In terms of gameplay, at the end of the day, it's a very conventional and basic point-and-click adventure game with no deviations from the formula other than how some things are presented. They get the structure of that done perfectly, there was never a moment where I was majorly confused as to what to do next, the interactions and critical path were very clear, and a lot of the optional content was easy to engage with, though I know I must have missed some more obscure things. My favorite thing that they did differently was how they log all of the things you've learned in a "mind map," which makes getting exposition about the (very weird) story very easy.
What this little adventure game gets perfectly right are tone and setting. The art, sounds, and demeanor of all of the characters come together into a vivid picture of the world that the creators aim to immerse you in. It's grimy and it's weird and it's kind of uncomfortable, but it's also fascinating, and the classic "point and click adventure" formula fits right against the setting incredibly well.
What the game does decently is character writing, as it comes to making clear and evocative characters. However, while the dialog is incredibly evocative and does well to make crystal clear characters, what the characters actually SAY is not particularly compelling. The prose and dialog try very hard at a poetic "mystique" contrasted to plain vulgarity, but because there's so much more of a focus on vibe over substance, you don't really get anything out of any individual line no matter how poetic or funny it might be trying to be. Ultimately I lump "character writing" of this type into "tone and setting," because the characters end up serving as strong pillars of the setting without ever providing compelling arcs or drama in their own right.
The story and plot are riveting in terms of dramatic beats to get you invested in how absurd the scenario is that is unfolding. However, there is a lot about the setting and events that undermine the story, with the setting presenting a very mundane and dry presentation of MOST aspects of the world (going into so much detail about the nature of the environment, the politics, what it's like to really live in this situation) and then proceeds to have most characters not truly question just how absurd the premise of the plot actually is. Sure, some people say "man, that's crazy!", but that's not really enough when what's happening is so insane. Just calling something crazy is not the same as actually questioning and analyzing it, and this story is NOT interested in characters actually trying to understand the situations that they're experiencing (whether that means understanding the situations literally, personally, or emotionally).
The best example of this is when the protagonist meets his mom's friend who is the "originator" of the "Superduck," a sentient biological super entity. He literally explains the craziest shit imaginable to the protagonist, and she has NO QUESTIONS about ANY of it. The story just acts like people would accept things that they obviously wouldn't, especially given other things they've questioned or not accepted. If stuff like this was happening all over the world all the time, that would be one thing, but there's a clear insinuation that all of this is new, weird, and scary. I can see that the writer is trying to get across a theme of "the world is always weird and scary, why would these salt-of-the-earth people care about some new weird and scary thing," but I just don't feel like the setting is absurd enough to support the absurd story, and this just causes a lot of tonal dissonances.
My last major issue is that the story itself is too full of vague poeticism. There are a lot of ideas thrown at the screen, but I'm not convinced they really have any kind of interesting interplay. I'm not left thinking about or considering anything meaningful about what was presented after finishing the game, it just kind of boils down to nihilistic absurdism with only a veneer of heart. The implications of what it means for your character to "succeed" at the end are immediately undercut with a sense of imminent doom in their future regardless of the outcome of what happened in the story. I am fairly certain I got the "good ending" because of one or two things I collected earlier in the game, but the story is so obsessed with its own nihilistic tone that there can't actually be a "good ending."
The real issue with "vibe" versus "substance" here is that none of the themes presented really go anywhere or have anything to do with each other, and the themes, story, and character arcs do not interweave in such a way that they elevate or progress one another. You've got a hodgepodge of themes that go nowhere: corporate greed, religious absurdity, modern technological absurdity, family "trauma", etc. The events that occur don't really resolve any of these themes, the themes don't really have anything to do with each other, and at the end of the game, it just feels kind of like you went on a slow-paced Disneyland ride through someone's bizarre hallucinogen-fueled dreams about their fucked up childhood growing up in Louisiana.
Obviously, that was enough to get me to finish the game, but the writing clearly has literary aspirations that it's unfortunately not living up to.
Narrative Design: 4/10
Tone/Setting: 8/10
Plot/Drama: 7/10
Story: 4/10
Themes: 2/10
Character Arcs: 4/10
Dialog: 4/10
What this little adventure game gets perfectly right are tone and setting. The art, sounds, and demeanor of all of the characters come together into a vivid picture of the world that the creators aim to immerse you in. It's grimy and it's weird and it's kind of uncomfortable, but it's also fascinating, and the classic "point and click adventure" formula fits right against the setting incredibly well.
What the game does decently is character writing, as it comes to making clear and evocative characters. However, while the dialog is incredibly evocative and does well to make crystal clear characters, what the characters actually SAY is not particularly compelling. The prose and dialog try very hard at a poetic "mystique" contrasted to plain vulgarity, but because there's so much more of a focus on vibe over substance, you don't really get anything out of any individual line no matter how poetic or funny it might be trying to be. Ultimately I lump "character writing" of this type into "tone and setting," because the characters end up serving as strong pillars of the setting without ever providing compelling arcs or drama in their own right.
The story and plot are riveting in terms of dramatic beats to get you invested in how absurd the scenario is that is unfolding. However, there is a lot about the setting and events that undermine the story, with the setting presenting a very mundane and dry presentation of MOST aspects of the world (going into so much detail about the nature of the environment, the politics, what it's like to really live in this situation) and then proceeds to have most characters not truly question just how absurd the premise of the plot actually is. Sure, some people say "man, that's crazy!", but that's not really enough when what's happening is so insane. Just calling something crazy is not the same as actually questioning and analyzing it, and this story is NOT interested in characters actually trying to understand the situations that they're experiencing (whether that means understanding the situations literally, personally, or emotionally).
The best example of this is when the protagonist meets his mom's friend who is the "originator" of the "Superduck," a sentient biological super entity. He literally explains the craziest shit imaginable to the protagonist, and she has NO QUESTIONS about ANY of it. The story just acts like people would accept things that they obviously wouldn't, especially given other things they've questioned or not accepted. If stuff like this was happening all over the world all the time, that would be one thing, but there's a clear insinuation that all of this is new, weird, and scary. I can see that the writer is trying to get across a theme of "the world is always weird and scary, why would these salt-of-the-earth people care about some new weird and scary thing," but I just don't feel like the setting is absurd enough to support the absurd story, and this just causes a lot of tonal dissonances.
My last major issue is that the story itself is too full of vague poeticism. There are a lot of ideas thrown at the screen, but I'm not convinced they really have any kind of interesting interplay. I'm not left thinking about or considering anything meaningful about what was presented after finishing the game, it just kind of boils down to nihilistic absurdism with only a veneer of heart. The implications of what it means for your character to "succeed" at the end are immediately undercut with a sense of imminent doom in their future regardless of the outcome of what happened in the story. I am fairly certain I got the "good ending" because of one or two things I collected earlier in the game, but the story is so obsessed with its own nihilistic tone that there can't actually be a "good ending."
The real issue with "vibe" versus "substance" here is that none of the themes presented really go anywhere or have anything to do with each other, and the themes, story, and character arcs do not interweave in such a way that they elevate or progress one another. You've got a hodgepodge of themes that go nowhere: corporate greed, religious absurdity, modern technological absurdity, family "trauma", etc. The events that occur don't really resolve any of these themes, the themes don't really have anything to do with each other, and at the end of the game, it just feels kind of like you went on a slow-paced Disneyland ride through someone's bizarre hallucinogen-fueled dreams about their fucked up childhood growing up in Louisiana.
Obviously, that was enough to get me to finish the game, but the writing clearly has literary aspirations that it's unfortunately not living up to.
Narrative Design: 4/10
Tone/Setting: 8/10
Plot/Drama: 7/10
Story: 4/10
Themes: 2/10
Character Arcs: 4/10
Dialog: 4/10