The worst (best??) kind of disappointing art: the kind that you could tell was made by real people. The kind with the sort of passion and drive that can only be provided by someone who is thoroughly convinced that they have something to say that you don't already know. Its story is convoluted nonsense, its characters are bland and uninteresting, its combat is needlessly frustrating. It never really commits to any one idea, opting to implement many (and fail at executing all of them). But what really breaks this game for me is its self-consciousness. Anytime its weaknesses become too apparent, the writers simply remark on the fact that they are weaknesses. Apparently, you can get away with almost any bad writing as long as you let the player know that you know it's bad. It's a game that hopes to directly address the player and their flaws, yet all of its droning speeches about the meaning of existence find relevance only among the developers themselves. Playing this game is like watching the developers try to extract some kind of meaning out of the mistakes that they've made, or the mistakes that they think their "generation" has made, or whatever. But it's so dumb. Just... so so dumb. Big dumb game.

Play this game if you want to watch the world's longest, most excruciating train wreck. I couldn't tell you if it was worth it, but this is easily one of the most memorable bad games I've ever played. Will certainly be thinking about this game for a long time, even if it's not for the reasons the developers might hope. I guess that makes it a success.

edit: after over a year of thinking about this game, I'm convinced that I love it now and I cannot tell whether or not that love is ironic anymore. Either way, this review is outdated. Amazing game, masterpiece game. I.V hype is real.