Elsinore

I wish I could have liked this game. There was clearly a lot of effort put into it, and it had a great hook of a story, but I had several major gripes. First, there NEEDS to be a 'skip conversation' button. You should not have to sit through the same lengthy dialogues a million times. It just punishes you for experimentation. I reached a point where I thought I explored everything but the tedium prevented me from revisiting things to fully check out what I may have missed. And indeed, I had missed stuff. Starting each time loop with two unskippable conversations was a pointlessly annoying decision. It's also very frustrating when other plotlines suddenly interrupt you, whisk you away from the scene you were in, and prevent you from engaging in the plotline you were just about to complete. Having to restart and redo all of that is frustrating, especially when you were right there completing it. The time travels forward too quickly. It's extremely easy to miss things, and certainly n...

Wow, just wow. I'll be brief, and blunt: I am not a fan of this game's visual style, or its gameplay. This is a glorified visual novel, and that is not a genre I normally enjoy. But Elsinore is a drastic exception for me, because the depth and complexity of the interactive story is simply incredible. This is not an "accessible" game, as it doesn't hold your hand or tell you what to do at all, but the fact I could play through dozens of timeloop worlds and still find something new in each one is beyond impressive. It's not a game for everyone, but those who put in the "work" to play this game will be rewarded. Just when you think the story is wrapping up, a wild twist or other bombshell is dropped on you which opens up the world and expands the story beyond what you expected. As the player, you can not only influence events, but influence WHEN events take place. I can't begin to imagine the effort put into crafting this detailed and dynamic story. Highly recommended if that sort of t...

There's SO MUCH packed into Elsinore, it's hard to summarize this time-loop take on Hamlet. It's also important to mention that Hamlet is QUITE the emo jerk in this iteration (maybe that was always the case). Anyways: Imagine a much more inclusive version of Hamlet with a time-loop structure and delightful, meta-level Easter Eggs everywhere. The writer of the game Katie Chironis is such an absolute genius, here on top of her craft. There'd be other details I'd love to reveal, but I'd love to spare you from spoilers and instead invite you to enjoy Ophelia's whirlwind adventure through Hamlet again and again and again.

I expected I would enjoy this game, but not that I would love it. By the end, I was so captivated by the story I didn't really want to put it down. Saying goodbye to these characters was surprisingly hard! They took on lives outside their original source material that I grew attached to, and the things they had to say about the story they're from, stories in general, and life itself really struck me deep. I will be thinking about this game for a very, very long time.

I first heard about Elsinore years ago when it was in development, and I'm thrilled to finally be able to play it. I love timeloop games dearly, and this is one of the best I've played.