I must admit, I was naughty and skipped the content warnings. I was dreading a drastic shift to horror until the very end because of that. It's what I get for not reading.
Overall, this VN was a neat little package. I often go with dread in college aged slice of life VNs because they tend to meander or be too melodramatic for my taste. Broken and mended does slip a bit into melodrama with the father character, but not too much. I think that it being so short with little to no fat worked out really well.
The writing had exactly what I'd want from a story like this. There were some very relatable thoughts and insecurities both leads had. The "reveal" about Emily made me go "oh god, I've been this idiot like Daniel". The idea to tell a story about queer issues from the perspective of a straight ally is also strange and not something I think I've seen in a FVN before. While it did lead to my favourite line from the entire VN, I kinda wish it committed to this and didn't give up Daniel's last straight man in the FVN space status in the last few minutes. But hey, it's not like the bisexuals have much to work with either, so let's goooo! Lastly, I do wish the choices were more consequential, they seem like they only provide very mild flavour.
The art was rough but charming. I was once again naughty and peeked into Daniel's modular sprite. It is an impressive setup that wasn't used much (his expressions are rather limited) and my god the code... Not a critique, but babygirl you don't need to live like this... You don't need to torture yourself coding every single body part over and over again every time he changes an expression 😭
I liked Charlie's sprites better. The multiple shirts was a nice touch, and he had some pretty intense expressions. The lack of some more muted expressions was strangely absent on him though.
Lastly. I really liked the more painterly style used in the bathroom CGs and that fucking painting in Charlie's living room. I adore this painting, immaculate house decor choice. I adore Dan disassociating in the bathtub looking all scrunkly. I do wish we could see Emily in that CG too, but alas.
All in all a nice first showing!