I’m loving this game. The character and plot development are much more immersive than other games in the genre, because people act like I’d expect them to. I’m no writer but it just feels like everyone has their own motives and they stick to them, and it’s just so consistent and tight. I’m on my second playthrough (last one was last summer, so basically exactly a year ago) and I’m appreciating the polish added to the stuff I already saw last time.
We’re all here for obvious reasons, but I love that you have ample opportunities to rattle the cage, and circumstances still bring you back to what we’re here for. The story is way better because you’re presented with glimpses of hope and given actual ways to pursue them, and they end up only making your situation more entrenched. Also, this game can be really funny when it wants to be, shout outs for the steamed hams reference.
I have one criticism: it’s possible to talk to May about paying cash to reduce rent in half before buying the tip jar, at which point Catherine has a conversation with IO about why cash is valuable. This is the first point in my second playthrough where I felt like the characters acted strangely, because if I were Cat, I would have told IO that May said we could reduce rent in half with cash. If you’ve already had that chat with May before this dialog with IO, it’d be a no-brainer way to convince IO that hard cash is valuable, IMHO.
Anyways, I hope you keep at this game until completion, it’s masterful so far.