This review contains spoilers
Phenomenal concept executed essentially perfectly.
You're stuck in a Roman city where all its citizens are tormented by the ever-present threat of The Golden Rule, and of top of that, you're reliving the same day over and over. The game seemingly throws you without any warning and lets you figure it out on your own. The game heavily leans on its character dialogue, and it is fantastic. The cast is small but very well written. The inhabitants of the golden city are multifaceted, secretive, unique and most of all interesting. Some will lie, some will try to trick you, some will hide aspects of themselves that only get revealed once you're multiple timeloops deep. It is so addicting being able to figure out a secret quirk about a character that you were able to unearth because of your detective reasoning.
That detective reasoning and critical thinking is rewarded in spades here. The city's design is essentially a circle, but that circle is littered with secrets within its many nooks and crannies. It takes an inquisitive mind to see the environmental storytelling displayed in the city and piece two and two together. Other than the character writing, I would say the level design is the best thing about the game. It feels like a lived-in city, the houses are representative of the people who live in them, and the various puzzles littered around the city have multiple solutions. It's one of those great design philosophies where if you can think of a feasible solution, the game will let you do it.
Last thing I will say is that the ending is absolutely a masterpiece. Being able to debate a literal god on philosophy, theology, morality, the depths of sins, and the future of humanity was an incredibly memorable moment. Best of all the game gives you all the tools needed to win that debate by accumulating all the experiences you have had in the various timeloops you went through and exposing it all. It takes a lot of cunning to win but being able to do so was an incredibly powerful moment.
This is a rare type of game that is best enjoyed completely blind, so I hope you didn't read this without playing the game yourself. But if for some reason you did, I wholly recommend playing this.
You're stuck in a Roman city where all its citizens are tormented by the ever-present threat of The Golden Rule, and of top of that, you're reliving the same day over and over. The game seemingly throws you without any warning and lets you figure it out on your own. The game heavily leans on its character dialogue, and it is fantastic. The cast is small but very well written. The inhabitants of the golden city are multifaceted, secretive, unique and most of all interesting. Some will lie, some will try to trick you, some will hide aspects of themselves that only get revealed once you're multiple timeloops deep. It is so addicting being able to figure out a secret quirk about a character that you were able to unearth because of your detective reasoning.
That detective reasoning and critical thinking is rewarded in spades here. The city's design is essentially a circle, but that circle is littered with secrets within its many nooks and crannies. It takes an inquisitive mind to see the environmental storytelling displayed in the city and piece two and two together. Other than the character writing, I would say the level design is the best thing about the game. It feels like a lived-in city, the houses are representative of the people who live in them, and the various puzzles littered around the city have multiple solutions. It's one of those great design philosophies where if you can think of a feasible solution, the game will let you do it.
Last thing I will say is that the ending is absolutely a masterpiece. Being able to debate a literal god on philosophy, theology, morality, the depths of sins, and the future of humanity was an incredibly memorable moment. Best of all the game gives you all the tools needed to win that debate by accumulating all the experiences you have had in the various timeloops you went through and exposing it all. It takes a lot of cunning to win but being able to do so was an incredibly powerful moment.
This is a rare type of game that is best enjoyed completely blind, so I hope you didn't read this without playing the game yourself. But if for some reason you did, I wholly recommend playing this.