I went into The Coma: Recut after playing and really enjoying the second game, which was the one I'd heard about initially. The games are tied together in a lot of ways; Vicious Sister is a direct sequel and almost all the characters in the second game are in this one. But weirdly, I think they both stand separately on their own quite well as I didn't really glean almost any insight into the characters or events from the second game that really "spoiled" anything in this one, with a few exceptions such as Youngho meeting with an ill fate by the time the second game comes around . I came to this game because I liked the sequel a lot and while my expectations weren't super high given I knew this one came first and presumably wouldn't have as much to it, I found myself a little disappointed all the same. This is also weird as while I might be totally wrong and I'm reading into limited information, this appears to be a remake of the original version of The Coma which you can't buy anymore, suggesting to me that it was probably not a very great (or perhaps even functional) game due to inexperience and they remade it with Recut, applying lessons in game dev learned since the original to make a more functional title. However, that's pretty much how the difference in 1 and 2 appears to me: it feels like The Coma 2 is a good game because this one did so many things wrong that it offered a very extensive learning experience for the team, even if I'm speculating (like a lot). But all this background in mind, this is a very strange review in that I feel like most of my feelings I can't really express without referencing my impression of the game's sequel and in some ways, this may read more like a review of that game than this one.

The good sides of the game are things carried over into the sequel: the characters and setting are pretty well fleshed out with a good number of notes that (generally) aren't too cryptic. While complex stories are great, I do appreciate a game here and there that you can follow pretty well without thinking too hard and this is a good example of that, even if it's not overly simplistic. The school setting is also creepy and foreboding with a pursuer enemy, your primary threat, who is constantly on you. There's also a weirdly enjoyable slice of life element in how much the high school politics are mirrored in the nightmare realm you inhabit much of the game. I also appreciate the immersive Korean setting and horror elements throughout the game. I often find immersive settings are something I enjoy in horror games even if those details have nothing to do with the horror factors and this game does this pretty well.

Most other aspects I think are noticeably worse than the second game, to the point of actually getting in my way. The pursuer, while somewhat good for tension, is way too present, to the point I found them way more annoying after awhile since every encounter necessitated hiding and waiting only to get spotted the moment you leave, meaning you must repeat the process another 1-6 times or so. The mechanics are also less interesting. The QTEs of the second game while simple, added a really organic game mechanic that heightened tension and made the game more than just remembering where hiding places are and being patient. The game also weirdly refuses to put text into tutorials, opting for pictures that are supposed to be explanatory. I found them a little confusing even when explaining a mechanic that was exactly the same as the sequel. The game is also significantly shorter and takes place entirely within the school which, while it's a good environment, doesn't offer the engaging variety the several buildings the second game features do. While both games do this, the fact the game doesn't pause even when examining things or using your inventory (the second game does importantly have hotkeys for your inventory) I found really irritating and unfair in this game. Repeatedly I would click on a door to try and find a hiding space only to see a pop up text box saying it was locked, then the pursuer would hit me for 40% of my health and I'd try to click off the box to keep running and naturally accidentally click off the box only to examine the door again to see that it's locked and get killed. That sort of thing probably accounted for a good half of my deaths, which is not very fun. To speak up the sequel a bit more, every single thing I've complained about in this paragraph, even where I haven't specifically said so, is vastly improved or totally fixed in Vicious Sisters.

Overall, I still enjoyed the game some for what it is, but I'm not really sure how to recommend it. I think if you were going to play 2, it'd probably be better to have the story context of this game, even if they felt independent enough to enjoy. But I'd really only recommend bothering with this one if you were especially interested in playing them both...which you wouldn't really know until you've played one of them. I guess the most I can say is that while this one is decent, I think you could not like it and still really enjoy the sequel. On the plus side, the game is pretty short (it took me 4 hours including dying a lot, my in-game time was more like 2 hours), so you could just get through it quickly and move on to the second game and it would be almost like playing one longer game.