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Review
If I'm being honest, I can't rate it any less, October 14, 2026I initally thought the game was worth 4 stars, then I realised that I had never forgotten the game after playing it so many years ago. Playing it yesterday again, it still managed to feel chilling - not because the whole backstory is particularly grand, but because, using that as an excuse, the game does manage to explore what it intends to explore. And it's more playable and less guess-the-author's-mind than a whole bunch of other games.
Bliss is an exploration of a theme. It's not a pleasant theme. It will make you confront the fact that your intentions and your reality may not be what you thought they were. I don't want to spoil it any more (if there is anyone left who hasn't played this game and who might).
Mostly you will be in a fantasy setting. And you know, it's a really nice fantasy setting. It's clichèd - in exactly the right way, considering the context of the whole game. The elements are right. I particularly like the fireflies; it seems obvious enough what they are supposed to represent, but just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's not good.
The puzzles are decent. I spent some time trying to figure out how to escape from the courtyard, I experimented, and I eventually got through it. No hints, no handholding, no obvious clues, but also no struggling with the parser, no guess-the-mind, no guess-the-verb. I just experimented in ways that felt natural. Eventually I succeeded. I mean... that's just good.
If other reviewers (and players) will be put off by the lack of a grand meaning to this game, I will defend in on the merits on what it achieves. I am prepared to believe the backstory is merely a device to set all of this in motion (just as I am prepared to believe that it's merely a very incredulous device that (Spoiler - click to show)asylum attendants would go around carrying clubs to hit patients with). So what I am interested in is what it actually does when it's in motion.
It has an effect. Undeniably. And it's ugly. Undeniably. And that's exactly what the author wanted.
The last line of the ending still chills me.
I cannot dismiss this game easily. I cannot dismiss it at all. I think it sets out to explore something very specific - and I think it succeeds admirably.
There is also something that the game does very well which I think is a lesson for authors in puzzle feedback. It concerns getting out of the courtyard.
(Spoiler - click to show)When it clicked on me that I should try to push the gargoyles from a distance, I randomly tried throwing the first thing that came to mind at them. It was the book. The game tells me the book opens and flips partway through, losing momentum. This is excellent. We don't see enough of this. This is a failure message that tells me, basically, I am in the right direction but I need to try another object, something heavier, that will retain momentum. It tells me that I am on the right track. I wish more designers would pay this much attention to failures. This is a little pearl of good design.