I’ll just be a party pooper and say I don't really care about the ARG factor of it.

I understand that this is one of the main appealing factors of this game and that the creator of it has done this stuff in the past (with this game connecting to his previous game, Pony Island) but I honestly couldn’t be bothered to care less about it.

If I had to summarize my feelings about this game, I’d say it’s like I’m eating a large cake that you tell me I’ll really enjoy, a cake that you tell me has a super cool toy inside of it that will take center of everything and be meaningful (that being the ARG shit). I bite into it, and I get a lovely taste of chocolate and fall in love with it (aka the first Act and doing Leshy’s part and absolutely adoring the gameplay and setting). I start to get an idea about the story and soon figure out that there will be different flavors divided up into each part and will enjoy each for their uniqueness but being similar enough to the first flavor (how I thought the game would go with each card scribe leading their own part of the game and having their own unique style of play). However, after I finished the first flavor, I lost interest in the idea of getting that toy I learned about earlier and kinda don’t really care about it anymore, I get lost in the treats and simply just want to eat the cake and enjoy it by itself. It’s a convoluted and dumb analogy and I understand that tons of people are going to really enjoy the ARG stuff, hell I love analogue horror stuff and watch tons of it and have played similar games, but in this case, I couldn’t be bothered to care about it.

It 100% isn’t an awful game, I do understand what it’s doing and I kinda vibe with it, but I truly don’t care about the analogue stuff in this case and ended up skipping some of it. Act 1 and Act 3 were great, they were what I expected the game to be, and I loved it. I didn’t like Act 2 at all, I felt like I was just speedrunning it and just wanted to get through it all, with the other complaint being the lack of guidance and how it jumps so much stuff onto you in Act 2 as opposed to how the game treated you in Act 1. The ending of the game where you start to play all the scribe's stuff is where I wanted it to all go and I felt like I was getting teased with everything only for it all to lead to nothing.

Kinda sad, obviously it is mostly a me problem I guess but still, kinda sucky.

If I had a list of games whose whole style and main identity was "a modern game that tries to emulate how horror games were back then with old graphics, tanky controls, silly voice acting, as well as some of the flaws of old games back then" I'd probably put this one in the middle or a little higher.

It's alright, story is kinda nonexistent atm (theres other endings so I'll see about those). I can't tell what basic trope it's trying to do to explain the horrors from "we uncovered something deep down we shouldn't have" to "experiments gone horribly wrong" to "an eldritch monstrosity has created this realm for it's own amusement and we are all its toys". I like the doll aesthetic of the game, kinda wish it did more weird shit with it and it didn't bounce from areas that either didn't make sense or weren't really keeping in theme or style of the game, referring to the water labyrinth part and the steel garden. They were neat, just didn't fit in. There were a good variety of enemies in the game that I liked, there even was a Mr.X style stalker character that was kinda eerie with how she was ghostly and would float towards the player and would cut off the music. The only problem with her was you could go back into the previous room immediately and keep doing it until she respawns. And she also just disappears after one of the bosses which was kinda weird. Speaking of bosses, they're kinda a mixed bag? Pier was kinda neat but annoying, the run back for Edith was harder than the boss, which was kinda basic and didn't really make sense in terms of the story. Isabella was probably the best out of all of them (plus a Sphere Hunter appearance is always nice), my only complaint with her would be some of the camera angles in the fight can be really annoying, with some of them not even being needed at all. I liked the idea of the Alvarez fight, just kinda sucked and I really didn't like that I couldn't aim and shoot separately, probably them trying to emulate how games might do it back then I guess. Speaking of, emulate games of past, it's funny and also stupid you can't use the D Pad in the inventory menu or with puzzles, because gee that would be nice and keep in line what the creator is trying to do. Just to quickly finish, I did like the Dollmaster fight, him being the explanation for the Seller and having a decently creepy design even if it is malnurished man with a loincloth on. His attacks were basic but I still enjoyed him.

Uhh more negativity, yeah the puzzles fucking suck. A lot of them really blow ass or are just unfair, like the timed one you have to do with closing walls and if you die you have a stupid long run back to it, autosave there would've been nice. Book puzzle was dumb as well, and yeah not really a shining piece of stuff for the game. The one stealth section was a neat idea but it kinda fucking sucks with the chosen camera angles, plus you being gunned down and barely able to move without being given a chance to escape is frustrating.

But for positives I like the shop, it's a neat way of giving the player stuff, as well as making them pay for it. Maybe a better balance between items you can find in the environment without needing to rely on the shop, so that way you can still avoid fights if needed. I like the aesthetic uhh its short and I can imagine it being something I could beat quickly, I liked the main character as well as her doll friend and the shop keeper.

But I shouldn't be too mean I guess, game was literally made by one guy who mostly did all the work, kudos to him for that and I guess some stuff just had to get dropped or put off and made mediocre.