What's the gameplay like

[Khanjima]

Are there any puzzles, moment of errands, I've been trying to understand the hype but I can only seem to find is that it's just a few hours of running to the next cutscene/conversation

[The Spu]

There are a few puzzles, mostly simple inventory puzzles, a couple others. It is definitely a more narrative-driven game.

[Yuh]

It is mostly point to point. But specifically like: A - B - A - C - B - D walking, a chronologically disjointed visual novel. There are several required tools/items like keys in the game and an inventory. I can't really call them puzzles but errands/minigames? Sure, there's around 4 times you do those. There's even 3.6 sections of gameplay requiring player agency. (you can psuedo "fail" the scene. And thus need to restart either from checkpoint or beginning)

There are even some hidden things like dialog or textures hidden behind other ones that have significant symbolic meaning. (talk to everyone multiple times, like old games or FromSoft games.) ALSO: REALLY take in the environmental storytelling, analyze it like Batman with detective vision! Every frame of every scene whether calm or in motion is trying to tell you something even if it doesn't seem like it, EXACTLY like a Stanley Kubrick film. (E.I. reading books on a shelf or poster. Every little detail, repeat phrase, and even intentional OMISSION of previous ones are symbolic!)

This game and the discourse surrounding it is mostly about the subtext and the things that are actually NOT explicitly being said during the game at all. That is what defines a true psychological horror experience. If you ask me, it's honestly incredibly surprising a 2 hour visual novel even has gameplay to begin with. (That was all incredibly important to the story, regardless of whether or not someone thinks it is lame or "a chore" every GAME part of the game asks you to think even harder about WHY am I doing this? Not the player, but your character.)

I will say I can't figure the why of ONE specific thing involving a digestive tract and thought it was kind of unnecessary since it just seems to be there to be gross. We could totally already extrapolate that this thing was happening without them showing it to us. (like a lot of things in their last game "how fish is made" eugh) Also most of the achievements are just memes and kind of ruin the tone of the game.

That being said, "I have to believe our worst moments, don't make us monsters." - Anya