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(+1)

Hello, Efflo. 'waves' 

I just wanted to say thank you for creating this story. I found out about this game a few days ago, and just finished both chapters last night. This story has me hook, line and sinker with how incredibly immersive and engaging it is. But that's not the only reason.

This is probably going to sound really weird... I played this game while shaping the MC - Enmity, I called her - as myself or as the closest to myself as possible, even choosing response and reaction options that felt most like what I would during certain moments. The experience surprised me: Not only did the game become a space where I play as myself, but I also got to notice how I respond to different situations and even learn things about myself that I hadn't realised before.

When Enmity's vision almost goes out after the magic explosion, it really felt like I was experiencing it...and the feeling of fighting back and telling Queen Umyra off for withholding the potential blindness diagnosis, and the balm also felt all the more real. I picked the option to snatch the balm out of her hands, and it's like my mind clicks like "...Oh. This is what I would do? Why have I never done this sort of thing before?" It's like I'd just found a crack in my usually (expected) controlled self and let myself chip my way out and let loose.

The way the scenarios and environments are written to in full detail, how the characters interacted in them, especially Queen Umyra, made the whole experience feel not only very real but also pushed me to self-reflect, which is something that I feel really grateful for.

Currently, the only issue I have with the game is the bug at the notebook segment. I tried picking both options to advance forward, but neither seems to work. I also tried refreshing the webpage and restarting the game from the same point, but it still remained stuck. 

But overall, this game is probably one of the best  (and meaningful) interactive games I've ever played. I really appreciate all the thought and care that went into this project, and I'm looking forward to so much more. Thank you again so much for the wonderful experience. <3

(3 edits)

Hello, there!

Starting with the bug in case others scrolling past have run into this same issue: unfortunately, this error is because the update broke old saves. (Ack!) If you played Chapter 1 before the update went live, even a few hours before, the quickest way to remedy this is to use the chapter selection option to set your important variables again and proceed with Chapter 2. 

Apologies for the inconvenience of replaying / remembering old choices, but hopefully if you finished both chapters, you've already tried this and it worked for you?

Now I can say tysm for the kind words - I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER to hear that you had such a unique and immersive experience playing this game! ♡ 

It doesn't sound weird at all: that you were able to live a moment of insight through Enmity while playing is incredibly inspiring! One of my biggest hopes was for the dialogue and your interactions with the other players / characters in Garden of Bones to feel as "real" as possible: the complexities of social dynamics and personality traits are lasting passions of mine. But it was just a hope, as although I try my best, I am not an experienced game-maker! 

So... this really made me smile. It's also very cool to know that you got the balm scene with Queen Umyra, because not everybody does - it is dependant on traits you choose when you create your MC at the beginning of the game! 

Thank you for taking the time to tell this story with me!

~ Efflo