This review is composited from the tweets i strung together after playing it.
more than anything else, it is an architectural portfolio. somewhere between architecture and installation art, actually. the choice to imply 3rd person POV story at the very beginning seemed very out of touch with the rest of the work.
adding 1st person narrative at the very end, to imply that you are using a technology to psychically travel to different places, is a cute framing narrative, and i did enjoy the change in setting-- the sudden decorated room, lights and city noise did not go unnoticed.
i spent the first part of the work worried that it was a walking horror game, and that something was going to move somewhere. i did look it up to soothe my nerves馃槀
the shift towards symbolism at the end-- bringing in a humanoid form, warming me up with earth and sand, seeing the ship in the sky-- the pacing seems off, but I can't quite put my finger on why.
i thought that the ability to refocus your eye according to the light level that you were looking at, was a major factor in my enjoyment of the work. This followed by the extremely high resolution concrete texture. it did feel like the creator loved their creations. what can i say, im a sucker for materials.
i felt that there was a non-zero amount of James Turrell influence, and that quite frankly there could be more. Lighting had a few important moments, but the rest of the lighting-- while good-- seems underdeveloped in retrospect.
i don't know if this is possible with the tools that an indie creator would have, but a lot of the shadows were broken-- primarily in the corners of stairs. when i got to the installation with the screaming hole and there are shadows going crazy all over the place and the neon-like fixture floating in the sky, i was (and remain somewhat) unsure of if the shadows intended or not, because of the almost certainly unintended broken details in simpler rooms.
ultimately i really liked the game because it took me back to a place i feel like i havent been since i was a child-- the in between concrete structures. being a kid felt like having to sit on the stairs outside alone for hours, walking on short concrete walls, getting lost. now that i am older, those locations are better understood as simply the thing that connects and holds other places: i am going through it to get from one store to another, passing the stairs to sit at a cafe table.
relatedly, it also reminded me strongly of my old fear of the dark. 馃槀
anyways, if you like art and architecture, definitely worth the money. thank you moshe!