A downloadable fairytale for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
While the synopsis is technically correct, I don't think it accurately reflects the experience within the game.
It presents two narratives: struggling with mental health and a yandere love story, neither of which felt fully developed.
The first part of the game sets up Saffie's struggle with her deteriorating mental health after receiving an autism diagnosis. But when we enter the other half of the game, it feels like everything before it takes a backseat. I was quite disappointed when I realized Saffie was going to spend the rest of the story as a captive behind bars.* It's just that from the front page, it seems like the wintery outdoors was going to take a much bigger role in the story; I thought that Snowe was going to help Saffie navigate her way out of the forest while also navigating the danger of Saffie's struggling mental health, with tension derived from whether or not Snowe would be able to convince Saffie to live long enough to see her exit the forest. Instead it feels like a drawn-out cliche. There is nothing wrong with the trope of the yandere trapping the object of their affection; I just don't think it was the right fit for this story. Snowe's character also suffers from this, as the writing just cannot justify Snowe's incompetence in trying to "help" Saffie because the way they are written makes it seem like they're supposed to be the reasonable one, when their actions (especially in some of the endings) directly contradict this.
*At the end, it's revealed that Saffie was never locked inside the cell, which was supposed to reinforce that Saffie has already embraced helplessness. I liked this moment, but I still think the yandere narrative overshadows it when every ending is tied to Snowe's presence being in Saffie's life whether she wants it or not.
Overall, I think the setting of this concept has a lot of promise that it doesn't quite capture. However, the creators involved in this game all did a wonderful job making it look and sound beautiful. The backgrounds and ending CGs especially caught my attention, especially those depicting snow and ice!
