This game is a game of almosts.

The opening to this game and the impression you get of it before you play it are entirely separated from your thoughts on it when you finish it. You effectively go into this game expecting a large island murder mystery game where you encounter strange folks and solve puzzles. Each of those things is correct, but they are individual. There is a large island you traverse. There is a murder. There are mysteries. There are strange folk. And there are puzzles.

This game at times feels like one of those bull riding machines you see at the fair. The kind where the the entire goal is to stay on as long as you can. Whenever you get into the groove with this game, you get tossed right off.

You beat this game and 'almost' say it was fun. You witness the story and 'almost' get it. You wake up and this time you 'almost' get to the hotel lobby.

I've seen people explain this game not being fun as 'intended' as some sort of parody of classic adventure games. I've not read every single Suda interview, but as far as I could parse this wasn't the case. But I also understand why some people would say this. At times, it feels like this game is trying to suck on purpose. For some sort of ulterior reason like story or thematically. But then other times, it just feels like a bad game.

My favorite part of this game was running along the beach listening to 'Rhapsody In Blue'. Not the puzzles, not the jokes, not the story. Just running.

Edit: I like this game now. No idea why.