I didn't finish this game. Spoiler text below if you wish to know more.

I played through the first ending, which was enough for me to consider my experience complete.

Firstly, I'll explain what I enjoyed. This game is visually beautiful. The highlight for me was the pixel art for the characters. Each character feels extremely animated and unique, as they all move and react in their own quirky ways. It's clear that a lot of love was put into bringing each character to life. My only gripe is how 'bouncy' each character is when they breath. The 3D environment was stunning, which really helped me to immerse myself in the narrative. There are a couple of other things I enjoyed, like how the characters interacted with each other, and the minigames were fun distractions from the emotional beats of the story.

Now onto the negative which lead me to write this review. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the story up until The first ending . There is some genuine thought provoking, emotional and funny moments throughout the story. However, it's all muddled by a splash of pseudoscience nonsense. Don't get me wrong, some of my favourite games are heavily based on pseudoscience themes, like Steins Gate and the Nonary Games. Its inclusion in the story here felt forced, leaving me to wonder if the story would be better off without it. There is enough going on with the setting and the characters to tell an incredible story, but its all intertwined with this garbage. Either fully commit to it, or just tell an amazing story without it.

I'll concede that if I continued playing to completion, my experience might not be as soured as it was. What I did get was a visually incredible game, a small but likeable cast of quirky and fun characters and a serviceable soundtrack. At moments the story had me on the verge of tears, both from laughter and emotionally impactful moments. It's a shame its all severely wounded by pseudoscience when it didn't need to be there.

I didn't finish this game. Spoiler text below if you wish to know more. [spoiler] I played through the first ending, which was enough for me to consider my experience complete. [/spoiler] Firstly, I'll explain what I enjoyed. This game is visually beautiful. The highlight for me was the pixel art for the characters. Each character feels extremely animated and unique, as they all move and react in their own quirky ways. It's clear that a lot of love was put into bringing each character to life. My only gripe is how 'bouncy' each character is when they breath. The 3D environment was stunning, which really helped me to immerse myself in the narrative. There are a couple of other things I enjoyed, like how the characters interacted with each other, and the minigames were fun distractions from the emotional beats of the story. Now onto the negative which lead me to write this review. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the story up until [spoiler] The first ending [/spoiler]. There is some genuine thought provoking, emotional and funny moments throughout the story. However, it's all muddled by a splash of pseudoscience nonsense. Don't get me wrong, some of my favourite games are heavily based on pseudoscience themes, like Steins Gate and the Nonary Games. Its inclusion in the story here felt forced, leaving me to wonder if the story would be better off without it. There is enough going on with the setting and the characters to tell an incredible story, but its all intertwined with this garbage. Either fully commit to it, or just tell an amazing story without it. I'll concede that if I continued playing to completion, my experience might not be as soured as it was. What I did get was a visually incredible game, a small but likeable cast of quirky and fun characters and a serviceable soundtrack. At moments the story had me on the verge of tears, both from laughter and emotionally impactful moments. It's a shame its all severely wounded by pseudoscience when it didn't need to be there.