[b][u]SPOILERS AHEAD! MAJOR, [i]MAJOR[/i] SPOILERS AHEAD!![/u][/b]
Just a note: remember this is a review, and is thus MY OPINION.
This game is wonderful! ...And then it stumbles at the last possible hurdle. And it stumbles hard.
First, let's get to the good stuff: pretty much everything! The music is really great, the character designs are nifty (well, the dragons, at least), it's fun to see Rim's reactions when you investigate things, and while I had to go through a few times to get everything, it's a really interesting ride. Not to mention it's got some really good humor. The story itself is written pretty well, too, with themes of racism with both sides having some understandable reasons behind their biases.
But then...oh boy.
It's one great, big downer. One of the worst kinds, too, because it deliberately pulls the rug out from under you. If you don't like stories where you find out that the good ending was a lie, don't waste your time on this game.
RANT AHEAD!
You start off getting a bad ending. Then you're able to get the good ending with some extra work. And then, you're shown that this good ending was nothing more than the protagonist, a young dragon, being told comforting stories about what actually happened by one of the other characters in an effort to soothe his severe traumatization. This only proves to confuse him as he learns the truth, and admittedly, there's a nifty "turn of the screw" bit where we realize that some of what we've seen may not have actually been accurate.
It's bad enough that we ended up getting our hopes up and our time wasted by learning that, nope, ha ha, the good ending was fake. But to make matters worse, there are a bunch of intentional plot holes in the good path that you're supposed to notice...but by then, I at least was too focused on making sure poor Rim got a good ending! Yes, some things were a bit egregious right at the end, but it still came together well enough, and it felt so well-deserved after seeing the bad ending. So it feels to me like us idealistic players are punished for wanting a happy ending.
Granted, it's an interesting idea--showing a happy ending that's merely the wishful thinking of one of the characters. But the way it's presented is an enormous gut punch. Not only are we told that it was all fake, but the consequences are devastating. We may have been hinted in the beginning that it was a tragedy to start with, but it still hurts knowing Rimentus has been traumatized like Hell and that he really has nothing.
This all might've been salvaged if it was kept ambiguous whether or not the bad ending was actually the real ending. See, we get this confirmation in a section titled Non-Existent Future, which itself implies it's a what-if kind of thing. In this section, anagrams tell us there is no true ending; this can be interpreted as either ending could work, or neither were actually true and something else entirely happened. That's fine. That lets players go, "Okay, I'll consider X ending as canon."
But nope. On the endings guide in the community tab, [i]the game's creator himself confirms that the bad ending is canon.[/i] I'm fine with this making Fleur flawed, as he said he found interesting to write, but I'm not fine with this invalidating not only our work in achieving the good ending, but also defenestrating one of the very reasons we enjoy fiction: it helps us have hope.
Right now is one of the worst points in human history, thanks to politics. Bigots have become incredibly empowered, and those who fall under The Other are being screwed left, right, and center. A story where we end up finding out that, no, The Other achieving equality doesn't happen and the bigoted posterior headgarments won, isn't really a story we need right now. Of course, this was written before things got this bad, but it still stings something harsh.
Regardless, I went into this thinking that I could change Rim's fate. That I could save the city. That justice could be served. Instead, I learn that I have invested my time and energy into characters who end up getting screwed over no matter what. I learn that it's just like real life: the bad guy wins. To add insult to injury, there are also a number of plot holes in the main story itself, as another reviewer, Neo-Shiron, pointed out, so it doesn't even make a lot of sense that things went the way they did. In the end, I feel cheated.
Overall, I would love to recommend this game. I really would. I want to! But I can't, all because we're literally denied a happy ending, even in a parallel universe, despite being given one with so much hard work put into it by both us and the creator. Unless you don't mind playing a story-focused game whose story has a miserably depressing ending, don't play this.
I don't hate Afiq, for the record--I just heavily disagree with his choice in this ending.
(Unless he creates a sequel where we can set things right--in which case, this would be absolutely amazing as it would make that true happy ending even sweeter. If he does, I may change my opinion in this review!)
