This one was... chaotic. I feel like it was trying to juggle so many things, had conflicting things it focused on, was in the weird place jam games have being a supplementary prequel for a dev's other work, tried to juggle too many plot threads... but in the end I think it managed to pull it off. Mostly successfully.
The presentation first, There were some nice picks for the background photos, and I liked the cover image of Ransom with the multiple photos. I enjoy the sprites with the iconic Rhettoe eyes, and even if they many were WIP they looked good. The fact that the dev managed to sneak in a custom UI and music in just a month is seriously impressive.
As for the writing and storytelling, I have more mixed feelings. Trying to write a standalone game that is actually connected to the dev's another work seems to be tricky in game jams. I'd say it's been the most successful in that regard out of the three such VNs I've read. There weren't things where I felt like I'm missing crucial context, and I'm sure fans of IMG_1697 were getting a nice bonus treat. My only suspicion is that the fact that it belongs to the wider Rhettoeverse resulted in some dangling plot threads and superfluous characters and moments. Let's crack open that topic.
Reading the story, my main impressions were that a lot of the scenes and mini storylines seem very fragmented and disconnected. They do make sense from a logical and chronological aspect, but not so much from a narrative one. This is the thing I have always been coming back to during both my reading the VN and writing this review.
We have quiet contemplative moments, a lot of atmosphere building with autumn melancholy, we have a very slicey lifey sweet dream romance, we have the homophobia/toxic relationship in the college, and then we have everything with Ransom's mother's pregnancy, death and all the consequences that has after. It's a lot... and it is connected, but in a way where something kept feeling off to me.
The premise to depict a dramatic time of a character's life worked for me when it focused on Ransom and his family and friends, but the entire thing with this Novembuck jam was... well, mister Novembuck himself. He felt so isolated from the entire narrative that he even disappears for lengthy parts of the game. He pops in Ransom's life, absolutely charm the pants off of him, gets shoved aside when the real drama kicks off, and is then unceremoniously put on a bus to Canada. I'm glad he at least got a nice parting scene, but I must admit he was the least memorable part of the entire story for me. It felt to me like there was an entire story about meeting someone during a turbulent time of your life, having a brief but amazing romance, and then going your separate ways is a strong story that deserves to be explored, but just didn't have enough focus and room to breathe because of everything else going on in this narrative.
Ransom's relationship with Ryan was a lot more interesting though. Honestly trying to awkwardly navigate a break up with an amicable ex who you are unsure how much he hates you could have carried this entire story alone. The conflicted feelings Ransom has, the fact that he's both feeling guilty, but also wanting to be close to Ryan, there were some really good character moments there for Ransom. Ryan was maybe a bit too MVP of a character for his own good, considering his conciliatory attitude removed any nuance or complexity from his side of the complicated relationship. In general he ended up being my favorite character for being so brave and kind the entire time. Knowing he gets elevated to protagonist status in the sequel makes me so happy!
The last big chunk of the narrative is everything that happens with Ransom's family and oh boy... I found everything to be too dramatic for its own good... It was certainly memorable! But at what cost?
Everything from the death of Ransom's mother to the fallout it leads to with his father didn't really work for me. It was very grim topics that I could not take as seriously as the game wanted me to. It was all just so melodramatic and over the top, I ended nervously chuckling in disbelief or rolling my eyes most of the time. I think it slipped into moments of cheap shock or poor taste at times, especially the over the top nightmare sequence. I think the vision here wasn't necessarily wrong, but either the skill or time weren't there to make all this land for me in a way the author wanted it to. I do commend the balls of engaging with very dark topics few FVNs dare even graze.
Oh and then there's the lion and the ram. That sure was... a plot element... It was there! It existed! And it mattered? I'm going to give this one a pass and assume it's all just some setup for IMG_1697.
And I enjoyed the ending (not only cause we get a lot of Ryan, I promise!), it was very sweet. I do feel like the game wanted to end half the script ago though. After Ransom's mother dies, every scene felt like the last one and a good stopping point, but then the game would just... keep going. I got some very severe ending fatigue by that point and was wondering what are we doing and what is the point of all this.
In the end I still remain with that feeling, but I kinda don't mind anymore? The game promised us a small, dramatic part of Ransom Wilke's life. It delivered exactly that. I keep wondering if that mission statement was misguided to begin with though. I feel like it managed to succeed maybe too well, and gave us something out of someone's life: a series of events that don't really have much connection other than having Ransom star in all of them, that don't form a particularly cohesive narrative. Sometimes in life all is well and then you experience tragedy that throws your life off course and cascades in even more tragedies. And then life just moves on. But does that make for a satisfying story in a fictional work of art? Life's a bitch and then you live?
Despite me complaining a lot, I had an overall good time with The Album of Ransom Wilkes. I just have a lot of thoughts and questions about the things that didn't really work for me, and many of my issues lingered with me longer than the parts I genuinely enjoyed. Except Ryan. He's perfect, don't change anything. Boypussy Thursday every day!
Also who the fuck names their child Rans-