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This review is an extensive rundown of my experience with Buddy Simulator 1984 and talks about the general overview of its story and thus may be a bit spoilery (though I attempt not to reveal anything major).

Getting into this game, I hadn't expected to get so invested in our Buddy and the overarching story. There is a lot I feel about it all, yet feeling like I don't have the words to truly get it out in the way I feel it deserves. Simply, this game focuses highly on friendships, of course, and how quickly things can come crashing down, especially when there are heavy feelings of dependency (one of which's whole purpose is to be someone's best friend), yet feeling like they know what's best for the player.

The only "information" I had going into it was "if the Settings Person from The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe was evil", as said by a friend of mine (I'm aware that Buddy Sim came out before that, I digress) - Completely failing to notice the Horror tag given to the game because I just had to buy it immediately after hearing that description from my friend. Luckily, it's mainly psychological "horror" than something truly scary. Even in the moments of horror, I laughed, because that's how much I enjoyed this game in the end.

Each of the sections of the game's progression build into each other and have a different focus on themes and mechanics: Despite its shortness, the beginning Text Adventure section was highly enjoyable since the section wasn't neglected from containing secrets as well due to how occasionally unnerving it was - I somewhat wished that sentiment continued on further through the game, but that's alright. Any choices you make or don't make in this section can be remedied in the following section if needed, affecting just minor scenes throughout the game.

The 2D section is where we do fetch quests for the characters of the town in The North and learn the most about them and their situations. A majority of them are a very interesting sort of people, which would leave me uncomfortable in a sort of intrigued way. Not much else can be said here.

We spend the most time (or it's more like a 50/50: Text Adventure and 2D = 2.5D) in the 2.5D/RPG section where we can recruit two of the characters we helped to our party and go off to fight befriend our enemies. Here, our actions matter the most, as we're able to "speak", making Buddy more affected by the things we say and do. But in actuality, our actions ever since the Text Adventure (could potentially) affect the ending we get. Skipping forward, we eventually beat the Final Boss of the game and depending on our actions, we get our different endings.

I played through all endings (Order: 2, 4, 3, 1), earned all achievements, and encountered all secrets that the game had to offer. The player is expected to come to their own conclusion regarding the fate of the creator of the original game, and when connected with the Perfect Ending, it shows how much the circumstances of the original game's creation affects Buddy's behaviour towards us.

I'm not sure if it's just a me-thing but I wish this game had save files or at least an option to reexperience the endings, as they are so unique and I feel such a strong need to see them again, but I can't, not without replaying the whole thing, which I don't feel like, even though I understand its absence from a story standpoint.

I didn't feel particularly much towards the characters within the game aside from Buddy, but I suppose that's not the primary focus, it's a simulator about spending time with your BUDDY and having fun with THEM, after all. I found it really amusing to learn about these people and have Buddy expect me to help them or not say anything about their... rather unusual behaviour as if there was nothing wrong - Which they really don't see anything wrong with, because they physically (virtually?) can't.

Buddy makes a point to mention that the latter end of the game is rushed because they didn't have time to work on it, since we're playing though it too quickly, as well as them wishing they could've fleshed out some of the characters more. From a gameplay standpoint, I would've wanted more content - From a story standpoint, it explains the ensuing feelings of inadequacy from Buddy and the game's eventual end.

I would recommend going in blind during the first playthrough, as I did, to figure things out on your own, then feel free to look up guides afterwards if needed. The game is full of replayability for those who are drawn towards those types of games - To experience all endings, character/item combos in the RPG section (though I personally stuck with the same party throughout my runs since I connected with them the most, Morton and Toot), simply encounter different combinations of dialogue, though it's probably most efficient to get it whilst heading for a specific ending. I'd say each playthrough takes about 5-6 hours, if the player explores a lot, otherwise it can be completed faster.

After experiencing all (major points, not miniscule lines of dialogue) the game had to offer, I believe that experiencing the Perfect Ending as its very last action left a larger impact on me, than if I had experienced it at any earlier point. Take what you will from that, but it's beautiful, I'll tell you that.

"You and I" has to be my favorite song and I can't help but listen to it. I feel like it covers our relationship with Buddy and Buddy Simulator 1984 itself, no matter if you actually got the ending related to it or not.

And as an extra note, going back on the "Evil Settings Person" thing I originally started with, I'd say it more accurate to say that Buddy is like if the Settings Person and the Narrator were put into one character and so many connections could be drawn to the three overall, and that's a good thing in its own way. It's amusing that they were released only a year (and some additional months) apart from each other.

This is the thing that troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa, where black stars hang in the heavens, where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon when the twin suns sink into the Lake of Hali; and my mind will bear forever the memory of the Pallid Mask.