I’d seen multiple people online saying that this is one of the best games ever made. I bought it in a sale, and started it multiple times but held off playing it properly. I quickly got the impression that I needed to give it proper attention. It’s not really a game to dip in and out of. I’m glad I did. The game is genuinely fantastic, with excellent writing and a fascinating world. It felt like the game truly responded to each decision I made along the way, with the narrative unfolding in a way that seemed unique to me. I think at some point I’ll need to play this again, and make very different choices to see what happens.
You are a police officer sent in to investigate a hanging that appears to be related to an ongoing strike by dock workers. However, you have a very unstable personality, and start the game in a trashed hotel room with no memory of who you are or anything that has happened. You quickly meet your partner for the case, Kim Kitsuragi, who is from another department. He is an extremely calm and patient character, and is an excellent foil to you.
I think the thing that stands out to me is that no character is just a plot giver, or a quest giver. They all seem to have their place in the world, with their own motivations. Sometimes that means people will help for their own reasons, sometimes it means people are aggressive, sometimes they’re manipulating you. This is unusual in all video games, let alone in RPGs where, besides your main party and a handful of people important to the plot NPCs essentially are devices to move the game forward.
Throughout the investigations in the game I built up an idea of what had happened in the lead up to the hanging. I was inferring things based on all the accusations people made, or even the things that were being left unsaid. It turned out in the end that the events surrounding the murder were a complete surprise. It turns out that almost every character in the game is in some way an unreliable narrator. The characters have multiple layers to them, and although they are not necessarily telling the entire truth have very understandable reasons for that. I can’t think of any other game that feels quite so human in its representation of characters.