I don't think this was too dark at all! Not even in the bad ending. You had a theme, you committed to it, and you executed on it pretty fuckin' well.

You executed the gameplay pretty fuckin' well too. Using all those mental stats as health bars, using distance as a form of resource... there's the foundation for a very solid roguelike or simple linear story here, if you choose to progress it. Tube-of-toothpaste brain aside, I half-hope that you do. You've got a very unique vibe, some very good dialogue, and a great unanswered mystery. Excellent stuff, especially for a first jam!

The tender-hearted part of me wishes there was an ending (maybe with max compassion & zeroed out disdain or something) where Erx can be given a chance to survive without taking Yuni's autonomy away, since it seems like an interesting idea to have those facets but in-practice they're mostly just present as four manipulable health bars. That said, I think this explored its scenario well with a card game that was simple but surprisingly difficult without feeling annoyingly unfair! I get the impression the intent is for the narration to be very emotionally biased and not strictly reliable, but I can see how it might not translate to someone who isn't ready to make that sort of assumption. I think you did a good job with it overall though! 

My one nitpick is that the way the different stat bars works can lead to a lot of back and forth "dud" turns where the characters stall out until the deck shuffles around again. It really slows the pace down in a way that a discard or skip turn mechanic could resolve. 

For a jam game, this is incredibly polished. I don’t think I have anything to criticize here.

At first, I thought I would suck at it since I don’t play deck-building games, but it was really easy to understand (with the "hint" section on the game page). I had a lot of fun playing it. Won on my second try, with only one lock remaining... quite stressful!

I saw there’s some discussion about the noncon aspect, so I’ll just share my experience with it. As someone who feels pretty neutral about noncon (it’s neither a kink nor a trauma for me), the writing really made me feel the danger of the situation. Yuni looked so innocent that I genuinely cared about saving her, letting her escape whatever Erx had in mind for her. In short, the writing is well done, in my opinion.

Other than that, the presentation is great, the visuals are great, and the music slaps... Great job!

I think my one gripe with this is how the intro/outro dialog is so slow and with no option to go faster, only to skip

I love a strange sci-fi world, and this certainly delivers. As you've noted in the credits, the overall tone certainly isn't light, but that's fair. It's upfront about what kind of game it is. There's nothing wrong with a darker story every now and then, and the writing here has a very strong voice.

The combat system is quite impressive - this is a real achievement for a jam game. It's asymmetrical but balanced, and everything makes sense and works well together. I did find myself wishing for more control over the cards in my hand, but once I understood how the movement/willpower system works, I was able to plan my moves and win the battle on my second try. (If you did want to keep poking at this some more, it could be one of these indie deck-builder RPGs.)

Honestly, the sheer amount of detail in this is impressive. From the animations and sound effects to the in-combat dialogue to the gosh-darn tooltips. It's all dripping with style and atmosphere.

Everything about this game resonates with me. I fell in love with the world & the characters ' w '

Great characters, great music and great atmosphere! We kinda had a strawberry jam gaming night with the team yesterday and we couldn't have figured the gameplay out lmao. Came back to this on my own today and finally got to figure it out and beat the hypnotic guy! Awesome gameplay ideas there, only one encounter, but either I'm dumb or it takes quite a while in a good way. The relative lack of "attacking" cards and focus on "defending" by sorting your stats out really captures the spirit of that encounter and the character dynamic there. Sort of have to keep your head in check and persevere to win this!

The asymmetrical mechanics felt really fresh. The tension between the Yuni and Erx made me so curious about the world and their place in it! I was eating up all the dialogue, and enjoying how each card impacted the argument. The art was really nice, with the designs feeling interesting and pretty well telegraphing the vibe you were supposed to feel about each. I would love to see this game expanded on and polished, because this system is fresh as hell.

I felt that the attacks themselves felt psychological in nature, but I did not feel like it was psychic or particularly magical/power infused in most cases. Perhaps some more intense visual or audio effects could benefit those feelings. I wish there were more things that interacted with the positioning of Yuni and Erx! If there were ways that the two combatants could push and pull each other around the stage, that would make their placement and the ability to gain energy feel much more impactful. 

I feel that from the perspective of making a jam involving the kinks of Noncon/dubcon, mind control, manipulation, breeding, etc.- it feels like a bit of a shame to have the reward for winning be a lack of indulgence in these topics. I think it would be nice for some sort of erotica or more engagement/interaction to be a reward for playing well, to incentivize players to try and get it right even if they fail!

The music fucking kicked ass, and immediately got me excited to play. The card based attacks interacting with health in different ways was cool, and reminded me of how the Exceed Fighting System handled positioning and combat. Overall this game was tight, well considered, and fun to play! Absolutely a stand-out in vibe. Well done, that rocked
Thank you so much!

The card battling system in this is very engaging, and the dialogue did so much to communicate the ideas behind the mechanics. Flowing back and forth in your mental state to throw off an intruder was so well communicated through the mechanics. Thematically I like it a lot. 

The pacing felt a little slow, and I think it's because of how separated stepping and balancing stats is. I actually really like the movement mechanic, but I'd love to see cards that adjust your stats and position at the same time like: cower to step back +despair, saunter to step forward +lust, intimidate to push opponent +fury etc.  Offensive cards could also be a little more common, near the end I was cycling hands for a while waiting to deal the final blow.

Though all that being said, this pacing kinda makes sense for essentially a high stakes boss fight, and would make for a good boss rush if you wanted to expand the story to just a few more opponents. I think the tone served the tension in the beginning, but the hopelessness of the endings might be a little heavy handed. I do also always advocate for a horny payoff for winning and not just for losing. Maybe you turn the tables and quell his rage to make him docile. Or just fuck him like you're trying to fix him.

Great pulls for the music, the battle theme definitely added to the tension.

Very cool battle system, it's new and I like it a lot! It was fairly intuitive too, but some additional hints on menu element mouseovers may be useful for new players. Card text for moving backwards refilling your energy could also help, it was the only part that I didn't fully figure out through experimentation.

I like the writing and dialogue, they set the right mood to the story. It was fun to learn more about the characters through dialogue exchanges in battle! The intro and outro text slowly appearing does feel cinematic, but I feel like there should be an option to click through it as an alternative.

The art is very good, and there is a lot of attention present in the custom menu elements. I like the dynamism with various dialogue exchanges and animations, I don't think that the card mechanics would feel as impactful without all of the visuals to match what you're doing. The sounds and music do a lot of work in setting the proper tone too!

It's always a pleasure to see such a complete and polished game in a jam! I'm glad that you had the chance to make the experience of playing it feel so complete!

This game is very challenging, but in a way that makes you want to get back and try again, and again, and again until you get it right! (Or maybe I'm just bad lol) The dialogue is also amazingly well written, and fits well with the actions performed. 

Man - it took a round for me to realise exactly how this worked, but this is a really solid asymmetrical game, and a super unique approach to take to the game jam. I like how the mechanics match each of the character’s intentions, and the push forward/fall back is a really interesting way to get the willpower to play cards.

It was rough finding offensive cards to play and often when I did draw them I’d have no willpower to use them - it felt like I’d be idling for 3-5 turns just to take down a stat by 1. It never felt unfair, just because the enemy AI seemed to be struggling just as much, but it definitely dragged out the game. I saw you mention stances as something that could help - honestly I think there’s something there! It could be that you have the option to swap stance for free once per turn (so separate from the card mechanic entirely), defensive allows you to gain willpower on top of cards per turn, while offensive stops your opponent from pushing you back/some additional effect? Spitballing, and may be entirely unneeded if you play with the types of cards that are in the deck. (Gain energy, but set one of your stats to lock position could work, maybe?) The nice thing is that the main mechanics seem so solid it’s a case of balance, not it inherently not working.

Narrative wise, this feels like a game where the kink is the thing that first and foremost guides the dev choices made, rather than just the horny of it all. It definitely is a bit grim, and on reading your reply to Twi it makes me curious what other potential endings existed in concept beyond the two grim ones we got - it does feel like we got the worst of the worst whether we win or lose, and the game does have capacity for lighter endings if expanding in that way gives you joy.

I really appreciated being able to read through the in-game dialogue though the log - on the flip side, a way to click through the slow pace of the text/load all text on a screen for the prologue/endings would be really great.

Fascinating project, and I’m really glad I got to experience it.

Cool stuff! Enjoyable art, and the banter adds nicely to the atmosphere. Perhaps the gameplay could use some retooling, but as it is, it does feel remarkably fitting, conceptually!

This is really good! another game i'd like to see expanded on.  the combat flow did feel pretty regularly interrupted but the basic this is really nice, especially the shifting defensive goals

I LOVE ITTTTTTTTTTT I LOVE THE MUSIC! The gameplay is pretty good, and I LOOOVE the story x3

The concept of this game is really unique. I like the idea of a card game where both players have different goals. My only gripe is that I ended up just wasting turns moving forward and back just to regain energy which I felt ruined the flow a little. Would love to see this expanded on.

This one's definitely a standout! There's a surprising amount of depth in the actual gameplay, and it does a pretty good job at representing the main kink at play.

The dialogue is a treat, especially with how it responds to the cards being played. It does an amazing (and unexpectedly grounded!) job at portraying the sheer sexual tension between Yuni and Erx.

I also genuinely love that it lets the psychic mind control kink take the forefront for the extent of its horniness, instead of relying purely on straight-up sex to be horny.

The combat system is amazing, god damn! My only gripe would be a lack of offensive cards, but that might just be an skill issue on my end, very peak game, really good!