Paratopic: Overdub

If you liked the original this one will disappoint you. Any subtlety or nuance the original had is basically completely gone. The higher-fidelity overall style looks worse than the original, and this remake is much less surreal than the original is. The story lost any sort of mystery and is essentially a plot about aliens, and the changes to the original sequences with the new "monsters" is actually something that made me laugh the first time because of how stupid and out of place it was. As far as I can tell, the new additions to the visuals and sound don't really mix with the original stuff and hearing them both one after the other, you can really see and hear the clash that these in my opinion very different style choices are creating. The last bit I'll touch on is that the mechanics and sequences tied into the story, such as the dialogue scenes and the "cutscenes" are much worse than the original, with dialogue sections that don't read well or betray the original ideas and segments (the "horror" ones in particular) that forego the originals subtlety and mystery in favor of actual horror set pieces, which are not good at all and despite trying to be more weird and mysterious …

There's like 1 or 2 things that I liked better in the first game and that in my mind shouldn't have been changed. But overall, this was a wonderful experience and I'm already looking forward to playing it for the second time and searching for what I'd missed. It builds up the lore and mystery in a very satisfying way and also, jesus, this game is so much scarier than the first one. While the first one had more of a general unsettling atmosphere and maybe one proper spook, this one was genuinely scary at times. I wouldn't call them jumpscares tho, just... scares. (Which is a good thing, just to be clear.) Granted, I get scared easily, but still, that's a big thumbs up from me. It made the experience much more intense than the first game.

Rich collage storytelling, greatly more feverish and laced with dispirate specificities than the original. Something to dream on rather than to solve and go "wow neat".

Great companion piece to the first game (play the original beforehand though)

I can honestly say I had a hard time coming to a coherent conclusion as per my thoughts on this game. Describing it as a remake would be incomplete and a disservice to both this and the original. Describing it as a sequel is not alone the truth either. The name is well put, it feels as though the original has been recorded over. In more antiquated photographic terms, the game feels almost like a double exposure, like a victorian ghost photo. I was worried when I first heard of this that it would explain too much. In that, at least, my fears seem unfounded. I feel like I have gone mad. Adjecent concept: the phenomena named Mandela Effect (although to digress, the common name of the effect demonstrates a certain lack-of-care and bias on the namers.) In some places the game seems to be mocking me for my expectations. I am not without criticisms. I find the design of certain beings to be (in my subjective opinion) worse than the original, though I cannot exactly explain why. In addition, the dialogue in the remade segments was missing much of its charm. Also, I miss the achievements, although that is more the opinion of the ape. I apologize for rambling. I think this is to be s…

For a cheap game, this is good. The graphics look great and it's a fun, short visual novel. It's like a playable indie film. A handful of sets, a few actors, and low-budget. But it sticks with you, and I think that's why it stay in your head so much. I have several issues though. The game feels slapped together in some parts like the menu or controls, though this is likely because I was playing on Deck and not on PC. The game's driving segments still suck and drag on, but the story is developed to give some much needed context. I still don't entirely understand the story, but I'm still very intrigued and I have some ideas. Issue is, when the movement speed is so slow, there are barely any interactions options, no collectables and minimal tasks, the game just feel like a playable film. I kind of wished they just leaned more into that, since it made the times when I got lost or things dragged on feel like a result of bad game design existing to waste my time so I could leave a review as opposed to actually giving me time to reflect and thing on the narrative or world. A great story, but the design doesn't reward the patient and empty gameplay. If this series gets continued, I don'…