As expected, this game is different from anything else, ever. It's hard to find the words for this, especially as I'm writing this without having seen all of it, probably, I don't know. There's always more to these than we see on the surface. But I want to share my appreciation for it and also try to understand my own feelings about it, especially because I don't think this game can be condensed to a simple rating.
This game is built on mystery, through its lack of direction, its deliberately course artstyle, and all of it amplified by AFB's own persona. But like most of their work, it doesn't feel like it's vague for vagueness-sake. We know there's meaning to it, but at the same time the game doesn't seem to rely on it. AFB is a master of minimalism, and conveying emotion through simple means. I instantly felt sorry for Seraphina, long before the game's text showed us why we should.
Walking across long bridges, falling down into the unknown, stepping on elevators and moving paint buckets, trying to get back up, the game instead offers time to reflect on other things, brief moments of silence within the dissonance of it all. Blepasaur's eerie music complements this perfectly, and I'm so happy this rare collab paid off.
In the end, this game made me question the way we interact with video games and what we expect from them. I wish we could see more games like this out there, even if I don't understand them fully. But I'm not sure if many people other than AFB are capable of making them.