Prae Obscura is extremely good at surreal worldbuildings & memorable characters, and the painted city features both in spades. As I am writing this review, the game does not yet contains any art, which frankly emphasizes the feeling of the setting to a delicious degree. Do I know what the characters are seeing? Not quite. Can I feel it? Oh, yes, I can.
The depiction of the protagonist's intersexness, and how it affects their journey, from the desire to get their rightful body back to the difficulties of undergoing such a difficult journey as someone frequently subject to adrenal crisis, is so fucking cool and real. That's a real person right here with personal history and desires and opinions on things, who also happens to have intersexuality be a huge part of their life. It owns.
The end of the game hit me like a ton of bricks. It's layered with so many meanings. The use of the video game format to emphasizes the illusion of choices, the removal of agency, the cyclicity of it all is just... chief fucking kiss. Someone will fix this one day (break you out of the time loop) (get god some fucking rest) (stop rampant & systematic IGM) someone will fix this one day. But I'm sorry. Today is not that day.
Anyways I love Curio Curio is now my best friend we are GETTING some medecine for the dog.