Thabuki

AILA really surprised me. Each stage feels like a completely different kind of horror game, and in a good way. You'll naturally click with some more than others. For me, there was one section that had a strong P.T. feeling and genuinely messed with my sense of direction, in a good way. It was weird, liminal, and very memorable. I'm sure other people will prefer other parts of the game and that's great. One thing I appreciated a lot is that the game does not rely on jumpscares. The horror comes from atmosphere and ideas instead of sudden cheap tactics, which already makes it stand out from a bunch of games in the genre. There are a few, but they are "fair" and you'll start to like them... I don't want to spoil too much, but let's say you'll make an unexpected friend along the way. Between the VR scenarios, you return to the apartment segments. In most games, this kind of downtime feels like a chore, like stepping out of the Animus in Assassin's Creed. I expected the same here, but these sections actually became some of my favorites. They quickly show themselves interesting, so the pacing for it is also surprisingly on point. Combat can feel a little rough at first, but it feels somewhat intentional. It makes you feel vulnerable. Without spoiling anything, if a specific encounter feels unfair, it is probably because you missed something. Enemy animations, attack tells and other things you might find are clearer than they seem at first. I still think they are on the difficult side, though; I wouldn't feel bad in solving some encounters first try, as I was already having horror game tension-fun, if that makes sense. The game also has multiple endings, and the nice part is that they all feel meaningful. This is not one of those games with one "true" ending and several weak ones. The ending I got made sense for how I played. I then watched the others and they were all solid. Of course, there are better endings and they are awesome; they wrap up the game in different and meaningful ways. Oh yeah, and you can pet the cat.