THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SPOILERS
I squeezed my chest in an attempt to cry in a different form of tears than the water that commonly falls out of my eyes.
I failed, I cried.
I felt twice the pain I believe I was supposed to and somehow it felt reassuring. This game strongly conveys all the characters' emotions, and I, for one, was not planning on missing a single display of them. In a story where the desired ending remains untouched by explicit mentions of death yet death depicted enough to be clearly understood, I wished for life. I hoped so strongly that the hiker would hold their head back up, I hoped so strongly that the hiker would have a good ending where they run away with no downside, but oh, what a lesson I have learnt at 1am on a Wednesday: no matter how hard you try, you can't always have a good ending.
Honestly I couldn't get enough of this game. Somehow I feel like I've been punched in the face repeatedly, but warmly embraced immediately following that.
Thank you.