Yeah, I’m glad you caught on it buddy. :3

Okay guy status report: I finished the game yesterday, wrote this review and kept thinking about what to play next and also worrying about finding a job; fell asleep early because of all the brainload.

Woke up this morning and I think I get it, Henry went to Shoshone to get away from real life and find an adventure and the fact that the game lies to you internally and externally just hit me today. Internally, Henry never gets his life changing experience and even though he meets Delilah it’s pretty much confirmed by the ending dialogue that he will go back, live his life and eventually forget about this one person he met on a two month job. Externally, the game feels like it’s an escape from mundanity and is an adventure but then it turns out to mostly be an on-rails walking simulator where you as a don’t even get to chop a tree yourself because all the animations are automated and the game doesn’t even let you fish!

It’s an exercise in deliberate expectation subversion and makes me feel sad about the whole experience. I think much of my criticism about the gameplay still stands but I get the storytelling a bit more now and would like to bump up the rating to a 7/10

TL;DR: I just realized I’m like Henry trying to escape life.

That sounds so cool

Also would love any recommendations for something to play next

I think I just had overblown expectations for it and I agree that I might have been harsh to the game by talking mostly about the gameplay. Mostly just wanted to get across what I experienced as I was playing it. The small annoyances, frustrations and even delights like the opening sequence that might not seem like a cohesive whole of this game but are still worth mentioning

Maybe one day I’ll replay it and be better situated to appreciate it more

Such a shame man since this was really high on my playlist for a number of years.

Not really, the only other walking sim I have played also came out in 2016 and it’s called “The Town of Light.” I enjoyed that one

It’s about a girl going through her experiences in a mental asylum in Italy and has a very realistic grounded setting (based on a real hospital). I have a review on it in this sub

There was another game I played which I can’t remember the name of, it’s more liminal space puzzle solving than walking sim but it uses it’s setting to tell the blossoming and downfall of a relationship really well. Would love to play that one again