this is one of the best things ive ever experienced. go play it. the end

okay, not the end, but i still dont wanna blow through everything i have to say about this game because i definitely definitely definitely wanna make a video about it (i will make videos again!!). that being said i'll give away a lil nugget, probably something that i'll place near the introduction: this game is a fulfilled promise. ive always loved the escapist, fantasy type appeals of video games, the idea that i could just get lost in another world and all that. sadly, actually playing video games, even ones that have immersion and world construction as a goal, has very rarely gotten me to view the world in anything other than mostly mechanical terms. the illusion of wandering through another world does happen, but its more of a passing feeling, or something that generally comes periodically inbetween the moments where im considering things mechanically

eastshade gave me that feeling constantly, every time i booted it up it never took long for me to fall into it. there are other games that have immersed me a lot in their worlds: fallout new vegas for one, or vampire the masquerade bloodlines, or dark souls. but all those worlds feel hostile to you...the mojave and lordran are hostile to everyone, the human world is hostile to vampires, and its rly hard for me to think of any of these worlds as "escapes." yes there is power fantasy involved in all three of those games, and their worlds are more exciting and have more opportunities for adventure then my day to day existence, and for that i certainly enjoy romping through them. but eastshade doesnt feel like a place i want to retreat to from my daily life, eastshade feels like a place i want to HAVE as my daily life. not everyone is friendly, but no one is out to harm you. honestly, NOTHING is out to harm you (well there is cold weather, but that can be circumvented). there's no combat in the game at all, just social tasks, observation, exploration, and painting. its peaceful and wonderful, and because it never takes control away from u to forcibly show you anything visually impressive, every amazing sight feels organically discovered

i really cant sing the praises of the world design enough, its so organically navigable, and the world is compact enough that the lack of a radar or quest markers never becomes an issue. i still have so many details of the world just burned into my head, it only takes a couple walks through to be able to navigate comfortably, using landmarks and oddities and other features of the world. its so so so much smaller then skyrim or whatever, but it feels bigger to me...skyrim never gave me this much of a reason to care about the specifics of its massive world, and i couldnt keep track of that much anyway. eastshade's smaller, detailed world that trusted me enough to find my own bearings might just be my favorite world ive ever experienced in a video game

there's a lot to say about the game but im gonna try to restrain myself. just. this is one of the best things ever. its got glitches and stuff that sometimes took me out of the experience, but as a whole i was spellbound. this is game design goals, imo