itch.io

I really like the atmosphere and writing of this--the objects you decided to lay out in the room are offputting without being too scary or frightening, and I like the headache as an almost meter of how well you're doing. The first time I tried to ask "what the hell is going on!" and got blasted with a blank screen I thought it was really effective honestly, though I do wish I could progress a bit farther than this and really get a sense of the scenario here.

The most interesting part of this to me is the relationship between the player character and information, which helps you along the story but pulls you out of the initial dream of Lana. While the player can't actually stay in the dream and be with Lana longer, the idea that they could drives them to make the choice of ignoring information--as someone who likes to get all the lore I can out of the game I'm playing, creating this dynamic really struck me, and on my first playthrough I ended up succumbing to it for a bit. Playing it again and getting to read the book is also fascinating, just from the density of the scenario. It's a really cool sci-fi world you manage to flesh out while still leaving questions for us to theorize on our own. I do wish we got some kind of hint as to why the aliens dream of humans, but I really like it as a bait and switch kind of opening. The ending summary was also a great design choice.

I really like the emphasis on small choices we make in our everyday life (like do I have time to make breakfast or do I just go to class, when can I fit in a shower, etc.) I really think these make the game feel real and lived in, and I like the oppressive feeling brought on by the hand of capitalism. I almost wanted to focus in on some of those small decisions--the amount of choices one needs to make within the first hour of being awake alone can make for a fleshed out game! As is, I really like the simplicity of some of the decisions and the variety of the paths, but I thought if the endings looped back to the start it would have helped the replayablity aspect that this piece is really good at.