Recent reviews by pengu

Even without talking about the gameplay, the atmosphere of this game is unparalleled. Wandering through the mansion with this amazing soundtrack makes me feel profound nostalgia, loss, and a bit of hope. I think its achieved a new peak that Myst, Edith Finch, Outer Wilds, etc. pioneered before it. If this game had a VR version, I would buy VR equipment just for it.

As for the gameplay, I think it's best to approach each run with an open mind. You might not achieve the goal you wanted but you might find 3 other leads. That's not to say that some puzzles don't have problems, especially towards the ultra late game, but I think adventure/puzzle game enthusiasts have to agree that this is one of the fairest games of its size.

Masterpiece of an open world puzzle game.

You don't need to play Lingo 1 to enjoy this.

This game isn't just a remake of an Obra Dinn-like game from itch.io. Adding a layer of Her Story-like web searching allows this game to have more complicated exploration and text-based deduction than Obra Dinn or Golden Idol, and in my opinion makes the Obra Dinn formula feel more complete.

Furthermore, as if the original game wasn't already a work of art, this Steam release adds additional content that almost feels like a full sequel. The extended story had me on the edge of my seat, and the exploration and puzzles are somehow even better than the original.

Mystery fans should not miss out on this game.

I'm not a puzzle game expert but this game has dominated my brain for the last two years. It takes the accessibility and addictiveness of recent popular language games like Wordle and puts it in a 3D world with some Antichamber mystery, and lots of great workshop maps to boot.

I will say that some puzzles in the endgame of the base game and of course in workshop maps are obtuse or just unfair, and it's ok to be stumped by them. I do wish the game could give more hints like giving more letters when I repeatedly press Caps Lock because sometimes I genuinely can't guess what word the creator is thinking of (or the creator made a mistake).

This game brings back feelings I haven't had since Knytt Stories 15 years ago.

I was raring to give this a try but immediately ran into an unexpected snag: running in this game is significantly limited by stamina. This isn't like BotW/TotK where your default stamina might last a good 5 seconds or so. No, you start off with 2 seconds of running, and if the stamina bar is depleted, you __stop__ to catch your breath for a good 2 seconds. Now, I've read that your stamina increases by 0.5s(?) per boss (along with earning other movement options to unlock areas), but to me that sounds like a band-aid over an unnecessary wound, because you still have to pace your character's running.

Let's be clear, if Game Freak or Nintendo did this, they would be rightfully eviscerated, but the pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction that players are just giving a pass on this. I put up with this in BotW/TotK, but I want to play this game for the 'mon catching and world exploration, not timing my inputs like a rhythm game just to move around at a decent pace.

Reading dialogue in this game is a pain because it
breaks dialogue
into chunks
like this
and expects
players to
press C/F/whatever
50 times
to get through
a single interaction.

Must buy for fans of the MOTHER series.

My brain grew three sizes playing this game.