I have actually finished this
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jesus christ man...
I thought the scary parts were just the fear (like the first scene with the corridor) weren't that much hinting at the horror undertone but at how somebody who had went through such abuse may feel scared and unsure even by normal stuff as they are in constant tension
I mean, of course, it could still be that very thing. I just didn't know it was actually going to derail into horror. Which just serves to say: this was masterfully built, tittering just on the edge of the player's expectation which is a REALLY hard line to keep on threading.
FOR the most part (and after looking at the story from my refreshed perspective, for probably all parts) the writing was phenomenal and surprisingly very, very mature which I admire a lot.
Especially for the scene where Angel talks about how she doesn't want to feel different now about sex, despite the sexual assault she went through, the frustration, the guilt for not being 'bothered enough' was portrayed just so tearingly human and real.
I had saw many rpg-esque horror games (manly badass hero) and played some myself. So, as I was playing this game, throughout the middle part, I have had the sense that: "Well, there seems to be something that's too off about Lee's house and behavior", "this is shaping to be a pretty solid and standard horror premise" The cop out 'chasing scene' when Angel first went up. How then, just after that. Lee overshared about his mother's implied abuse/neglect and painkiller overdose The detrimentally selfless, response Lee gave to Angel when she brought up suicide. weird timing and odd framing I felt that there was something codependent forming. A type of manipulation they would both inflict on each other because of their past trauma and feelings of inadequacy. This, in turn, made me be really invested into the story. I wanted to see how this would pan out These seemed like they could have been just some transitional responses. Out of fear and their own type of self neglect that could be corrected, through boundaries etc. I wanted to know how this is would turn out 'healthy' for them I thought that well, Lee could help Angela have a better grounding in herself and her life, and, int 'turn', Angela could perhaps help him open up to his feelings and trust and process
I too have expected that the story would follow a process of healing and how tumultuous and terrifying, but ultimately so beautiful it can be I have also said that " well, if this will turn out to be something horror where... I don't knoooow, Lee is a murderer or something, crazy thought but, if that's so, this is a great horror story"
and look, I do respect it for that. I respect how Lee did not harm Angel, I think that was a quirk that would be hard to tell off (especially after seeing the shrine) and an overall interesting dynamic.
In the same ending, I also have found the fact that Angel goes out to save herself, somewhat signaling the fact that she is trying and wants to heal herself, that she is willing to respect herself in in contrast to her depending on others to be a good choice for this path
BUT, honestly, this ending did feel like a afterthought and the cliffhanger, while indeed more real, maybe felt a little cheap? I do prefer it as my canon though All of this said, I do personally believe this was a great ***horror game***in all of its deserved earnest, but it could've been something just soooo much more interesting and unique. Not to say horror rpg games and tropes are necessarily bad or anything, god knows how the Purgatory series is one of my favorite horror rpg stories of all time, despite how pulpy it is(pulp... that it kinda create somewhat)
But I feel this game was just so... mature? and intricate, and complex, and the horror ending made it slightly tongue-in-cheek
very interesting, thought provoking and beautifully crafted but I hope people who had played this, and the authors themselves didn't see this as a cute-but-twisted love story.
I hope, and I don't want to be judgy. I do not know how the main creator is as a person. so even after seeing what 'homie', homonculus100 has made before, I hope that this is a good kind of disturbing, some sorts of exploration of the macabre, abuse by our closed ones and the systems that surround us and how it can derail into even more abuse (e.g. how Angel froze when Lee came in the basement like how she described when she got sexually assaulted)
I honestly want to believe the stay-with-Lee-ending is not the canonical rout, even if more 'beautiful' from the epilogue As Angel had said, it isn't real real respect, it isn't real love, it isn't real happiness, it isn't real.
About controls, a small edit, It kinda sucked that I wasn't able to move back (so if I accidentally pressed any button I couldn't read what I have missed or seen what I have missed unless I was to skip
Manually, and in a very cumbersome manner,
through all the dialogue (as I had to watch the, albeit beautiful cutscenes) to that very scene
from a weirdly placed save because you can't save unless you are out of a cutscene
which is weirdly and far spaced
thing that did put me in a bit of a situation as I had to abort for something quite important but I didn't want to lose too much progress)
although, I can see how that could be a mechanic of its own, something akin to fear and hunger, although I do think it should be flashed out a bit
adding a skip button could just be such a great start
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I guess thank you for making something that will stick in my brain for a long time, not because it was cheap, but because it had a lot of meat on its bones to chew and think on
[SPOILER]
I hope you have a wonderful day and that you are indeed a sane person (which let's be real, you probably are, I am biased and I am not apt for psychoanalysis) because it would honestly make things unbearably awkward
8.9/10
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