The game was overall alright. Wish it had more external, mechanical, 'meta-wise' methods that interacts with the players directly to show the outer force that you can't deny, though. Such as rewinding time, forcing you no choice, or making the desk and other things in the background melt away to express hallucination the protagonist experience. The illustrations on the right side looked like they were drawn with pen and pencil, enhancing the feeling of reading an old book/document. However, it still lacked visual, mechanical ways to give the 'horror' and immersive, impactful experience we expect. There was only one moment for such external distortion happened... why not more? I'm not deeply into Lovecraftian lore and I'm not sure if the otherworldly beings are depicted accordingly in game... I'll leave that part for other reviewers to judge.

The plots were okay. Not too good, not too bad- the storyline leaves some rooms for thoughts. The idea of a Lovecraftian story is attractive. It could've been performed better and more skillfully. There were some points where a protagonist from the main story made questionable decisions, or how they've come to conclusions like shown in the story without much of clues given to the readers. Also, I find some parts of the main story seemed to be unnecessarily long. If the main story was a bit shorter and instead had more side stories, (or if it had multiple short stories instead) it could've been more interesting, seeing different characters in different timeline, in the same place. Finally, the book is written like it's describing a story to someone- what if it were written like you were the one who wrote it instead, making "You rushed to the library" to "I rushed to the library", for instance? Perhaps that would've allowed people to focus on the story like they are experiencing a number of incidents themselves.

The UI was straightforward, with minor inconveniences of clicking buttons that I don't want- because all the buttons for navigation look similar if you don't pay attention. You can navigate too with keyboard.. it's just that.. I don't know what the "keep reading" key was. Had to stay with a mouse. There are achievements for both in the middle and the endings for the main story, which can be a repetitive and tiring work to repeat until you get the ending you wanted. The devs did answer how to get certain achievements for some endings in "discussion" tab for community section... Wonder why they haven't put the hints in the game itself then, to aid players directly.

Despite of the personal thoughts above, I'd say this is a pretty neat game, especially given that there isn't a lot of CYOA or text adventure type of games, let alone games based on lovecraftian lore. It was fun, has some replayability if you're going for achievements (has fast forward function for your convenience too), beautiful, wonderful illustrations, and straightforward stats system like those you can find in RPG. The game isn't demanding on your reflex, or previous experience in action games. It does have its downsides, but overall I'll say that it was alright- at least it's worth your money if you're into text adventures. I'd recommend buying it on sale (lowest so far is 80% discount.)

The game was overall alright. Wish it had more external, mechanical, 'meta-wise' methods that interacts with the players directly to show the outer force that you can't deny, though. Such as rewinding time, forcing you no choice, or making the desk and other things in the background melt away to express hallucination the protagonist experience. The illustrations on the right side looked like they were drawn with pen and pencil, enhancing the feeling of reading an old book/document. However, it still lacked visual, mechanical ways to give the 'horror' and immersive, impactful experience we expect. There was only [i]one[/i] moment for such external distortion happened... why not more? I'm not deeply into Lovecraftian lore and I'm not sure if the otherworldly beings are depicted accordingly in game... I'll leave that part for other reviewers to judge. The plots were okay. Not too good, not too bad- the storyline leaves some rooms for thoughts. The idea of a Lovecraftian story is attractive. It could've been performed better and more skillfully. There were some points where a protagonist from the main story made questionable decisions, or how they've come to conclusions like shown in the story without much of clues given to the readers. Also, I find some parts of the main story seemed to be unnecessarily long. If the main story was a bit shorter and instead had more side stories, (or if it had multiple short stories instead) it could've been more interesting, seeing different characters in different timeline, in the same place. Finally, the book is written like it's describing a story to someone- what if it were written like you were the one who wrote it instead, making "You rushed to the library" to "I rushed to the library", for instance? Perhaps that would've allowed people to focus on the story like they are experiencing a number of incidents themselves. The UI was straightforward, with minor inconveniences of clicking buttons that I don't want- because all the buttons for navigation look similar if you don't pay attention. You can navigate too with keyboard.. it's just that.. I don't know what the "keep reading" key was. Had to stay with a mouse. There are achievements for both in the middle and the endings for the main story, which can be a repetitive and tiring work to repeat until you get the ending you wanted. The devs did answer how to get certain achievements for some endings in "discussion" tab for community section... Wonder why they haven't put the hints in the game itself then, to aid players directly. Despite of the personal thoughts above, I'd say this is a pretty neat game, especially given that there isn't a lot of CYOA or text adventure type of games, let alone games based on lovecraftian lore. It was fun, has some replayability if you're going for achievements (has fast forward function for your convenience too), beautiful, wonderful illustrations, and straightforward stats system like those you can find in RPG. The game isn't demanding on your reflex, or previous experience in action games. It does have its downsides, but overall I'll say that it was alright- at least it's worth your money if you're into text adventures. I'd recommend buying it on sale (lowest so far is 80% discount.)