I want to leave this a neutral review, because I really did enjoy the story it had to tell and the characters are so so lovable, and I genuinely was brought to tears several times. But Act 3 and 4 are a complete slog. I am a completionist, and I really wanted to experience everything this game had to offer, but it feels like a 10 hour game somehow turned into a 30 hour one. The story takes too long to progress. The pacing is just off, and "time loop" doesn't make up for it. I really loved the narrative, but I hated running around pressing buttons to complete it. As much as I would love to be in Siffrin's headspace, I can do that on my own without being forced to spend 4 extra hours savescumming mysterious "ghosts" of myself that smile weird, making my party suspicious of me, and reading every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ book on the planet, backwards, so I can progress the story. I think there just needs to be more guardrails for speeding things up. The most annoying thing is that there are several parts of this game that require you to complete a run from start to finish without looping forward, which is one of the biggest timesavers. Unfortunately, looping forward is pretty useless after Act 3 due to the constraints the game places on you.

A great text adventure. I don't have the patience for it however, so I spoiled a lot of the stuff for myself in the interest of experiencing more of the game before abandoning it forever. You will want to write stuff down often.

You could 100% get a hundred hours in this game and not finish it, it's very cryptic and there's a lot to explore. My suggestion? Get a little drawing tablet or paper with a grid and make your own map (using the in-game map drawing is pretty cumbersome IMO). Game could use a bit of QoL, maybe an item that you can find that gives you a grid location so you can do proper wayfinding to make exploration easier without a complete map. There are a few spots in the game that I feel are basically unsolvable without insane leaps of knowledge (It is not obvious AT ALL that the NUMBER SHAPED ROADS correspond to the NUMBER 2 next to a lever AND that a YELLOW bookshelf on the road means you should set the lever to yellow. Maybe I just missed a hint somewhere), guesswork, or really good ears for music (seriously, I would have NEVER figured out the elevator music, I can't even HEAR the bassoon??! ). Another suggestion I have is some more obvious direction towards key locations that guide you towards other areas of the game (Mainly the tower, the chest, and the fortune teller. The tower should really be encountered immediately, but you only find it first if you go east first, and not everyone will feel inclined to enter it if they are not comfortable opening mysterious doors yet. The scroll hint from the library is also far too reliant on wordplay and guesswork, there needs to be more hints on how to use the chest scroll.).

Also REALLY needs ANY kind of save mechanic, it is insufferable to play otherwise. I recommend saving manually by backing up your save file (AppData/LocalLow/ZeekerssRBLX/Welcome to the Dark Place/SaveFile.es3) and restoring it when you die. I get that dying is supposed to matter but the game is copiously long as is and it's far too punishing to spend 30 minutes recovering items in order, especially if you're exploring and don't know where you're entirely going. My suggestion: Allow the player to keep items loaded into the dragon between deaths, so you still have to explore to find NEW items, but you lose everything else when you die (dice you had on you, keys, etc.). Areas that save a progression to get dragon parts would remain in the finished state.

I also wish I was a little less lazy and would feel inclined to make a map for myself, but it's a lot of effort with the tools provided. Maybe a more robust map-making system would be helpful (pre-made stamps, numbers attached to the grid so you can more cleanly identify squares and their distances, the ability to add little comments on squares that don't show on the map, secondary maps for interiors/underground...)

This game needs to be experienced by more people, now!!!

An authentically queer survival horror, with an engaging story exploring the themes of change through love, set on the backdrop of angels and demons (queer religious trauma much, lmao). The gameplay is pretty fun in my opinion. I've enjoyed trying to get all the achievements and increase my rating for each of the levels in the game.

But most of all. THE CHARACTERS! Oh how I love the characters. Beautifully designed art, clashing personalities and opinions, non-binary characters?!?!, different endings!!! Muah!! Chef's kiss!!!

The visual style and use of color are some of my favorite of any video game. I especially love the use of hot pink / magenta, which is my favorite color.

if being 'woke' means I get to enjoy masterpieces such as this game then I will be woke forever muahahahahahahah

Really nice story and characters!!! The gameplay is pretty fun and learning about / romancing the different characters is a enjoyable. There's something for everyone, and a lot of replay value!

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