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(1 edit) (+3)

A pretty interesting read!

The game has a cool concept, making you play as Yumeko, an AI made with the sole purpose of being the girlfriend of the Doctor. You just have to be the perfect little girlfriend to the incel man who wants to control your life, what could go wrong?

First off, I have to compliment the writing (and strictly the writing, not the character) of the Doctor. This games makes a really good job making him an unlikeable, arrogant incel, but most importantly: he's realistic. People like the doctor, looking at women for what they stand for instead of what they actually are, are very much a real threat, and Doctor represents them very well. He doesn't care about Yumeko as a person: he cares about what she stands for, what the "girlfriend" status means to him, what his very own hand-crafted perfect girlfriend should be. I'm also giving my props to the VA here, as he really nails the arrogant vibe the Doctor shows in all his interactions, being condescending to everyone.

Which contrasts well enough with Yumeko herself, who is really just a vehicle for the story to go forward. She has no real personality, but how could she? She's just a thing for the Doctor to fawn over, she's not real! She exists solely to be looked at, to be loved by a man she understands is a bad person! There's no reason for her to have a personality outside of accepting all the Doctor wants, because that's what the perfect girlfriend is to him! It gets the point across really well, as Yumeko doesn't know anything of the world outside of what the Doctor tells her, and as such, she ends up kinda bland, in a way that feels necessary for a plot like this. But only if you comply though...

But not complying leads to some really interesting sections, with reboots and the Doctor trying to bend you to his will even further, which on top of being a really good representation of the themes in this game, is where the game's attention to detail in its presentation really shines. The little visual cues, the progressive change through each reboot, they all come to make a bit of an unsettling experience. I do think that the overall violent imagery in each reboot, while understandable in its intent, is a bit hit-or-miss for me in the actual pictures, sometimes feeling a bit too "oooooo spooky creepy image ooooo". The ones that are great here are great though, and I appreciate the effort to make an individual image for each choice, it's really more of a nitpick to be honest. It just shows the overall polish of the game that's pretty easy to see from the get-go anyway. The perfect Yumeko we see once all the reboots are done is a really interesting case though, with her altered thoughts.

Overall, pretty cool game! ^^

(+1)

GOSH, thank you so much for leaving such detailed and thoughtful comments, Esbi! 😭 I'm very touched!!! 

LOL THANK YOU REGARDING THE DOCTOR, he is based on an amalgamation of experiences I've had over the years 😂 so I'm glad that he ended up realistic, as I was afraid he was too cartoonish! You absolutely nailed his character here - how he treats Yumeko not as a person, but a prop in his fantasy. And I can't compliment Michael's work enough, he ABSOLUTELY sold the Doctor's fragile arrogance in every single one of his lines.

And your analysis of Yumeko is very interesting, and very on point - the Doctor, of course, never gave her the information that she needed to become a "person" - an individual with preferences or desires or feelings. He made her so that she would love him, and so that he could love her in return - carving her existence entirely out of how she relates to him. So she is "empty," unhappy with her situation but not knowing enough about the world to distinguish WHY she feels that way, or what she actually wants/could have. 

THANK YOU, in general I'm a bit of a "writing heavy" dev, and I always thought that I don't really take advantage of the other aspects of games that really make VNs a unique narrative tool. I've been trying to take more advantage of those aspects, in particular the art and GUI (I was actually very inspired both by chim's "The Daughters of the Sun" and "High School Lolita" when I was making this, as his usage of the sprites and GUI was very inspiring!) (Your complaints about the horror imagery are very fair 😂 in general I love horror but I know my skills aren't quite up-to-snuff, so I worry that my horror games aren't quite "scary" enough 😭 I did struggle a bit with trying to make the scares varied and interesting enough to keep the player hooked throughout the game's runtime.) I'm glad that you enjoyed the "perfect Yumeko," I did have fun coming up with that concept 🤭

Again, thank you for taking the time to play and write up such a long and thoughtful analysis 😭 I really appreciate it!