itch.io

alright, i've had some time to gather my thoughts on this.

to be honest, I found myself finding the very serious and somewhat edgy nature of the game to be comical. considering the first half is full of genuine attempts at humor, my mind was primed to be laughing, so that's what I did.
of course, it's possible that I found it so funny because I relate to Oliver's views on death and suicide, pretty much 1:1.

the writing and characterization is consistently portrayed! even if I wasn't able to take it as seriously as it probably wanted me to, I have to give you props for ensuring that characters were well-realized!

i don't know if this is a flattering or unflattering comparison, but my enjoyment of the experience was pretty similar to my enjoyment of Anonymous Agony, a classic edgy RPG Maker game with heavy themes of its own.

where I think Despair Springs Eternal fumbles is that it's waaaayy too wordy! some scenes feel like they linger on for too long. it really struggles to get to the point and move on to the next. this isn't as much of an issue when the dialogue is nonstop throwing out corny one-liners, but whenever it's trying to be serious there's not nearly enough variety or progression to justify how much reiterating there is.

although i wasn't able to enjoy the game in quite the way that was probably intended, i truly do want a full game to come of this. I wish you the best on any future content, or related project. I will be playing it.