i played a good bit of this game over the years and today i finally locked in and decided that i would complete the game. i remember getting past the bucket once or twice but i just never ended up making the last stretch then

this is a masterpiece. i get it now

clear time: 1h 49m 51s 050ms

Completed 3 times now, with my best time at 34 minutes.

While I absolutely love this game's narrative and philosophy, the effectiveness is unfortunately a bit dulled, because to me this game is overall enjoyable and fun to play. Like when Foddy says something like, "Oh, man, that was a really big fall. Very frustrating." I can't help but feel a bit disconnected.

Now, I'm not trying to sound like a grizzled, war-hardened God Gamer. Because I'm not. But I don't find this game all that... difficult? It's definitely stressful and there were some nail-biting moments of tension, but after a big fall or even a repeated failure, I couldn't help but laugh and feel more determined. All I'm saying is I think the YouTubers have oversold the difficulty, unsurprisingly.

This game is poetry, and it could honestly be as impactful as The Beginner's Guide to me if it weren't for the narrative dissonance. Maybe when I'm trying for a faster time I'll find it harder, but for this reason I just don't entirely resonate with the game at the moment.