Jesus. Christ.
I've never really been into ero guro, though I occasionally consume it alongside other things. I get no sexual pleasure from it for the most part.
I think this might be one of the best visual novels I've ever read.
As a writer and developer myself, this game will undoubtedly impact me and influence my art for the rest of my life. I've been working on VNs myself for a while, despite not releasing any yet.
Beautifully written, lovingly crafted, comprehensibly described. The characters and story are some of the best I've ever seen. They feel real, raw in a way that almost no games ever do. I've met Anhedonia. I've met One. I've seen them echoed in my life. I've met Clericals. I've seen my friends, my community, people like me fall to them. I've known people who have been in danger of or actually had loved ones executed just for, in One's word, "not submitting to their fucked orthodoxy". The words spoken by the Clericals, "be silent or be guilty", ring in my head as a quote of the moment as my city, my state, my country, my world decays around me, seemingly just at the thought of our (read: us freaks) existence. Reading it crushed me with the weight of our current zeitgeist.
I've been One. At times, I've been Anhedonia. I love my girlfriendwife. I try to devote myself to my art and work. I was a little shocked to see how they speak like me and my friends, my girlfriend, though I suppose those in this kind of circle tend to speak similarly. Still, usually it isn't reflected in such a raw, real way.
I am not a masochist, but to read about such love and beauty seen in scarred, mangled flesh like my own is... Comforting. I might not enjoy their sex, but the two of them are goals, hehe.
This is going into my collection of "those games". The games that shape me, the games I love but cannot recommend to almost anyone.
I could go on. The visual style is beautifully chaotic and unique, the music is great, etc. But I'll save that for now. My thoughts are already clear here.
There are only a couple of things I noticed that could have been better. Some scenes felt like they could use their own CGs. The cuddling and talk after the fifth sex scene felt strange with the sex CG, and the scene where Annie cuts down her sternum could have used a different CG for massaging her wound. There were a couple of typos, one of the things the Jailer says didn't seem grammatically correct, and at one point the word "composition" is used when I think you meant "decomposition".
Besides those couple of minor things, this game is kind of amazing. Probably the best ero guro I've come across so far in my opinion. I look forward to reading your other works.