The game does what few games do which is immense environmental story telling, atmosphere, and not having a separation between gameplay and story. The story isn't just a bunch of cutscenes, the story is told every single moment of gameplay. Everything is wet, decayed, abandoned. Most of the enemies are rather weak pathetic annoyances that James gets to (hilariously at times) beat down.

Everything conveys this feeling of hopelessness, depression, ennui. James never looks at the camera saying he is a suicidally depressed weirdo, but it's obvious he is.

You can make a GOOD case that they got too experimental, too arstiic, and it misses the boat. But I'll appreciate it for trying something different, and treating the medium seriously.