there is a lot to say about this game.
so the gameplay itself is awesome. i love how the different areas (fairway, rough, etc) feel different in terms of physics and graphics. in general the golf physics feel pretty nice. the overall game concept is incredible.
i really like the feeling of shooting the golf shots. the little leg-closing animation is very satisfying.
the last shot in the game is both cinema and also something that i actually sort of missed on my first playthrough. i had accidentally discovered the >100% behavior beforehand and just sort of naturally assumed i should do that to shoot the moon, so i didn't get to see the limp shots that miss or the crowd cheering you on, and so forth. all of those mechanics are a very cool send-off to the game.
the quicksand is a cool material. it really embodies the sort of tropey "oh no quicksand!!" thing in a mechanical way.
the story for the game is very interesting. the very first slide i was definitely hooked. registering your neovagina as a lethal weapon is a great line.
the second slide was extremely confusing to me the first time i played through. it mentions "ms. mary sue" which i figured must be referring to the player character, as that is the only character we've seen at that point who is female and has the last name mary sue. so i figured this slide must be from the perspective of a new character, who is maybe referring to us in the past? but no, it turns out "ms. mary sue" is herself a new character, and i believe we never actually learn her first name.
so, i think the writing for that part could be slightly clarified somehow.
this also might just be my inner maya keshet, but it was probably harder for me to figure out who exactly "ms. mary sue" was supposed to be because she was apparently both our teacher at 11? 13? years old and also someone we now want to kiss. ultimately my reading of this relationship is that it is perhaps intentionally a bit strange? that the point of it is that, even if it looks fucked up from the outside, that doesn't invalidate lilith's right to self determination--self determination to transition, and self determination to live her life in general. i hope i'm not completely misreading the game here.
in general i think there is a power to simply saying out loud one of the true facts of trans rights: for lilith, it is her own life to live. nobody else gets a say in it, even if they are the head of the pussy golf association or the jewish matriach, etc.
i feel there is an interesting tension between two others facets of the story: one, our protagonist is apparently agnostic-ish now, but two: a holy curse does literally exist and it is apparent to the protagonist. i think i would describe myself as either agnostic or an atheist, but if i felt an actual curse in my pussy, i would probably rethink things. (to be fair, she doesn't actually mention whether or not her faith was affected after feeling the curse).
overall the story is an absolutely wild ride. i am still not exactly sure what to think of it. that is beautiful in its own way.
a couple other comments about the writing:
- the little fact sheets for each character are delightful.
- the exploration of the ways various people talk about trans rights is very real. all three of the competitors seem to embody a very particular kind of person.
- i do think naming your character mary sue is awesome.