The characters and the writing in this game are as phenomenal as the voice acting and the direction. It's a beautiful game in pretty much every sense of the word, and in so many ways the visual successor to the interactive fictions that were my first-ever computer games.

I think it's probably important to stress that it's interactive fiction, though. For some reason, the ending and the payoff are causing a lot of mixed feelings, but I wasn't one of the people who had them. I was relieved when the resolution ended up being precisely what it was and there wasn't any vast conspiracy or goverment hubdub or any of that other tired and over-worked "game plot" reveals in everything else that uses a first-person perspective.

I think this might be the first game I've played in a long time that was so immersive, and might be the first game since I was a teenager that felt like a great paperback on a beach. I found it to be well-plotted, creepy when it needed to be, charming when it wanted to be, and with one of the most difficult-to-read characters I've ever encountered in a game. I was thoroughly twisted up about her by the end.

I think you need to approach this game like its characters and setting suggest: ready to lead a simpler life. You won't be playing a master detective or a resourceful adventurer. You'll be a guy in the woods for a summer. Some stuff is going to happen to you. How you're going to react to it when it happens and when it concludes might say more about you than it does about the game.

It is shorter than most commercial games, but it was the right length for the story it was telling. The visuals, the performances, and the unique experience were well worth the money for me.