Oh wow! This is fantastic!!!! Not the predicament the protagonist finds themselves in of course. But the execution of the game?!?! Oh my god. It's so. I struggle to describe it. I am positively in LOVE with the vibes. It's all so artistically abstract and symbolic it's just so fascinating. The art is very fitting of the themes the game seems to be setting up too. So disturbingly detailed, I guess? It's hard to put into words but I mean all this with appreciation. While the thing I currently enjoy the most IS said art and the abstract nature of things like the girl in the mirror or the eye tree, I also like the just. Haunting realism of the situation when contrasted with the aforementioned abstract elements. The mother isn't cartoonishly evil. It's so hauntingly true. She's so. Depressed. And because of that she neglects her kid. Who doesn't understand. Can't understand. Shouldn't have to understand. It's so fucked up. And so real
AshersBraincell
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I found the moral of the story/message very poignant. Something so absurdly striking about forgiveness in spite of truly horrific pain personally caused. I feel that the narrator acknowledging the harm and trauma during the whole forgiveness speech made it hit all the more harder. It can be tough, so impossibly tough, to break the cycle. Sam's VA CRUSHED it during the crying moments. Sure, there were moments when the dialogue got a little repetitive in a somewhat corny "this isnt you!" type of way, but only a little. I might be reading too much into it but I enjoyed the choice of keeping the werewolf obscured and never fully showing them until the very end when they are truly understood. Art was just very high quality in general tbh, especially the blood. Environments too. I found the writing of the emotional process and trauma and just the. Visceral nature of how so many scene were written to be really impressive
The story WAS pretty predictable but nice nontheless and I enjoyed the meta elements as well as the rythym game to add variety to gameplay. My fav moments had to have been the meta use of rollback and the very end explaining why the game is called what it is! The music also just. It conveyed the feels yk? Especially during the final battle
Interesting story, world-building and concept. The art as well as the presentation of the ui and game functions is very polished and fun to play within. However the overall experience is much dragged down by lack of polish performance-wise. Many, many bugs, many of which related to progressing character paths, which can be very disheartening and annoying. Aside from that, no matter the amount of fiddling with audio settings the voice acting of alot of the cast aside from the one you play as and our boss, so to speak, the name escapes me, is so very quiet. Barely audible at all
oh I positively cannot WAIT for the full thing to be out. I'm sure it will take an AGONISING while(I am. so hyped) but I'm positive it will absolutely be worth it.
Not much to say in the way of story JUST yet but from the set-up at the beginning alone and the little bits of character interaction sprinkled throughout I'm already theorising and super excited! I'm definitely positively biased in my expectations from witnessing your other story, but just from what I've seen alone in this demo I'm sure I will not be let down, hell, I think my expectations will be exceeded! Infact, they already have been, in a way. You see, seeing the previews for this on socials I found the cast to be a little disintresting to me and worried that it couldn't live up to it's predecessor. But upon seeing everything come together in the game, I can definitely see myself getting even more attached to these characters and their dynamics than I am already. Many a character interactions are positively charming and entertaining and I have no doubt this WILL be used against us when the horrors come ToT
But where this demo REALLY shined for me was in the art. Carrot you've completely outdone yourself!! HOW many semi-animated CGs and cutscenes?!? It starts of SO strong, that introductory cutscene had me SPEECHLESS. It was SO good at setting up the tone and atmosphere and SO cinematic. The whole game is cinematic, really. Less of a game and more of an experience, the dynamic-ness and composition of cutscenes and CGs coupled with yet again fantastic composing of ost and sfx just really. Set up atmosphere is such a good way. I feel like I'm watching a full production movie. But yeah, I really like the super dynamic and varied approach to how the art is laid out! It makes the experience really enjoyable and allows the expressiveness of your artstyle to shine, further making the characterisation of the cast even more likeable and entertaining. High hopes overall!
A much more macabre twist on the little mermaid, and I did enjoy just how realistically all the characters were written. I especially enjoyed just how much more this iteration on the little mermaid trope focused on the themes of belonging vs alienation, very poignant. It's silly, but it IS nice to see for once friendship prevail over romantic love, it's quite a rarity to see that, let alone in the visual novel genre
Yet another fun and, this time VERY atmospheric installment to the series. The series continues to maintain the magical feel of it, and does not become any less interesting. A careful game is played between introducing new characters and then explaining them in a later installment, and while I would say it is leaning very close on the verge of too many, it has not crossed that line just yet and maintains comprehension, if with a bit of confusion, though to be honest being a little overwhelmed with information and confused is immersive for the apprentice we play no? Well either way it was good to expand our understanding of the twist of the Crooked man being the Chaos prince in a way. And the two new characters introduced seem fairly fun to write haha! Looking forward to the "Beggining of the End", as ominous as it sounds..
Waow...I really found myself drawn in and intrigued by this! The atmosphere building is one of the best things about this game, it's just so. Ough. It's so perfectly liminal and eerie and spooky, especially the audio. It just FEELS like that's what it would feel like to be a ghost. Sort of speaking of that, the only thing that rivals the atmosphere is the WRITING, my godddddd. Especially how you kept it more straightforward in the textbox but really got into it all poetic with the inspect feature, I liked that alot! It really let the writing shine in those little snippets. Also was great for foreshadowing/teasing imminent reveals. Another scene that really, and I mean REALLY gripped me, was the initial death and the first few moments as a ghost. Idk man I just FELT that. It was so visceral but also just. A nauseating sort of mundane feeling. Like rotting. Which is apt. Very apt. TOTAL side note but not too long before playing this game, unrelated, I hadn't even known of it's existence at this point, I had a dream where I was shot in the head so. Similar situation to MC and man. Idk man you just described it so perfectly. Sorry if that little tidbit was a lil disturbing to read but, I just wanted to really convey how much the writing there meant to me. Well my gushing over the writing and atmosphere aside, the general story of it while nothing revolutionary just somehow drew me in instantly. Like man when I tell you I was HOOKED. That and I find the characters feel very realistically written. Like yeah that's how a person would react in such a situation. Idk how to describe it
oh wow! To be honest, I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did(for no fault of it's own, slice of life romance just tends to bore me oftentimes) but MAN did I. I don't know what it is about this but I just enjoyed myself through and through. The writing and the writing of the characters in particular is just SO charming, and the romance pay-offs are so well written. Got me squealing silly over it fr. The art direction in both just the general UI design AS WELL AS in particular the characters, CGIs and backgrounds is. Ough. It's so pleasing to the eye. So nice to look at. Seriously idk what you put in this game but it had me HOOKED and GIDDY.
Had this reccomended by a friend, and BOY am I glad that I did. It's a long game, sure, but it doesn't drag. The multiple endings are SO creative, with my favs being the true ending and ending 9, personally. The story in general is very good, and so are the characters. Sole for Owen and Vivi who take a slight backstead, all the characters are SO well written and complex and just WORK together you know? Also speaking of the story the timeloop element is utilised so well for both emotional impact and character/character relationship development as well AS the gradual progress of the story, eventually being revealed to be at it's very core. I love love LOVE how the mystery progresses and I LOVE all the little parallels between the backstory of the house, the Colis and Angel x Oliver. I love that the villian is well written and that his motives make sense, while still not trying so hard to make us sympathise for him. He's still an *sshole, just one with a good backstory. The humour is sublime, I laughed out LOUD many a times which isnt common. And the main pair tugged at my heartstrings. And I did almost cry at one of the endings(like tears blinked back almost cried; the only thing stopping me was the fact that I had only JUST cleaned my glasses). The soundtrack is also great, especially what plays at the final confrontation between Nadia and her father. All in all a joy to play through. Very hooking too
Fun game with sound mechanics, just a little unbalanced imo. Once you get over the difficulty curve at around wave 8-11, depending on how quickly you get about half-way through all the tower upgrades, it becomes boring because the enemies dont get any more difficult than the green gnomes. A boss battle, harder enemies as waves progressed, anything would be nice to keep the game engaging
Erm, is giving permissions to your pc necessary? I declined twice and judging from the renpy error the issue is with the fact that the game can't create the love letter in my files and then open it. Would that make agreeing to give said permissions necessary to progress or can the game be played without said permissions? If not why give the option to continue without in the first place?
What a delight it is to have caught the release of this so soon(all thanks to your reply to one of my comments on Bloodlines, of course). An intriguing continuation to the series as always, though more of a prequel in the case of the main series, setting up the events of Inside the Box. Speaking of that!!! My worst fears have come to fruition alas, poor Robert! I do find it fascinating and very satisfying the way you set up and elaborate on story beats and in doing so expand the worldbuilding of your games. And I have to say, this is best played after playing most of the series. The realisation that the little voice who helped you escape all the way in the beggining is quite one! All in all this was a great elaboration into the Robert we were introduced to in Bloodlines. Also, I like how the more that is explained about the Neverplace and Pandemonium, the more of a nuanced a picture that is painted on whether Pandemonium is truly the absolute moral evil that it is established to be. The amount of moral greyness and nuance in the world building is very satisfying when you play through all the games and realise just how truly intertwined everything is.
As per usual, the lore of the chaos prince and john faust continues to fascinate and continues to remain the unsung core of the story
Gah look how they've massacred my boys...alas. The expansions to the lore are intriguing as always. I quite liked the choice to change the format of this one into happening within the land of dreams(and therefore the subsequent consequence of Pandemonium being able to reach people in their dreams). My favourite endings have to be the ones where we find out more about John Faust. I like the way that, even with how branched out the story becomes into wider lore(The pandemonium, the kings, etc)it all still comes back to the first installment of the series, the very thing that personally got me invested, it's a nice feeling. The relationship between John and us as his apprentice really is the core of the story, being the inciting incident(well both that AND Opening the box).
As expected of the folklore series, another great installment. I can't exactly speak on the matter as I do not identify with the ace label myself but, I'm sure the representation and conversations had within this would be very much appreciated by those who do. I also enjoy the fact that there is other story beats aside from the main plot, and they are most interesting too! I am so very worried that Oculus is infact the young boy(gosh darn I'm not great at remembering names..). The story is told so regally and almost as an epic and it feels..grand/pos
Finally I've gotten around to this! (took me a while, ahah...) Either way, this series continues to absolutely enrapture me with intrigue. I'm not quite sure what makes it so, be it the characters, the mystery, the stakes, the worldbuilding...(just to name a few), but it is just SO interesting to me!!! You really know how to keep a reader hooked, this was one of those games you play and don't even see the time passing by. The voice acting was as stellar as in previous installents, and really I'm not in a place to accurately comment on this but the different accents seemed pretty authentically casted atleast to me. I quite enjoyed the music in the scene prior to the first choice too.
On a side note, MAN did the segment with Jack and Jill make me audibly giggle at times. I love them, they are so so silly
Finally got around to this! I'll be honest, until I saw the introduction upon booting the game up, I completely missed the fact that this was made by you! Silly me. That being said, I very very much enjoyed this. True, it may be a little cliche in concept but even so it is a very endearing execution of said cliche. The choices may have not mattered AS much as I thought they would(I could only get one ending), BUT I found myself really enjoying and endeared by the little ways choices throughout the game would subtly change dialogue. ESPECIALLY the favourite colour question. Similarly, I also liked the little poetic comeback of the Wrench name when in the end you end up hitting Atom WITH the Wrench. Checkov's gun or whatever, it was poetically satisfying in a way. Atom is a very very silly, while perhaps not equally disturbing, parasite archetype. I much enjoyed the little quirks in their dialogue. MC IS in my opinion a tad oblivious/in extreme denial but I guess that was to allow the story to unfold the way that it did
Even if a little bit cliche when it comes to the external monster as a manifestation of/metaphor for a mental health issue, the writing of the internal monologue and everything else in this game makes up for this in MILES. This game hit me so so hard, it is a very potent experience to go through, especially if you relate to many aspects. Thank you for making this.
BOY was I excited to receive the notification that this updated(one of my best experiences so far with the new "feed" feature on itch). All the elaborations on branching paths have been, well, much more than I had anticipated. So so much content oh my gosh. All of it continuing to be just as interesting as the prior. No new notes to add, other than that I am enjoying how aspects of the story/lore(particularly the symbols) are being expanded upon. They feel alot more like actual characters now rather than these ambiguous figures
Really, REALLY cool game. For it being not yet finished, I really did not expect so many branching choices, and for the "unintended" paths, so to speak, to have "to be continued"s that will receive elaboration in further updates. The meta aspects of the game are incorporated in SUCH a fun way, it all feels solidly imbedded into the lore. Speaking of! Such intriguing and elaborate lore; just enough to fascinate, and not so much that it overwhelms. And when combined with the sharp, sleek artsyle? Utter perfection. EAGERLY awaiting further updates.
Usually not a huge fan of the pretty cliche trope, however the curse put a really fun and tragic spin on it. I enjoyed it alot! The artistic direction was nearly as good as the writing(which was, oh my god, so good in quality and metaphors and parallels, like the parallel between good end and bad end 1? AUGHHH), with the more anguished sprites being literally SO expressive. A tragic piece of art to be sure