In Sound Mind

I don"t even know where to begin on how much I adore this game. I kid you not, "Get Some" and "Tango Uniform" are literally my morning alarms, and I"ve bought this masterpiece 4 times. First on my PS5, then on Steam, and then I bought it again for two friends of mine. Searching through the Spotify of The Living Tombstone, I came across a playlist with this games title, and curiousity got the best of me. I saw a short review on it, and it simply fascinated me, I had to play it myself. And I am so, so glad I did. This game beautifully describes and discusses topics so many other medias fear touching, and portrays it realistically, without villianizing it, or using it for comedic effect. It does this, yet also defies the norm, balancing the scale of seriousness and levity without sacrificing characterization or atmostphere to do so, and playing with your expectations in ways both hilarious and surprising. Some of my personal favorite examples: In Virginas Tape, we meet the mannequins, who fall into the weeping angel trope. Yet that exact trope is defied, as they assist you, and around the store (and in some other levels) you can find pieces of their own characterazation. My favorite example is Dave. He who forgets his punchcard, and gives you the key to his locker, then, as you turn around, gives you a thumbs up. On top of this, you can find an article written by him on a bench located in Icarus Point, and give him a high five mid-final boss. Or the best one, his forklift "trick" of ramming said forklift full force into the storage door and lifting in from the now dented bottom. How he was still employed is beyond me. Next, there is Banana Man. as I've dubbed him, or otherwise known as Agent Rainbow, and his appearences and notes. He calls you simply to ragebait you, then hang up. He leaves you messages such as "Go fax yourself" followed by a smiley face. He has a piano solo right before his boss fight. Yet he also interferes with your progress, mantaining himself as a threat all throughout the game. Another defiance of expectation is in the design, both musically and physically. In a horror game, one usually expects somber, frightful music, and in Virgina and Allen"s Tapes, thats close to what you recieve. But Hard Rock with Country mixed in? AND two seperate tracks with beats made from Morse Code?!? Thats insane and I love it. Now, onto the actual beast, puzzle and enviornment design? Its absolutely fantastic, and insanely creative. Personally, I do think this game suffers a bit with having most of its greats and focus on the last two tapes, but thats not to say that the others don''t still feel amazing, and I'll give a bit on each. Their actual living spaces feel so connected to their character, and one of the few parts where I think they're all equal in characterization and focus. Onto tapes, unfortunatley, I do feel like Virginas is a tad bit lacking in some places, but considering its the very first one, its good for what it is. One thing I need to say: The voice acting for Virgina / the Watcher is phenemomal and probably my favorite. The pain, anxiety and anger is portrayed gut wretchingly real and raw, and it took me entirely by surprise. All the voice acting in this game is great, but I think this was my favorite performance, with Allens following closely behind. Homa Mart does the idea of an abandoned 90' s supermarket quite interestingly, (I wasn't alive then, mind you, but i've seen movies, if that counts) and I love and I mean LOVE the Coraline-esc crawl into the toy section. Its gorgeous. Puzzle wise, I think my favorite is the electronics puzzle. Using the screen displays was genius, really. One other honorable mention goes the freezer puzzle for creatively utilzting the weeping angel thing with the mannequins, and to Dave's forklift puzzle, because I was laughing my ass off after the forklift went sailing. The shopping cart physics and the room full of them was a hoot. I imagine the devs had alot of fun making that. As for the Watchers Design, it does come off a bit stereotypical for horror, but I ran into a little moment where I got to see it closer, and I think that made me like it a bit more, but I do feel like, in comparison to The Bull or the Flash, it feels a bit less inspired, and more could have been done with it. Since her title is "The Watcher", It could have been interesting to have functional eyes covering the body that turn towarrds noise, and/or caution tape or bandages around her, and/or obstructing her face, which gets slowly cut down as you lead her into more mirrors, finally breaking at the end and leading to that final scene of her tape? It does dissapoint me that the first beast has a kinda unmemorable design, but if thats intentional then it does make sense why it would be. On to Allens tape, Just like Virginas, the voice actor for Allen did an incredible job, and Oh my god, USING WHALE BONES WAS INSANE BUT AMAZING. The scene where just the bones of the whale are sailing above you? INCREDIBLE. Locationally, my favorite spot was probably the Lighthouse itself, and the hike there. Getting literal cars thrown at you while hauling ass up a mountain is terrifying in a way I can barely describe. Honorable mention to S.S Thanatos, that was such a fun sequence. My favorite puzzle is probably the oil cans and its creative utlization of the mirror shard, how much we learn about Allen in such a small space, and how terrfiying it is when he busts in out of nowhere. Thanatos's design falls a bit flat for me, if i'm being totally honest, but i then, after discovering what happend to Allen in the real world, I viewed in VERY differently. I'm unsure if the way I percieved it was intended, but if so, thats nauseatingly creative. Continuing, The Bull's level was absolutely envigorating. It felt like spagetti western had a child with science horror and I adore it. My favorite location is probably the labs. Compared to the rest of this levels map, it was so eerie. and jam packed of fascinating clues and disturbing details on the bigwigs behind this whole disaster. Puzzle wise, I quite liked the electricity puzzles, aswell as those that made you utlize The Bulls stampeding. Speaking of the Bull, its design is incredible. A flaming bull skull mixed with truck parts? and Its eyes are LITERAL HEADLIGHTS? Not to mention the music that accompanies the final fight. Personally, I adore how they represented anger issues through Max's character, and my heart absolutely SHATTERED reading the notes between him and his daughter. Onto the final one, and my personal favorite : The Flash. OH. MY. LORD. Favorite location? Probably ALL OF THEM?!?! The Graveyard and the literal shadow foreshadowing the final twist, the piece where the Angel appears and her wings are LITERAL RADIOWAVES?!?! The music made from Morse Code, the Flashes design, the incredible representation of PTSD and the freaking STAR PUZZLE?!?!? Its so brilliant and incredibe and absolutely haunting. The Flashes design itself is not to go unmentiomed. A Literal Snipertower combined with a mossy skeletal frame holding it up?!?! Absolute madness, I adore it. Onto the finale, I lost it when Banana Man started his piano solo., and I think I fell twenty times trying to high five Dave. Desmonds line at the end was perfect to me as well. I know this review is practically bordering on an essay, but I honestly needed to get this out. For how absolutely stunning this game is, the fandom is horredously small, and I'm talking one page on AO3 small. All in all, the way this game approaches mental health, along with its design and mystery, made me fall in love with it. So please, PLEASE play this game. It deserves so much more love than it has recieved.