So after playing all the games I would say that as an experience, this compilation of games was pretty good. Though I would personally stop playing at specimen #08. The story and games after specimen #06 start to take a turn for the worst and really become individual experiences and not the chronological interconnected single narrative that I believed it to be.
It kinda felt like a drop in quality at a certain point because different people make different games and tell different stories. So even if they had something to work with, it still may not be coherent or fun to play. And you can’t like tell people “What are you doing? Making a game about collecting books again? People have already done that.” Because they did the work and you have to take what you can get. Like at least they finished it and contributed to this work and that’s cool. Making a game is already hard enough.
I wanted to say how amazing the ui is for this game is though. I’m talking about the main menu for this compilation. It’s so smooth and easy to navigate through. The sounds do sound a lot like they came from metal gear and I’m not sure but they sound great! And they way the disk looks and the sound that it makes when it’s spinning is so cool. I think I’ll always remember how cool that is. Oh and I love the whole secret files and stuff when you look at the log notes. Yeah you know what, the sound design for this particular main menu is amazing. Like the log note section has these nice paper sounds and these hands appear as you look down the paper. It’s so cool!
Even though I didn’t like most of the games, I still think that chain is worth a play and one of the best things to have come out in 2020. For anyone who likes low poly, ps1 looking games, and a unique story from games 1-6 and 8, I’d say give it a try!