I know I'm late to the party on this one. This game has long been on my to play list and now that I've finally gotten through it, multiple times, and 100%ed it all I can say is I wish I played it sooner. This game has been such a rabbit hole for me. I've watched hours of videos of people trying to piece together the mystery of the narrative and while there are similar threads found between videos each conclusion people reach is very much their own and that's part of the beauty of this game.

There are no clear answers. The game doesn't seek to be understood it seeks to be felt. Any way you interpret the story is as valid as anyone else's read on it and it comes down to what the story makes you feel. It wants you to think about it and it wants to change how you look at things and I think it does a great job of both. It uses its music and mechanics in brilliant ways to set the mood and make the story hit in ways that few other horror games have for me. The game also uses its influences to elevate and enhance the story. You can go in with no knowledge of these influences, you can miss the references, and it still is a powerful story. The game wears its influences on its sleeve though. Knowing those influences can color how you look at and approach everything in the game and I do think adds something to the experience.

For me, the way I look at this game can be boiled down to this: The power of love as comic horror. The moment I got to the end of the intro and I found the book "The King in Yellow" was a huge revelatory moment for me. Though I'm not fully familiar with all aspects of that foundational cosmic horror text, I am familiar enough that seeing that name immediately put me on guard. I didn't know exactly what was coming, but I did know what sort of themes to expect and I wasn't let down.

This game will stick with me forever and I hope if you've read this far you'll give it a shot so it has the chance to invade your thoughts as it has mine. You too can go mad following repeating sequences of numbers and trying to piece together an impossible looping rabbit hole of a narrative about love, loss, and forces beyond our understanding.

Yeag you should play this.
There's no reason NOT to play this game.
It's free.
But if you want a reason here we go...

The game has a lot of depth in its mechanics, with a lot of unique feeling kart options, some great level designs, and fun items. There is a lot to love even just as a normal casual kart racing game to play with friends. BUT ALSO the game has a fantastic story mode to unlock everything through with unique boss fights and a taste of all the different stages and game modes. There's even multiple endings, including a secret ending that, similar to Bloodborne, requires you to find 3 hidden items throughout the world in order to fight the TRUE final boss. Even with some difficulties on first placing a couple of the stages and the struggles I had with the final boss it only took a little over 3 hours to get through it all so not like it's an egregious time investment either.

The swap from being a Bloodborne themed game to something legally distinct was initially kind of upsetting to hear about. It sucks she got hit by a C&D just before release. What we ended up getting though is still fantastic. The Bloodborne DNA is still there in the weapons and level designs and themeing of things but the swapped around character designs are all really charming. The voice acting is perfect too.

The game nails the PS1 aesthetic, possibly even a little too much (I toned down some of the settings in the options menu before playing all the way through), so if you grew up in the era it will feel right at home. The music is oops all bangers too; highly recommend getting the soundtrack. Can't wait for a chance to play this alongside a group of friends just like the gold ol' Mario Kart days.