Just beat it, and loved it.
Really smart writing, fully conscious of the genre tropes it's using (and player's expectations of them) and smartly leverages them to instead tell a very human, and touching story while maintaining tension and mystery. I can see why people might have thought the ending was dissapointing I guess, but I much prefer what we got. This is a resolution that is pretty comfortable in the world of movies, but isn't nearly as tidy or pulpy as what videogamers are conditioned to expect, and is all the better for it.
The game isn't perfect. Apart from the unfortunate technical stuff, I would have liked to see the day to day job stuff fleshed out in a more active way. I think it's really really cool that you have a game where you're essentially a hiker, so I kinda wish there were some more interactive gamery stuff around that that could be woven into the narrative and relationship with Delilah, since the escape to this job is so important to the narrative I think there could have been cool gameplay scenarios around getting supplies or maintaining power, letting you fish, customize your lodge, etc. Just make it more immersive, which could also let the game last longer which would help build the feeling of knowing Delilah even further. On the same track, I also wish the world were livlier, as you spend most of the game hiking around it would be nice to see more fauna and flora and generally interact with it a bit more. That being said, it used its minimalism well, and turning off your position marker worked surprisingly well, and it was pretty cool navigating by map and compass.
But it's a very tight narrative with two endearingly flawed and human characters, and is a very unique concept. I loved all the small touches, like what you could radio about, or certain small descions getting little payoffs. Even certain things like looking at a certain thing while talking to Delilah occassionally yields new dialgue.
So yeah, I really liked the game. $20 well spent. And of course the art and music were on point as well.
I just beat the game.I really like it a lot, I mean, wow. I genuinely don't see the disappointment in the ending, unless you were expecting some sort of sci-fi twist, which, I think would have lessened the experience.
It's such a human story, I was engrossed the entire way through.
Totally agree. I saw pretty much everything about the ending coming, and I don't mean that in a bad way at all. The ending absolutely served the story and characters and narrative it had been building up and exploring to that point. This is a fully character driven game, and very grounded one at that, which is somehing game's don't often explore.
