(My review and personal thoughts contain SPOILERS! Please play the game before reading. TY!)
Review of the game in general:
When I first read the description, I assumed that Geist would truly be a creepy stalker love interest and Kalei would be there to be the green flag option. I'm really happy and I LOVE your interpretation on this, using this medium and genre to tackle about mental health especially the negative thoughts in our heads which Geist embodies. I really like how the game started and introduce who Geist truly is to the player and what this game is truly about. Kalei is truly adorable and I'm glad he's not just this happy-go-lucky character that is there to help MC and make them feel "better" but he's a fleshed out character and there is a history or reason as to why does the things he does like how he likes Detective Dog, not just because the developer decided to give him the same interests as the MC for the sake of the story but because he, as we find out through the story, watches a lot of films and deeply thinks and appreciates the movies he watches and also the scene where he comforted the MC, he has someone he knows who experiences panic attacks and learned how to help them. In short, I adore Kalei, the writing, and theme (I talk more about the theme in my personal thoughts below)!! The art and animation of the 2 LIs is chef's kiss and It's great to see these different takes on the UI of visual novels now! I also LOVE the voice actors and admire their talent and effort on voicing the characters, they really brought them to life! I'm really excited to see more from you and I'll be sure to check out your other games! Thank you so much for your hard work!
Personal thoughts:
This one felt targeted and too close to home for me especially before playing this game I was out with my friends and just got home and everything Geist said is what I am EXACTLY thinking to myself right now and unfortunately my current state of is similar to how Geist's ending goes. For me, I honestly never thought of Geist's words (those kind of thoughts) in a negative light until now, I thought I was just lazy, trying to not burden others, and protecting myself. Playing this gave me a new perspective that I've been denying to realize and made me finally see through the mist of "I'm just saving myself the trouble" that I've put around those kind of thoughts and see it for what it truly is and how it's affecting me and my relationship with others. I've lost opportunities and friendships due to this and what the MC said when they confronted Geist really stuck with me, that even though it might not work out with Kalei. We'll just move on, find new friends, no matter what happens the world and our life will go on. These days I've been realizing that it's better to just think about things you can control rather than worrying about the future and trying to grasp at the strings of things that are out of your control like what other people think about you or the success and failure in life. The only thing you can really control is your decisions that lead to those outcomes.
(Sorry if this is kind of long, messy, and too much, I just really wanted to share my thoughts and praise the developer and everyone who worked on this for their hard work. Also this game resonated with me and I cried far too much just to go on with my day and not leave a review. Thank you for reading and stay safe always!)
😭😭😭 Thank you for playing and taking the time to leave such a long and thoughtful comments, there are tears in my eyes reading this!
I do feel like I hoodwink people a bit with the marketing 😂 but hey, if that's what it takes to trick people into playing a game about mental health...jokes aside, I didn't want to explicitly "tell" people what Geist is or what the game is about, since I do want people to be able to play through the lens of their own life experience! So I'm really glad that I've gotten so many players who undestood it, took the time to play, and found it relatable, I'm very lucky 🥹 I do find something very charming and scary about yanderes, and I thought this was the perfect game for one - truly a toxic "love" story. I'm glad you liked Kalei dfgdf while he is there to be a "connection" for the player, I did want to make him fleshed out with his own interests and worries of his own - so I'm happy that came across! And YES the voice actors did such a fantastic job! I was so lucky to work with them! Haha, all of my games are quite different dfgdg but I do hope you enjoy them!
(Personal talk)
🥹 Thank you for taking the time to write about your personal experience; it means a lot to know how close the game hit for you. I used to be in a similar situation, and I missed out on a lot because of it...at the time, Geist was comforting - I truly thought that I was "happy." It's only now that I've gotten some distance that I realize how truly scary my line of thinking was. And you're completely right; sometimes you'll lose friendships and get hurt, sometimes things won't work out - and that's okay. One step at a time 🙏 I tell myself this often too!
(No no, it was perfect, thank you so much for taking the time to leave this review! I'm truly tearing up 😭 I'm so happy it resonated with you so much!)