I would have played this the moment it was released but I knew from my experience playing LONER_DOG that the moment I sat down I would not stop until I was done reading/playing. I was able to finally sit down almost two weeks later and it was absolutely worth it to be able to set aside enough time to play the whole thing in one sitting.
I loved everything about this. I feel like I would be remiss not to mention/compare this to LD but also wish to review it on it's own terms.
Had I not known LD, I would have been blown away by the writing but having read that prior I can say it has improved (if that were ever possible) a whole bunch. I loved the new cast of characters and once again felt like I was seeing facsimile versions of friends and loved ones.
The art was wonderful, Blood Machine and Bee knocked it out of the park. Having the paw prints be something in the background to collect made me take in the map way more than if nothing was there.
The index cards were cute both in art displayed and the little tid bits about each character, I loved instantly going back to the main menu to check them as soon as I got them.
Having the option to decide what scene to check was wonderful, it made me savor some of them more as I would go "I want to keep that one for later" / "I wanna know more about that NOW"
The music is stellar, my brain did not manage to hold on to any particular piece but the constant feeling of "yeah, this feels right" is there throughout the whole game.
For reasons I am not smart enough to explain, the writing/plot for this game made me appreciate LD more in a very "these two are their own things and they are REALLY GOOD at being those things"
Thank you and the entire team for making this, please never cease to make art.