31th VN I read and rated from this jam. This is so Psycho spiral beast core.

What an interesting way to conclude my MAY WOLF readings!

Ugly, yes. Simple and bare bones. But also strikingly human and relatable. I've been there. With friends and family. Probably why I've never been able to hold a meaningful relationship in my life.

Overall, a straight-forward vignette which succeeds at stirring up my twentysomething anxieties. Good job.

(note: heavy spoilers)

Bold in concept, well-written, possessing a clarity of purpose to every element that I dare say surpasses most of the competition.

The pacing is economic despite the work essentially consisting of a single scene and a short epilogue; it has the confidence to linger in its images and characterize the narrator with subtle mentions of backstory. Seeing that the word count matched the game jam's lower limit, I expected to see more padding, but there's not much here that feels truly extraneous. In terms of presentation, Spaghetti uses both of its two (!) image assets to a great effect: the former's nightmarish mood is effectively realized via stark colors and edits reminiscent of digital artifacts, and it provides a nice contrast to the mundane photorealism and the offbeat composition of the latter. There is really nothing to add or nothing to change; the concept is executed perfectly.

What is off-screen is as important, of course. The spaghetti – in this context most obviously recalling Lady and the Tramp – curiously lacks a visual representation, only being present in the text via its absence. It functions as a fitting symbol of the protagonist's self-sabotage: no matter how hard it tries, the narrative cannot even bring itself to reveal the supposed centerpiece of the whole thing. This angle is emphasized even further by the Itch page containing a prominent image of the titular dish entirely absent from the work itself, as if a mere paratextual demon haunting it.

The transformation the motif goes through is equally interesting. What lies in front of the narrator is first ambiguously revealed as "not spaghetti" before the game settles on "popcorn", positioning the protagonist simultaneously as an audience to and an actor in the infernal dreamscape conjured from their feelings of guilt and shame. This self-inflicted mental anguish, the work suggests, can be thought of as a kind of private performance portraying them as a victim of incomprehensible circumstances, rationalizing their fundamentally nonrational behavior.

On the other hand, it's also a punishment. The self of the narrator is partitioned, the other half comprehending the other's transgressions ("But I always do that. I’m always lying. ... I don’t know what I expected from myself.") but lacking the power to stop them. Spaghetti hell, as such, acts as a form of unconscious justice the protagonist inflicts on themselves.

The wolf is an equally complex image. Fourth-wall breaking references to the furry fandom paint it as an object of desire, a fantasy (and, in literal terms, a dream) made real. The text's insistence on its unreality, then, can be read as another manifestation of guilt – even in an escapist environment devoid of consequences, the protagonist cannot allow themselves the carnal pleasures embodied by both MYWOLF and, through food–sex-dualism, the dish the couple is having. How the wolf is specifically and pointedly described as "two-dimensional" further emphasizes the gap between the narrator and other subjects: they are so unable to recognize and understand the inner lives of others that they're startled when MYWOLF is revealed to be capable of speech. The text seems to understand this as a psychological defense the protagonist employs to save themselves from the disappointment of not deserving love and attention.

Worth mentioning is also how the 2D sprite graphics traditionally employed by both visual novels and video games in general are here recontextualized as ontologically suspect, unattainable illusions. The genius of this move is the ambiguity of whether it is criticizing escapism by itself or the protagonist's woes: it is their own self-deprecation that renders them unable to partake in the seemingly harmless fantasy of enjoying a bowl of spaghetti with a wolf, after all. Would simply grasping the reality of the situation not be a healthier response?

If you're in the mood for nitpicks, the lack of audio feels like a missed opportunity in a work that manages to do this much with its limited visuals, and the jam's theme is not present in any self-evident way. Sticking to the defaults of Ren'py with the UI doesn't read as a flaw to me, though, given how deeply the VN is in conversation with its genre – framing it as just another furry visual novel feels right.

Let the masses know that there is no hint of irony in my bones when I declare Spaghetti to be one of the best entries in the game, a compelling exercise in formal minimalism not wasting a single pixel that doubles as a psychological portrait with admirable depth to it. Like the thing itself, it goes down easily while still containing plenty to chew on.

It's raw, short and chaotic, but that suits the theme of anxiety perfectly.

It feels like we're in your head and when someone manage to do this, it feels like a success. Maybe a little more polishing would have been great but I still liked it a lot.

"It is, therefore it is."

Gotta be my favorite line from all entries, I'm sobbing rofl

This is another very raw project. The seeds of something interesting are in there but skill to work those ideas seem to be lacking. There’s not much more to say about this one.|

SPOILER to follow

This was most certainly the most VN I ever played.

I was not sure how to feel about it once I finished it. If I should consider it a deeply personal work of art, telling its message in an unconventional way, some elaborate form of shitposting, or something in between. In the end, I decided to focus on how it made me feel: it wasn't pretty, it was very low effort, but it did speak to me human to human and it does effectively depict depression and apathy. So I decided I like it for what it is.

And just in case this is how the dev actually feels, I wish you all the best man! Lots of love.

Spoilers follow:

Theme: Expansion of unreality into our reality? (Undercut in that it was a dream).

Story: The real spaghetti wasn't the plate, but the tendrils of corruption twisting the area... but it was a dream.

Presentation: I liked the modification of the red screen for a (mostly) single act work, but no music nor sfx at all felt awry. 

Creativity: it gave me Cool and New Webcomic Vibes, which is a bit plus honestly. I was amused at your take on calling the "mywolf" an inherently flat concept, given it lacked the dimensionality "you" had. It would have been fun to explore that conceit further in your horror satire.

Overall thoughts: You're a homestuck fan, aren't you? or at least a hussie fan? The red miles, the corruption of CanWC, Zhen waking up to a pot at the start of Psychocolonials? or is that just me. Am i the only one drawing those connections.

Didn't appreciate the dream break nor the filler words of "again and again" or whatever it was. I think you could have achieved something other than dream. You were doing so well with the conceit of the 2d and 3d dimensionality.

I would like to see something a bit more... expansive.  

Nothing like catching some rays, shirtless, with the view of the Mediterranean Sea, enjoying some linguine and SPAGHETTI!

Okay review time! This is a short and sweet vignette about some pretty heavy mental stuff going on with out MC. I liked the narration in how it clearly communicated this without being unreasonably direct. I found the theme somewhat difficult to parse (I might've just missed it) due to the nature of the vignette. The combination of visuals with the topic was also very clever. Overall, it is unique and evocative, so I'll give it a 4/5 (good).

A morose vignette on depression and anhedonia. Short and to the point.