I was a bit late getting to play this, had it downloaded for a while but other things kept distracting me from playing it. But I finally completed it with all endings a couple of days ago and had such a viscerally emotional reaction to that it's taken until now to calm down enough and actually give some feedback.
I love it but it hurt so much to play.
As always the art is gorgeous, I've always enjoyed the contrast between these cute designs and bright colours compared to the oppressive atmosphere and creative body horror (that first bad ending was insane). The music is also lovely, fitting the atmosphere really well. And of course massive props to the cast, everyone did an excellent job and all of the voices suited their characters so well (Buttons was actually my favourite).
Now for the story... well that didn't fuck around did it? One of the reasons I love your writing is how you're able to balance wholesome moments with unsettling horror and devastating emotional beats. But I was not prepared for a content warning to become a speech that made me have a little existential crisis which then transitioned into a nightmare within the first 10 minutes! There was barely any breathing room, the plot was always moving forward with new revelations and moments but you balanced it all perfectly. Never once did I feel things were rushed or out of place, if anything it just kept the tension going as you continued to add more and more layers to the plot. And I loved all the new characters introduced, it's great seeing more of this world and understanding more of how it works. Raspberry and Blueberry were both wonderful, glad to see Strawberry getting to reunite with her friends (and her mum, yay for Inquiry!). Buttons is so precious while Memorial just flew with the villain role. At first he was someone I loved to hate but then you had to give the backstory and that hurt. Everyone's backstory hurt! Whenever I thought I'd reached the saddest moment somehow you topped it with the next one.
But of course our main girl Strawberry still takes the cake, it was lovely to have her in a leading role and give us more insight into her thoughts. The fact that she is still as sweet and kind as she is despite EVERYTHING that has happened does show that she's a far stronger character than she might initially come across as. That being said she goes through even more here! I don't think I've ever empathised so much with a single character as I do with Strawberry, maybe it's because I've played the previous games so I have the full context of what she went through but I was really struck with just how little power she has had over her own life. And that "good ending" made me cry. Not just tearing up but full on face in my hands sobbing. It fit for the story being told and I respect the hell out of you for going with it, it would have been so easy to add another scene at the end to show things were alright now but no. you showed how she was affected without trying to sugarcoat things.
So yes Berrywitched: Harvest is absolutely amazing, a great finale(?) to the Berrywitched series and I'm definitely going to be thinking about it for a long time. The emotional impact was stronger than I was expecting but is a real testament to what an excellent writer you are, I think this has solidified you as one of my favourite game devs. I would be interested to see this world explored more if you choose to do more games, though I do also want Strawberry to just be left alone so she can heal and focus on living her life. That girl has suffered far too much.
And on a final note... the Strawbunnies are going to be ok aren't they? :(