Recent reviews by ATheorist

The ending and the afterword once you complete the game is filled with some pretty toxic and childish thinking. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth after what could be considered a decent and interesting story that tries to do the Social Commentaries. Obviously, this work is intended for mature audiences, but it doesn't make the incredibly immature takes any less cringe to read with my own eyes. The ending is unavoidable, and there's only one at that, so I honestly can't recommend a game that'll inevitably piss you off with the way it concludes.

I first played the Demo of this game a while back, which includes everything up to the first scene in The Tower. I fell in love with Heartbound's lively Mother 3-esque animation and flavor text style, though it had its own twist that established Heartbound's unique, cozy identity. When the demo ended, I was disappointed to see that the game was still in development, as I really wanted to see what that strange black, red and white world was like.
Months later, I saw that Heartbound was in early access. With $10 in tow, I raced to purchase the game and experience the new content it offered. I fell in love with the characters of The Tower, their strange dialogue and interests, and the haunting undertones of the office world. And, I visited Animus briefly after completing the Tower, which introduced a cozy autumn world with warm animal friends (and also a rowdy one who's mildly less friendly).
I think one of the best things this game has to offer, besides its rich immersive content, is the fact that the developers of this game stream 10 hours a day, *every day*. These streams include art development and programming development, and you can ask the devs anything about the game, their occupation, what inspired them, how to start making your own game, etc. ALSO, you can actively give feedback to the devs to make the game better as it's being made! If you have an idea, feel free to share it with the devs, as one of the points of streaming the development is making sure an experience is created that everyone feels good about. Also Also, they play the game's OST on stream exclusively, and it's fantastic. I love the soundtrack so much and I'm definitely gonna buy it at some point. $5 is pretty much a steal. Side note, you don't have to worry about being spoiled because Thor (the programmer/story writer guy) will clearly announce when a spoiler will be brought on-screen so you can avert your eyes.

All in all, wonderful game, wonderful community. The game world and the community around it are super cozy to be a part of, and it's totally worth buying this game now.

If you're a fan of Gamehut, where Jon Burton talks about developing and programming his games, I HIGHLY recommend tuning into Thor's streams, because you get to see him program and design the game firsthand, and he shares his thought process, inspirations, everything. Super cool stuff.