Milk Outside a Bag of Milk Outside a Bag of Milk (2021)

Milk Oustide... offers a very interesting look into the life and thoughts of a young lady suffering from serious mental illness and trauma. You play as a sort of self-talk, inner voice of the protagonist, generally representing the more rational side of her thoughts. Though, sometimes you are presented with only irrational choices. It creates a very interesting dynamic where you're both playing as the protagonist and not; trying to help her cope but sometimes not able to. I think that is a really clever framing to capture the struggle of the unnamed main character. I also enjoyed the metatextual element of the main character thinking of you as a person playing a visual novel/point and click game.

The game very critically manages to create an absolutely unique atmosphere. The art does an excellent job of shifting to match the mental state of the protagonist. The color palette, detail, and even overall style change between many of the scenes in the game to create this effect. The music was similarly on point in creating the feelings of dread and jubilation that the protagonist felt. There are a couple of tracks in the game that would fight right in on an atmospheric doom metal album (e.g. Sunn O))) ), which, as a fan of the genre, I really enjoyed hearing in a game. Even more so since it fit the mood so well.

My main criticism is just that I wanted a bit more. The entire game takes place over the course of the main character getting ready for bed, and takes 1-2 hours to play, depending on how many endings you go for. Even combined with the original game and its 30 minute runtime, it's just not quite enough time to really get to get to know and empathize with the protagonist to the degree I was hoping for. However, that doesn't keep the Milk duology from being a worthwhile and unique way to spend an evening.