Iris is one of the first larger missions I've played for TDM and I felt compelled to write to you after playing through this experience. I've only ever played Snowed Inn and a few other maps that were short and sweet (and I tried to play Mother Rose but quickly noped the heck outta that one... I might get the courage again one day), so this was a huge change of pace. I sunk my teeth into about 7-9 hours of gameplay before I decided to finish the mission... but after seeing my stats of an abysmal 6k out of 15k loot, I'm definitely going to go back into it and see what else I can find! I've been having trouble finding combinations to a bunch of the safes and have only opened the Lanternbug's, so that's probably where I'll start when I pick this up again.
This is such a gorgeous cityscape with so much to explore. Honestly! Every time I revisited an area I thought I had basically cleared out, I'd always find another window to climb through or another vent to open. Exploration was consistently rewarded either through loot or clues or keys or finding alternate routes to places I had already been. Seriously - it's mindboggling just how delightful this level design was! It feels a lot like the frighteningly freeing nonlinearity of The Life of the Party and the weird, spooky, paranormal topsy-turvy atmosphere of The Sword had a really cool baby. Also, while I frighten easily so others may not relate, there were some genuinely terrifying and hair raising moments for me in this mission that I truly adored. Atmosphere and exploration is a 10/10!
I admittedly also had a lot of fun seeing how I could bamboozle the AI...
I still am not quite sure what the whole story is. I've still been digesting everything I've played and read, and I think there is still more to see and do for me. From my perception, this is a massive tale of grief, in its various forms told through all the inhabitants of Red Rook and Hollowbrook. I genuinely felt heartache at some storylines I voyeuristically experienced - rummaging through notes and memoirs, reading the momento "trophies" - and shared in the frustrations of other worker folk in the city. Even if I don't truly know what the heck is going on, I can say with absolute certainty that this is a beautiful, melancholic story and the writing was enthralling - pure poetry!
Thanks so much for making this and I hope to see more releases from you.