serial experiments: lain

serial experiments: lain is this weird, dialogue heavy borderline «experience» where you play as a therapist trying to piece together Lain Iwakura's fractured mental state. Instead of traditional gameplay, you’re basically digging through her therapy sessions, diary entries and random video clips in a non linear, almost chaotic way. The game calls itself «psychostretchware» which is a fancy way of saying it's more of an interactive mood piece than an actual game, I guess. There's no real structure, info unlocks randomly and you're left to make sense of it all, which kinda mirrors how overwhelming the internet and Lain’s mind can be.

The plot is an alternate take on the anime, focusing on Lain's sessions with her therapist, Touko Yonera (an OC), while ditching most of the anime's cast. It's still about reality vs. the digital world, identity crises and existential dread but with more introspective.

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Honestly, if you're curious about this game, the webport is the best way to experience it. Not only ditches the original's loading times but also comes with English and Spanish fantranslations. The anime's cult status means a lot of people wanna dig into every piece of Lain media, but let's be real, since this game never left Japan is more hassle than it's worth when the browser version gives you the same mindbending narrative without the '90s jank. Plus, the translations makes the dense, psychological dialogue way more digestible. 

Oh, and if you got a sealed copy lying around. Congrats, you're sitting on a gold mine, this thing's worth hundreds of dollars now.