Wahhh, this game hits all of my weak points! I love stories about strangers being forced to live and work together due to dire circumstances, enemies becoming partners, and like, the entire concept of “scary, but really hot,” and this does all of them so well!
I will admit freely that even before I started the game I was super excited to meet Issa just based on her fantastic design and the fact she was clearly very dangerous, ahahah. But then within the first few text boxes I ended up hooked on the entire game world (the great art and music helped too, of course)! That intro was both very efficient and very natural world-building… I was really impressed!
I was even more impressed with how well the dark atmosphere of the setting was balanced out with funny and heart-warming moments. I never felt like the game became too sad to read or too light-hearted for me to take it seriously: Mell and Issa’s interactions always felt both genuine and delightful to read.
[Spoilers]
One thing I especially appreciated was that Mell and Issa had genuine reasons to dislike each other, misunderstand each other, and step on each other’s toes – so often I see characters in VNs who are jerks without good explanation so that the player can redeem them through the Power Of Love. The fact that Mell and Issa both had good reasons to distrust each other made it all the more wonderful when they managed to get past that <3
Oh, and I loved the explanation of Issa’s stuffed bears that was in the second bad ending! I’m always so happy when there are little story details in bad ends. It feels like an extra treat for completionists like me!
Thanks for making such a lovely game c: