Dear Readers,
Now to play the game and blog about it loads! Like I said before I love that Mae's face and "nightmare eyes" fill up the screen in a still image while the game is loading up. I started a new save file and got going.
Logos from Infinite Fall and Finji show up, then the title screen. Doesn't take too long.
I hung out on the title screen for a bit. That guitar and drum instrumental is pretty cool and the chime reminds me a bit of Metroid Prime. After some time the music stops and it's just all atmospheric with fireflies and the sounds of the rustling leaves. It's nice, especially with headphones :)
The options screen has coping advice from "Dr. Hank", saying you always have options. This is a nice touch :) That doctor's advice printout they give you... I got one from the dentist one time. The "Options... its good!" part is a bit creepy advertisey slogany to come from a doctor.
The opening prologue text showed up on starting. It was about Granddad. I had to choose some options. The text was small but legible, with white text on black background. It was all draughty and atmospheric sounding too.
I chose "the highway extension came". A lot of towns in Ireland get bypassed nowadays... This was about the road through Possum Springs being bypassed by a highway and them being given a Donut Wolf. I'm not sure but I guess the equivalent here would be Starbucks. That company is starting to spread over here now.
I chose "They feared death" at the part when Granddad was quoting his ghost stories. Death is kinda scary.
I chose "at the old playground" at the part where Granddad was pointing at something before he said "this house is haunted" before he passed away. Then the game starts. I chose this because we had an old playground when I was growing up. It's gone and another one's set up elsewhere now.
I am Mae! I start at the bus station where my parents forgot to pick me up. I examined the big fancy historical mural thingy, which glorified my hometown Possum Springs' long gone coal mining industry, wondering if it was made by a time traveller. The phone here was ripped off so I couldn't call my parents either. Payphones exist here! There's no mobile phone reception so they're still in service, at least this one would be if the receiver wasn't ripped off. I wondered what the jerkhole who ripped the phone off was doing with the receiver. What kind of mad notions they had. I admired Fiasco Fox on the drinks vending machine.
I walked over to the deserted desk when Garbo and Malloy came on the TV. It was some kind of comedy show where they quipped back and forth. They joked about markets with charts, more jobs announced but mostly in the chart sector. The words "Recession Proof" came up and "we got a little political there!". Lots of politics and stuff going on today irl too! However with this recession stuff it was really non-stop in the late 2000s when things were bad. (Things are still really bad. I don't care what anyone says) I like to think this game takes place somewhere in the 2000s. Further jokes about "internet dates" with the punchline about dating the internet itself were pretty good. The TV then went to static. I liked being able to just walk around and watch the TV without actually having to advance the text box myself. Made it very much a thing that happens in the background.
There wasn't a soul in the bus station other than some guy drilling at the exit. I asked him where everyone was and he said the place was closed as it was 10:45pm and it was just me getting off the last bus here. I asked wasn't there supposed to be someone at the desk and he just said it was closed. I asked why the lights and TV were on and he said he gets spooked when he's here by his lonesome. The guy was kind of terse but it made for some fun short exchanges. I had to speak to him again.
I couldn't squeeze past him as he was fixing the door. He said he'd be done right after I grab him a Fiascola from the machine. I asked if I was paying for this and he said he rigs the machine when he's here by himself after hours. It's free and "free as in no one's here to say otherwise". I asked him how the door was coming and he asked me how the soda was coming. Ok ok! I'll get it! I really like this character :)
I went over to the soda machine. They had Lime Fiasco which made me think it was a waste that he wouldn't take the chance to have one of those. Must be a rare flavour. I pressed the button on the machine and the Fiascola popped out. Then I had to do a thing where I slide my hand(uh...paw?) over to it and grab it with the Y button. The Y button is the action button in this game. That's pretty darn unusual! I didn't play many new non-Nintendo games in the past few years so standards may have changed.
I gave the janitor his "Freeasscola" as I called it. He drilled through the bottom of the can and drank from there with a "Yummers". Do people actually do that in real life? :) I know I don't care much for pulling the ring on a can with my fingers. I usually use the handle of a fork to prise the ring open. Drilling through the bottom though? Wow!
The janitor was slightly chattier now that he was refreshed. He asked what I was doing here and I told him I lived here. It struck him as strange. I asked him when he thought the door was gonna be finished and he just said "Now." and "Goodbye." before leaving me in here and switching off the lights. "Uh. Bye." I said after him.
I was free to leave the bus station now but imagine staying here for the night! The seats didn't look too comfy, the TV was still switched on and all static, no lights except for the EXIT sign and the Fiascola machine. The clock was ticking but going nowhere and there was a draught coming in. I left the bus station, not seeing the janitor anywhere. He just vanished, another thing he did abruptly.
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