I had the opportunity to beta read for this, and it was such a pleasure seeing the project come to life with the visuals, animations, music, and sound effects! The sprite art is lovely, with lovely shading and really bold linework that stands out well against the backgrounds, which were photo alterations that were given a filter with a very painterly look. The sprites are incredibly expressive, and Mari and Goldie have such distinct and memorable designs. I loved the browns and slightly muted colors of the color palette - it felt very "autumny"/'Halloween-like." The music is very atmospheric. This game is FULL of animations, transitions, and the like, making it seem very dynamic and making good use of the sprites to produce a variety of shot compositions.
I really enjoyed this story - it's a little creepy, a little supernatural, but also really relatable.
==SPOILERS BELOW==
When I was first reading the premise, I thought that Goldie would surely turn out to be some wicked supernatural entity that steals away Mari's life. However, it turns out to be the opposite - Mari is responsible for everything that goes wrong in her life, while Goldie tries her best to help Mari improve. Mari's downward spiral is frustrating at times to read, but it is also incredibly relatable; I think that many people can relate to Mari's desire to stick with what's "safe," without taking risks to strive for what she really wants. And at the end she blames Goldie for everything that she's dissatisfied with, without taking responsibility for her own inaction. It's an incredibly clever use of "horror" - instead of the protagonist having to fend off some external force, the real "horror" comes from her own actions. I really loved how creepy and yet satisfying the endings were. My favorite was probably the one where Mari turns into a mannequin herself - although it's a pretty tragic ending, it felt oddly fitting for her character.
Really fantastic job by the team!