For being a small story, it certainly has a lot to unpack, for starters, the grieving over being unable to be there for the one you most love is the moving emotion across the story. Beckett, who died in an unknown—although arguably, in a grotesque way—stayed next to his boyfriend—ex-boyfriend¿—Rhett to help him with whatever he could, despite his actual state.
Quite the beautiful concept, being there for the one you most love even though they don’t even know you are there, with an extra layer of pain since Beckett can't be there for him, in a physical way, at least.
It boils down with the introduction of Hudson, who is the one who can actually be the one who can help Rhett.
This is the exact proof for Beckett to finally understand, he's dead and Rhett is not aware of his presence. From that revelation, there are three paths where he can go. He could burst in rage, destroy everything around him in denial of this event; break down and, ironically, bring along the one who can’t see him in his sorrow; or he could accept the fact—accept that he can’t be there for him but be happy to see someone else who can be there.
The story is strong by itself, but I think it could benefit a bit more if it flashed more the actions and situations rather than the events. Since the story is just a monologue of Beckett with any kind of interaction with the other characters, the story relies a lot on telling instead of showing. A way this could be sorted is by having a kind of time lapse across the time where Beckett is always next to Rhett; when he wakes up, when he’s eating, when he’s about to leave, when he comes tired from working, when he’s falling asleep on the couch, and when he’s tucked inside that cold bed. All this while showing he’s still mourning Beckett’s death, like staring at the photo on the nightstand, or doing something that they always did together with a sad expression. Everything builds until one day, he comes unexpectedly happy after a long time, pacing around the room worried yet excited – strange, but understood once the door’s bell chimed and, on the other side, a Racoon with his arms open, action that reciprocated Rhett.
Just a silly idea I had, don’t mind it too much.
The art was also a delight, the portrayal of a ghost with the visuals was well achieved, and the ideas for the structuration of, for example, the Itch io page. The rest of the sprites are cute, with just some little details in the proportions in certain poses, but good overall.
I’d like to talk about the implication about Beckett being able to – what it seems – demolish a freaking house with his pure rage, hold a tight grip on a faucet despite having someone else trying to close it with all their might, and yet be unable to leave any kind of message that he is, in fact, ‘alive’. But surely it’s just me overthinking a detail, and being such a big sucker for having a sort of reality of plausibility in all stories.
I enjoyed the game, short yet strong on its premise. It was even more impressive, judging this was a first time submission, good job!