山：临界幸存者 Reviews

Another story set in a quiet little village story where underneath the tranquil country view something something generally bad and evil is coming. You know the drill: Nice locals who are just a bit 'off', cosmic horror nested in ancient rites, wondering whether it's supernatural punishment or the deeds of men, yadayada, blahblah. You know it and you love it. And this one has a Chinese twist. Oh yeah, after about one million of those things set in English and Japanese villages, Norwegian Mountains, Siberian Russia, that New England town infested by fish people, or anything Gothic enough in the U.S. south, this time we got one set in China. Northern China it seems, mind you. Perfectly depicted, too. This is a place where ancient, sometimes downright feral, traditions still run deep with the old, while the young all left for the big cities or got too addicted to tiktok to care anyway. This is a place where old revolution era country cottages stand shoulder to shoulder with imperial era mansions hundreds of years old, all the while modern villas are being lavishly erected by the upstart new agricultural barons in this age of consumerism. This is a place, where inside a single country cabin, you can find barely visible red star of the old commune, icons reverencing folklore local deities, and an Automobiles Peugeot module 308. Yes I grew up there. And I testify that this game captures that unique feeling of the region exceedingly well. It's difficult to explain, but if you know, you KNOW. It's not just stereotypical common impression of the region. This is the real thing. Story is somewhat better than its obvious inspiration Raging Loops (Okay not really. But it did iron out some of my bigger issues while adding a few, Dear writers, if you wrote something batsht insane, use supernatural to explain it please, don't force a human answer). The characters' worse (Raging Loops' main character is a character, here it's mostly a player surrogate, both too eager to band girls slightly too young to be comfortable in life threatening situations). Both are no When They Cry for sure. But few are. And as a plus this one's fully voice acted, too. Acting's not quite on the same level as The Excavation of Hob's Barrow but I am sure it's no biggie for non-Mandarin speakers. So go grab it and give yourself a treat.