i feel like this one deserves an honest review cuz it was hyped up so much and i was genuinely invested in the first half but i was very disappointed with the direction it took in the latter half.
i was immediately intrigued by the premise and i enjoyed the character drama and spencers internal dilemma in the beginning when everything was allowed to be ambiguous but at a certain point (when spencer starts to realize whats going on) all of that falls to the wayside in favor exploring the central mystery which quickly becomes ridiculously convoluted for the sake of itself and lacks any sort of emotional impact.
the pacing is extremely fast with basically no breathing room between major developments which is fun for a bit but becomes really exhausting especially toward the end when youre constantly being bombarded with new questions and new answers.
in the end i came away from it scratching my head as to what this story was even trying to do thematically and feeling like it only really existed as a vehicle to explore the sci fi concepts at the center of its mystery. everything surrounding that felt insignificant by the end as if it only existed to check off boxes and fit the mold of a predictable narrative structure in which the admittedly complex and relatable protagonists square up against a shallow and cartoonishly evil villain for contrived reasons.
i did genuinely enjoy the first act and i was impressed by the presentation despite the amateurish artwork and renpy jank but in the end i feel it has a severe case of misplaced priorities and does not understand its own strengths well enough to deliver on its most interesting concepts.
props for actually finishing a project like this though i think theres a lot to be learned in seeing an idea through to its conclusion and i hope that the author will carry those lessons forward because i think they could make something truly awesome if they were a bit more intentional in their approach to storytelling. cheers