This City Hates You slots neatly into its place, creating an original experience that still fits in nicely with other members of the horror genre. It has several particularly interesting mechanics that create for a very compelling experience in and out of combat, as well as a few less-interesting holdovers that you could find in most RPGs. I found it to be incredibly digestible, particularly if you have any level of experience in the area. The holdovers - while boring - give the game room to introduce its more compelling systems, including a well-thought-out Action Points system and, of course, Body Modifications.

The Action Point system runs smoothly and feels well-balanced for combat. It provides more opportunities for complex actions at the GM's discretion and helps with the balance of weapons. Combat as a whole is built for hex grid play, which I would highly recommend sticking to. While TCHY offers a fair amount of flexibility, the positioning system is something that I personally wouldn't try playing around with too much.

TCHY also has a heavy emphasis on inventory management, which is generally a tossup for games in this style. The way it's implemented here is, in my opinion, effective. Holding too much limits your Action Points, heavily incentivizing carrying only what you need. The system grounds characters a bit more, sticking true to the classic horror setting. This means that, not infrequently, essential items will only be in the hands of one of the PCs, posing a danger to the party if they get split up.

Character creation in TCHY leans the same way - because of its design, making a "jack of all trades" is heavily disincentivized. Because of this, each character has very clear strengths and weakness, which they have to work together to balance. I would heavily advise a reasonably high level of communication with other players during this process, since character weaknesses can shape the game fairly significantly. Personally, I really enjoy this structure for a horror setting. While it can be limiting, it gives shape to very distinct characters who are always susceptible to some sort of disaster.

The brightest shining star in the game comes in the form of its monsters. TCHY makes a point of creating enemies that do their best to avoid the common pitfalls of horror media, with a section dedicated to avoiding the all-too-common ableism present in these sorts of games. This means that several "staples" of horror are absent from the Monsters section, instead replaced with a new wave of creative and incredibly illustrated foes. Enemies such as the Beetle and the Iron Maiden serve as highlights of horror in general, and the mechanics surrounding them just serve to reinforce how faithful they are to the genre. I personally believe the monsters alone would make the game worth buying - my only complaint is that there aren't more of them, which is apparently currently in the works.

As a whole, the game feels distinctly grounded. It makes a clear effort in Body Mods and Monsters to avoid the issues that plague much of horror media, and comes out even more successfully horrifying as a result. Combat flows well, providing players with plenty of opportunities and serving its place in the horror genre. Roleplaying is encouraged but not necessarily required, allowing for a wide breadth of player types and goals. I would highly recommend picking it up to anyone even marginally interested in the horror genre.