This was such a great short story game. I love the art style and the story. I can't believe how good the soundtrack is. Below is a long rant review about what I feel about the end of the story. Lol sorry.
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*Spoiler*
I know it's somewhat Sarah's fault for what happened in the end, but I feel like the game trying to make the player think it's all Sarah's fault for the friendship to end. Sorry if I accidentally switch the character's names together. Sarah is the protagonist, Maria is the dead best friend.
Sarah probably has a poor childhood, as she's growing up in her grandparents' care and I can't recall if she has any living parents. This will cause her to have emotional issues as maybe her grandparents were not really there for her and don't give Sarah much affection because they're old or just neglecting her. This causes her to have a moody and mischievous side when growing up, as shown by the police officer who told her she's always a thief even if she did it when she's 14.
And also Sarah grows up resenting the idea of a god because she thinks how could a god made her like that and not give her loving parents. That's just my speculation on why she's having problems with the church in the game.
And when growing up without someone to care for you, it's hard to be nice towards people and have a positive outlook for life. That is until when Sarah met Maria and instantly became best friends. For the first time ever, she found happiness.
Now imagine this, you're Sarah and you finally found someone who actually cares and loves you for the first time. What happens if things suddenly change? If that said someone suddenly chooses one thing, over you?
Of course, Sarah going to lash out and try to be distant with Maria as that's her basic response when she thinks her emotions get mistreated. I know it's selfish, but she can't help it as her childhood is always been like that. She feels her best friend is willing to broke their promise about leaving town together and be successful with each other. She felt betrayed and abandoned.
She doesn't understand the importance of having a loving husband and the feeling when having a child, because like I said, she was robbed of that empathy in her childhood and she probably never have any romantic partner to demonstrate it.
So when she left, she felt betrayed and went to Stockholm and becomes a successful writer (or whatever career you choose) out of spite. And when the spite slowly fades away, she's on autopilot and continues with her life in the big city.
Also, one thing I wanna point out is, why didn't Maria try to visit or talk with Sarah before the tragedy happen? They have a decade before the tragedy happens. I understand from a storytelling narrative is to build up tension/drama for the two characters. But if this is in real life, that's just dumb if both of them didn't do it. Maria could visit her sooner is what I'm saying.
Maybe Maria somewhat feels guilty over the years for making her best friend run away and the guilt slowly builds inside of her mind. Maria maybe tries to contact Sarah but we all know Sarah's still blames Maria for her betrayal and builds a wall around herself so she can't be hurt again. And that troubles Maria as she really does feel sorry for her actions and she still loves her best friend.
And also, Lena, Maria's sister is quite a bitch. I know she's lashing out because she's angry her sister died and blames it on Sarah, but she could have been nicer, or a bit mature. I don't hate the writing on this part because in real life, things like this actually happen and different people process grief differently. She blames Sarah for everything but she herself doesn't understand the whole story between her sister and Sarah, and she doesn't even care enough to look at it from Sarah's point of view.
Overall, I love the game despite how short it is because games like this are where I like to put myself inside the protagonist's shoes and try to understand everything that happens and the actions they're taken. Thank you for creating this short masterpiece.
10/10 - Sarah should marry Jakob and tries to raise his son just to make Lena mad.