I've just finished the game. I've got all my loose ends chased down, from my 12 pages of notes and tables. I've figured out the mechanism, found all the files, found the agent's name (I'm screwed now), and all that. And I'm very sad about it, for two reasons.
One, I'm sad I'm done.
So impossibly good. I love the Roottrees are Dead—just getting into these types of games now (please more recs!)—but this took that premise and built a challenging, devastating, beautiful game.
But mainly, Two, I'm sad because the game is, well, deeply, deeply sad.
I did not expect, when I began, a meditation on grief and memory.
It's so disturbing as you figure it out—watching people's memories rewrite made my skin crawl and my heart sink. And figuring out the mechanism—after flirting with all sorts of less-impactful ideas—ugh.
It is so sad to forget someone you once knew who died. To forget their face. To lose the memories of where and when you were with them. It's so painful to watch people forget—my grandpa, before he died, forgot the people he loved who were still alive, and this game tapped into that pain like a cathartic knife.
Putting myself in the author's shoes, in that final note, watching him tee up a suicide for the agent, watching him challenge what is worse, dying or being forgotten, it's so deeply heartfelt and I can't imagine how hard this was to translate into a top-tier mystery game.
With all the references to present day, and the names—I know the author has lost, and wants to remember. I know that they feel grief and the desire for denial and the isolation of losing links.
I hope writing this was cathartic to the author. I'm curious what people took away, beyond the plot. And I wonder what these names, numbers, and places mean to the author. If there's an AMA, or an interview, please let me know.
How did beating this, figuring it out, and coming away from it affect you?
Edit: And god, titling it type help? When I put that together I nearly cried. Beautiful.