wishlisted this one on a whim while browsing the main page the other day, having zero thoughts of what this entire thing could even entail, and... i have to say i'm kind of obsessed with it now. it just refuses to leave my head.

a (relatively) short indie game about typing out whatever junk the machines cannot yet read as you sift through countless of letters, some better left unsent (unseen too?); subtle, heavy and full of emotional gravity, it makes you feel like you’re prying into something far darker while realizing, halfway, that you were meant to find it. you just sit there, read some, type a lot more, repeat, but it doesn’t take long before you notice the quiet uncanny. it’s deliberately confusing at first, yet it draws you closer against all odds.

what’s pleasantly surprising is how it doesn’t rely on 'cheap' stuff to pull you in. the first playthrough leaves you unsettled (in the best way possible as you'll be curious enough to proceed past that). play after play, you really start to see the pattern. confusion slowly morphs into understanding, but never comfort. it gets you with atmosphere and pacing, you keep on going because you want to, and not knowing every single detail about 'how' or 'why' something's happened the way it did somehow feels so bad.

emotionally, it’s a spectrum, and it may be hard on you lot who feel things easily. unease grows every step of the way, uncertainty is constant, and some letters actually left me sitting there close to tears with my chest constricting because of how simple it is to let yourself care, and how little it takes to invoke all of that. it feels earned and lingers long after you close the game; an afterthought impossible to shake.

that almost goes without saying, there’s a sincerity to the game's design. it won't simply feed you easy answers, but rather reward you for patience. the final impression i'd say is something between melancholy and awe, and i look forward to more of mike's work.