So I picked this up. I won't spoil anything but I like it so far, it's very creative and each little story it tells feels pretty distinct from the others. No clue yet how it will all tie together into a totally coherent whole (or IF it will, it clearly wants to, but we shall see) but it's neat moving forward not really knowing what to expect next.

Example:

Well, that happened. #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/hNNmWxJZ0S

— Someone Whatever (@samusisawesome) July 22, 2019

I've heard its only a couple of hours long though so I might end up thinking that it wasn't quite worth $20. But whateverz.

Welp, finished it.

Would definitely say it is one of the most creative story games I have played. As I said above every one of the little stories it tells feels unique, in style and storytelling, and unlike a lot of "walking sims" each story tends to have its own unique gameplay attached to it. With that said, you're still just playing a story, so there isn't a whole lot of choice or anything, you're mostly playing your part to move things forward.

Not really sure what else to say. It's an "experience".

It IS $20 for a 2-3 hour long game with no real replay though. I don't know if it should have been longer per se, but for my tastes I tend to prefer games that are a bit meatier. So whether that is worth it or not, you decide. I never really regret my purchases but sometimes I do think "I should have waited for a sale." I mean, you can basically play through this in a single sitting if you want (I did 2 sittings.)

Also I feel like the ending didn't really explain anything? It teased like it was going to, then your mom interrupts you. So it remains a mystery. Which is fine, I guess, but all this weird stuff happens and I'm left no closer to understanding why than when I started?! Of course, the whole point is probably that there is no real mystery, just people trying to make sense of a lot of bad luck but still. The game is presented in such a fantastical way, what with the weird layered house and like... moving a house across the sea?! and things like that, so it feels like if the answer is nothing is strange and it's just a bunch of stories average people tell themselves well, I dunno!? Feels like it could have done more?

I've heard very good things about this game, so I'm hoping to buy it soon.

@Zero

If you want I can send you a video that provides an interpretation I enjoyed. It’s by Joseph Anderson, whose videos I’ve seen posted on here once or twice. Basically, the idea is that the matriarch of the family (the grandmother, I think), perpetuated the idea of a curse in order to deny responsibility for her negligence. Sending a child to bed without dinner, leading her to eat poisonous mistletoe berries. Setting up a swing set ridiculously close to a cliff. Locking her son in the basement all his life. Building a ridiculous dragon slide that collapses and kills someone. This made up curse gets her attention from media, she creates a morbid shrine to its coverage in the house. Those taken by the curse have their rooms locked off and turn in shrines of their own. And with later generations, this lie has two effects. It turns into a way to make sense of accidents at its best. And becomes self fulfilling prophecy at worst. Later generations walk across narrow branches and leave babies unattended in the bath tub. And should the worst happen- it’s not my fault. That pesky curse got them. There was nothing we could have done.

Also, side note. It’s implied that the artist kid who disappears near the top of the house actually ended up in The Unfinished Swan. I don’t really know how to feel about that one.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule I saw that one last night and I think it is probably the most accurate interpretation barring the developers coming out and telling us something else (have they ever done that?!) It makes sense in a very coherent way.

I think one thing though with my experience playing through the game is that because so many of the stories contain so much fanciful and abstract stuff going on, I wasn't sure what parts we could consider real. For instance you bring up the kid with the swing. While playing I assumed the whole swing next to a cliff part was part of the fantasy, and that the reality was just something like he tried to flip and fell and broke his neck. I guess thinking about it that doesn't make much sense since that wouldn't be much of a fantasy, but I dunno, that was my interpretation at the time.

What about the "scream queen" daughter though? How does she work into this theory? Wasn't she just murdered at 16? No one really neglected her did they?

Also is the whole part with her boyfriend going into the basement supposed to be real? Because how would he get down there if the key was still where it was supposed to be when she went to check on him?!