This review contains spoilers
very cute! nice lil walking sim that i thematically adore but have some definite problems with
the first 2 or 3 chapters of this are actually pretty perfect. i really love delilah and henry's budding friendship which is the real focal point here; everything else that's brought up really grips you and it sets up a story that leaves you questioning so much and incredibly interested in finding out about henry's life before his new job and what's been happening while he's there. exploring is super fun and contains a lot of secrets and optional dialogue that, if you like henry and delilah as much as i do, makes this exploration outside of where you need to go super compelling and something you actually want to do
unfortunately the story doesn't really stick the landing nearly as well as it could have and it makes for an ending that finishes the game considerably weaker than how it started; certain aspects of the story (julia, the two girls at the lake) either end up not really being integral to the story or just end up being wrapped up in a way that makes its inclusion seemingly unnecessary. why was there so much talk about the two girls being missing if you learn in some offhandedly-said line that they just end up being found and none of their threats really ended up mattering? it almost feels like ironic foreshadowing that henry mentions feeling like everything feels like it should be connected somehow when that just simply doesn't happen. the stuff that is given a proper conclusion (basically anything introduced from chapter 3 onward) is also not too satisfying since you uncover a lot so slowly and then just stumble into the magic "this area contains the story" area (ned's bunker and the moments preceding it). it really feels lazy to end the story that has been building up with so much anticipation in a way that feels so cheap. it feels like they were given 2 weeks to end the game out of nowhere and they had to work with what they had and tie up loose ends that should have been fleshed out in another chapter or two.
aside from having a weak ending though this game was a very fun, cute experience that i'd recommend anyone play (it took me about 4-5 hours so why not) and i crave more content with these two characters carnally
the first 2 or 3 chapters of this are actually pretty perfect. i really love delilah and henry's budding friendship which is the real focal point here; everything else that's brought up really grips you and it sets up a story that leaves you questioning so much and incredibly interested in finding out about henry's life before his new job and what's been happening while he's there. exploring is super fun and contains a lot of secrets and optional dialogue that, if you like henry and delilah as much as i do, makes this exploration outside of where you need to go super compelling and something you actually want to do
unfortunately the story doesn't really stick the landing nearly as well as it could have and it makes for an ending that finishes the game considerably weaker than how it started; certain aspects of the story (julia, the two girls at the lake) either end up not really being integral to the story or just end up being wrapped up in a way that makes its inclusion seemingly unnecessary. why was there so much talk about the two girls being missing if you learn in some offhandedly-said line that they just end up being found and none of their threats really ended up mattering? it almost feels like ironic foreshadowing that henry mentions feeling like everything feels like it should be connected somehow when that just simply doesn't happen. the stuff that is given a proper conclusion (basically anything introduced from chapter 3 onward) is also not too satisfying since you uncover a lot so slowly and then just stumble into the magic "this area contains the story" area (ned's bunker and the moments preceding it). it really feels lazy to end the story that has been building up with so much anticipation in a way that feels so cheap. it feels like they were given 2 weeks to end the game out of nowhere and they had to work with what they had and tie up loose ends that should have been fleshed out in another chapter or two.
aside from having a weak ending though this game was a very fun, cute experience that i'd recommend anyone play (it took me about 4-5 hours so why not) and i crave more content with these two characters carnally