Finally finished this. 9/10 for sure. A few thoughts follow. If there is more complaints than praise, well, that's just my style.
- The game is absolutely gorgeous. More and more it feels like games are getting to the point where technical achievement is not nearly as important as artistic merit, and this game is a great example. No one is commenting on how many polygons are or the quality of its bump-mapping - it's the creativity of the art that's important here. Which is not to say that it's not technically impressive as well. But I played pn PS4, and it's hard to see where PS5 or PS6 or PS7 or whatever would give much improvement on what's here.
- The overall pacing is perfect. You're always moving from one point to another, and generally levels are just the right size to feel meaty and substantial while not over-staying their welcome. There's also good variety to mix things up - in particular the outdoor exploration was perfect for giving a break between story segments. It's all very fluid - things are constantly happening, and it's rare that you go one minute without seeing new voicework or animation.
- I enjoyed a lot of the characters. The psychic six were all very unique and memorable. The interns were great as well, although I wish they had a little more development.
- The story overall was... interesting. I'm really curious to see what others make of the psychological import of the story and the meaning of the in-brain symbolism. But my first impression is that it's a little bit shallow - most of the characters' brains seem to revolve around some very straightforward object-level obsessions, and you're not exactly going to get an MD in psychiatry from this game. Some spoilers follow...
-- In the first game it makes sense that some of the brains you visit are obsessed with particular ideas, like the Milkman or black velvet or Napoleon, since those characters are, well, nuts. But here, why should eg Hollis Forsythe's brain be 100% obsessed with hospitals and casinos? She seems like a very well-balanced type and I'd think there'd be more going on in her brain than what's here. You really don't get a good sense of her personality based on her mind, although there's definitely some interesting stuff there. I mean yes, you messed with her mind, but... why was that so easy to do? She seems like she should have more mental fortitude based on all the dialogue with her outside of her mind.
-- All of the stuff involving Maligula and Grulovia is very interesting, but I wish it had more depth to it. I was a bit disappointed, really, in the final encounters and Maligula's mind. It feels like there may have been a lot cut out here. The ultimate moral lesson seems to be something like "everyone gets mad sometimes, but we learn to shut these feelings out" which is not too interesting. I want to learn more about the war and what lead to Maligula's rage coming out. Here it just seems like Maligula = bad and Nona = good which is disappointing. If Maligula is the type to kill hundreds or thousands of innocent people it seems like it should not be so easy to "heal" her. I'm extremely curious to know what really goes on in the mind of truly evil totalitarian rulers and it seems like this is a missed opportunity.
- Still, I feel I probably missed a lot of the subtext here, and I'm really curious to see others analyses of this game as more and more people finish it. I eagerly await some 2-hr Youtube review that gives in-depth interpretations to each brain's various symbols and to the game's overall themes.
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