It's hard to describe how much my neurons lit on fire when I saw the link to this game posted to BlueSky. I stopped everything I was doing and launched into it immediately.
Truthfully, the idea caters a lot to my taste. I grew up on the N64 since birth, was around for the early Creepypasta era and especially stuff like Sonic.EXE or I HATE YOU, am Transfemme myself and am drawn towards Funny-Animal style mascot designs from a historical perspective, aesthetic enjoyment and; to out myself, have Normal Thoughts about characters with very non-provocative, cartoony proportions being flirtatious or portraying themselves as "Sexy." It's the internet and I hold little shame in admitting that.
I'm not going to act like my biases don't contribute to how much I enjoy this idea, but even in spite of that the story of this game was extremely enjoyable. Max is a protagonist written with a lot of earnest understanding to what it feels like when you're just barely on the cusp of transitioning. You may not have the words to describe it, or even understand whats happening, but it claws at you, exhausts you, makes you feel like you're stuck and incapable of the same change everyone around you is capable of.
It makes her dynamic with "Jinglebug" all the more scary, but just as alluring. How many people could say they were given the opportunity to fall in love with their fictional childhood crush? To be seen by them like no-one else has ever seen you? It adds to the classic tropes of Creepypasta Horror and refreshes them in a way that certainly stands head and shoulders above its inspirations (not that Sonic.EXE is exactly a high bar).
The art is a treat to look at, Jinglebug's design splits a perfect difference between Nintendo and SEGA's sensibilities with regards to Mascot Design. Weirdly enough, even though the console Jinglebug Journey is on is a mashup of the N64 and Playstation, Jinglebug feels like she'd be at home on the SEGA Saturn of all things, at least to me.
Without spoiling anything specific, one of my criticisms are that the game's NSFW Elements feel like they're too shy to get explicit. While i've only played three routes and don't know if any choice combinations deviate further than that, the two scenes I found where it got suggestive felt like it was too nervous to go really into it. The game is 18+, but aside from one scene in particular where you can fill in the blanks with what's happening, it's rather tame! Might also be worth it to signpost the game being 18+ on the Itch.io page, I had to tell a sex-repulsed friend ahead of time when she saw me reblog a post about this games release, as the itch.io page doesn't give the Age Check warning and there's nothing on the page itself that alludes to those events.
Obviously, I wouldn't want to pressure the writers to go graphic or too explicit if it was outside of what they'd be comfortable writing, but I think it could go more in depth! And not just for sex appeal reasons, part of the ethos of Toxic Yuri is that sexual scenes can further the depths of how Toxic a relationship can be, sex is inherently intimate, and seeing what both partners are willing to do for the sake of their carnal desires, to see what one or both are willing to back down on could both flesh out the characters whilst also being titillating!
That, and whilst i'd certainly say "Jinglebug" is a lot more fleshed out than her contemporaries by a country mile, a part of me was hoping for more from her with regards to her motivations. She certainly still fills the role she wants to play, and she can be delightfully devious and manipulative, I was hoping for maybe more details with regards to why she seeks what she does.
Alongside that, it would've potentially been very fun for there to be a route where Max stoops to"Jinglebug"'s level. It is Toxic Yuri Jam, afterall, and I think there'd be something fun in Max turning the tables and become worse, or just as worse as "Jinglebug".
But with regards to the dread that "Jinglebug" creates through manipulating Max, it hits very well. There was a moment where I had to pause from how real it felt, not in the moments itself of talking to a living Video Game Character, but real in how people can manipulate you by making you think they're the only ones who will be able to accept you for who you are.
The art for the game is also wonderful, "Jinglebug"'s sprites are so expressive and fun, the CGs give a lot of focus to the emotions the characters are going through, the art-style is fun and spooky, and the music seamlessly adds to the whole experience!
I can already tell i'm gonna be thinking about this game for a long time after the fact. Such a delight, well worth the time I spent playing. Everyone on the team should be damn proud of the work they put in!
ArsonsAra
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Bought the game, and than blazed through it in it's entirety over the course of a day. It's style just oozes charm in a way that's both appealing and spooky. Heck, for being a game styled after the NES and not trying to be overtly scary, the game really spooked me a few times! (I blame the Frogmen and the Monsters in the Blood Basement.)
I was able to get all of the weapons, jackets, 45/50 Health and 37 of the Pages. It really captivated me, not only in its style but in the controls! It's been a while since i've played a game with such snappy controls that just let you blaze through corridors and bashing things!
My only two complaints are: Once I got the item that allows you to see Pages on the map it didn't work. So i'm still missing a few of the pages, and I don't know if I have the wherewithal to comb every area without that item functioning.
My other issue is with the Windyghast. While i'm at least happy you didn't use the actual term of Wxndigo for it, it's still pretty clear what the inspiration was and it rubbed me the wrong way seeing a piece of Native American culture apropriated again. Heck, the concept of the Wxndigo that people conflate with pop-culture, of the giant deer monstrosity, ain't even accurate! So just changing it's name to something along the lines of Capra Demon would probably work just as well without even changing the monster.
Those two issues aside, i'm glad I bought the game. Despite the two small issues (One being a bug, and one probably more tied with lack of info/misinformation as opposed to genuine malicious intent.) everything else about it filled me with the sort of Halloween Spirit that not a lot of games have! Sure we have Pure Horror Games but, games like Tres-Bashers are special. In that they're not explicitly Horror, or meant to scare you, but embody all the strange, odd, spooky, and all around fantastical elements of Cryptozoology and Halloween that we need more of.