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That was definitely a powerful visual novel, very thought-provoking and with excellent presentation! I really loved the art and the overall direction! Everything looked great, even the frame of the GUI (oh how I love those!) was amazing! The visual choices made throughout the game to represent various situations were also very well done!

For the story, I was hooked. I won't get into details to avoid spoilers, but I was on the edge of my seat, and I passed through a lot of different emotions: laugh, disgust (especially since the game used one of my personal triggers loooool), fear, apprehension, but ngl, I mostly thought, I was wondering! I never truly got into any fandoms, but I have seen debates about problematic content on the web (and I guess we all were confronted to it with last year's itch censorship...). And personally, I know I'm someone who loves works that handle them with care — not saying that they should avoir violent or horrible scenes, for example, my favourite part of Nabokov's Lolita is the scene in the hotel room, as it is very creepy in an almost oniric way, and I think this approach, this horrible onirism, allows Nabokov to portray the twisted mind of his narrator in a way he couldn't have otherwise. But I guess, for me to enjoy a work tackling such themes, I need to think there is a point, and to feel like it's not feti*********. And yet, for some people, I know it's still a way to gain agency over their trauma etc. to portray in a way that is somehow positive to them, even in a twisted way. So I guess my lukewarm take would be that I don't mind as long as it's confined to specific spaces????????????

But that's not commenting on the story loool, but I guess this tangent proves the game is thought-provoking! For the actual writing, I really enjoy the prose and the fact the two characters had different voices. I enjoyed the portrayal of their dynamics and of the progressive shift, and I think the two characters were handled masterfully — Annie, of course, who really moved me, and Sunny, who was just perfect in her role! I also appreciated the fact the game took time before going into the more horrific stuff, as it allowed to see the characters through more "neutral" lenses before things go south! I also was pleasanty surprised with the fact that we, as players, indeed understand quite quickly the nature of the two characters' relationship (the co-dependency, in particular, was VERY GOOD), and that the game somehow... acknowledges it and doesn't make it a plot twist?? In the end, the moment I thought I was so clever for anticipating a twist was actually just the game letting me know the info without even me realising, which was very impressive writing-wise, I've rarely seen this done!

Long story short, that was an EXCELLENT VN, the kind that makes me happy this jam exists if it allows to explore such themes and dynamics that way! Thanks for making it!!

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thank you so much for the kind words on ckofntac! \o/ reading through your commentary was awesome. also, thank you for mentioning nabokov's works here — i love horrible, unreliable narrators and i've heard lolita is a masterclass in that. (i also want to read pale fire.)

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SPOILERS BELOW

stories (and fiction as a whole) are a complicated sandbox. what might be comforting for one person might be violating/upsetting for another. on the whole, though, how you behave towards real people and their boundaries will speak louder about the type of person you are. 

case in point: i cite harlan ellison a lot throughout this visual novel. his commentary in xenogenesis towards fan/creator relationships is spot-on for the thesis of ckofntac... but he was also one of the most vocal supporters of ed kramer (founder of dragoncon) when he was convicted of heinous acts of child abuse. i don't see a lot of people talk about this when they mention him (most people remember him for being cantankerous.)

coming back to ckofntac though, im glad you noticed the transition from neutral to horrifying. i think horrifying situations only come across that way if there's an established normal prior to it. 

and i'm glad you noticed the Big Twist with sunny and how she relates to anita. the info was always there. you just had to piece it together. 

once again, thank you for playing my game!!