figured it might be a good idea to put my steam review here too

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nearly a year late edit factoring in the IntraVenous update and whatnot:

the game has since upped its game by more than just a tad, and the story that was brilliant from the start has come to attain upon itself a new light and a bunch of perspectives. it is not a game for illiterate scum, condescending though i may sound, but truth the say is the harshest mistress (they probably don't, but i'll pretend they do, props to my solipsism).

the update mostly highlights the old points the story was going for but if you don't fumble the simplest postgame question preceding new game+ you get a whole secret sequel worth a whole new world of rumination. thematically i find it in ways similar to Final Fantasy VII and VIII, though i'm not done with the latter yet, and the game isn't uninformed by the former to say the least - to perhaps get the better grasp of the story AND lore both i encourage everyone giving this a shot to check the list of references this game's full of, accessible from the title screen right off the bat. if you want to know how to reason about the game think on the contents of the in-game forum, ONISM1999, how you'd react to it, how the cast would AND does react to it, how things could click together and what it might mean complementing what you already know. you should be asking a lot of questions always, just as when you were, are or would or will be reading Murakami (either Ryu or Haruki could work but the latter's influence's all over pre-I.V content), Pynchon, my favs Nabokov and Shimada Souji-san and so on.

umineko readers are probably better equipped for this game in a variety of ways.

there's little wrong with the writing of this game, i could do better if i wanted to but i think of myself rather highly, on par with my favs aforementioned, so yeah forget that ill and rather performative reception of the game from years ago. playing Two Brothers will actually do you some good as well, not necessary of course but eh. for the secret sequel watch out for Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain intertextuality, explore some alchemy stuff by reading the Chemical Wedding by/of Christian Rosencreutz. few games get as multifaceted as this one. i only sing praises for the only thing i really hated is checking out the old battle mode after the new one because i wouldn't wanna level up again in ng++, otherwise yeah, it's peak fiction straight up. i think everyone can enjoy this unless they're driven by malice in one way or another specifically. those who suppose the message of the sequel's ending pertains to its initial reception critically miss the point, ingame and beyond. the perfect sekaikan of escapism, sort of its pinnacle in and of itself, it treats escapism quite cruelly and disregards whatever notions thereof you might've had throughout the game by making you assess both its own narrative and the world around you with heightened grip on reality than ever before, or so it's become for me over time and during my playing it too. this is a rather transformative art game going way way way way beyond just entertainment; as such, 2038/10.

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og review

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this could be yet another "i am so yiiking out rnnnn" review but no i want to genuinely remark on how actually fantastic this game is. be wary that it IS postmodern and therefore it's probably a bit of a mindfwck to perceive it as something meant to be easily perceived, but why would you start a game with no desire to get into it wholeheartedly anyway?

the only complaint i used to have is the battle system but by the end i managed to not only get used to it, but also grew to enjoy it, soooo yeah it ain't half-bad either and there's a giant update coming soon anyways

i also happen to relate quite a bit to the very unlikeable protagonist who... well, he at least attempts to grow, you know? and the fact that he sucks so much at so many things just goes to teach anyone playing a lesson on who not to turn out in life which i say is also worth the time invested. plus it explores the twistedness of the mind exceptionally. this here is probably one of the finest pieces of postmodern art out there - and i say that having read quite a few gems, and having also written and made a few YIIKs of my own, too.

so i DO recommend this to literally everyone. if they have the courage and desire to immerse themselves in it, anyway. discussing this game in one small company would probably be the best experience as well, yet sadly i happened to lose just about the entirety of my usual social circle so :skull:

2000/10 — and i'd be lying to myself if i rated it a digit lower!