Hello, I don't know if you remember me, but I told you I'd read your visual novel a few weeks ago on reddit.
Today, I finished my playthrough with Keska. It was a mesmerizing journey with beautiful art and atmospheric music that always set the right mood.
Right from the start, I was intrigued. The idea of not knowing who the person whose head I'm inhabiting is and them not having any idea either, instantly piqued my interest.
I loved the general structure of the story. I've mainly read visual novels that tell fairly linear stories with bigger choices that lead to major branches while this one lets you explore your surroundings to piece together Ilyon's past.
The art style fit the story perfectly and you even went as far as animating so much of it - I'm impressed and can't imagine how many hours you spent getting it done.
While there were some spelling errors, it wasn't enough to distract the reader or make the experience any less enjoyable.
I believe I was at my lowest, motivation-wise, in the caves. The constant rumbling and warnings from the characters served their purpose perfectly in creating an oppressive atmosphere, but when the entire thing collapsed on me after I thought I hadn't even backtracked that much, I started to worry that maybe I can't get all the scenes and have to pick which ones to take along.
Considering the sheer amount of rooms in that cave, that left me with a bit of frustration. In the end, I was wrong and could visit each cavern safely, so all that worrying was for nothing, but I still figured I'd let you know about my initial impression!
Towards the end, I was getting impatient to finally get that conclusion I'd been working towards for so long. The fourth chapter may have been a tad longer than I would have expected, but overall, I still held my interest all the way to the end.
Despite constantly learning more about Ilyon's background and the ritual, that sense of mystery never fully vanished. There were always new mysteries to figure out and you handed out new information at a great pace.
I ended up ascending before going back to get the "friendship" ending with Keska. I'll certainly be returning to this VN once I've had some time to let it all settle and to have it feel fresh again for a second playthrough.
Again, I loved this so much and I'm so glad I stumbled across your visual novel. I wish you all the best in your future projects and I'll definitely be recommending your story to others :)