izigame.me

This game hurt.
One: The main way of interacting with it is to blink, and when you blink it advances the story, even if you aren't necessarily ready. This creates this horrible, horrible dilemma where you are literally forcing your eyes to stay open so you don't miss a thing, but sometimes your body betrays you, and just like that something knowable becomes unknown. By the end of the pretty short 1.5 hour runtime my eyes were sore, from forcing them to stay open, but also from crying, because
Two: The story takes no prisoners, and for me it hit really close to home which I wasn't expecting. As someone who has been chronically ill and suffered from a near death experience, it was really quite triggering to see that big twist. The constant battle with pain, and the really depressing conversations you overhear by his parents just were absolutely brutal. I think it would be a difficult game to process for anyone, but if you are someone with lived experience of this subject, it's going to hit especially hard.
This is definitely not a game, and as such it is hard to rate as one. It really is a unique experience that lives somewhere between To The Moon and a more charming version of a Supermassive Game.
Also, it should not be understated that the voice actors did a phenomenal job here. Though the gameplay is primarily focused on optics, the entire soundscape is incredible, and each vocal performance really sells the characters and the story.
This is a hard game to fault, but also a hard experience to endure (from an emotional standpoint). If you are in need of a good cry, set up your webcam and let loose, this really is a bittersweet journey through art, life, family, and sight.
9/10.