I've played all of Mateusz Skutnik's flash games, and this is easily the prettiest, yet also the least satisfying. At first I was charmed by the art and aesthetics, but little-by-little the game became more annoying for me. I'd instead recommend three of his earlier series, Covert Front, Submachine, and Daymare Town which originally ran on flash, and nowadays can be played with or without as you choose. Check https://www.mateuszskutnik.com/games/ for more. And now for some pros & cons:
- PRO: As said, the artwork is just delightful, with its mix of abstraction, looseness, mysteriousness, but also high-detail.
- CON: So much of it reveals itself to be just window-dressing in the end. The world-building is fundamentally unconvinching, so it's probably best to think of this all as a dream which doesn't really make sense.
- PRO: There's a useful series of teleportals to help the player get around the world.
- CON: There's too many of said teleportals, they all look alike, and they don't appear in sequence in the 'master index' mode, rendering them borderline annoying in the end. Submachine ("Universe" or "FLF" I think) handled this much better, in past.
- PRO: Like the background art, the characters in the game are amusing and intriguing.
- CON: Unfortunately as with the art, you can't seem to interact with them in any meaningful way; a frustrating situation. Skutnik missed a major chance for them to add some background story, hints, and a bit of community. As is, the player feels kind of isolated from the entire world.
I think that's enough for now, and I'd again recommend his other games, starting with Covert Front, a little masterpiece. Karol Konwerski actually scripted that one (Skutnik did the art), and it's rather breathtaking how much more tightly "CF" is plotted and how it satisfies & delivers. Of course also check out Submachine (there's a nice version here on the store) and Daymare Town, and really, the entire Pastel games line. They represent arguably the cream of the crop of adventure games across the long history of flash!
NOTE: I'll probably get back to the game in future and modify my review accordingly. It's certainly possible that I'm simply at a frustration-point, and that my current complaints will fade as I progress...
