I’m not sure if I beat the game or not. I’m also not sure if I like this game or hate it.

This was an interesting one. Unless I’m not done yet? There are 131 Achievements, of which I have 55. I’m not one to 100% most games, but this one feels different. Getting the "Complete the Game" Achievement didn’t feel like I finished it. This could be because there are so many routes and lines of dialogue.

Note: This gets into spoiler territory if you care.

There are incredible moments. Discovering that the character you control is some sort of beast and not a "dashing knight" reminded me of a Lovecraft short story I read in high school that I cannot find the title of. (Someone help). The first "reset" was unsurprising, but the subtle and then not so subtle changes in the environment and everything else.

So you kill the princess. Or she kills you. Or you both die. Or you don’t. Many things happen. Which is interesting. Especially when delivered by two good voice actors. The problem is that there is repeated dialogue innate to this design. Which is fine. The game lets you fast-forward these lines. Except since some lines are so subtlely different, the game doesn’t skip them. Okay. But did I hear this before? It drove me a bit mad. Which might be part of the intention?

And then… My main problem. I’m glad there is text on the screen along with the voice acting. But I also read fast. (Humble brag.) And since some of the lines are similar enough, there is this balance where I am tempted to skip the voiced lines to get to the rest of the story, but I don’t want to skip it, so it gets stressful in a weird way.

Then, there is the overall… plot? Theme? which I’m not sure if I completely get. The world was created, and thus, the player character and the eponymous princess both exist and don’t exist and are entwined together and must coexist or must not coexist, and the Narrator is the problem, or are they? Maybe? Maybe not?

So that’s where my feelings go from "Wow, I like this a lot!" to "Hngh, I don’t know how I feel." It gets a lot like many games and movies and books and so on where everything is really big and amorphous and abstract. There’s nothing wrong with some abstraction, but I’m unsure if it adds enough.

Or maybe I’m too dumb to understand that insecurity is coming out here.

Either way, I recommend playing the game. It’s an experience.