An indie masterpiece I didn't click with.

Ringo Ishikawa is an intentionally directionless game. It provides a wide-open, beat-em up sandbox for you to explore. You have a plethora of choices available to you, different paths and minigames and stats to improve, different ways you can change the course of Ringo's life. But ultimately, those choices are so numerous they become... meaningless. Ringo still doesn't have a firm path that awaits him outside of high school. His friendships are still fracturing, all their prospects are grim, and its likely that they're about to enter some meaningless, dead-end lives.

The fact I didn't enjoy this game isn't the fault of the game itself. The game is designed to be melancholy and empty. That's a feature, not a bug. You have to find a joy in that feeling, that routine and aesthetic. Because this game is ALL aesthetic, full of secret ways to interact with the world. I fully believe its actually a perfectly crafted game, successful in everything its going for. I'm sure their follow-up game, Arrest of a Stone Buddha, is similarly brutal. Its just not something I could make myself devote a full playthrough towards.

I googled the ending and just. Goddamn. Gutting. Fuck, man.