Geist is enough of a good reason to play this game, I don't care what the haters will say!!
Okay, first and foremost, CONGRATULATIONS for making such a game in less than a month, and still managing to slide in a VERY HIGH-QUALITY artbook everyone should buy!! *points guns at the readers*
More seriously, MindMindMind is an excellent visual novel on the technical aspect: the coding is very smooth and the GUI very intuitive. The writing, and we're used to it with Chattercap, is nothing short of excellent. This is the first time that, in this dev's work, that we get a first-person narration, and the balance between making things sound natural and yet still very elegantly written. The art is CHEF'S KISS and I havea particular fondness for GEIST'S SPRITE and I swear I am not biased in any sort. More seriously, the little additions for Kalei's expressions were adorable, and the CG work was absolutely gorgeous. The backgrounds were for the most part very nice photographs edited beautifully, and the way the backgrounds changed to indicate mood shifts at several instances in the game was great. One of the backgrounds, however, was hand-drawn: the bedroom. It was beautifully rendered.
The voice-acting too was excellent and I cannot highlight it enough. I found both voice actors extremely warm-sounding, and yet, so different: while Kalei sounds friendly and warm, Geist's warmness is meant to lure you into staying with him. The voice actors did a great job, congrats to them!
The story is a very interesting one. The premise of being followed by a ghost is naturally quite alluring, but he manages to be a very interesting and nuanced threat to the protagonist's personal arc. The other love interest, Kalei, was a perfect contrast: if Geist will try everything he can to "lock you up", Kalei, on the other hand, opens the protagonist's perspectives, making them discover a part of the world they could never had otherwise.
Long story short: PLAY THIS GAME AND DATE THIS GHOST. And the pretty classmate too. This game is definitely worh your time.
#### ----- OH MY GOD SPOILERS ----- ####
The main theme of MindMindMind is piñata-crafting... okay, I'm kidding, it is social anxiety, and it is portrayed wonderfully through the character of Geist and his relationship with the protagonist.
Whether Geist is mostly metaphorical or not is up to you, but there is no doubt he is a metaphor to some extent: he represents all the anxious thoughts one can have, these paralysing, daunting slabs we throw at ourselves, preventing us from experimenting, experiencing life because... what if we failed? What if we looked ridiculous? What if we bothered others? What if, what if, what if. Geist is the incarnation of what these "what ifs" can be in their most toxic incarnation. The thought is seductive, and it's difficult to keep them away: they are always here, somehow.
Geist is therefore the incarnation of the protagonist's social anxiety. A very good idea from the game is to represent him as warm, coaxingly so, because anxiety is comfortable: after all, what is wrong with not going out if you'd rather stay home? And that's where the game strikes very hard, and that's where the trigger warnings have to be considered fully: Geist is very convincing. I do not suffer from social anxiety myself, although I did at some point in my life: so, although his words couldn't reach me, I still found them convincing to some extent. Geist will tell you there is nothing wrong with you, that you not being sociable is just part of your personality, not necessarily a problem. In reality, the line is thin: there is a difference between choosing to stay in your dormroom because you want to rest, and choosing to do so because you are afraid of seeing others. The writing has enough finesse to exploit this ambiguity and portray Geist as an immense threat to the protagonist's well-being: he is certainly one of the most frightening yandere characters I've ever encountered in fiction, because he is indeed very charming, and manages to convince you of something working against you.
The game, however, wants to be more than the narration of a character giving in to their anxiety: it wants to be an empowering story, showing that these thoughts, if they might not completely disappear, can be defeated. The subversion is interesting: Geist is a threat to the protagonist only because they give in; but refusing to believe his toxic words is enough to overcome him and turn him into a much less threatening antagonist. However, this salutary refusal is complicated, and is progressively built upon during the game, when you choose to spend time with Kalei. Kalei respects the protagonist's boundaries; Kalei tries to introduce them to new things, while still caring for them, which isn't a burden for him. More than that, Kalei mirrors the protagonist slightly. He indeed mentions being told that he talks too much, gets in an argument with his friends, isn't a fan of parties... Despite being an extrovert and not suffering from social anxiety, he still has sometimes a hard time to navigate through everything, which is fine and fairly realistic. Coming from an extrovert: even we have social batteries! I truly appreciated this take.
The two endings of the game are very interesting: Geist is a classical "cage" ending for yandere stories, but the cage is metaphorical and even subverted: it is a place crafted for and by the protagonist, since Geist is just a reflection of their own anxiety. It is therefore natural that they find a sense of comfort. This ending is the triumph of Geist as a villain: he is seen as sweet, soft by the protagonist, he managed to gaslight us into trusting his words and believing he is what we need.
Kalei's ending, however, is very strong: the protagonist has a confrontation with Geist, finally actively fighting their own anxious thoughts, and the game sends a lot of very healthy and positive messages, while remaining very realistic: sometimes, meeting people will indeed go wrong and as predicted by the anxious thoughts. But if it happens, it's okay, life isn't over. And it is worth trying anyway to find the people with whom things will go smoothly. Life is made of experiences, not all of them will be positive, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be explored nonetheless.
It's on this note that the game then has one of the most beautiful scenes I've seen in a visual novel: Geist lets the protagonist go. He accepts their determination, wishing them good luck in a world that goes beyond him and what he can comprehend. Not that he completely leaves: the anxious thoughts don't leave. But he slowly accepts the protagonist's new life, letting them heal. And similarly, and reciprocally, the protagonist acknowledges that Geist will always be there and that... that's okay. I cannot emphasise how gorgeous and emotional it was in game, it almost made me tear up. The maturity with which the topic is tackled is nothing short of impressive: yes, anxiety is difficult and no, it won't magically leave because you start hanging out with a classmate. Sometimes things will be amazing, sometimes they will be horrible. But that's okay. That doesn't mean we're not healing: just that healing isn't a straight line.
Congrats on releasing this game, Chatter, and thanks for having me as a beta-tester, it was an honour! I had a blast playing it and it really was magnificent!