It's one of my favourite point and click horror games ever, but it does unfortunately come from the "game difficulty is the game forcing you to desperately click on every single pixel to solve puzzles" school of development, which was common for the time the but feels super punishing and irritating now.
It shows its age in other ways, too; Ellen is one of my favourite game characters ever and a lot of her writing is really lovely. I adore how she's allowed to be extremely strong and self-assured and also terrified and wilting. But she's definitely written as something of a "sassy Black woman" stereotype, and while I do genuinely appreciate how the game portrays how PTSD can create triggers that appear "nonsensical," the way the game handles her trauma can come sometimes come across as under-researched at best.
Obviously I'm giving it four stars, so I still think it kicks ass. This is my second time beating this game (and I've watched others beat it lots of times) and I continue to enjoy it a lot; the story kicks ass and is delightfully dark and horrific, I love how it expands the characterization everyone gets from the short story, Harlan Ellison is clearly having the time of his fucking life as AM. Its commentary on human nature is timeless. Just use a walkthrough (and, if you know you've got trauma that games can bring to the surface, consult a list of triggers) and keep in mind the game's age.
It shows its age in other ways, too; Ellen is one of my favourite game characters ever and a lot of her writing is really lovely. I adore how she's allowed to be extremely strong and self-assured and also terrified and wilting. But she's definitely written as something of a "sassy Black woman" stereotype, and while I do genuinely appreciate how the game portrays how PTSD can create triggers that appear "nonsensical," the way the game handles her trauma can come sometimes come across as under-researched at best.
Obviously I'm giving it four stars, so I still think it kicks ass. This is my second time beating this game (and I've watched others beat it lots of times) and I continue to enjoy it a lot; the story kicks ass and is delightfully dark and horrific, I love how it expands the characterization everyone gets from the short story, Harlan Ellison is clearly having the time of his fucking life as AM. Its commentary on human nature is timeless. Just use a walkthrough (and, if you know you've got trauma that games can bring to the surface, consult a list of triggers) and keep in mind the game's age.