Timing is everything. Death here is filtered through as machinery; a natural cog to industrial malevolence. The absence of free will in a dilapidated landscape drives Inside's core mechanics. Like Journey, this game functions best as an immersive and mostly risk-free experience but this one is all the better for that simplicity. Its puzzles are straightforward but the biggest draw for me is just how focused this is on delivering an uncompromisingly stark vision, employing brilliantly ghastly sound work and visceral imagery. I was shocked by how many of these puzzles I instinctively recalled from my last playthrough years ago and that's a credit to just how well the game drives itself into your mind. There's much here that hits you in the gut, and there's no particular logistical reason as to why. It just does. Bodies and spaces, I guess. Yada yada yada.