I’ve given this two or three hours and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a lovely thing. It’s worth reading the fairly non spoiler EG review, which I think was written by Christian Donlan but from my perspective it’s a pretty magical experience.

I was actually turned off it a little after the demo that came out last year which I felt was surprisingly unforgiving. I don’t know if it’s been tweaked or if the developer just wanted to lean in on the difficulty hype at the time, but it didn’t start off anywhere near as tough this time.

It gets a bit tougher mind, but the main focus is the wonderful exploration and the layering on of mechanics as you find new pages of the manual, which are largely in a fictional language.

The closest thing to it in my experience is 3D Dot Heroes. And I don’t mean just playing the game, I mean importing the Japanese version with all the trial and error and eventual eureka moments that came with doing that.

I don’t just think it’s a homage to old game manuals. I think it’s a love letter to the largely dead practice of importing a game that might never make it over here. It really does capture that vibe very well.