Playing Through Every Choices Book, In Order (Part 49: It Lives Beneath)

Hey! Sorry for not posting in a while - was visiting family. Anyways, today we move in with our grandpa after discovering our parents...violently murdered, and then we witness another violent murder the day we arrive! What a lucky M/C, huh?

Next time, we move to San Francisco to work for Clickit, a company that screams millenial like no single person ever could, and end up meeting our college best friend and his friend group there!

SPOILER WARNING, AS ALWAYS!

Link to previous reviews: https://www.reddit.com/user/stresseatingdog/comments/sj3s3m/all_choices_reviews_megapost/

It Lives Beneath

M/C: Jake

Final LI: Parker

Favorite Chapter: Fishsticks

Favorite Character(s): Parker, Tom, Danni, Elliot, Robbie, Arthur, Josephine

Least Favorite Character(s): Astrid, Vincent, Richard, Chief Kelley

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

Review:

This book retains everything positive about It Lives In The Woods, in my opinion. I forgot to mention the nerve system last time, but I really enjoy it, and it has a new twist in this book where every character starts off with 0 nerve, and has to build it up over the course of the book. The cool weapons are back, and each character has at least one, which is pretty cool. I love the mutated rabbit companion too! This book does have a smaller cast than the first one, with all four characters that have nerve points also being the four LI's. I love that they brought back Tom, and it makes sense considering what he went through in Book 1. I went for Parker because...I'm extremely superficial, alright? Imogen and Danni are fun characters too. I love that M/C's brother is gay, and you can pair him with Robbie, but I wish there was some special dialogue if M/C is queer in any way too. Like, I played my M/C as gay, but I can't advise my brother who is struggling with his sexuality? Josephine is a great villain, and I love how, much like Jane, she isn't entirely evil or anything, she was just very, very, wronged. This book felt a lot more lore-heavy than Book 1, but I didn't mind that. I liked learning about how this town connects to Westchester, and how the cult formed, and how Josephine relates to Redfield/Jane. I also liked how the previous M/C or Noah could come to help you in ghost form - it shows what Jane could have been like if she had received help earlier. It's kind of annoying how you cannot get a perfect group nerve score in this game, even if you do all of the diamond scenes possible, because Imogen will always get -5 nerve in Chapter 15 or 16, and you can't do anything about it. I love that the final chapter lulls you into a sense of safety, only to spring the whole Richard scene onto you, and the fact that M/C can die in the final chapter is so cool. I also like that M/C can violently kill Richard lol (it's what that POS deserves). I will say that I didn't like M/C's rush to leave the town in the middle of the book, as he endangered Elliot by taking him into the woods, and he didn't really solve anything at all. I also think the fact that only one of your friends can die in this book is pretty lame, since it doesn't match up to the bloodbath of Book 1. Also, Parker straight up ditching you if his nerve isn't high enough is extremely lame. All in all, I love this book, although I do think it's a teensy step down from the first one. I hate that we'll never get a sequel to this book, because the cliffhanger at the end of the book (the scene with Jocelyn and Connor) is so, so intriguing. Lame.