I've finished my second play-through now, and made different choices and different discoveries each time. There were things I learned the first time through that never even came up the second time around, and vice versa. And despite my usual follow-every-sidequest approach, I know there's more lore in there that I haven't found.

Translating is a fun challenge. After a while you start recognizing the symbols that indicate concepts like all, place, water, person, or movement, as they appear in words meaning things like emperor, garden, or river. It helps that some of the glyphs have a connection between how they look and what they mean. (You get to keep some of your vocab for new-game+, and get longer translations.)

Sailing is kind of zen. You don't need to dodge obstacles, and the rivers all loop back on each other eventually.

The ruins contain puzzles (how to get through this locked gate?) and clues (what does this device do?), as do the towns (how do I convince this person to give me the information I need?) Sometimes it can be really tricky to steer a conversation the way you want it to go, and you don't always get another chance. Though there's usually more than one way to get what you need.

Aliya's snark (depending on your dialog choices) and complicated relationships with the people of various moons keep it interesting, and Six manages to hold its own conversationally. And I know there's more lore I haven't found yet.

The mix of 3D environments and paper cut-out characters is a bit uneven, but I do like the Middle Eastern-influenced design.

I definitely want to come back at least one more time to try out some of the roads not taken!

I've finished my second play-through now, and made different choices and different discoveries each time. There were things I learned the first time through that never even came up the second time around, and vice versa. And despite my usual follow-every-sidequest approach, I know there's more lore in there that I haven't found. Translating is a fun challenge. After a while you start recognizing the symbols that indicate concepts like all, place, water, person, or movement, as they appear in words meaning things like emperor, garden, or river. It helps that some of the glyphs have a connection between how they look and what they mean. (You get to keep some of your vocab for new-game+, and get longer translations.) Sailing is kind of zen. You don't need to dodge obstacles, and the rivers all loop back on each other eventually. The ruins contain puzzles (how to get through this locked gate?) and clues (what does this device do?), as do the towns (how do I convince this person to give me the information I need?) Sometimes it can be really tricky to steer a conversation the way you want it to go, and you don't always get another chance. Though there's usually more than one way to get what you need. Aliya's snark (depending on your dialog choices) and complicated relationships with the people of various moons keep it interesting, and Six manages to hold its own conversationally. And I know there's more lore I haven't found yet. The mix of 3D environments and paper cut-out characters is a bit uneven, but I do like the Middle Eastern-influenced design. I definitely want to come back at least one more time to try out some of the roads not taken!