This game plays terribly on the mac. Constant freezing, load times that cause my entire computer to lag, and audio that plays before the animation even comes on screen. It reminds me of playing an emulator, the way that the game has to load every single object or action WHEN that instance occurs, cache it, and then pull from that cache for future occurances. It's the same thing here, the game doesn't preload anything, it loads it while it happens or immediately before, causing lag and freezing every time a new thing happens. It's very frustrating and leads to a poor viewing experience for my chat. It makes me look like I've got a shit computer, but I think it's just poor mac optimization. I even got a friend who has a much more powerful M-series mac to try the demo and they said the exact same thing was happening to them. As for the game itself, it's very fun. I love tactics RPGs and roguelike deck builders like STS, Darkest Dungeon, Dicey Dungeons, etc. (I know DD isn't a deck builder but it fits this genre in my head lmao). My main gripe is that the story is VERY verbose and there are so many characters that have to give their little asides and comments. I feel more like I'm reading a book at times that requires me to continuously flip to the built in wiki with little spurts of combat, which, don't matter at all because there's no EXP you just level up when you finish each chapter. The only thing combat grants you is the ability to upgrade your armor and max HP, which you can do at blacksmith random encounters as well. It's an interesting system, with amazing art by one of my favorite artists, but I do think it's a little jam-packed. I don't see myself wanting to replay this as a "roguelike" at all.

I didn't even know there were secret bosses until I got to chapter 4!!! So this is only for the currently released material, Ch1-4. I played a pacifist route, except for the bosses that I had to fight. I'm planning to go back before the release of the next set of chapters in 2026 to play other routes and search for the remaining secret bosses. I loved this game, man. I have said many times before that I refuse to play games that release on a chapter based system, because I want to play the entire game. I don't want to wait years for an update, like the fans of Ch1/2 did for Ch3/4 (4ish years). I don't want to have the hype and love die down for me by the time Ch7 releases. I don't want to have to try and remember what happened, or replay the entire game every time a new section is released because I don't remember anything because it's been YEARS! I don't want to DIE before it all comes out, leaving unfulfilled and wondering what happened (queue one piece lmao). That said, I loved this game. I loved it so much. The characters, the story, the mystery, the world itself. All of it was so funny and charming and I genuinely laughed and gasped in shock and yelled in anger. It's SO good, man. So good. Everything undertale is, this is leveled up. It's like Toby just took what he learned and multiplied it by 10x. But, let's be real, if you can avoid spoilers and avoid hype, just wait til Ch6/7 comes out. Just wait and play the game in its entirety all the way through. That's how I like to enjoy stories.