Se le atribuye mucho el sentimiento únicamente post-soviético, pero siento que hay una parte universalmente humana y de esta era.
Aunque nos pongamos en los ojos de una persona que deambula por una burbuja social en mitad de la nada rusa, tuve sentimientos que sentí por primera vez cuando era un niño y miraba por un balcón desconocido la vida nocturna de unas afueras zaragozanas que ya de por sí me parecían alienígenas.
Es posible que fuese la primera vez que sintiese que se me escapaba algo, o de estrenar el sentimiento de que hay cosas que se sienten pero no se pueden embotellar y por ello sientes cierta pena.

Pero aparte de este apunte personal, siempre es un gusto ver una realidad vista por otra persona: Sea por la fidelidad de algo que no hemos visto pero compartimos lo suficiente para sentirlo nuestro o la humanidad imbuida rezumante en la obra.

Imagino me estoy repitiendo siendo lo digo lo que todo el mundo siente con esta obra. Por eso voy a acabar diciendo que aunque sea un juego al que le pondría la etiqueta de "Dejando Mixamo en llamas", aluciné cuando tras tomar unas cervezas, el sentimiento en la pista de baile era totalmente inmersivo. Y ya dije que soy abstemio y no puedo decir que sé cómo es eso, pero el efecto visual y el contexto provoca una reacción increíble.
Te explican a la perfección por qué se bebe y baila.

give russian a tools for modding cs1.6, and they will make their neighborhood
give russian a game engine, and they will make their hometown

i don't know why we do it, i think sometimes you feel like that's all you have
that's all you've seen
and all you will see

Neyasnoe is a walking sim with a focus on post-soviet generational malaise - a deep dissatisfaction with life manifesting itself through apathy and escapism. Drinking and dancing. Wandering and, perhaps most importantly of all, zoning out.

There’s very little explicit story in Neyasnoe – small interactions with mostly single-lined NPCs make up the bulk of your interactions through the first two levels, though the game caps off its focus on loneliness and introspection in its final two acts, through a poetry reading and extended conversation with a taxi driver.

The game’s themes work best when implicit, rather than the exposition dumps that the aforementioned poetry and conversation confer. Instead, the game feels at its strongest when wandering the suburbs or the city, navigating back alleys and loud bars, eavesdropping on couples or friends as they try and untangle their unease in the company of another.

Standing at the outskirts of the town, with the buildings to your back, the world outside seems positively lunar. Gray buildings turn to equally gray topography with nary a remark, emphasizing the cold loneliness of it all. These same buildings too, seem to echo the warped structure of the institution of their birth, the polygons warping and curving upwards rather than following intended blocky lines.

There’s an innate haziness at the core of Neyasnoe that I am absolutely delighted by. Opening the skills menu to be greeted with loneliness, corporeality, and reflextion. Time and time again doors lead into impossible spaces, dumping you out in disparate corners of each level.

Neyasnoe embraces the inherent artifice of its design though, with the game divided into discrete “levels” - invisible walls made visible, striped in a banner of “you can’t be here”

Neyasnoe is utterly content with leaving everything to the player. There are no signposts, there are no explicit goals. You almost assuredly already understand if this is a game that will or will not work for you. If you’re okay with this, I think Neyasnoe is a fantastic entry into sadboi vibe pieces and would wholeheartedly recommend.

Drowning In Problems if it wasn't made by a hateful person (there's even a "mechanic" here that could be somewhat compared to the one on that game). Still, some of those nihilistic sentiments are present but followed with what is a positive and much-needed reflection on them. Featuring commentary on escapism and loneliness, and the Slav setting that works as a conduit for them (I see people on steam getting tangled in its setting, but I don't think this is really about that), with a great ambiance and song choices... I think this will stick in my mind just by the music.

Watched a few playthroughs to see if I missed any details, and it's interesting to notice how the overall message also works on a meta-level. With the players that don't take time to soak in the game's world and don't interact with the people end up not finding much meaning in it (this was something I forgot to mention with A Short Hike, now that I remember).

Btw, consider turning off the pixelation filter once you start playing... made me dizzy as hell by the end.

In a cold spring night, I opened my window just a bit in hopes of catching some of my chain-smoking neighbor's cigarette smoke in my apartment for the second playthrough of this game, as I don't smoke myself. Maybe I should?

For me, this game captures the melancholic feeling of why it's so good to be alive while reminding about the pointlessness of one's existence in modern society.

The aesthetics and sound design tingle my neurons so well that I want to become one with it. It's as fleeting as the blue hour, yet like any stunning mood in the world, it can't last long at a time.

(damn I'm on a roll with this review)
In short: the game is brilliant if you dig the mood it's delivering. :)