Yeah, I know how it sounds. It sounds like a cute awful kiddie FB game. But just when you think: "why did I buy this?" the game starts and.. man, it's amazing. It's always playing with your expectations. Many times I found myself cheering to the screen and saying: "well, you got me this time, well done!". And it's somewhat creepy at times. It's best to play this game without knowing anything about it for a best experience, so I won't go into it. Reviews started coming in today, so I'll post some of them if you want to know more about the game:

http://www.thejimquisition.com/2016/01/pony-island-review/ (9.5/10)

http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/08/pony-island-review-insert-soul-to-continue-5609056/ (9/10)

So, has anyone played it? What's your opinion about this game? I've felt the need to write this thread, because this game deserves it. And, c'mon, it's just 5 bucks! :)

It's really pretty interesting, I want to play it but got like, half the game spoiled by watching a YouTuber I like play it!

It is. It's unlike anything I've played before. But, yeah, seeing a gameplay of it could ruin the entire experience, that's why I recommend jumping in without any knowledge of it. Anyway, the last half of the game it's pretty interesting too ;)

Just played it all the way through on your recommendation (and Jim Sterling's that you linked)

It has some serious issues. I won't refund it but I do feel like doing it.

- The core game is not engaging. I get it's a parody of a bad game but it makes you spend a lot of time playing the bad part
- The puzzles were extremely easy
- Use of achievements completely destroyed the immersion
- Lazy story. Throwing a few bible names on it and having "the devil" played straight was obvious. No twists to the story, played exactly as one would expect. The ending was an uninteractive 10 minute loading screen.
- Highly linear. The moments that looked like they were interactive were not - type something different and it gave you one obvious generic error message. I expect depth to the jokes off the beaten path, see Stanley Parable for this done correctly.

Make a mediocre core game.

Throw in some weirdness.

Be a cheap indie.

Win.

I was watching PewDiePie play it and I have to say the fake Steam message popping up was insanely clever and very well done. I wasn't even playing and it fooled me.

Good job to the developers on that one. 

I agree with the puzzles being easy. Though I rather liked the story and the core gameplay (simple, I know, but somewhat addictive), and the game did great in crushing my expectations as a gamer. I have to go deep in its interaction with the player, maybe I'll give it another playthrough and see if things turn in a different path, though it was a very good first experience. I think it will be a rather divisive experience. 

It has nothing to do with its prize or being indie. I loved the experience, and that's what matters to me. 

I saw the jim video and I found it very interesting shit, but I doubt it deserve being called one of the best games of the year, looks like an interesting and smart experiment that some critics are already acclaiming like the best thing evah because thats what critics loves to do, anyway i still have to play it, looks neat.

This is like saying that the first game released in 2016 is the GOTY so far...

This is why i think its dumb to talk about GOTY's so far. GOTY as the name implies, presumes a whole year of releases. Not 2 days, 2 months, 6 months, etc.

I don't think it's nearly the same. Obviously the first game which released this year would be the "GOTY", but saying it's a candidate implies that the game has a certain level of quality which will put it on some GOTY lists when the year is over. I'd say that when the game is a 9+ for me. 

Obviously, if this game is finally not on my top 10 list, that would be an unbelievably good year for me, and it doesn't happen a lot. I usually tend to score games low. I'd gladly change the title if it sounds very "click-baity" but it was the first thing that came to my mind xDDD.