JulianReeves

A beautiful and bittersweet journey. The music is GORGEOUS and adds so much to the experience, and the story is simple, but touches on such a huge subject. It's a story about life, not just about the struggles that it brings, but the magic of it. About how we start off, weak and curious, and as we progress, experience hardship but never stop trying. And most of all, about the journey that is life. How life begins and ends. Life is an eternal cycle, and where one journey ends, it begins completely anew. Just so good. Few words, but many emotions.

Exactly the same as the last game in terms of the main story, but brings about enough optional stories and features that expand nicely on the world. if you want my opinion on the world, read my review on the og

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Bad End Theater is one of, if not the best games I've ever played. It somehow manages to do the impossible and be different than every graphic novel ever. With complicated and branching paths, a compelling cast of characters, adorable and terrifying art, lovely music and masterful storytelling, it instantly sets itself apart from every game ever. Let's start off with the boring stuff: the ****'s as simple as it gets. You click and choose your actions. That's about it. Where it really shines is its storytelling and art. There is actually several different stories being told all at once. It takes place on a metaphorical stage of sorts, that being a world in which a town and a demonic overlord's castle are situated right next to eachother. There are four (technically 5 or 6.) You can play as either a Hero, a Maiden, an Underling, and an Overlord. The other characters include Tragedy, which is really a metaphor, or more accurately, a representation of a person who only writes stores with Bad Endings. You explore the world through the characters, and in order to progress you need to learn more about them. That's about all I'll spoil for now, because you should really experience it for yourself and support the developer. Yeah, it was made by mostly one person. The art is a perfect mix of adorable but terrifying and gory at times. The music is charming, and always adapts to fit the situation. And the song that plays during the end credits is simply amazing. It encapsulates the story and the true ending perfectly, and is the perfect cherry on top to what is an unforgettable experience. Throughout the entire game, you reach an ending with a character, every one of them bad. Someone or multiple people always die, and if not that, then it is just unsatisfying and not a "good end." So you keep trying. Exploring every single branching path, all of them intertwining with other characters. It draws you in, just making you search for the best possible ending, but it is difficult to get to the one actually good ending. Similar to Celeste in its use of metaphors for storytelling, like Celeste's mountain being a representation of depression, Bad End Theater expands upon it wildly, with the name of the game itself playing into the metaphor. If you have a few hours, and ten bucks, definitely check it out. If you find it boring, see it through. This game has stuck with me since last year (I saw that Markiplier made a video on it, and I played it for myself, and I haven't forgotten a single bit of it. It is an underrated masterpiece, a hidden gem, and deserves all the recognition in the world. It is among my favoirte of games, and I would say it is one of the best games of all time. It is just amazing. And I love it. I'll never forget it.