Primate Signal Reviews

a miracle of a game. god bless us all

I am here for anything these people create. True artists. This story was very engaging. When I started reading, I couldn't stop. I love it.

[i] My Experience [/i] The first thing I want to point out in this review is that this game is a [b]literal[/b] visual novel. There is no player interaction whatsoever outside of clicking to reveal the next environment and dialogue. I couldn't tell you exactly what drew me to this title - perhaps it was how ambitious it seemed? Either way, this was a weird experience that indeed touches on a variety of topics. Despite the wide variety of themes and the unique and compelling graphical style, I'm not sure I really enjoyed the game. [spoiler] To me, it feels like the game is criticizing the oversimplification of life, both in the creation of our own lives and our understanding of the lives of others - the feeling that there are set paths and set truths. The main characters both lead oversimplified lives (in my view), and it leads them (and indeed the world) to destruction. The character of Amos wants to create a completely transparent bank, and fancies himself a God to put all of his thoughts beyond reproach. It would seem that Comer is actually autistic, based on his adherence to routine, taste for bland pasta, sensitivity to loud noises, and misunderstanding of social situations. I don't think that this is a stretch - see the DSM-5 criteria here after you've played the game: autismspeaks.org/autism-diagnosis-criteria-dsm-5. I wonder if the horrific music and ambient noises featured within the game are meant to make the player feel the sensory hypersensitivity so common in autism (much like the game Auti-sim - gamejolt.com/games/auti-sim/12761). It's an odd position to be in, reviewing this game - Comer destroyed the world's financial system because he was vulnerable to the rhetoric of Amos, and he could've been vulnerable to the rhetoric of Amos because he was autistic and craved the approval of cocksure Amos and the simplicity promised by his bank idea. [/spoiler] So, overall, it almost seems like the game is a bit "ableist." I also feel that the game could've used a content warning for a scene of implied rape.

I played this through late at night after a strange day, and it was a unique and compelling and affecting... story? Not sure that's even the right word for it. The art, the music, and the logic of the characters that constantly spirals inwards in straight lines all come together into something that sticks in your brain.