Escape from Ever After

I stumbled upon this game from a youtube video essay, but they just used a clip from the game and didn't even mention the title. So I google lens searched what this game was. I've never heard of this game honestly until now. Not even when the Onboarding version was listed, I've never heard of it. So I just looked at some raw gameplay and I jumped into the first book. The Mellow Meadows theme and First book battle theme caught my attention. Then the gameplay followed suit as a classic paper mario type. I fell in love with the art style at first glance too. My type of style everything is full of color and designs are filled with life. Finished the game not too long ago and the pacing throughout is superb. Chapter 3 and 4 hit slightly below the mark though. Story wise it's passable for what it's worth for the setting. One of my only critiques of the game is that I wish that Chapter 3 and 4 were re-written, no shame to the story writers, but I wanted Chapter 3 to be re-written and Chapter 4, specifically the 4th book to have better closure. All dialogue interactions are wonderful and brought me immense joy. It would be fun if you were to get a group of friends and voice and improv the whole game out. As for the difficulty. I kind of scuffed my Hard Mode achievement but whatever. I turned on hard mode on the third battle during my initial playthrough. Game is fair and challenging at the same time. Nothing seems too cheap and nothing seemed too easy. Until Chapter 3 where you get better trinkets and your characters get too strong. So when you get the understanding with swapping out and restoration and if you're pretty good and guarding everything. You should have no problem. But the gameplay loop is fun and snappy that I didn't care doing all the encounters. I wanted to fight everything. As for the music, thank you, Daniel Whitworth. Absolute stellar score. I noticed from the music from the playthrough I heard initially before playing the game, the title screen, everywhere else. The game has a following leitmotif. Which to me I absolutely love. This is a shoutout to The Legends of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC, SC, and the 3rd. Which all games follow a distinct leitmotif throughout the game. Some may call it's just using the same melody throughout the game. But how it's regularly used in games, it gives a means of progression that the story is moving forward. And as for this game, the story just turned the page to the next chapter and the leitmotif had to shift to change the mood of the next area. There hasn't been much games on the radar for me that actually make me want to play them. Escape From Ever After was such an unexpected gem. I'm glad I've read this book but unfortunately, "All stories are meant to end." - Character from Escape from Ever After. Not as deep as long story striven RPGs I've played. But Escape from Ever After is a story I will not forget. Something that one character wishes for their story. Thank you, Ryan Kitner, Daniel Whitworth, and the rest of the development team. It's been so long since I've been satisfied with a game. And your story definitely made me smile all the way through. [spoiler]It made me tear up when the party I played throughout the game actually ended together Happily Ever After.[/spoiler] Straight back to the title screen to jam to the title screen theme once more. THANK YOU AGAIN. MY POCKETS ARE FULL OF COOKIES,