Wow, I can’t believe I was sleeping on this one! As both a PKD fan and someone with memories of playing one of the VALIS games on Sega with my friend in a basement in the 90s… Often wondered about the relationship between the two VALISES, and I am really glad I never researched it, because this paranoid fantasy bridges the gap in a way that is extremely satisfying and is my new headcanon. And it's worked out at both narrative and stylistic levels. Love that interplay between crude pains of everyday emotional experiences that spiral into these hyper-intellectual solipsistic rabbit holes. And all hovering around a kind of speedrun critical commentary on integrating New Wave SF. A paranoiac approach to the neverending Mario Party moment (anyone with two braincells at all has been there) that is spot on. Total class.