10/10, would play the Benny Hill Chase Theme (Yakety Sax) theme to entities that are thousands of years old to make them angry again.

Let's actually talk though about this game. It might get really sentimental at times- I do want to preface I have been extremely blessed in both community and chances in the game. I realize not everyone may have the same story to tell- but if there's one thing this game has taught me? It's that the individual stories do matter, even if it's unseen. So let's get a little deep first. I'm not going to talk too much on spoilers of the story (which in itself is fantastic, just not the time/place) and I will address fair points of the game itself, gameplay wise- I would rather speak on how this game has changed me and made me a better person, which when has a game been able to shape you in such a way?

This game was brought to my attention one day, via stream. My friend had raided someone on Twitch who was playing it, and I was able to watch the gameplay for a bit. I'm not one for horror, but the idea of sneaking around with a friend, speaking of lore-heavy things in the game intruigued me. That's when I also managed to witness something amazing, innovative to gameplay- a God, a Voice of the realm speaking to her children. Calling them 'her bad ♥♥♥♥♥ and cool guy'. (Love you, Pikachulita and Balvin, if you guys are reading this! Thank you so much for showing me such a cool game!!) It was honestly the most sellable pitch for the game that I had ever seen in my life.

And so I began to research, mostly on the sparse wiki, as I took to playing the game alone.

This game is not meant to be played alone. That's the whole message. Community, one with its indivualities as its strength at its core. I want to make that more than abundantly clear as I proceed.

But I started alone. To be fair, when I began the game, I didn't have many friends. I have a tendency of burning bridges, due to mental illness, I got into trouble more than once. The gameplay felt difficult, and although playing solo gave me the power to explore as I saw fit, to learn at my own pace? The game makes you suffer for your loneliness. So I began to reach out to public groups, to random strangers.

The game itself, the story, is told through other's experiences. It's been described as a fantastic game of telephone- one that is a fitting description here. As I began to explore reaching out to the community, I was able to speak to others about their experiences. And just about everyone seemed to have something cool or interesting to say about the story. Even if it wasn't lore relevant, it was always important- because it was important to that one person.

There's a communal aspect to the game that is so important, something I admit I suck at. That, and improv, made me decide to go the self-insert route, to best cope with that. And it's terrifying, reaching out to someone and kind of spilling your guts in a safe environment. It also aided my mental health dramatically, which had been decreasing over the last few months prior.

It isn't just about the interactions. It's just every bit about the players involved. It was an early lesson I learned, when I was lucky enough to sit in and hear how individual stories mattered, to the plot of the story, by a God himself.

So. The gameplay.

It has improved greatly with the Halloween update, with the addition of three new missions to go through (many of which are fun in their own ways)! It does stagnate and become repetitive at times, especially once you get through the rush of the first however many hours. (We don't talk about how fast I hit 100 hours, but your personal mileage will vary.) An expansive, detailed map can, and will stagnate after so long- so a part of the gameplay for some may require tolerance to these aspects, and learning how to make the game fun for yourself. I have seen multiple people create art with in-game aspects, take a pumpkin kicking challenge to take the squash down into the depths of the maze, or just...wiggle aggressively at stalkers. But the point is fair that if you only consider that to be the boon of the game, you're missing out.

Even with the repetitive gameplay, something I tire of occasionally, I find myself still getting online, and looking forward to getting online. Not for any Voiced boons, not for the gameplay, but strangely, for the community. I have made many friends playing this game, and it's so relaxing to get on after work, to speak of absolutely nothing and everything while taking down the missions in the game. It's something I've looked forward to, because it feels like every day I learn something new and important about the story, and I get the added benefit of ensuring my mental health gets treated in a fair way by fighting against my biggest enemy- self isolation.

It would be unfair to dismiss the Enhanced Horror (EH) encounters I've also gotten, as a note. The dev team is extremely small and work their butts off, day and night (and especially at night) to make this ambitious game work through the use of live interactions with the gods of this world. It's important to treat it as an added benefit, rather than a guarantee, of course- asking a lot of the right questions at the right time makes it easier, but it does come down to luck. And even if I got no further encounters in games, I would still adore what has been given to me, to know I was able to contribute and feel like I have my own story as much as anyone else's. It warms my heart to join in new lobbies, to meet new people and be able to go 'hey so, what's your story? What have you dealt with and how have you been roasted by the gods of the realm?' Seeing others get that happiness fills me with just as much joy.

I do want to be thankful for what I have gotten though- I know that I have been abnormally lucky and been able to tell a lot of my story to the point I was told something that gave me something to hope for, to look forward to in life rather than falling down a deep, dark, depressing hole in my life. This game explores the depths of the human mind as your own monster, your own beast you have to slay in terms of your weaknesses and strengths- and it meant the world to have someone be able to hold my hand through it and be able to say, 'you aren't a monster.'

Hell, this is definitely a rose-tinted review, but this game helped save me. So I'm gonna give it all the compliments it absolutely deserves, because it's helped me from my dark place so much. And now that I have my Light of Rebellion in my heart- from the community I've met here, that I continue to learn more of the story from, from lessons that fictional characters have told me that were able to impact how I can view the world around me in a more positive view, and from not feeling so helpless to my own disorder.

The game has its flaws. Not everyone will get an encounter. The gameplay can be repetitive. You eventually feel confined. There's a feeling, at times, of missing out on something you wanted to help with, story wise, if you're not lucky. All this is true. But at its core, this game is good, because those who play it are the biggest asset. Using the players as the story mechanism is tricky and hard to balance, but all of these individual stories matter- and I love every bit I still learn each day. It keeps the game refreshing for me- and it'll keep me playing for probably thousand of hours to come. Thank you, developers, for helping give me my hope back- and making me realize that My Voice Matters, and to survive.

10/10, would play the Benny Hill Chase Theme (Yakety Sax) theme to entities that are thousands of years old to make them angry again. Let's actually talk though about this game. It might get really sentimental at times- I do want to preface I have been extremely blessed in both community and chances in the game. I realize not everyone may have the same story to tell- but if there's one thing this game has taught me? It's that the individual stories do matter, even if it's unseen. So let's get a little deep first. I'm not going to talk too much on spoilers of the story (which in itself is fantastic, just not the time/place) and I will address fair points of the game itself, gameplay wise- I would rather speak on how this game has changed me and made me a better person, which when has a game been able to shape you in such a way? This game was brought to my attention one day, via stream. My friend had raided someone on Twitch who was playing it, and I was able to watch the gameplay for a bit. I'm not one for horror, but the idea of sneaking around with a friend, speaking of lore-heavy things in the game intruigued me. That's when I also managed to witness something amazing, innovative to gameplay- a God, a Voice of the realm speaking to her children. Calling them 'her bad bitch and cool guy'. (Love you, Pikachulita and Balvin, if you guys are reading this! Thank you so much for showing me such a cool game!!) It was honestly the most sellable pitch for the game that I had ever seen in my life. And so I began to research, mostly on the sparse wiki, as I took to playing the game alone. This game is not meant to be played alone. That's the whole message. Community, one with its indivualities as its strength at its core. I want to make that more than abundantly clear as I proceed. But I started alone. To be fair, when I began the game, I didn't have many friends. I have a tendency of burning bridges, due to mental illness, I got into trouble more than once. The gameplay felt difficult, and although playing solo gave me the power to explore as I saw fit, to learn at my own pace? The game makes you suffer for your loneliness. So I began to reach out to public groups, to random strangers. The game itself, the story, is told through other's experiences. It's been described as a fantastic game of telephone- one that is a fitting description here. As I began to explore reaching out to the community, I was able to speak to others about their experiences. And just about everyone seemed to have something cool or interesting to say about the story. Even if it wasn't lore relevant, it was always important- because it was important to that one person. There's a communal aspect to the game that is so important, something I admit I suck at. That, and improv, made me decide to go the self-insert route, to best cope with that. And it's terrifying, reaching out to someone and kind of spilling your guts in a safe environment. It also aided my mental health dramatically, which had been decreasing over the last few months prior. It isn't just about the interactions. It's just every bit about the players involved. It was an early lesson I learned, when I was lucky enough to sit in and hear how individual stories mattered, to the plot of the story, by a God himself. So. The gameplay. It has improved greatly with the Halloween update, with the addition of three new missions to go through (many of which are fun in their own ways)! It does stagnate and become repetitive at times, especially once you get through the rush of the first however many hours. (We don't talk about how fast I hit 100 hours, but your personal mileage will vary.) An expansive, detailed map can, and will stagnate after so long- so a part of the gameplay for some may require tolerance to these aspects, and learning how to make the game fun for yourself. I have seen multiple people create art with in-game aspects, take a pumpkin kicking challenge to take the squash down into the depths of the maze, or just...wiggle aggressively at stalkers. But the point is fair that if you only consider that to be the boon of the game, you're missing out. Even with the repetitive gameplay, something I tire of occasionally, I find myself still getting online, and looking forward to getting online. Not for any Voiced boons, not for the gameplay, but strangely, for the community. I have made many friends playing this game, and it's so relaxing to get on after work, to speak of absolutely nothing and everything while taking down the missions in the game. It's something I've looked forward to, because it feels like every day I learn something new and important about the story, and I get the added benefit of ensuring my mental health gets treated in a fair way by fighting against my biggest enemy- self isolation. It would be unfair to dismiss the Enhanced Horror (EH) encounters I've also gotten, as a note. The dev team is extremely small and work their butts off, day and night (and especially at night) to make this ambitious game work through the use of live interactions with the gods of this world. It's important to treat it as an added benefit, rather than a guarantee, of course- asking a lot of the right questions at the right time makes it easier, but it does come down to luck. And even if I got no further encounters in games, I would still adore what has been given to me, to know I was able to contribute and feel like I have my own story as much as anyone else's. It warms my heart to join in new lobbies, to meet new people and be able to go 'hey so, what's your story? What have you dealt with and how have you been roasted by the gods of the realm?' Seeing others get that happiness fills me with just as much joy. I do want to be thankful for what I have gotten though- I know that I have been abnormally lucky and been able to tell a lot of my story to the point I was told something that gave me something to hope for, to look forward to in life rather than falling down a deep, dark, depressing hole in my life. This game explores the depths of the human mind as your own monster, your own beast you have to slay in terms of your weaknesses and strengths- and it meant the world to have someone be able to hold my hand through it and be able to say, 'you aren't a monster.' Hell, this is definitely a rose-tinted review, but this game helped save me. So I'm gonna give it all the compliments it absolutely deserves, because it's helped me from my dark place so much. And now that I have my Light of Rebellion in my heart- from the community I've met here, that I continue to learn more of the story from, from lessons that fictional characters have told me that were able to impact how I can view the world around me in a more positive view, and from not feeling so helpless to my own disorder. The game has its flaws. Not everyone will get an encounter. The gameplay can be repetitive. You eventually feel confined. There's a feeling, at times, of missing out on something you wanted to help with, story wise, if you're not lucky. All this is true. But at its core, this game is good, because those who play it are the biggest asset. Using the players as the story mechanism is tricky and hard to balance, but all of these individual stories matter- and I love every bit I still learn each day. It keeps the game refreshing for me- and it'll keep me playing for probably thousand of hours to come. Thank you, developers, for helping give me my hope back- and making me realize that My Voice Matters, and to survive.