gameplay might be actual doodoo farr asf but nothing will encapsulate the feelings i got when playing this game.
the cozy green hillsides of the heartlands, the fiery and enthralling last stretch of chapter 3, the bustling saint denis and its devestating bank heist and not to mention chapter fucking six.
the muted greens and the gang in shambles, members trotting off one by one. a drab experience that i could not stop playing, seeing dutch's moral degradation (probably the most well written character in gaming, so much complexity and ambiguity that leaves us feeling torn just as arthur) and arthur trying to make the most with what he has left as it all ends bittersweet on that cliffside that had me in fucking ruin.
" - take a gamble that love exists and do a loving act
- i shall try" and he did try and it payed off. the epilogue has a similar feeling to chapter 2 in which it's so cozy and just nice to play through whilst still having a concise emotional core of family and setting up the first game beautifully. might not be totally necessary on paper, but we wouldnt have gotten that house building mission without it.
there are filler moments but they all build on the vast and complicated gang members that all seem like actual people even though they are 20+ or so. the small and missable moments like when abigail comforts sadie, or when hosea tells his stories by the campfire, or even the small party after sean got back, just a heart warming sense of community.
i havent even touched on the second to none realistic yet endlessly quotable dialogue that contributes to these characters being actual people, the vast open world with all the silly yet satisfying stranger missions, the gunslinger one being my favorite. but also the random encounters or seeing the animals run around, people go about their day to day business in valentine, the brittle emptiness of the desert like its just so alive and i cant get my head through it it makes me feel a feeling i cant describe but i wanna feel it.
just fucking take me back to my first playthrough because i wanna breathe that very same air as i did back then. i know this cheesy asllll but i needed to get this out of my system because fuck this game is far from perfect but it rearranged every molecule in my body

probably best atmosphere in gaming. the surreal uncanniness of everyone in this town, makes everything feel so inhuman yet totally the opposite. its that feeling you cant put your finger on utilised into a location that drains you to your core, yet the fog is so cozy and i owe that to the masterful soundtrack which i keep returning to. silent hill is a character, it's THE character and it swallows everyone within it.
everything has this lynchian dreamlike quality where nothing is explainable but it doesn't have to be because that feeling lingers and it lingers because it delves into the most human aspects of yourself. this is expressed in the cast which i wont delve into too much but the relationship between mary and james is an obvious tear jerker. just the gray zone between love and hate and feeling like a burden so you push people away yet want them to hug you tighter and wanting your life back and being unable to express your desires (pyramid head and maria being examples of stifled sexual contact), it's so messy but you understand these characters, you feel each emotion even in its sloppy and hard manuevered gameplay.
and also that last letter from mary narrated BEAUTIFULLY, the voice work in this is some of the best, so uncanny yet so somber, anyway its a very much bittersweet note that left me SOBBING, mary is such a beautifully complex person which so many conflicting emotions of helplessness and guilt that ties up their tragic relationship beautifully. ITS SO FUCKING SAD BUT ITS SO FUCKING GOOD, that james you made me happy like i actually shriveled down into a puddle girl bye.
good luck recreating this shit blooper because its never gonna fucking happen.