Hits incredibly hard if you've had the misfortune of grappling with some of the very real, potent insecurities and pathos that the game dips its toes into, which is the exact sort of thing I like from any media that uses an MMO as a narrative device – but sometimes it wallows a bit too deeply in those feelings and doesn't necessarily maneuver out of its comfort zone, so it's easy to see why Agony misses the mark outside of that hyperspecific target audience.

The "nazi faction" thing is kind of cartoonishly portrayed and hard to take seriously, more than anything coming across as a clear and blatant allegory for alt-right presence in social media avenues as opposed to actual hostility against marginalized people in MMOs (God knows that the LGBT and POC populace in MMOs and other cyberspaces is bigger than ever these days).

Even so – I liked it, and it evoked some really poignant and pleasantly uncomfortable feelings out of me. Looking forward to the full game!