originally this comment was going to be MUCH much longer, but as an exorcise I thought hey, why not try to sum it up while still keeping the same sentiment?
I stumbled upon this game today and got to say, it really surprised me. It really hit close to home, in more ways than one. The story was phenomenal and- okay time to be less formal i'm not a professional. this game and its story and themes are absolutely DELIGHTFUL and the way things are handled are so well done!
it was wonderful seeing the mc slowly yet surely find their footing and coming out of their shell in kalei's route. cheered every time they figured that, while the world can be really really scary and things incredibly overwhelming, things CAN be okay and will be okay. sometimes you just gotta do something that makes you uncomfortable (talk with other folks for example) and see that despite everything, the results werent catastrophic. hell you may even find folks who, as kalei said, are on the same wavelength as you!
speaking of kalei, he literally appeared as sunshine peeking through the clouds on a dark day. while the mc reminded me of my much younger self, kalei surprisingly kind of reminds me of myself now. of course i'm not as extroverted as him and still can get incredibly anxious in unfamiliar situations without a script, but, he does remind me of the good things. and his enthusiasm for films!!! a!!! it's so wonderful!! and the frustration and not knowing how to solve something that seems simple to others but suddenly after external help it clicking into place and getting better at it!!! yes!!! joy!!! i could go on and on, he's a wonderful character who feels really grounded. big thumbs up :]
and now for the suspiciously white british man shaped elephant in the room. time to address the suspiciously white british man shaped elephant in the middle of the room. I would like to start off by saying that i have yet to play through his route, but will prolly have to do it at another time since every time he opens his mouth i may or may not cuss him out. he's INCREDIBLY well written, it was like dissasecting the textbook case of manipulation in real time. i need him to shut up, i need him to grow and become better. i want to throw him into the wood chipper. i've got no idea what his deal is in-universe but i can clearly see the big bold letters above his head reading PERSONIFICATION OF ANXIETY AND INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS AND METAPHOR FOR ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS. which leads me to the next point, looks around nervously.
he really reminded me of system members that tend to be labeled as prosecutors (which can kind of trap them into the label box which leads to whole other can of worms and problems since despite sharing a body they still are a person of varying degree of separation but this aint about that this is about the wretched british man /silly), lashing out and trying to help in their own way at the same time while also doing HORRIFIC AMOUNT OF DAMAGE IN THE PROCESS. looking at him through the lens of him and the mc being part of the same system makes his whole deal make more sense to me, common ground and all that. giving more insight into why he behaves like this and how he works in-universe. despite all that i am still throwing him into the wood chipper and sending him into Hey Dude That Was Fucked Up Lets Chill Out And Grow. its okay we are allowed to do this we have personal hands on experience with sharing a life and body with multiple lovely folks (literally) /silly
all in all, hope you have a wonderful week! thank you for sharing this story here!! :]