Recent reviews by KWO

Another day, another Sodaraptor experience to digest. This is becoming a frequent occurrence as of late.

Keen observers may later come to note that a few photographs I took are actually on display at some point in this game. As such, I feel morally obligated to go the extra mile here to be as unbiased as possible. Fortunately, even that preamble doesn't mean much, because I loved this game.

To use the only immediate comparison point I have of Sodaraptor's past work while not letting it bog down the standalone nature of the game in question, I will rattle off what Hypnagogia: Boundless Dreams is and how Interior Worlds shares a few distinct parallels to it while still maintaining its own identity.

Hypnagogia: Boundless Dreams was the second entry in its own separate franchise by Sodaraptor and in turn was similar to games like LSD: Dream Emulator in how you navigated surreal and vibrant dreamscapes and marvelled in its sheer ambiguity. Platforming, exploration, and interactions with various NPCs that inhabited these worlds served as the hook of the game and dream logic gave way for a sense of liminality and rewarded the player with gorgeous vistas to the point that it practically doubled as an F12 simulator. I have roughly 720 screenshots from one playthrough alone that can attest to this notion.

In Interior Worlds, while the emphasis on exploration and vivid scenery remains a staple that makes the two immediately comparable, the central gameplay mechanic has shifted. Your most consistent company is the viewfinder of a camera, a compass that is attuned to ideal photo ops and a flashlight (highly optional and also comes highly recommended)

With this in mind, you actually have a more conventional goal this time around. Scattered amidst 10 worlds are a series of mists that are symbolically representative of photo ops and once you've accounted for these shots and located the exit, you're free to move onto the next world. There are some light puzzles to switch things up, and also more in-depth intrigues in the form of nods, secrets and scattered easter eggs which vary heavily in the diligence it takes for the player to see them in the first place.

The camera itself is not Pokemon Snap basic levels of point and shoot and does require a bit of manual fiddling on your part to capture the vision you had in mind. Reloading the film between shots, adjusting the aperture and accounting for ideal lighting conditions to determine if flash is necessary or not allows you more freedom and variance to convey artistic expression through the shots that don't look like complete and utter ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

At the same time, it is also not as overtly complicated as the manual settings of a real camera and the HUD does a lot of heavy lifting in terms of easing the player into this. In turn, it is accessible to both seasoned photographers and newcomers alike achieving what I believe to be a best of both worlds middle ground between making a skill barrier that's present enough to lend stakes to your achievements while also not deterring you from your preferred playstyle. At the end of the day, although there's no Professor Oak here to grill you on the framing of your photos, there's a certain giddiness to be had in looking through your album and seeing how your mind led you to conceive some especially tantalizing shots.

This self-made sense of accomplishment leads me to the most poignant factor lampshaded here. Liminality.

What defines liminality in this sense? For me, it's environments that are in equal parts as oppressive as they are inviting in their familiarity. They feel believably lived in and are awe-inspiring to behold while at the very same time imposing a looming sense of dread that cuts thick through the air of continuous cues that signal abandonment with each and every corner you round. In turn, this continually leaves you with the distinct sensation of being watched.

Ironically I brought this up in my Hypnagogia review before knowing this game was even conceptualized. Fortunately these two franchises provide enough distinction for it not to sound like I'm retreading old ground entirely. In fact, I'd argue Interior World leans into the liminality angle much heavier. The environments at play here are played considerably straighter in terms of favoring realistic settings as opposed to mainly consisting of dreamscapes with considerably less cohesion to our everyday life, although the surrealist undertones that characterized the former are certainly not lost in the process.

I'm going to cite a quote I saw online that questions the authenticity of attempting to replicate such a sensation within a fictional medium. While I inherently disagree with the statement in most circumstance, I believe it is complimentary to the point I'm trying to make here.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I don't think you can make something liminal intentionally.

The whole movement is observational. It comes from feeling out of place in a building or location that isn't explicitly strange.

Not sure if that can be artificially made."

For starters, a lot of retro PS1 era games (god I'm getting old) over the course of history have managed to convey this eerieness by sheer happenstance in most parts due to the limitations of the time and the uncanny but charming result that followed. Many creepypastas, ARGs, and other campfire stories of the like have emerged over the years as our familiarity and nostalgia associated with game worlds and settings have served to enrichen the sense of comfortable uncanniness we have grown to liken them to over the years. Sodaraptor is able to comfortably provide said niche to his intended demographic in question through both evident fondness and personal attachment to works of the era which serves to heighten the sincerity and impact of his atmospheres tenfold.

However, even without this angle factored in, I believe it is not the sole dominator at play and despite Sodaraptor's liminal selling point seeming a tad bit ironic when you consider the very nature of its subtlety, I believe it is fully possible to intentionally recreate the authentic human experience of liminality within the confines of a video game without losing what makes it so potent in the first place. In this regard, Interior Worlds is wholeheartedly one of those examples.

"Oh, but why is that?" inquired the one reader of this review who somehow not only stayed awake long enough to get to this point but also wholly intends to hold me accountable for the statements I put out there. Gonna make me push the 8000 character limit, are we? Ugh, fine.

This is pure conjecture on my behalf, but I believe the reason why a liminal environment can be fully conveyed is the same reason why letters on a piece of paper can elicit emotions within you. It all has to do with the level of immersion and/or manner of which it relates a concept to you in a way that's either memorable or relatable to the person experiencing it. The same applies to the concept of recreating both a locale alongside the feeling immediately associated with said locale under set conditions. Environmental storytelling. Visual cues. Subtlety. Suspense. Interactivity.

In Interior Worlds, when you're at a pit stop, you can head out onto the highway and watch cars pass by and honk at the passerby with a death wish if you get too close. The passing of a subway causes residue sheets of paper to scatter through the air, letting the wind carry them adrift. The warm glow windows of houses in the suburbs exude, indicating apparent yet still distant signs of life which dim if you choose to knock on them. The airport with the security checkpoints that beep menacingly as you walk through them undeterred. At its heart, so much depth is added by the mere existence of these seemingly mundane details that populate his worlds throughout the game to not only make them memorable but serves the very essence of the journey being the destination.

I have an interesting relationship with this franchise. During a Steam Next Fest event in 2021, I tried out a demo of this game which as I recall had 1-2 playable worlds. Although I readily sung the praises of the visuals, I questioned whether the writing would live up to the precedent set before it. I recall being reasonably harsh at the time.

Having experienced the full game, I have to say I really ate dreamscape crow with that take.

This game ticks the boxes of so many select niches that I find charging solely 8,19€ for it is downright criminal. You a fan of PS1 style low-poly visuals? You like traversing liminal spaces? Looking for a spiritual successor to LSD: Dream Emulator? Enjoy vaporwave aesthetics?

If so, well, I'm delighted to say you're in luck.

For starters, the sheer atmosphere of this game adds so much to the overall experience. The blend of liminality with the looseness of dream logic applied to the unfoldings throughout allows for so much creative legroom in regards to switching up the moods and thematics of the worlds you inhabit. The creator in question very much understands how to reward the player for exploration through various alterations to the surrounding scenery based on your actions and also restructuring the very world itself in real time to allow for new progression points.


Another alluring factor is the continuous mysticism the game offers which is in part conveyed through the psychological impact of the liminality often incorporated throughout and by extension serves as a replication of how our actual dreamscapes tend to function. Focusing on solely the liminality aspect though, the in-game environments are often layered in such a way that's in equal parts inviting and oppressive. You often get the sense that something is wrong but you're still intrigued enough to proceed because every angle gives you a whole different abstract painting that makes you stop and breath in the various biomes in active contemplation. Since the game is in first person, you can swivel around most of the varied sceneries and due to the constant lighting shifts relative to the player's position, the environments ooze character at all times and it feels like even focusing in on a distinct object or vista from a certain area gives you something of an individualized experience.

The gameplay loop consists of a fair bit of platforming and terrain traversal followed by the occasional puzzle-solving or intermissionary mediation with various inhabitants of the dreamscapes. There's a lot of secrets strewn throughout for those more diligently inclined to leave no stone unturned, and some segments are a fair bit more "gamey" than others, but overall, the gameplay mechanics themselves often take a backseat in comparison to prioritizing the idea of delivering you more of a ronin-like sensation as you travel from locale to locale.

Honestly, although I had my qualms in the past, my experience with the game was limited and what I experienced at the time wasn't enough for me to get a glimpse of the vision contained within it. There's the slightest part of me that still feels the writing can be a bit too "showy" at times which sometimes clashes with the nature of the rest of the game, but when it hits (which is very frequent) it leaves a distinct impression. I favored more of the abstract and existential characters you meet along the way because I felt it really brought home the looseness of these realms and the dream angle in earnest but a lot of the more expositionary dialogue found throughout had quite satisfying outcomes in their respective story arcs and as a whole it turned out way more memorable than I anticipated. There are certainly an abundance of endearing characters scattered throughout these landscapes.

Thera in particular is especially adorable. I uh, do hope you'll forgive me for that one when it comes time.

Finally, I'm not going to speak upon how it all ties together because I feel that's better suited for you as the player to experience, but I will say that the way the story crescendos throughout feels quite organic.

I want to put an elegant bow to this manifesto of a review by saying it'd be in your best interest not to sleep on this game, but even that feels like unfortunate phrasing on my behalf.

if I had to cite the 3 laws of robotics while being held at active gunpoint I would be now be able to courtesy of this game

it tore me to shreds, put me back together and asked me if I was the same person I was prior to playing this

the answer is the following; no I am not, but that's alright because that would infer a reality where I was not stunted by the emotional vice grip this game had on my balls

In closing, I shed my humanoid skin and cried virgin tears, a comparison point that rendered the tears of my wallet wholly irrelevant.

Absolute steal if you find the philosophical implications of AI and human relationships and the potential hardships coexistence between our respective species might pose to be a fascinating topic of exploration.

Tenfold if you can't afford Detroit: Become Human.

this VN is what would happen if you took the "what's with the eye" gag from futurama and stretched it into a 3 hour game

Pros:
+ artstyle has a danganronpa feel to its aesthethic and who's more qualified to issue that comparison than someone who's never played a single entry in the franchise
+ the grounded characterization and interactions save the otherwise generic story beats
+ the creator not only has both a scar and feeding fetish but had the brass balls to admit it in the extras
+ Tomoyori is based and Tanaka-pilled
+ The extras are genuinely hilarious and worth the purchase alone

Cons:

- Kinetic novel so once you've found your way around the varied intricacies of left clicking you're pretty much set for life
- The antagonist is so one-dimensional it makes The Room seem shakespearean by comparison
- not having a confession scene with Tomoyori and Akemi is one of many missed opportunities in this game.
- the storyline explores the character's personalities but the lack of fleshed out side-characters makes the developments feel cheap as a result
- Very short

Conclusion: Honestly, this is a tough one for me. There's definite heart in here that I cannot shake. The author himself admits that he finished this game at the last minute with an estimated development time of two months.

With this in mind, I can't shake the feeling that this could've been a masterpiece with the right degree of polish and care. The potential was absolutely there. Listed throughout the extras were so many scrapped concepts and storylines that just never happened because of the self-imposed deadline which caused the overall quality of his vision to suffer immensely as a result.

Even still, I preferred that this universe actually exists to some capacity as opposed to remaining on the drawing board indefinitely. The overall quality darts between passable to genuinely entertaining on a near-constant basis, but who knows how well-regarded it could've been with more time and effort.

I don't regret my purchase even if it only provided a glimpse of what could've been.

Well folks, it is with a heavy heart that I relay this message.

Insomniac games not only released a game GLAMORIZING the costumed MENACE otherwise known to the world as the infamous SPIDER-MAN, they had the sheer AUDACITY to re-release it on PC to spread his web of narcissism to an even broader and impressionable demographic than previously thought possible.

What can I say? I'm truly stunned. Is this honestly what the world has come to? Some of our more gullible listeners may chime in with senseless retorts such as "Wow, they really went the extra mile here. Ray-Tracing, expansive customization options including ultrawide support and uncapped FPS. They actually took their time and put the work in to ensure this turned out to be a proper port. How refreshing for a change."

IF THIS IS YOU, GUESS WHAT

YOU'RE WRONG BUDDY

DEAD WRONG, ALRIGHT?!

Folks, let's not be lead astray from the truth at hand. These shallow attempts at flattery are nothing more than a misnomer veiling everything wrong with our tone-deaf society today. Should we be PRAISING such shallow buzzwords used to glorify vigilantism until ethics lose the very foundation our founding fathers built upon that we as law-abiding citizens must do our UTMOST TO UPHOLD?!?!?

Hang on, I got a listener on the line.

What is your stance on Spider-Man Remastered- uh, Dale, is it?

"Dave. Anyways, I think they actually did a terrific job of bringing this over and enhancing upon what was already a stellar entry in the franchise to begin with. It really does feel like the definitive way to experience the game. If you haven't gotten around to playing it yet, you're definitely in for a trea-"

*AHEM*

Sorry about that, just a little minor technical interference. We'll address that shortly as we go to break

WHILE I SHRED MY INTERNS RESUME

This has been J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle. Stay safe. Stay truthful. Stay vigilant, and most importantly, don't buy this game.

you should totally buy this game

unfortunately you can't

but if you could

do it

The art style and backgrounds of Chemically Bonded are very visually appealing and add a lot of charm to the overall atmosphere of the game. Unfortunately, the voice acting is insanely hit and miss throughout, which is a shame given how professional the presentation is. Similarly, the writing leaves a bit to be desired at times with numerous typos found throughout. Given reading through heaps of text is the meat of any VN, it isn't unreasonable to expect quality proofreading to have been done before release to account for this. I screenshotted most of the ones I caught, if that is to any benefit of the dev team. The progressions and conflicts aren't especially remarkable either from a storytelling perspective, but I must admit there are some impactful moments every now and again.

Even so, I left this game having enjoyed it quite a bit more than my first impressions let on. Despite its shortcomings, you can see the labor, passion and heart that was put into it. The characters are quite likable at their core and are reasonably fleshed out at their best. There were quite a few jokes that caught me off-guard and the main menu OST is literal crack.

Furthermore, the dev added free bonus content with best girl Sae which not only sweetens the pot a bit but also shows the devs passion in regards to the fandom and the universe they made.

If you're able to jell with the lighthearted slice-of-life antics without expecting insane 4D chess developments and top of the line character development, I think you'll still manage to get the most out of this game. If some of my earlier criticisms bother you, I'd advise holding out for the release of Thawing Feelings, which seems to be addressing a fair bit of them.

As I collected tears in my pursuit of what I assumed would be a happy ending, I discovered that you could change the camera distance.

While I was doing so, the camera started slowly panning away from the player without my input. It continued doing so, dispite my greatest efforts to regain focus on the player. After a while, the player was no longer visible and the level geometry faded away as well.

I guess you don't always get a hollywood ending.

10/10 cinematic masterpiece I would easily spend 0.59€ on again