So this game was designed to be a sort of companion piece, released along side a metal album by the same name, creating this sort of video game opera metal experience. Let me just say that the album is fantastic, I've listened to the album several times on it's own at this point and thoroughly enjoy it. This isn't a review of the album however, this is a review of the game.
This game is perhaps the most stressful experience I've ever had in a game. It is essentially a puzzle / adventure game with branching stories, set to this wonderful orchestral metal music. The problem comes in with how they tie the music to the game. They put this massive time constraint on you, giving you the length of a song to explore a room and complete certain tasks. But in almost every circumstance, I felt like I barely had enough time to take in my surroundings before it was time to move on, let alone complete the tasks they wanted me to finish. And if you fail the tasks, there's no do-overs, the game just marches on, making you feel like you're heading towards the bad ending because you can't complete the challenges. The game as a whole is not satisfying to play.
So then you have to ask, if this game was released as a companion piece to the album, does it serve to enhance the music in any way? And to that, I would have to say no. If anything, playing the game distracted me and prevented me from really getting to listen to the music. It was only on going back and listening to the album separately that I really appreciated the music. So this game fails both as a game and as a companion to the music.
I do appreciate it for what they were trying to create though. The whole idea for this game was crazy, and experimental, a strange mix of mediums, and I love it for what it tried to do. It's execution, however, was very flawed.