A creative project that knows how to wield all of its elements. For The Black Hour's Polish and eastern European influences go beyond plot points and names, working to support its narrative. UI, music and character designs all display a care to build inventive while borrowing from tradition. Additionally, surrealism and abstraction have been employed really well in building a complex world that's also not too hard to comprehend. Being aware of its predecessor Blue Hour, I cannot deny I came into this with some worries as my experience with that one was more uneven. To my pleasant surprise, I had a far more enjoyable experience here. The fact that the devs have toned down the purple prose helped, but I'm particularly impressed that they did so without harming the idiosyncrasy of this "series." Unfortunately, my other major problem with Bl'Hour I had has returned. For The Black Hour was written in Polish first and then translated and it shows. Most of the time, these imperfect translations are easy to ignore, but I found that denser scenes — action and exposition ones — are harder to follow than they have to be. In a project already dense and complex, I fear this did some noticeable damage to my experience. Even so, I liked this one quite a bit! It's artistic, solid and intriguing in a way that is hard to achieve in general, let alone within the bounds of a game jam.