasn’t the proper setting for that kind of puzzles.

Besides that, i think the general story and the way it unfolds is pretty ok. The artwork is nice, very reminiscent of the first Gabriel Knight game. Despite being a slow burner (the first third of the game felt pretty boring) you can be sure that there will be some very thrilling moments.

I understand this is the first game for this studio. It’s certainly a good start. I’m looking forward to see their future projects.

Metaphobia's presentation is remarkable, with its rotoscoped animations, quality voice work and engaging story, especially for a freeware game, but its puzzle design often leaves a lot to be desired.

It's usually competent, though you'll here and there be stumped by an unfortunate amount of pixel hunting while searching for that elusive barely visible item that's all of three white pixels on a grey background (an issue compounded by the fact you only get a not very eye-catching cursor change and no names while hovering over objects), its puzzles are still for the most part logical enough to escape the pitfalls of moon logic. Sometimes, however they cross into pure clunky idiocy, despite the game being deadly serious throughout: trying to talk to a warehouse worker results in the character stealing his employee ID card for no reason, then you'll use that very same card to convince a pharmacist that you are a company inspector. In another occasion you will talk to a cop that won't let you into a psychiatric ward, only to return minutes later with a psychiatrist pass and an all-new Alabama accent, with no objections raised. The cop even tells you he hasn't seen you before. These are jarring moments that don't disrupt the flow too much, but what does do that are the endgame puzzles, which require to hit a 20 symbol combination without any margin for error or hint of where you made one, especially infuriating when you realize that two symbols looked virtually identical.

On a side note, while games like Shadow of the Comet and Prisoner of Ice don't leave you with the impression their creators believe in Cthulhu, after completing Metaphobia you might be left wondering if its authors actually think the creatures at the center of its narration are indeed real and if they unironically buy into the conspiracy theories surrounding them. It's an intangible suspicion and likely unfounded, but a suspicion nonetheless.

All that aside, for a free game this is an absolute no brainer: fans of the genre have no reason whatsoever to not give it a try.