Sights & Sounds
- Interesting polygon-heavy environments interspersed with stark, often vector-looking maps and effects
- Other than that, there's not much in the way in the way of visual effects. It's a story-focused adventure game. You know what you're getting yourself into
- The sound design is really nicely done, from the pleasant environmental background noise in the peaceful bits to unsettling scraping metal and walls of static. The game challenges your patience with the unpleasant sounds at times
- There's a lot of excellent original music. Although you're not required to, it's worth waiting around to hear the full tracks if you enjoy folk or bluegrass
Story & Vibes
- I don't want to spoil the story, but I don't think anyone would understand what I was saying even if I tried. In broad strokes, you start off as an old man trying to make a furniture delivery. You quickly become waylaid in attempting to find your destination and begin accumulating friends
- This game requires a lot of patience. The story unfolds slowly and is heavily self-referential. Keep track of what the characters look like. It's worth it in the end
- Before you read further, understand that the rest of this section will bore you to tears if you don't read much. I studied some of this stuff half my life ago as a college student. Proceed if you like books
- The game makes heavy use of the literary technique of "magical realism". Although the most popular practitioner of the style is probably Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Love in the Time of Cholera; One Hundred Years of Solitude), the game's setting--Kentucky, obviously--more aptly evokes the stylings of the American South rather than South America. There are echoes of Modernists like William Faulkner in the somber, brooding scenes, but the playful, bright tones are more reminiscent of contemporary authors like Fred Chappell (I Am One of You Forever)
- Beyond the magical realism, there's a lot to dig into here for fans of Modern and Post-Modern literature. There's obvious references to the poetry of Robert Frost, and the monolithic, nonsensical bureaucracy is suspiciously Kafka-esque, but readers of Post-Modern drama will pick up on influences from grounded-in-reality playwrights like Eugene O'Niell and Arthur Miller as well as absurdists like Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard
Playability & Replayability
- It's an absurdist, story-based adventure game. There's not much by way of gameplay. You walk and click
- Fortunately, there's a chapter select. I'd like to come back for the achievements I missed. I'm not sure I want to do the whole thing again, though
Overall Impressions & Performance
- It's a very hard game to recommend. It's for a very specific audience. If you've spent a lot of time reading or studied literature at some point in your life (academically or on your own), you'll probably at least have an appreciation for what this game is trying to do
- It won't tax your system at all. I played the entirety of it on the Steam Deck, and it ran very smoothly. No bugs or crashes
Final Verdict
- 8/10. Assigning a score for this is hard. If you have an appreciation for post-modernism and literary references, add 2 points. If you don't like those things, subtract 5. I really liked the game, but I can see how it would be polarizing even among adventure game fans
- Interesting polygon-heavy environments interspersed with stark, often vector-looking maps and effects
- Other than that, there's not much in the way in the way of visual effects. It's a story-focused adventure game. You know what you're getting yourself into
- The sound design is really nicely done, from the pleasant environmental background noise in the peaceful bits to unsettling scraping metal and walls of static. The game challenges your patience with the unpleasant sounds at times
- There's a lot of excellent original music. Although you're not required to, it's worth waiting around to hear the full tracks if you enjoy folk or bluegrass
Story & Vibes
- I don't want to spoil the story, but I don't think anyone would understand what I was saying even if I tried. In broad strokes, you start off as an old man trying to make a furniture delivery. You quickly become waylaid in attempting to find your destination and begin accumulating friends
- This game requires a lot of patience. The story unfolds slowly and is heavily self-referential. Keep track of what the characters look like. It's worth it in the end
- Before you read further, understand that the rest of this section will bore you to tears if you don't read much. I studied some of this stuff half my life ago as a college student. Proceed if you like books
- The game makes heavy use of the literary technique of "magical realism". Although the most popular practitioner of the style is probably Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Love in the Time of Cholera; One Hundred Years of Solitude), the game's setting--Kentucky, obviously--more aptly evokes the stylings of the American South rather than South America. There are echoes of Modernists like William Faulkner in the somber, brooding scenes, but the playful, bright tones are more reminiscent of contemporary authors like Fred Chappell (I Am One of You Forever)
- Beyond the magical realism, there's a lot to dig into here for fans of Modern and Post-Modern literature. There's obvious references to the poetry of Robert Frost, and the monolithic, nonsensical bureaucracy is suspiciously Kafka-esque, but readers of Post-Modern drama will pick up on influences from grounded-in-reality playwrights like Eugene O'Niell and Arthur Miller as well as absurdists like Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard
Playability & Replayability
- It's an absurdist, story-based adventure game. There's not much by way of gameplay. You walk and click
- Fortunately, there's a chapter select. I'd like to come back for the achievements I missed. I'm not sure I want to do the whole thing again, though
Overall Impressions & Performance
- It's a very hard game to recommend. It's for a very specific audience. If you've spent a lot of time reading or studied literature at some point in your life (academically or on your own), you'll probably at least have an appreciation for what this game is trying to do
- It won't tax your system at all. I played the entirety of it on the Steam Deck, and it ran very smoothly. No bugs or crashes
Final Verdict
- 8/10. Assigning a score for this is hard. If you have an appreciation for post-modernism and literary references, add 2 points. If you don't like those things, subtract 5. I really liked the game, but I can see how it would be polarizing even among adventure game fans