Reviews by Sad and Wet Horse

As it is now, the game is near impossible to play without the walkthrough. With the walkthrough, it's almost fun to play. Without it, you need to have psychic abilities because the in-game text is sparse. Playing blind, you're just typing guesses into the void. If the implementation was better, if there had been more details about the setting, if there had been some way to gauge resources and keep up with the events of every turn, then this could have been a good game. Maybe even great.

This game is set in a world where souls are tangible and alchemy is the prevailing science. That alone creates fascinating moral dilemmas, such as the storage and use of souls of the deceased for electrical power. That, plus the protagonist's unique position as a medical professional during a plague set the stage for a what should have been a compelling mystery.

The game is engaging enough when the setting and the technology is in the spotlight. There is a memorable autopsy sequence in the first act that delivers visceral descriptions of corpses ravaged by disease and the disease's effect on a soul. I was hooked— I assumed the game would lean into this grim, medically driven storytelling, especially given that the protagonist is a physician.

Unfortunately, all these intriguing ideas are sidelined in favor of her romantic tension with one of the male characters. Outside of the opening sequence and the autopsies, her skills as both an alchemist and a doctor barely come into play. Instead, she is reduced to a lovestruck teenage girl who flits between agonizing over her crush and agonizing over the futility of her profession. The constant switching between childish infatuation and more serious themes can be jarring at times, and it was most noticeable when the one moment that could have understandably been treated with excessive sentimentality—(Spoiler - click to show)turning her father’s soul/animus into a battery to escape—is rushed through mechanically and matter-of-factly after several paragraphs of overly emotional brooding about her crush's actions.

As another reviewer put it, it relies too heavily on melodrama, not just in high-stakes moments but in nearly every conversation. Everyone is always trembling, hesitating, sighing, stuttering, or on the verge of tears. At times, it felt like reading self-indulgent AO3 fanfiction under the tags *Angst* and *Emotional Suffering* (and given the author's blurb, they probably are on AO3). A fun side quest: count how many times a character says, "I..." or "I–I..."—turn it into a drinking game if you feel like getting alcohol poisoning.

This game was entered into a comp, and according to comp guidelines, you must rate a game after two hours of playing. Had I played this in comp season I would have given this five stars. The first half is quite solid. Few interactive fiction games capture the feeling of navigating a busy city as well as this one does. The city is detailed and inhabited with background characters that feel alive. I actually preferred the initial exploration here over Anchorhead, one of the game's inspirations. But the second half falters, and the ending is outright disappointing. The intriguing world is forgotten as we spend more and more time inside the protagonist's head, and unfortunately her thoughts aren't nearly as interesting as the world she inhabits. The game ends without letting you piece together the mystery yourself; instead it relies on an exposition dump (Spoiler - click to show)(after the villain captures the player) of everything I had hoped to uncover organically while exploring the city. Both the protagonist and antagonist deliver overwrought monologues that read like bad anime dialogue. No matter which ending you choose, the final confrontation is essentially resolved with dialogue along the lines of: "Look at me… this isn’t you 🥺."

TLDR:

👍
- Atmospheric, well-written environments
- Fascinating worldbuilding and moral dilemmas
- Hauntingly vivid descriptions of disease and decay

👎
- Melodramatic, cliché-ridden character interactions especially with the love interests
- Painfully mid romance takes precedence over more interesting narrative elements
- The final act is underwhelming, relying on info-dumping and cringy dialogue

Here's a nicely written, spoiler-free passage that showcases what I like best about this game:

Between towering foundations, the rain lashes rusting hulks and flapping canvas shelters; it eats away at corpses piled in ankle-deep water. Where once there were buildings, posters, lamplights, the Bilious Canal has burst through the polder and swept them all away, carrying off the detritus of innumerable unknown lives.

The only interactive fiction to ever get an audible reaction out of me. 10/10, especially with sound on.

Appears like a typical "outsmart the rogue AI" story in the beginning - and will continue to be that type of story if you let it - but if you look beyond the surface and get to know the game's posited "villain," you'll discover that they're more complicated than they seem. The game might hint that the objective is to escape the AI, Solis, but if you give them grace and encounter the poignant moments where you discuss freedom and will and being human, you might find yourself hoping to escape with Solis instead. Thankfully there are multiple endings to accomodate for which objective you want to pursue. Play as you like, but personally, I would choose to fly off into the sunset with one of the most memorable IF NPCs in recent years.

Truly feels like being at a festival - the overheard gossip, the dancing with strangers, the drama and fights you might witness, and the social anxiety that bubbles through once the conversation goes silent - with the added tension of hints of "something big" brewing in the background.

As you explore the map and make your choices, the festival progresses. The people you talk to do not stay in one place, and you may miss some events that occur elsewhere on the estate. Rarely do you get a repeated entry when re-entering an area. No click is ever boring, even when you're not even trying to solve the mystery, because there is always someone to talk to, something to witness - and if there is nothing big happening where you are, then it is happening somewhere else.

Easy to read poetry written like an actual drunk woman making stupid decisions. Must play all love interests and get all endings to be fully appreciated, though only two are what I would consider "required" choices - the two choices that are summed up frankly and succinctly by these lines from the end:

you are built
to only hurt and be hurt