I backed the Kickstarter. I waited six and a half years for this game.

I actually met one of the musicians for the game, I think it was clover & sealife (formerly Space Boyfriend), but I might be wrong, at Camp Fangamer in 2016, and when I said I backed the Kickstarter, they just apologized profusely for how long the game was taking. And I just said, it's okay. Take the time you need. Make the game good.

They made the game ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good, y'all. I won't spoil it but the game bait and switches you really hard as to what its themes are about and what kind of story it wants to tell and as soon as the bait and switch was revealed in the prologue I knew that this game was made for me.

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EDIT: I previously said I would come back to this review once I beat the game. I just got the good ending. And, well, in summary, this game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ incredible. It tells a deep story, of love, of loss, of grief and self-hate. Everything is so beautifully detailed, you can just, very deeply tell that the years of extra time this game took went into polishing it to a complete and total mirror finish.

This game is, very, very easily, my no.1 top game of 2020, and a perfect thing to end not just a horrible, no good, very bad year, but to end the decade. Just a wonderful, beautiful game, that everyone should experience if they can bear horror and they can bear a story about trauma that pulls no punches.

If I had to describe the tone of the game... It takes a sort of bi-modal structure, alternating between two settings. One is like the wackiest, goofiest parts of MOTHER 3, the other is a stark reality. The whole thing drips with horror the same sort you'd see in the MOTHER 3 segment 'Tanetane Island'. And there are also very much influences from things like Yume Nikki and dotflow.

It's just. A very good game. And a game that's hard to talk about without spoiling things.

I guess my point is...get the game. It's worth it. Easily.

(Disclosure: I was a beta tester for this mod)

Valve said when they announced Half-Life: Alyx, that they made it because Half-Life turned out to be a natural fit for VR.

Between this and the Half-Life 2 VR mod, I think it's obvious they were correct. The gameplay of the Half-Life games takes incredibly well to VR. It's almost as if the games were designed for VR from the very beginning. This mod has some unresolved issues, due to still being in development, but even in its current state, it is absolutely phenomenal and a must-play for any Half-Life fan with a VR headset, and for any fans of VR in general.