- Rich story and characters with bold taboo themes
- Masterful narrative with meaningful branching choices
- Highly enjoyable and recommended experience
- Extremely dark and controversial themes
- Puzzles and gameplay are often tedious and basic
- Unlikable character dynamics for some players
Emotions
Players express satisfaction primarily due to the game's compelling and well-written story, coupled with deep character development and engaging dynamics. The overall high quality of the game, encompassing its unique art style, immersive atmosphere, and effective psychological horror elements, also contributes significantly. Additionally, players appreciate the satisfying gameplay, clever puzzle design, and the game's ability to offer meaningful choices and replayability.
Excitement stems largely from the anticipation of future game content, including new chapters and updates, driven by a compelling and often disturbing narrative. Players are also excited by the game's high overall quality, its unique and intense experience, and its addictive nature, which makes them eager to continue playing and explore all possible outcomes. The game's bold and provocative themes further contribute to this sense of thrilling anticipation.
Admiration is primarily driven by the game's exceptional artistic quality, including its unique art style and impactful soundtrack. Players deeply appreciate the profound narrative depth, intricate storytelling, and the complex, well-developed characters, particularly their psychological portrayal. The game's boldness and courage in tackling controversial and dark themes with nuance and originality also earn significant admiration.
Amusement arises from the game's pervasive dark and black humor, often intertwined with its controversial and taboo themes. Players find humor in the snarky dialogue, absurd situations, and the game's overall extreme and twisted nature. The comedic portrayal of disturbing content and character interactions, sometimes with an ironic or self-aware tone, also contributes to this emotion.
Players experience enjoyment through the game's engaging and entertaining gameplay, which often includes satisfying puzzles. The compelling story, combined with the effective and often disturbing use of dark and controversial themes, keeps players hooked. Additionally, the strong character dynamics and dark humor contribute significantly to the overall enjoyable and addictive experience.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 96% · Negative 4%. Score: 4 / 100
Positives:
- The game is consistently praised for its deeply engaging and well-written narrative, featuring complex, multi-layered characters, particularly the main siblings. Their dynamic, dialogues, and psychological evolution are highlighted as central to the game's appeal.
- The game is noted for its daring exploration of controversial and disturbing themes like incest, cannibalism, and abuse, which are handled with psychological depth rather than just shock value. It effectively evokes discomfort and prompts reflection on human morality and dysfunctional relationships.
- Reviewers commend the game's narrative as a "masterclass" in storytelling, with a unique plot, immersive atmosphere, and stunning visuals. The branching paths and multiple endings significantly enhance replayability and player agency.
- Players consistently report a highly enjoyable and satisfying experience, often exceeding expectations. The game is seen as offering excellent value for its price, with many appreciating its depth and replayability.
- The game's art style is frequently praised for its unique, recognizable aesthetic, effectively complementing the dark themes and enhancing the overall visual experience. Its distinctiveness is a major draw for many players.
Negatives:
- The game features highly controversial and disturbing content, including explicit violence, cannibalism, and particularly prominent incestuous themes, which many players found uncomfortable, traumatic, or morally objectionable. This content often felt forced or for shock value, leading to strong negative reactions and the game being widely labeled as "the incest game."
- Players found the game's puzzles overly simple, repetitive, or tedious, often serving as filler rather than engaging challenges. The overall gameplay experience was described as minimal, basic, and lacking complexity or variety, sometimes feeling like a "walking simulator" with limited environmental interaction.
- Reviewers found most characters, particularly the protagonists Andrew and Ashley, to be unlikable, unsympathetic, and often psychopathic. Their relationship was described as toxic, manipulative, and repetitive, with dialogues often being boring or frustrating, and their actions lacking justification or logical consequences.
- The game is primarily available only in English, which creates a significant barrier for non-English speaking players. Many reviewers requested official translations for languages like Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Italian to improve accessibility.
- The narrative was criticized for being too long, repetitive, and incomplete, especially in later chapters. Some players felt the story prioritized shock value over substance, with excessive or unappealing dialogue and a generally gloomy tone.
Gameplay:
- The game delves into highly disturbing and controversial subject matter, including cannibalism, incest, murder, cults, and graphic gore. These themes are central to the narrative and may not be suitable for all players due to their explicit and unsettling nature.
- The game features extensive branching paths and player choices that significantly impact the story, leading to multiple distinct routes and numerous endings. Players are encouraged to save frequently to explore different outcomes and character developments.
- The game primarily functions as a visual novel, with gameplay largely consisting of reading dialogue, exploring environments, and solving light puzzles. It is built using RPG Maker but deviates from traditional RPG mechanics, focusing more on narrative progression.
- The game features straightforward and easy puzzles that do not significantly increase in difficulty. Overall gameplay is described as simple, focusing on accessibility rather than complex mechanics or challenges.
- The core story revolves around two siblings, Andrew and Ashley, attempting to survive in a hostile world after being trapped in an apartment. The narrative explores their struggles and the extreme measures they take to overcome difficulties.
Performance:
- The game is highly optimized and runs smoothly on a wide range of hardware, including older or less powerful PCs. This accessibility allows a broader player base to enjoy the game without needing high-end specifications.
- Players report a remarkably stable experience with no noticeable bugs or technical issues, indicating a high level of polish and attention to detail from the developers.
Recommendations:
- The game receives overwhelming positive recommendations and high ratings, often described as a must-play, unforgettable, and worth its price. Many reviewers encourage playing it to form one's own opinion, despite its controversial reputation.
- Players are highly anticipating the release of new chapters, especially Chapter 3 and 4, and the completion of the game. Many express a desire for more games from the developers, indicating strong engagement.
- The game contains intense, dark, and controversial themes such as incest, cannibalism, and psychological horror. Reviewers strongly advise that it is not for sensitive players, children, or the faint of heart, serving as a crucial content warning.
- The game encourages multiple playthroughs and deep reflection, as it doesn't offer easy answers or hold the player's hand. It can provoke self-reflection and reveal uncomfortable truths, requiring players to take their time.
- Many reviewers encourage purchasing the game early to support the developers and to potentially benefit from lower prices before future chapters are released, or to avoid potential future removal.
Miscellaneous:
- Players are highly anticipating the release of new episodes and chapters, as the game is currently in early access and unfinished. There is strong interest in seeing the story's continuation and eventual conclusion.
- The game features a wide array of highly disturbing and controversial themes, including murder, cannibalism, domestic violence, child abuse, and psychological horror. This content is designed to shock and is not suitable for all audiences, leading to significant public backlash.
- Players are requesting faster translations, particularly for Chinese, and broader platform support, such as Mac. There's also a desire for DRM-free versions of the completed game.
- Players purchased the game for various reasons, including supporting the developer, curiosity driven by controversy/hype, or even earning from game cards. Some played pirated versions before buying to support.
- The game utilizes a simple 2D art style, often compared to RPG Maker games, with still frames and transitions. Despite its simplicity, reviewers find the visual style effective for the genre and narrative.
