I haven’t even cooled down yet, literally just finished it… I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a piece of art so carefully intentional, so cleverly crazy, or so painfully human. I’ve only done one playthrough, but I could guess the multitude of paths and forks, the complexity of it all, simply staggering.
My friend recommended it to me a couple weeks ago, and I went “yeah yeah, sure I’ll play it”. Oh, boy. I got hooked a few days ago and played through the entire last night -I think I didn’t blink once during the last four or five hours. I was nearly brought to tears when I met the phasmid on the island. I was hoping so hard that holding onto that belief would pay off… and it did ! it appeared at the apex of the story, the moment of resolution, and suddenly… nothing else mattered.
So much conscientious artistry went into that world, it feels incredibly tangible. That writing was unbelievable. The art style is fantastic too of course. Perfectly wraps the whole package.
For the record, I played a mostly communist Harrier, with artsy tendencies and a logician/analytical brain, but also a strangely developed sense of authority. 😂 Gotta admit I was kinda trying to throw off the game, but it… totally rolled with my weird build.
So yea I just needed to share. Peace !
Oh yah. Glad you liked it. The game is a masterpiece. I keep trying to get people to play it and everyone has the same reaction. “Sure sure, I’ll check it out…” they don’t understand how special it really is. Despite being like 95% positive and getting rave reviews from everyone. I did get a writer friend to play it and she couldn’t believe how amazing the writting was. I think it really changed her mind about how video games can be a unique form of writing. I need to start a new game of DE!
I guess I’m not good at it or something. I pick it up and put it down and want to like it, sometimes I can get sucked in and make some progress but idk just feels like I forgot what I was doing or what makes sense to go do next.
Hope I beat it some day.
Same with me – all my friends love it and I’ve picked it up a handful of times, but it never really grabs my attention.
Maybe it’s a matter of pacing? I know I needed to sit down and enter a state of flow to really start enjoying it. It also picks up only after a few hours, once you get acquainted with the perk mechanics and the case really starts unraveling.
You bet ! writers must be in a privileged position to appreciate this level of craftsmanship. I mean, the interweaving of stories, the coherency of it all… I cannot imagine the amount of work that went into it.
I couldn’t even tell you why I didn’t fall for it earlier. Perhaps it’s the genre ? or the pacing…? I don’t usually play RPGs or games that don’t obey a realtime clock. I guess that must have played a part in my initial reluctance. It’s also super heavy in text, but I got over that pretty much immediately the writing and worldbuilding were so good.
So what will your next Harrier be like ?