This is INCREDIBLE oh my god the worldbuilding????????? The setting and plot are incredible I want to know MOREEEE I NEED to know what the truth is!!!!! Are the Old Gods actually bad, is the Divine really an ascended human? I wonder if the Divine actually IS the Creation Idol, and banishing the Old Gods doesn't make the garden bigger, it just wants to be the only power left :0
There's so much mystery!! I can't even tell if the Idol of Thorns is good or evil based on how it acts; the way it's heavy and hurts us when we use its power makes it out to be evil, but the visions it's showing of the vine people set on fire by humans did make me pause and wonder, because it described it as "defenceless" and in a way it really is, it can only act if someone allows it to act through them, and only act out person's desire! However it can influence the mind so is it really defenceless? Both yes and no. What makes me wonder even more is how the only ways it acts is...to help us. It offers to save our friends and the pilgrims, and in the end if we go forward with no spirit to keep us safe, it seems to protect us from the other gods?!?? But is that kindness, or just seeing a chance to take us over and keep us there forever? What even happens to us if we stay, do we eventually die or become a part of the Idol????
There's so many Idols there, and some are so humungous there's no way a Saint managed to carry them on their back. Some could've taken multiple Saints but some are so big it must've taken a caravan, but ti's forbidden to go past the Creation Idol, were they taken there before it was forbidden? Was it after it was forbidden but they had no choice? If so what happened to them when crossing it, given that they aren't a Saint? What would happen to anyone not of the True Faith who went past it? Do the Idols even hurt them?? If the Divine really is tricking everyone, then does the power of the Idols only hurt the people under the Divine's control, is it harmless to others? The only people we see are part of the faith, so we have no outsider's perspective on the entire concept of the pilgrimage :0
What even is banishing? What does it even do? Does it take them away from where people can perceive them, and not being perceived stops them from existing? Does that mean they all wake up whenever a new Idol is abandoned there? There seems to be some kind of energy and whispering, is it remnants or are they all still alive and aware, does it even get rid of them does it just stop them from being able to contact humans? If so, how does that make the garden bigger, if nothing is actually happening to them? Then again, it's by the Idol of Creation, so maybe it's a sacred ground and being delivered there does somehow kill them.
AAAAAA so many questions I want to know everything!!!!!!!! I've played through so many times trying to get different endings and new dialogue and lore/story, and I still have no idea what the truth is!!! It really seems like the Idol is evil, but there's those little snippets of doubt that we have no way of knowing if it's corruption from the Idol, or if it's the truth!!
Absolutely LOVE this, gorgeous visuals, the music is AMAZING and fits the mood so incredibly well and generally is just very very well composed <3 The art is just lovely and the presentation is so good, I love the detail on the menu screen of the candles lighting up one at a time before the menu is revealed <3 The UI is simple and clean and works very well!!!
My only suggestion would be a way to skip to the next decision once you've completed the game at least once! That way it doesn't take so much waiting to try and get different endings! :3 I mean I don't even know if I got everything! Saving María gets us more dialogue and questioning, and accepting the Idol's help has us feeling like we're on the verge of discovering something when we reach the Creation Idol, but if there's a way to actually discover it, I haven't found it :0
But yeah, I truly adore this, the worldbuilding is amazingly well done, there's such a richness to the setting and it feels like there's so much more out there to be discovered and learned about, it's so creative and intriguing and I love it!!! <3<3<3