Replicant, the progenitor of the Nier series.

The most pervasive theme throughout the course of this project is the following adage: there is always more to the story. There are things you are not seeing with your biased, limited perception, but things which nonetheless exist. All it takes is more time and a shift in perspective perhaps, and slowly, you begin to develop a fuller, more universal understanding. And with increasing perspectives that are not so self-referential and thus, self-limiting, you begin to develop compassion. You begin to develop empathy.

This VN deserves another playthrough from me. Due to life circumstances, I played it in brief and sporadic chunks. It’s best read in a few long stretches closer to one another, or even a single sitting if you can manage it.

It feels like an awkward trope to bring up Dark Souls in a review for a souls-like game, but I can’t help doing so. Part of me wonders if the developers of games like this are honored or if they instead become mildly nauseated when seeing another review comparing their game to their source of inspiration instead of reviewing it for what it is, floating by itself in a vacuum.

Fallen Eyeball

One listen to the main menu theme song was a prognostication that this was going to be good. I remember seeing this game back when there was a demo available, and I knew I’d buy it as soon as it came out.

I won’t repeat the obvious information that you’ve seen in the description and tags, but I want to say that this game, rather than being a “souls-like,” is more of a “bloodborne-like.” It takes a lot of inspiration from Bloodborne, ranging from the blood vial system to the names of certain areas and the overall dark gothic, cosmic horror aesthetic. Rather than copying directly off of Bloodborne, however, it sort of deviates by doing its own thing with the setting, most notably with the main character and her role.

“Мы будем делать Добро из Зла, потому что его больше не из чего делать.” - Аркадий Стругацкий

Chernobyl, nuclear disasters, radiation, and post apocalyptic wastelands containing a severely dwindled human population have always interested me. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. encapsulates all of those things. The dark, ominous, overcast sky that looks like the curse of a deity upon this wicked world, the ravaged trees and wildlife that beget eerie silence, the sense of emptiness and peace that comes attached to the ambience of walking alone among ruins, the fear of an environment and alien lifeforms that are hostile to your existence. It’s all right here.