Cool game, both visually conceptually. Would like to see more of what this scp-like universe has to offer ngl
AshersBraincell
284
Posts
7
Followers
177
Following
A member registered Feb 19, 2023
Recent community posts
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.
Detective Beebo: Night at the Mansion comments · Replied to ArsonArena in Detective Beebo: Night at the Mansion comments
Detective Beebo: Night at the Mansion comments · Posted in Detective Beebo: Night at the Mansion comments
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
I must preface this with the fact that I don't have diagnosed OCD, but can empathise alot with the experience of having intrusive thoughts and compulsions due to my otherwise mental state at times as well as my Dermatillomania(which some argue is a form of OCD but I digress). That being said, in my humble eyes, I think the representation in this game is amazing, and the gameplay loop/elements perfectly capture the frustration and anxiety. A more subtle(?) thing I loved was the way that the FOV constricts the higher the anxiety, not only mimicking the tunnel vision given by repetitive thoughts and compulsions that you don't feel you have control over but also giving the player an unpleasant sensation that gradually worsens the longer a compulsion is delayed(again, mimicks the lived experience using its format as a game). It's all in all really clever and a GREAT tool imo to introduce people to/get people more familiar with what it's like to have OCD.
SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRERTY OF MY COMMENT
I guess I’ll start with the non-narrative features(well to the best of my ability without interweaving narrative into it) and go from there. Besides the music being amazing at both setting the whimsically regal tone of the setting as well as adding great emotion in a lot of moments(though I must add I found myself bouncing in my seat at the house party music), I really really liked that the CGs are so dynamic. They don't feel like illustrations, but more like elaborations on a scene, with how many different expressions and poses there are in some of them. Really gives certain scenes that extra punch they need, and varies up the gameplay experience. Speaking of diversifying the gameplay experience! This VN really uses the trope of non-linear story-telling to its advantage. It conceals information when needed to allow for more meaningful twists and character development, but also diversifies the experience by breaking up longer chunks of story into more interesting bits and pieces to draw the reader in, wondering how the pieces fit together. The "reports" section in particular I feel acts as a FANTASTIC narrative hook.
The minigames certainly give the game a great edge and add a little bit of stakes and excitement, which are great and also vary up the gameplay. I guess I have to bring in the narrative here a little bit since my point then flows nicer, but I like how the introduction of “concepts” from which spells are crafted is incorporated into said minigames. While I’m on the topic of magic, I might as well ease into narrative comments a little. The world building is really grounded, and the use of magic is mostly great throughout the story. I particularly liked the set up and pay off of quirks using the glamours masquerade. I do feel that in some circumstances it feels like things were invented simply to give Q plot armour, but alas, this isn't too often and it mostly inevitable when dealing with magic in a story. Otherwise, the different schools of magic feel grounded in pretty sound logic(with how their linked to the aforementioned concepts) giving this a sense of realism that really just makes it, relatable, I guess? Idk how to phrase my words here but it's a good thing.
I guess my only non-narrative critique would be that there is a slight pacing issue towards the beginning, where it drags for a bit, then the revelation of Q being an assassin is paced super quickly, only to drag for a little bit afterwards. After that, though, the pacing evens out, so I figure this was just growing pains from when the VN was in earlier stages of development. Speaking of the Q being an assassin twist, I feel it is very well done! Yes, you can see it coming if you're real perceptive, but that just means there is great foreshadowing up to it. Also liked the use of the trash bin stalker as a red herring to help ease some of the potential predictability of the hints earlier on. Like, for example, when Q inquiries about using magic to hurt someone; the red herring here perfectly serves its purpose as the reader is more inclined to believe that Q wants a means of self-defence against a perceived stalker!
It was also surprisingly refreshing to see a "meaningful choices" type of VN(where choices affect endings) that doesn't bombard you with meaningless, filler choices that don't have much payoff in the end. Really nice to see choices kept to the more critical decisions made along the story, idk, it’s just nice. Upon completing my initial run and going back on some of my choices I was very surprised to find just how DEVELOPED some choices were. Sure, some of them were still what you would expect; a scene and some dialogue and then a premature "bad end". I was expecting this to be the case for most, if not all, and these expectations were entirely blown out of the park. Some of my favourites were the entirety of the "I can't" epilogue(which especially sparked my interest with the mysterious figure at the very end speaking in blue, I mean, what was up with that???Explain???gahhh I'm so curious) and the way that not coming clean to Milo willingly had an entirely DIFFERENT set of events that, while feeling completely natural, eventually looped back to the ending gained otherwise. I was really impressed by that, and I love love loved the extra exploration of the characters of Milo and Q as well as their relationship and the intricacies of trust that it provided. T'was also cool to see the court system with the Sages in action.
Speaking of characters, as I progressed through the story, I came to enjoy just how developed everyone felt. Sure, ALOT of focus was placed on Milo and Q, naturally so, their relationship being the centrepiece of this entire story after all. I particularly liked the exploration of the effects of military training on Q, and the complex that Milo felt towards Wren with how he wasn't protective of him entirely as a person, but by partially objectifying him as an asset to be secure and kept safe(which not only links nicely into their existing issues when it comes to their charm, but also provides yet another nice parallel to Q, with how Q was also seen as a valuable asset by Reed.) I do believe that Milo is ever so slightly "cinnamon bun"ified with how he "always sees the good in people" and forgives Q just a little bit too quickly in my opinion(though I think this might just be a pacing issue, after all, I don't think the sheer length of time it would realistically take someone to forgive and regain trust after something like this is doable in a VN without major time skips that just wouldn't work with the urgency of the plot, ie the Organisation being quite literally on their tails). This is mostly remedied however, by giving a good explanation as to why Milo is so against murder(the death of his former teacher), while also giving him morally grey qualities such as dabbling in the dark arts. All in all this is just a slight nitpick that is wayyy outweighed by the otherwise character writing and development. Especially with Ending B, where we see that, despite forgiving Q partially, there are still very real consequences to the choices we choose to make. In my humble personal opinion this is the canon ending, to me at least, as the choices I made to get there felt the most realistic for Q(with the aforementioned military conditioning and all) and less "idealised" than Ending A(which is adorable as wish fulfilment in its own right, don't get me wrong)
Me gushing about the endless complexities of the two and their relationship aside, I liked the subtler developments to the rest of the cast to give them more personality. I do sincerely like Wren, despite him being atleast partially morally grey. Actually, speaking of morally grey characters(well this one leans slightly more towards the darker side of grey but alas). Loved the way that you wrote T morally grey. It would've been so easy to make him a crappy abusive ex with little to no dimension, but I really liked the way his motivations and own insecurities were explored(not justifying, but providing the reasoning for why he acted the way he did). Also really enjoyed the way that these insecurities this caused Q mimicked Milo’s own insecurities with his previous relationship let downs also being focused on his bodily appeal rather than “genuine love”. I really, really also liked June as a supporting character. From her realistic outburst at learning about who Q is, all the way to the GREAT further payoff of the quirks set up, it’s nice. Just a little cliche with the soulmates trope, but fun nonetheless. Speaking of set-ups and payoffs, I just really really liked how so many things in the story were set up, only to payoff really well
However, my last complaint comes in the mishandling of the ending, in my personal opinion at least, in this regard of set ups and payoffs. With all the talk of an "informant", I was hoping the reveal would be that it was someone among the cast(perhaps it was the guy who brought the kill order into the equation using the glamour, I might be being an airhead...), but it really didn't feel like it paid off at all. My bigger problem was just...Phelps?? The entire plot-twist with him being the one to suggest they get rid of T, it just felt like it had no set-up at all; it felt a bit like a cheap twist to give Q just that one more emotional moment in regards to T, where I felt that aspect of his character and the insecurities it caused were mostly delt with earlier on in the game and lingered just as much as they ought to have in the background as a part of Qs character. Idk, I really just don't think it was necessary(despite seeing how, perhaps, the set up here was the mentions of others bullying Q at the facility. Then again, I thought this was much rather to serve the development of T as a possessive individual, idk).
But my various nitpicks and criticisms aside, I do only mean them as constructive criticism and attempted to phrase them as such so I’m sorry if I came off rude or anything because I really, truly enjoyed my time with this game. It was entirely whimsical and fun and tense in all the right moments and, despite dragging a little as I already mentioned, kept me hooked all the way throughout by getting me to really care about the characters and all their various complexities, I really couldn’t recommend this one enough. You don’t need me to reiterate how much I enjoyed a game if I write a whole ass essay on why I liked it in comments, do you? (Though maybe, just maybe, include an estimated runtime on the game page? I really didn’t expect this to take up a whole 14ish hours of my time, but I’m glad it did ahaha)