it's shocking how much this game gripped me after leaving such a bad initial impression. the traversal of the game's spaces are cumbersome, the language decoding wasn't as deep as I was hoping, the characters feet fade out into transparency (???), and the protagonist is consistently pretty rude. still, Inkle's narrative design is so compelling that I stuck around until the end, slowly pulling apart the mystery. the world and characters they've built are both deep and unique, and uncovering its past is exciting. looking at the plot more closely, just like in Sorcery! and 80 Days, the player is constantly guiding their protagonist through difficult dilemmas of choice, turning mere fiction (well, deftly written fiction) into a very cerebral activity for the player.