OK I AM FINALLY WRITING MY REVIEW OF THIS.
I finished it yesterday actually but let it continue sitting with me for a while so I could collect more of my thoughts.
I will echo perhaps what others have said first in that indeed this game is not for everyone -- it gets quite intense at times and goes to some dark places and overall is just a very weighty topic. I personally had to take multiple breaks and leave it for a bit when one particular scene got to be Quite a Lot. THAT BEING SAID. The way the themes and heavy stuff is handled is incredibly well done. Like. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about the twistedness of what's happening but also the reality?? That stuff like this really does happen?? And how scary it can be?? Like, a big part of the theme (going into mild spoilers here) is that it isn't always -- and, in fact, usually ISN'T -- a "monster," an "evil, horrible person," or a "villain" that ends up doing these horrible things. It's just an ordinary person. Which is what makes it all the more scary because you can't possibly know or guess who might have thoughts like this or allow something like this to happen.
That is really what I felt about Matthieu. He made me. Very uncomfortable. BECAUSE. He reminded me of so many similar types of people I've known in the past. And it's also probably why it started to make me personally feel so uncomfortable because I've been in a few situations with similar dynamics of a person in power that I felt uncomfortable around in the way they were talking to me or treating me. That was supposed to be someone I could trust, like a doctor, but from whom I felt an uncomfortable gaze or vibe from. And even though in these experiences from my life I wasn't as young as Chloe, it still sent me back and made a lot of those uncomfortable feelings bubble back up to the surface.
Anyway. All this to say that, go in with caution and give yourself a lot of breaks! But also go in knowing that this is a story that is handled with a lot of care and written very well and that the ending will leave you with some hope and resolution despite everything that happened.
Mmmm I should actually talk more about the actual game content now LOL I already talked generally about how the writing was quite well done. It was incredibly realistic in how things between with Chloe and Matthieu (the Instagram part -- SO REAL GOD. I got personally anxious at that part because I could relate to that fear of Chloe's so much lakdjfld). I felt myself so angry throughout so much of it. I could feel Chloe's helplessness deep in my gut -- that feeling of not knowing what to do, but also wanting so desperately to be accepted and loved despite not understanding the situation she's in. I wanted to scream so much at Matthieu GOD. LIKE. THE FACT. THE FACT THAT HE WOULD JUST KEEP... KEEP LEADING HER ON... KEEP LETTING THESE THINGS HAPPEN AND FOR THEM TO BE IN THESE SITUATIONS. And then he goes on to attack himself for what he's done, which only then makes Chloe feel even worse and trying to make things better GOD I UNDERSTAND THAT SO WELL AND I FELT SO AWFUL AND HELPLESS. Because Matthieu has the power here. He's the one that should have never let any of these situations even come remotely close to happening?? And though he makes a big "show" of feeling guilty and horrible, he still just lets them keep happening?? God. Yeah, I wanted to shout at the screen quite a bit.
I thought the way you handled the almost... I don't know how to describe it... "glitchy" music? The like, atonal glitch-sounding notes that float in whenever Chloe is feeling uncomfortable and in over her head but yet can't stop things? That was so well done. Along with the way the background shifts and becomes glitchy and dark. It was so creepy tbh. And it really hammered in Chloe's feelings mixed with my own personal feelings all the more to make it really effective at unsettling me to the core. Also the feeling of sheer isolation that overcomes Chloe throughout the story -- that she even abandons her friends because her whole life becomes about Matthieu and keeping people from finding out or not wanting to be a bother to Matthieu, etc. It was such a great way of showing how deep Chloe was sinking into this world and why she became so dependent on Matthieu and explaining also the way she kept pushing him, because in her head, this was everything. He was everything. Because she's only a high schooler and doesn't have the emotional capacity to handle something like this.
I really loved how you did the UI in general. It has this very quaint, almost picture-book-esque quality to it in a way, couple with your illustrations that have this lovely painterly quality to them. It came together so well and really fit the vibe surprisingly, I'm not sure how to describe it lakdjfad
GUH.
Anyway, this is getting way way too long at this point. But I hope I was able to get everything across that I wanted to say. I can't say that I "enjoyed" this LOL Because it really did make me quite uncomfortable at times. But I'm glad that I played it. And I think it's incredibly well done and a really important look into this "trope" if you can even call it as such. Not that it should be a "trope." Because it's a real thing that happens and it's awful. This was such an ambitious dive into examining this from an unsettling POV to really get into our skin and make us feel things and you did a fantastic job with it.