I, uh— wow. Alright, here goes.

Song of Saya is a deeply flawed masterpiece. Despite its shortcomings, unfortunate as they are, what it does right really shines. Kotaku wrote "it manages to make the abominable, beautiful" which is by no means a lie. It knows how to use horror without relying on jumpscares; it knows how to let humans' twisted imagination do half of the work; it knows how to use shocking content without coming across as forced, though admittedly the shock value it relies on grew dull by the end.

The sound team absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nailed it. They have that Akira Yamaoka thing going on, where the music would probably not be fit for listening on its own, but in-game it manages to single-handedly set the entire mood. Sounds get subtly more industrial as the backgrounds get more grotesque, the calm and relaxing female vocals accompanying most of Saya's dialogue are eloquently contrasted with gritty scratches in one side of your headphones. If nothing else, I can wholeheartedly say the music in this game is itself a reason to play it, which is telling.

Probably my favorite aspect of this title, if you'll allow me to invoke my inner Yahtzee, is that the game is very content with staring you down and saying "good job, you made the obvious prediction, and you're right, which means you get to sit here and suffer while it all unfolds". It convinces you to empathize with the horrendous behavior of certain characters, then laughs in your face when you realize you've been tricked. I absolutely love this, and it comes across very well. Not once did I see it coming, and not once did it get old.

There are three endings, which I promise I won't spoil. One gets you what you expect, one gets you what you want, and the other gets in one last punch to the gut and asks you questions you are by no means prepared to answer. It's this third ending that lets you close the game, finish your soda, and sit there dumbfounded for a few minutes in a desperate effort to make sense of what emotions you just felt.

There are so, so many things I want to say, but the bittersweet truth is that any more detail would be spoilers by definition. Now saddle up some cash and play Song of Saya!

I, uh— wow. Alright, here goes. Song of Saya is a deeply flawed masterpiece. Despite its shortcomings, unfortunate as they are, what it does right [i]really[/i] shines. Kotaku wrote "it manages to make the abominable, beautiful" which is by no means a lie. It knows how to use horror without relying on jumpscares; it knows how to let humans' twisted imagination do half of the work; it knows how to use shocking content without coming across as forced, though admittedly the shock value it relies on grew dull by the end. The sound team absolutely fucking nailed it. They have that Akira Yamaoka thing going on, where the music would probably not be fit for listening on its own, but in-game it manages to single-handedly set the entire mood. Sounds get subtly more industrial as the backgrounds get more grotesque, the calm and relaxing female vocals accompanying most of Saya's dialogue are eloquently contrasted with gritty scratches in one side of your headphones. [b]If nothing else, I can wholeheartedly say the music in this game is itself a reason to play it[/b], which is telling. Probably my favorite aspect of this title, if you'll allow me to invoke my inner Yahtzee, is that the game is very content with staring you down and saying "good job, you made the obvious prediction, and you're right, which means you get to sit here and suffer while it all unfolds". It convinces you to empathize with the horrendous behavior of certain characters, then laughs in your face when you realize you've been tricked. I absolutely [i]love[/i] this, and it comes across very well. Not once did I see it coming, and not once did it get old. There are three endings, which I promise I won't spoil. One gets you what you expect, one gets you what you want, and the other gets in one last punch to the gut and asks you questions you are by no means prepared to answer. It's this third ending that lets you close the game, finish your soda, and sit there dumbfounded for a few minutes in a desperate effort to make sense of what emotions you just felt. There are so, so many things I want to say, but the bittersweet truth is that any more detail would be spoilers by definition. Now saddle up some cash and play Song of Saya!