I enjoyed my reading a lot! Short but pretty loaded with its themes. I liked the art style, it’s simple and really cute, which is much better since it contrasts with the darker themes the game manages. The detail of the BG changing according to the emotions of the scene is a nice detail and really helps setting the ambience.
The implementation of the theme was really good, using it as an excuse to make Mary bond with Lucy, making it actually important for the plot. And even better, giving an extra layer to the characters, giving them roles and dynamics that parallels their gods’ counterparts. Mary and Michael with Hestia and Zeus, in a constant circle of Michael ‘betraying’ her and she hurting the girls instead of him. And with Lucy as Hestia; being the goddess of hearth, she’s depicted as someone kind and benevolent, same with our Wolf, judging by her helping Mary and her care for the plants.
What I most liked is how the game cautiously keeps to itself the details of the events, just leaving context clues and dialogues with multiple interpretations. With it, I think the best character (at least conceptually) is Michael, the fact that he never appeared in the game sets an air of mystery around him, especially since you don’t even know by a fact what or is he doing what he does.
Lucy is genuinely a nice girl, which contrasts even better with the twist of the ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’ since she’s actually willing to help Mary in the ‘Truth’ ending. Which makes her fate much more tragic and gruesome on the 'Lie' ending; never really knowing what happened to her, and leaving us with just some cryptic final words from Mary.
And talking about Mary, similar to Michael, her intentions are never disclosed and you really never know exactly why she does that for her brother; is she scared of him, maybe she doesn't realize how bad it is, or even maybe she loves him? Questions that are upon the reader to answer. However, since she is the protagonist, and that is where the narration comes, it might feel a bit… Weird? Something like that, I don’t know how to explain it.
I get why she doesn't explain the situation thoroughly, since maybe it’s a defense mechanism, judging that she dissociates and gets distracted pretty easily. It was well implemented overall, except once you reach the ‘Truth’ ending, and that is where the writing fails a bit.
Since this game doesn't detail a lot regarding the characters’ reasons, it makes them pretty foggy. In this ending, she realizes that what she is doing is wrong and wants to change for better. However, at first impression could seem as a sudden change that came from nowhere, once you start to analyze you see the cracks on her resolution through the game, but that impression lingers.
That’s a skill that is tricky to master. You need to know how much exposition is required in each scene and character in specific moments, and not losing the subtlety of the scenes, neither without compromising the understanding of the situation from the reader in the process. As I said, it’s a really difficult skill to learn, and I even saw genuine experts fail to communicate the message by trying too hard to be mysterious.
Anyways, a good game overall! Just some detail that drags it down, but easily forgiven due to the time limit.