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Youef
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Some brief thoughts:
There’s a lot to be said about this game. It’s one of those rare games that does a spectacular job at interweaving they gameplay with its story. Most games usually play out in some variant of cutscenes, then gameplay, then cutscenes, etc. Which is fine, honestly. I don’t have an issue with that at all, but I really love that this game takes full advantage of the medium to tell its story effectively. I have played plenty of immersive games lately, but I haven’t felt engaged with a game’s world since Metroid Prime, and I think that’s because the story is the gameplay, or the gameplay is the story. And each player’s experience with the game is undoubtedly unique in how we discover the universe and progress through our understanding.
And despite those differences, it all comes down to one certainty by the end, which itself paves the way for new possibilities in the game’s universe.
I found myself especially invested in the Nomai. The prospect of keeping track of the different characters was initially daunting, but things just sort of started to connect and make sense eventually. Their story was just heartbreaking to uncover. And yet the ending of the game left me feeling hopeful at the same time. The game is simultaneously melancholic and uplifting. It strikes that balance pretty spectacularly.
On the one hand, I feel like I’m done playing it, and I don’t really want to go back. But on the other hand, I feel compelled to analyze the bits and pieces of the story it presented. Regardless, it was such a pleasant experience, and I’m happy to have lived to play it. I will never forget it.
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