Holy shit.

Warnings

This is a very dark game, containing torture, murder, and sexual violence. Definitely not for children.

It also requires adopting a Christian mindset: the Christian views on the various themes that come up have power in-universe, so you must go along with them even if different from your own. If you’re constantly ranting about Christian hegemony, maybe skip this one.

Writing

Definitely conveys the mood and themes! Dark, haunting, relentless. The beginning felt a bit overwrought, but the rest of the game very quickly justified the tone, so it works.

A couple translation/tone errors.

Story

The story is inspired by the poem The Muse. It rather reminds me of a different poem.

The frame is apparently simple: You write, then your muse shows you inspiration for what to write next. The real bones of the story show up in the common thread between what she shows.

In no time at all, the game made me desperate to defy fate. At a few points I worried it was pulling that stupid trick where it forces me to do something then berates me for it, but not at all: the real intent goes much deeper.

After finishing Act 4, I was flailing in horror and trying to defy the muse, so I tried the solution to Act 4 again — not expecting a specific response, just to express rebellion. I was masterfully punished for this.

Characters

Extremely.

Implementation

Pretty solid. A few minor problems here and there, but nothing that impedes progress. However, since the game heavily encourages trying to break out of the fated path, I would have liked more implementation of off-path actions the player can try. In particular it makes sense for the PC to attempt suicide at several points, and there is no specific response for this.

Puzzles

Most of the puzzles are very simple, based on themes rather than reasoning. The final game-winning puzzle is an extreme example of this. I haven’t seen this done before, and I very much like it.

My only complaint is about Act 6: I liked having a more complex puzzle thrown in there, and it uses player vs character knowledge very pleasantly, but I found it under-clued and I don’t think the solution makes very much logical sense.

Use of media

Body-slammed me right from the start with beautiful art. Didn’t let up. WHAM.

Help and Hints

I didn’t use the hints during the game, but read them afterwards. They are complete and very well-structured. However, they make no attempt to explain the Christian ideas that permeate the game, so I’m not sure they’d be sufficient hinting for a player who’s unfamiliar with them — especially a player who is familiar with Jewish interpretations of the same concepts and therefore wouldn’t leap to the Christian ones. Not so bad when you can look up the words, but the last hint is less clear.