itch.io

this shit is so beautiful i didnt expect it to hit me with so much feelings bc it took me back from when i was a lonely ass child rooming around my grandmas house. just the viewpoint from a smaller perspective and these sudden bursts of imaginations make me wanna cry

spoiler

the first painting felt easy but affirming since i recently had been in a similar situation and i dont see gaslighting really represented. the second painting felt a little bit more like a dream but i also suddenly felt unsure what to say to the boy. should i be honest? it felt weird but i was affirmed earlier to state the hard truth which is a freeing affect to someone in that situation still. but i still felt okay, not to overly spooked by the game. the third painting was starting out creepy and i tried to prepare myself for a jumpscare warning but i didnt get the key in the beginning until i did and i started being scared. then the monster was there and i managed it well etcetera etcetera, entering the fleshy room whichs music always seems to get a little louder, so i prepare for another jumpscare.

 i get to the embryo guy and at first my reaction was oh no, it is some sort of a prolife messaging, jesus. well it wasnt and the embryo is this soldier guy. that thing started talking about how he doesnt really ever got to move on and alot of people tried. he is kind of a rude guy. and suddenly he describes that he murdered people. describing the pyramid still makes me shiver the timbers. after telling me about his murders he tells me its my choice if i want to make him move on. i kind of want to let him die but yeah, im there, slipping into letting him move on anyways, feeling very conflicted but i knew the game wouldnt proceed probably. i got out of the room and i feel dreadful. i see a pyramid in the flesh rooms walking floor and i feel like it was on purpose but like in a dream, i cant tell for sure. then the monster comes back and says this thing moved on. i exit the place and charon basically hits me in the face metaphorically, when i explains to me the monster he talked about is the guy. the sheer lonely imagery of the baby man made me empathize with a monster. it made me feel sick, as if it was supposed to play with my emotions and also make a player move on from whoever it can be that harms them and makes them stay in the limbo of are they good or are they not. answering a question i didnt know i was asking. 

that still makes me feel a weird thing inside right now as im typing it. charon tells me to go to the last painting and i get to move on. 

conclusion:

at the start i expected something else, before the domestic abuse warning popped up. i dont see verbal abuse being a topic alot in games and i like it when people bring awareness to it. 

no matter how hard i tried to analyze this and be level headed it made me emotional, from painting to painting. i always felt an never experienced before awe from the design of the game. i cant put it into a box, like a suda51 game. a game i feel is about morality and a state of depersonalization. 

 i would have liked to say that im happy you didnt implement overly cruel gore elements (yeah yeah to each their own but personally i like thriller more and think overly crude gre is tasteless) but you still managed to make me really emotional and spooked, without usage of standard horror tropes. congrats, sincerely. if this ever becomes a whole game, i would love to buy it. it was so rich and thought through (sounds very cliche but its really true. i also love the name algebra falcon. kind of fits the theme and overall art style you got going on. i really appreciated to have played this on an emotional level though because i also had to learn that theres nothing sweeter than the truth sometimes...

my theory to the game is that its like the afterlife like in greek mythology and charon alluded to the styx. but i do think its supposed to be its own thing. i like that basically its a situation set up very well to cater people that have experienced maladaptive daydreaming and dissociaton of some sort. its lovecraftian and i do like me some weird shit. another theory of mine is the ai like art is kind of a commentary of how shitty ai makes artists feel ha. also maybe some painters died in the third painting because they are the same as the murderer. but sure i am not because i won by killing him. in the beginning the music has a slow gazey feel and i wonder if that was purposeful. also the music didnt try to make you scared like in a horror game, but rather just draw you into it. every painting had a use for the player to move on themselves. it seemed to be about accepting an abusive person real character, since it was a reacuring theme. thats why im also not sure if its actually supposed to have anything to do with death at all. sometimes when youre in a relationship where you betray yourself to stay with them, it feels exactly like this game, like a long exhausting, disorienting and draining walk. it only ends when you accept you dont need to reach the destiny

well this was long. but feel like i wanna give back to creators who make such good games for no money at all. i think this should be a installation in a famous museum somewhere and it has probably altered my subconscious already.

thanks