Gosh, I never expected a work to so clearly capture the thrill and pull I have towards these queer vn jams. These little libraries of games are chalk full of a deeply personal passion; it’s often like staring at the sun (or maybe even like looking into hell).
On a technical level, I adored how well you differentiated each new segment. The webpage, the fanfic, the different genre works, all feel familiar while carrying its own voice. It’s also neat to see the works “mature” over the course of the game, adding in new elements like music, visual effects, distinct fonts. The stories themselves also become grounded in realist elements, more and more context is added to the towns and places, in people and lives. That is until a certain black void is opened up, which is it’s own neat redirection. I felt myself getting invested, I even took a screenshot in agony as I waited with baited breath for untitled to extract.
There’s a certain complexity with fiction and vulnerability. The author is a foggy figure, the characters are strange mirrors. Confessions on the page bleed into a reader, but what stain do we carry? Whose fault is it? You’ve set up so many wonderful lines and positions to take, and then blurred them all. It can be hard to leave such a wired experience behind, so I guess the next best thing would be to carry it forward. Thank you for leaving a mark.