Summary

Mostly linear point-and-click about 4 people on a train hosting a masked ball.

Review

Game was very much my aesthetic. I like trains, masked balls are cool. I'm a sucker for "normal" supernatural (inexplicable things happening that don't necessarily delve into established myths or higher fantasy (so Lynch stuff, hauntings, dream logic, Silent Hill-style horror, anything where there are real supernatural things happening, but its purpose is to serve as metaphor for the characters' states of mind in some way. Events that are entirely unique to the specific character, not more concrete monsters like a werewolf or what have you.). Not sure if there's a better term to describe that general idea. Things where the rules of what's happening are not at all important, it's the meaning that it conveys and how it feels. ^[1]

I also quite liked the setting. I can't think of many other games set in the 20s, even though it's a really interesting time period. The rise of fascism coming to snuff out the progressive era, upheaval in general on the horizon with the 30s and 40s. Taking the game Act by Act.

Act 1 - The Silent Room

Shortest of the three main acts by far and I would've really liked more given the subject matter. We follow Carlo who is waiting on his lover Patrick to discreetly arrive to their hotel room. Patrick arrives, but things quickly turn sour when Patrick breaks up with Carlo and explains he intends to submit himself to conversion therapy. The argument becomes heated after this and Carlo pushes Patrick in anger. Unfortunately, Patrick crashes into a bar table and hits his head, killing him. Carlo, soon after, commits suicide.

I highly appreciate the subject being covered in a game. Some real horrific shit conversion therapy is and I can't recall any examples of it coming up in many years of gaming. So was nice seeing it mentioned, if only briefly. Would've like to see a bit more of Carlo and Patrick's relationship. As it was, we're mostly only told about it and given Patrick's overall demeanor, you wonder how Carlo didn't see it coming. That being said, love makes one blind and such so I get it. Could've also pushed harder with the creeping shadow of fascism angle. Perhaps a nightmare sequence with shadowy people listening in. The quick turn from the suicide to being invited to the train is effective though, so may be worth keeping it as is. The relative simplicity of the first act does make later acts more effective when they go crazy.

Act 2 - The Slow Vanishing of Lady Winterbourne

The longest act, though potentially only because of a few instances where I missed some detail and had to waltz around a bit. We follow () Winterbourne as she confusedly wanders her house half-asleep half-awake due to her laudanum-addled mind. Love the switching between deathly, gray, rain-soaked "reality" to the opiate-infused, colorful, and nostalgic past. RIP Lord Socks.

I always find it intriguing when you're seeing a situation from inside the mind of someone who is not there at all. You move some object and not minutes later she is confusedly wondering who did that.

Act 3 - The Nameless Ritual

Definitely the most fun act in terms of visuals. Loved the church/battlefield confession scene and the Apocrypha bit in particular. In this act we follow Dr. Jordan Samuels (good name), who intends to enact a ritual that will give him access to great knowledge. Dr. Samuels has dealt with

I really enjoyed the reveal at the end. Where the character we've been following, who has progressively given up everything and confessed all his sins is, in turn, turned into the Dweller on the Threshold that we've been expecting to face. And is subsequently made a sacrifice for higher knowledge by the other Dr. Samuels. Quite clever. Has no idea what he's gone through, but he has in fact been tested and was willing to go all the way. Didn't much care for the beginning puzzle. Was mostly just me taking pictures with my phone and scrolling through all them to pick out the bits of info needed. Would've either been that or repeatedly reading the books to find the needed ingredients and what to do with them.

Act 4 - If On a Winter's Night

More of an epilogue than a proper act given it's just 2 dozen or so lines of dialogue. But still, I found the masked ball intriguing. In it, we now follow the character Laylah who has been listening to the other character's stories. We see her leave and speak with her boss and learn the extent of what this train is.

Frightening that it was by complete whim that these other masked characters were whisked from whatever their prior fates would have been "Below" to join the masked ball. I get shades of Good Place energy there. I do really like the questions raised. We're in a limbo sort of place obviously, but is this a fields of Asphodel sort of situation, where the ball is all there will ever be for these people? Or might the afterlife change to reflect the time period? Is this train traveling somewhere or is the train itself our destination? Very interesting ideas raised by a very interesting game.

Links