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This game has some cool parts, but the writing is really bad. It can't really decide if it wants to faithfully represent late 90s internet culture or if it wants to just be a horror game with a fancy interface. The fancy interface is impressive sometimes, but it's clear the devs are too young to actually know about any of the stuff they're trying to do with the retro setting, so it becomes quite silly very quickly. Mostly a chore to play outside of occasionally looking at interesting set pieces, and not even remotely scary or tense because of how goofy the core premise is.

Got gaslit by videoessayists again award

Look. Waaaayy back in 2019- when the original itch.io flick came out, I played that. It was a good concept, but the main gripe of everyone was that the lore was just... handed to you, at the end. It used a lot of cliches and drowned in overused cheesy concepts. So, a good while later, when I saw this was getting a makeover by a new, small team, I was thrilled. The demo came out, and I LOVED it. Despite having the same story and elements as the original, it was FUN! It was spooky, and interesting, and a new concept and format of gameplay I fell in love with. So when the full game came out and was put back in store, I was eager to play. But... I was dissapointed. It made exactly the same mistake. The whole thrill of the demo was built around being alone, or not perhaps knowing if youre truly alone. Not knowing the full picture. Being stalked by an indescribably horridly tormented spirit with unknown intentions. But... the second half of the game fell into the problem the original itch.io game did. All of a sudden, that spirit was just a person who was really really nice, and the whole cliche of transferring your soul into the game happened, and all of a sudden john himself showed up.…

It's a fun mystery game just unfortunately not scary whatsoever

I'm really mixed on this game. I think conceptually, it's cool as hell. There's a lot of cool elements like the combining of games to make new ones and how the elements interact with one another and all the old computer stuff with the forums and games and music is really fun. I don't even really mind all the soul stuff honestly, it's a little silly but I like how it's presented. However, I feel like the story is a little...idk. Like I get it. [spoiler] A man desperate to bring his dead wife back and using basically computer black magic to do it after already experimenting with that to make the most advanced games that the 1980s has ever seen is like...it's ridiculous but I can suspend my disbelief. I'm just not really sure how much I really cared about any of it. Like yes it's sad but I just didn't find myself getting very immersed in the plot. I was more enamored by all the cool video game ghost in the machine stuff. That was more interesting to me, the implications of games having actual souls and being able to combine them and make new games with sometimes really creepy or dangerous consequences, but the game stops being about that and starts being about the guy who made the gam…

Its a good game, but far from the horror tone that old Demo displayed. This is as horrific as a walk through haunted house with the lights on. But I do see exactly what the developers were going for and it was an enjoyable experience. I always love these games with fictional Operating Systems and simulating multiple programs, lots of fun and some genuinely creepy atmosphere, just didn't stick the landing on the execution of the horror which was so strong in the Demo. Lots of cool ideas, great concepts with toying and changing the game engine, I just felt maybe it tried to do too much, would have been better with a tighter emotional and mechanical scope. Heavier on the horror, lighter on the emotional backstory and exposition. This playthrough was almost entirely completed with a controller. So you'll be able to do that minus a few moments were typing was required.