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(+2)

I really liked this game, it did make me cry quite a bit. But, I do have some notes, I guess, on certain parts of the story. This criticism will be pointed at Nami, as I think you probably do read the comments, and ultimately it's my thoughts. To anyone else reading, this stuff contains a spoilers, so take caution.



I'm not sure how to feel about Drop. She is described as a cult survivor in the extras, and as much as that is true, she does not act like one in my opinion. The two year jump and the montage at the end are pretty ambiguous in the journey that Drop followed after leaving the cult, but even then, her being pretty much fine looking at the time of Syrup 2 feels strange. The process of leaving a cult is, from what I know, very very difficult and takes a long time. To deprogram yourself from the rituals and life within a cult, to deal with all the depersonalisation, isolation, probably abuse and manipulation, it's a lot and requires professional help to even tackle. Drop also having to deal with her murdering people and eating them for her faith seems even worse. 

I'm not super sure about how to tackle this criticism from your perspective. Drop saying something along the lines of "I have to go to therapy because of my childhood..." feels perhaps a bit too cheap? The only thing I can think of is making another, maybe unfortunately longer story about Drop's journey through her life after, as leaving is not the end of that. I'm not sure if you have the expertise to tell that story though, but if that's true, I'm not sure if telling the one you did makes much sense either.


My second problem is with the cult itself. The epilogue is strangely silly for a cult that at minimum in the past used to do ritual sacrifices. To frame the situation after Drop leaves as fine because there may not be another person to perform those sacrifices is, frankly, wrong. It's not only uncertain, but also it does not change the manipulation and abuse that a cult like that one asserts upon its members. 

Another thing is the organization of the cult. Its members are describes as equal to each other, with no one in a higher position of power, except for their god, who is immaterial. This feels strange, as most cults, to my knowledge, are formed around a charismatic leader whom the rest of the members follow, still often with hierarchies of power within the members. It's not wrong to not have a fictional cult reflect this, but I think it may a way to make it feel like a more "light" cult, one that is less horrible, even though it is a cult and has been killing people. I feel this is why there is that dissonance in the epilogue, and in some way a reason as to why there even was an attempt as portraying them as silly.

Again, I'm not sure how to tackle this from your perspective. What I had been hoping would be at the end or in the epilogue was at least a hint at the cult being dismantled from the outside in some way. Unfortunately for us, under our systems, there aren't many examples of cults being dismantled, and even less of it being done with actual respect to the members, with the intent of helping them. Still, I think this is probably a way I'd take in the future. Just from a storytelling perspective, the other people from Wormwood deserve to be free and to be loved.


I really like Escape from Wormwood, and all of the word that you've built up through these game. I like how you mirror real world issues within your worlds and how respectful you are to everyone involved. Some things within this game, being in that universe, don't sit right with me. I hope you read this and I hope that I was respectful toward you.

Bonus point that touches on the world of LWT and such, I find it strange that you focus on systemic problems without really addressing the underlying systems in your world. Like, to my knowledge there hasn't been a mention of any government in the games. Not at a national lever (if there are even nations), or at a city level, there is only a mention of police. I am not quite sure how your world operates, but still, it feels weird to ignore the systemic part of oppression, and make it more cultural I guess? It's much more complex to portray that, but also I think it is in some way necessary. Anyway, love your games, they're awesome!