I adored this game.

There is effectively no combat, and an absolute mountain of text, but it always feels like playing a game and never like clicking through a visual novel. The world map is small, but the characters are so rich and every action you take has such naturalistic consequences that you feel like anything is truly possible. It's like playing with an especially generous DM who will just roll with whatever crazy ♥♥♥♥ your party comes up with.

And the game does truly expect you to be crazy. Instead of a bunch of stats that affect combat, all 24 of your character traits reflect some aspect of your drunken mid-life crisis cop's broken mind or body. These could be Hand/Eye Coordination, representing your reflexes. Half-Light, the flight or fight reaction when you get scared or furious. Or my favorite, Inland Empire, which lets you indulge in your own personal Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks, seeing paranatural conspiracies around every corner. Each of these traits are represented by dialogue while exploring or talking to NPCs, representing the different conflicting parts of your character's personality.

And that's it, really. You try to solve a murder. What elevates it is the excellently written dialogue. All the NPCs in the game are unique, but each has their own tender bit of humanity, even the absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Your longsuffering partner Kim Kitsuragi deserves a shoutout as a GOAT sidekick, essentially playing the straight man to your wacky disaster of a amnesiac police officer.

The atmosphere and world also stand out. This game drips with both hilarity and melancholy. The world is a political nightmare that no faction or ideology seems to have the answers to. In the same way, your character's life is a mess that he has no answer to. You're dropped into a world that has hundreds of years of history, and rather than frontload a bunch of exposition up front, the game expects the player to uncover it as they go. It's a great example of trust in the player, and something AAA studios should pay attention to.

It has few minor flaws - having to constantly enter your inventory to switch outfits to update your stats is annoying. It's not necessary, but since the game allows for multiple rolls on certain dialogue options, it's pretty much an open invitation to min-max. It's also not always clear what might trigger a minor event to occur, although you could argue that should encourage experimentation. But overall, this is one of the most flawless games I've playing in ages. The story is incredible, and miles beyond what most games are capable of doing these days.

If you don't mind a lot of reading, and like clever stories and a little weirdness, this is a safe bet.