Maybe it won't appeal to everyone, but God, is it great.
The game follows Jennifer, a young, 19-year old woman who wanders into a hellish nightmare after chasing a young boy to a supposedly abandoned orphanage. Awakening confused on an airship, you must try to escape this twisted, sadistic nightmare. You, as Jennifer, must connect your childhood memories with twisted storybooks in order to leave.
But the Aristocrats of the Red Crayon don't want poor Jennifer to escape. These cruel, sadistic children will do the unthinkable to preserve their secret club. You and another girl, Jessica, are constantly bullied and ordered around by these Aristocrats. Forced to do their bidding, you collect gifts for them, do chores, and find things when they tell you to, and disobedience is countered with horrific consequences. The game is played out with the use of Storybooks. Very, very twisted storybooks. They take classic fairytales and turn them into demented, sadistic, or just plain depressing stories. I actually held on to each book, as they were still fun to read.
First off; visuals. Absolutely beautiful. The characters are modeled brilliantly, really matching the splendor of the environments. They even added some physics to the hair. Another neat feature is the grainy look that adds a distinct feeling that you've entered a silent film from the 30s. This is perfect, seeing how the game is set in the 1930s. However, this option can be turned off. Can't imagine why you'd want to. Most of the rooms can be very dark, and in the long run it can be very hard to see, especially when at one point where there is a power outage.
Character development; amazing. I started out really, REALLY hating these children, but soon when I found out more about them, I felt so sorry for them. I pitied these poor little girls, but I won't say why. Jennifer was a hit for me when I first met her, seeing how she's a truly realistic gal for this title. She's no Jill Valentine, but she's the spitting image of how most girls would react to this situation.
Combat; eh. Not very good, honestly. It's very flawed, as she attacks extremely slow and you have to get very, very close to enemies to hit them. And enemies attack very quickly. This creates conflict, so it''s just easier to run like hell. But some enemies are just unfair. Such as the Pig Children, they will spread out their arms and run down a narrow corridor. This wouldn't be so bad if you had means to avoid this attack! And the Bird Children, resembling those old toys (You know, those toy birdies that would swing up and down, supposedly drinking from a bowl or a fountain.) But these enemies swing down on you. Now, this wouldn't be so bad either, but they group in packs of seven or eight! That's unfair, especially in a tiny, tiny room. I was cheering when I got past that part.
Bosses; quite creepy. Though, by some miracle, the combat improves tenfold, at least on my end. It's easier to hit them, usually with the use of glitches, sadly. The real problem here is that they do a ton of damage to you, and you have little to no healing items spread around the game. Your only real hope is to stay far, far away and swat once or twice when you can.
The other thing that might not be particularly appealing (Though it didn't bother me) is backtracking, and there is a lot of it. Go to Section 7 Cargo Bay, THEN go to the Salon Upstairs, THEN go back, THEN go to Sector 7 Luggage Bay, I can't keep track. It can get tough, but seeing how the game's environment as a whole isn't very big, it's understandable.
Your biggest asset will be your cute little doggie, Brown. Just the cutest little guy since Hewie from Haunting Ground, Brown will follow you to the ends of the Earth, just like..well, Hewie. Brown isn't at all like owning a real dog, however, as there is no building of trust and relationship, no training, nothing. He comes prepackaged with all of this, but this might have something to do with the story. That's just my theory, though. See what you think on it. His real use will be sniffing out puzzle and healing items, and occasionally he will even hold your enemies back and even attack them. This happened once in the game for me, though. Not a bad dog, and he's definitely adorable, but not the best companion you could have.
Overall, the game is worth playing for those willing to look past technical issues. I was able to, and I got possibly the best gaming experience I'll ever get. The story and characters outweigh the flaws greatly, and even some high quality cutscenes will improve it as well. Even if you don't play it, at least watch some scenes. If the trailer doesn't get you hooked, I don't know what will.