Desta: The Memories Between Review (GNotions)
Ok here are my honest thoughts on the game. (This is gonna be short and sweet)
When I first picked this up I was drawn in by the art-style, music and VA work. Had no idea there was anything to do with Pronouns or gender related terms so I'll touch on that later.
What I came for was an atmospheric adventure learning about Desta and their turbulent battle with emotion. Did Ustwo games deliver on that end? Yes.
The story was very grounded making it easy to emphasise with Desta and their struggles to reforge and strengthen fading relationships which all started to crumble after their fathers death. Admittedly some of the conflicts between characters are resolved can be hit and miss but are still believable since all of this is technically a what if scenario in Desta's head.
AS for the gameplay. Admittedly it's not the hardest game I've ever played but it does give you enough variety of enemies, maps and skills for you to play with. It took me just under 3 hours to complete the story on the default settings but for those of you who want a challenge there is a Nightmare mode which is the true rogue like of the game as well as some interesting challenge maps available for you to try out and replay.
Touching base on the gender topic. Honestly there's not much to say even if you're opposed to anything involving gender politics give this one a shot. The game doesn't preach to you or tell you how you're supposed to feel about the topic like many others do. In fact don't even worry about it. It's barely even mentioned outside of Lee's confrontation since Desta hadn't told him they're non-binary and is anxious about telling Mr motormouth since he jokes around a lot.
Long story short, give the game a go. It's a good game that touches some very sensitive topics with great music, good voice acting and plays fairly well