Burden Street Station

pretty solid game with a good story, great soundtrack, and amazing art

beautiful little game encompassing how people can change. completely absurd but absolutely serious at the same time. please keep cooking.

some unorganized thoughts right after beating the game: * incredible narrative game, and some of the best writing i've seen in a game in awhile, managing to blend the surreal and the down-to-earth perfectly. the music and visuals were on point, contributing to this unique, other-worldly atmosphere. * the conversation system that drives the narrative, reminiscent of Ace Attorney trials, although i actually prefer how Burden Street Station not only doesn't give out fail states for using too many dumb answers (is that really necessary? choosing wrong answers on accident is already annoying lol) but encourages them a bit, which is a lot more fun. * god i love all of these characters. or, at least i find them all intriguing. they all have such lovely designs and animation (reminds me a bit of ENA: Dream BBQ), and they're so funny, relatable, and even frustrating in such believable ways. in particular, i loved Lydia's story, in which we learn [spoiler]that she is trans and escaped a cult, having been separated from her brother, Goodboy, in the process. their reunion and Goodboy's immediate acceptance[/spoiler] was absurdly cute and actually managed to make me tear up a bit. * i feel like i didn't fully understand the ending, perhaps because i didn't understand that [spoiler]the flashes of insight you get were all a literal telling of what happened,[/spoiler] although it resonated emotionally. i will need to replay it to fully parse it, though! * i see some complaints of the game being short. that is literally true, and people who pay attention to the lengths of games by the hour should be aware of this. however, i don't think this game would benefit from a longer runtime, and the amount of precision in its execution makes it worth its price (although i did buy it on sale, myself). yes, you can beat it in 3 hours, but this is a game that will stick with you long after you play it. i can already tell.