This game makes some story decisions that are very . . . daring. I'm unsure whether its final state is what the developers intended from the start (the 3.5 years spent developing the very short Act V raises some questions), but the end result does work, if you're an avant-garde weirdo harboring a bit of self-hatred.

The first three acts build up interesting characters, compelling villains, and a secret world in crisis. Some good lore can be had by reading between the lines and being familiar with certain cultural, literary, and mythological references. There seems to be a definite direction to things, and the eventual epic conclusion is palpable. Then the entire fourth act is spent aimlessly ignoring the major narratives and themes up to this point. The fifth and final act not only continues ignoring what came before, answering none of the _many_ questions raised in previous acts, but adds salt to the wound by spending its time creating brand new unanswered questions with no apparent relation to the story so far. With the context of the story, the disappointment of the last two acts appears to be on purpose, a metaphor for losing someone before their time due to alcoholism.

After finishing this game, I was very dissatisfied, and hated the conclusion. I thought there must be a "good ending" that I had missed. Spoiler: there isn't. This story is a tragedy, something I've seen very few games do, and chewing on the negative feelings and wanting better closure is part of the experience. If you're fine with that, I recommend it.