Oh, where do I even begin?
It feels like my life began when I played this game. The story, the characters, all of it irrevocably changed me and awakened something within me. I am so deeply changed by this game that I cannot imagine living in a world where I have not experienced it.

Everything about Asya spoke to me like nothing ever has. Every aspect of her personality, her worries, her fears, her thought process, her view of the world. I feel an intrinsic connection to her that I never have with anything or anyone else, real or fictional.

The game's story is beautiful. My own struggles with Dissociative Identity Disorder and Moral OCD felt perfectly reflected in Asya, and even more so with the introduction of a certain character in the game's third episode.

As far as the game itself goes, the music fits atmospherically in a wonderful way, one of the best uses of royalty-free music I've ever seen, and the art is of course phenomenal. Ferry's work never fails to outperform my expectations.

This game gives me life. It gives me motivation. It gives me calm and comfort when I struggle. I love this game.

Asya's feelings, worries, problems - no, my own feelings, worries, problems, spoke to me like nothing before. I will never forget the permanent impact this game has had on who I am.

There is only one thing to say.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

For as long as I can remember, I thought that some games are a form of art. Like other types of art, be that books, movies or music, I see it as a way to convey emotion from one person - the author - to another - the reader, viewer or listener. It's so jarring to me when people choose to focus on the means the author picks to convey those feelings instead of letting yourself be immersed in and almost overwhelmed by them, and just letting those words/scenes/notes be a lens through which one looks at said emotion.

Maybe that's one of many messages this game has.

That's to say, Z.A.T.O. is imperfect. It has a tiny amount of rough spots and unpolished edges, but I refuse to let that get in the way of the game opening itself up to me and letting me feel things through it.

And I just love so much about this artwork. I love the pictures it paints. I love the characters it shines its spotlight on. I love the feelings it makes you share with the characters. Maybe it's cause I actually was in the places it vaguely describes. Maybe it's cause I actually know the feelings it mentions. Maybe it's cause I share my name with one of the main characters. Maybe it's cause it reminds me of how some time ago I felt the same prickly cold on my face as the protagonist did, and shook snow off my boots in the same manner as she did.

It's devastating how fleeting these feelings will be. I know that tomorrow I will wake up, and the picture of a snowy road under a dark violet sky will be a bit more blurry than tonight, and the day after that will fill my thoughts with clutter that will mostly erase the emotion I feel now, and maybe just dull it down to bland nostalgia. But I got to experience it, and I love this game for that. I love the characters for the journey I experienced with them, I love the places I visited with them, I love the love they shared with me, I love their feelings towards everything, and I love this whole world, just like many other worlds in other works of art I got to experience, and I wish I could never stop loving them as much as I do in this current moment.

how could the universe be so kind to gift the perfect game to someone as insignificant as me?

thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.