It's also delightfully creepy - I never knew a game with such pixelated graphics could have that effect on me. It was very well done, although I wasn't a huge fan of the ending.

Let's face it, in the present, almost nothing at all happened. Yet there's this constant sense of dread and fear running through the exploration of the castle, because of the expectations set by the past storyline.
I felt when he found Emily alive and well, it was kind of sweet. A sentimental counterpoint to the grisly past storyline.

I think it's the fact that nothing at all happened in the present that bothered me. The past story was well told, but was essentially a retelling of the Bluebeard fairy tale which I had heard a bunch before (wikipedia it). What interested me about the game was the interaction between past and present - which turned out to be meaningless.
Also, when Emily pulled the whole "Oh, I went in and got lost and I couldn't find you, I was so confused!" I didn't buy it at all. It didn't make sense.
First of all, its one frickin hallway. How do you get lost? Second of all, if you are lost, just stay the hell put, and I'll find you. Third of all, you were behind a locked door. Did you think that it would be wise to lock the door behind you when you were lost?
All in all, the end of the game made me feel like Emily was totally useless and pretty stupid, and I shouldn't have wasted my time cheating on my wife with her. I know that's not what the game is trying to do, but the whole "I'm ok, I just got lost!" excuse just didn't strike me as plausible at all.

I'm interested in how the dreams almost form a bridge between the two times, but not quite.

.....huh.

I think I'm with Pyroman on the ending, but I could have used just a little more exposition. Although I think part of the reason everything was so creepy was that so little was explained.

Also, the thing that intrigues me the most (and to partially respond to Katy) is

spoiler wrote:

how quickly I would race back to the secret passage when given the opportunity. You knew something grisly was back there, but something drives you on. I don't know if it's the gamer ingrained in us, or more fundamentally just human nature, but this is why the response of Judith doesn't ring hollow to me. And maybe that's what the developers were trying to say, I don't know. But I love that they gave you the opportunity to explore the whole hallway at the beginning, so that you can see there are four more doors to go; it adds to that sense of anticipatory dread once you see how the first one is just a little off.

When I can tell I'm getting into something bad, I tend to back off and try to do something else -- anything else -- to find another way out of where I am. In this case, all the other doors are locked. There's nowhere else to go. The game's design compels you to walk right into it if you want to keep playing.

I guess it's not terribly uncommon, as this seems the way games creators tend to see videogame tragedy working. But I'll even look for ways to commit suicide when my character's motives turn sour in games (Far Cry 2 is a good example).

PyromanFO wrote:

But it wasn't meaningless, the past set your expectations of the present. Without the past, the present would've been a boring pointless story. With it though, the present story became filled with expectation and dread, and I felt genuine relief when I found Emily safe. I like how ultimately there's no direct connection with the past story, but how the two stories intertwine. I think also without the setup of Emily's situation at the beginning, the Judith story wouldn't be as engaging.

On second thought, I think you're right - the past did set my expectations for the present. I guess what's interesting is how differently we reacted when Emily turned up safe - you with relief, me with dissapointment - my expectations for the present ultimately led to a let down in the end. I didn't consider the supernatural element to her getting lost at all, and still don't really buy it - just kind of strikes me as a way for the creaters to "explain" the fact that she's safe at the end.

I'm interested in how the dreams almost form a bridge between the two times, but not quite.

When I can tell I'm getting into something bad, I tend to back off and try to do something else -- anything else -- to find another way out of where I am. In this case, all the other doors are locked. There's nowhere else to go. The game's design compels you to walk right into it if you want to keep playing.

I guess it's not terribly uncommon, as this seems the way games creators tend to see videogame tragedy working.

Which I think just proves that even if the choice is "stop playing" or "press spacebar" it's still more compelling than no choice at all. Just making the player decide can cause anxiety. At the crucial moment where the husband is asking Judith whether or not to open the final door, the only choice is "YES". I find prompts like that more compelling, no compromise either choose to participate in a terrible tragedy or walk away from the game. No weak "are you sure you'd like to save your spreadsheet?" prompting, just make the damn choice.

Yes, I loved the only choice as yes at the point when that happens, because it really seemed to fit the (admittedly brief) character creation they had laid out for Judith at that point. It seemed logical to me because I couldn't imagine her doing anything else.

I think the false choice problem is more complicated than it first appears. To my mind, anyway, if it's done correctly, it can be extraordinarily powerful, but typical application is just irritating. For instance, I still to this day have not finished Shadow of the Colossus. I got about halfway through, realized what was happening, and couldn't bring myself to finish the game. Sounds stupid, I'm sure, but it was an example of "continue on and destroy yourself and the world or stop playing" that actually worked for me. Bioshock was another great example, at the point where you finally confront your father about midway through the game. No matter what button you press, you move forward. To me, that was the most impactful part of the game, more so than the much-ballyhoed Little Sister "dilemma". But it can be used and really fall flat, as well.

That bothered me at first, but then I just said to myself, ah, this isn't a game with choices, it's a semi-interactive story. Once I accepted that, I was happy to just play through the rest of the story, and enjoy the atmosphere it created.

Did anyone else find it odd how at the end of Judith's segment she and the husband stand there for seconds upon seconds?

I really liked this one. I definitely enjoyed how Judith's dreams made me think she was alluding to Jeff's events, but ended up just being a coincidence. I didn't completely understand the motivations for the events of the past, but I understand why it was used for the present.