itch.io

Pretty cool game.

It was nice to explore the place beneath the mine and learning its lore.

I especially liked how distinct the monsters were from each other.

Some of the chases were great, and I liked how these had their own gimmick.

I was also really surprised to see a familiar face, as someone who watched a playthrough of A House of Alesa 3 one year ago.

It was awesome to discover that she was from this game.

I also had a lot of fun with the puzzles.

!!!SPOILERS!!!

The only things that I found a bit disappointing were the chase sequences involving Helga and the Mimic.

The former was very slow in comparison to me, and the large maps of Floor 0 gave me some advantages over them (I played on the normal difficulty).

In retrospect, I think that the large maps in general weren't that bad outside of that.

I had to do some backtracking, but not that much.

Having the key items before reaching the places where I had to use them made my experience definitely better, though.

Saying that the art direction was good would be just reductive after what I experienced.

The abstract nature of the world around the protagonist was very well made, and there were points where I stared at the screen speechless at how gorgeous the visuals were.

Each area had its own charm, and out of the details that characterized those, my favorite was the eye of the sea creature underneath the protagonist.

The one in the area with the crabs.

At first, I didn't even notice it was an eye until I saw it getting closed in real time.

I liked how that area was so full of life and full of stuff like that.

That said, I was really confused for most of my experience while trying to understand the story.

The metaphorical narrative of the game definitely fit well with its abstract visuals, but I was like "What is this supposed to mean?" constantly.

My instinct tells me that all of this was related to a past trauma of the protagonist, but I don't think that I could be more specific than that if I had to explain what I understood about it.

PS. I noticed two oddities while playing. First, the description of the Blue Shade is wrong. It says that the Blue Jellyfishes are near the Blue Crab, but they're actually near the green one.

Second, the LEFT and RIGHT controls were inverted during the first area of the game.

This happened anytime the screen would fade to black, and when the screen faded to black, the controls would return to normal.

This happened several times until I ended up in the next area.

Judging all the cases was pretty fun.

Some of these were also hilarious because of how ridiculous they were. 

My favorite was the one where the little girl was accused of murder.

I liked how her backstory had the involvement of Mr. Bob.

Great game. Really a great game.

You did an excellent job by designing the atmosphere, the monsters, the bosses, and the levels.

Despite having some favorites, I had a balanced good time with all of them.

The new design of the Mother was also wonderful.

Her stage was pretty fun as also the third one with the elevator.

The victory dance and that scene where you get the last weapon were absolute cinema.

It has been a while since I laughed so hard.

I only wished that there was more variety in terms of functionality for the weapons because they all work in the same way.

I think that if each one of them had specific bonuses and/or maluses against certain enemies would have made the combat aspect more satisfying.

!!!SPOILERS!!!

I'm going to be honest.

The scene where Jesus Christ gives the blessed chainsaw to Alesa is excellent, but it would have been even better if she didn't use that weapon in a previous stage.

Obtaining that cool ass weapon only to kill the final boss would have been more epic.

Kinda how it was done in the first Resident Evil with the Rocket Launcher.

PS. I forgot to mention that I faced a minor but constant bug while playing the game. 

Basically, Alesa's sprite would appear at middle-top or left-top of the screen from time to time.

This happened while interacting with some events like picking up the weapons and jumping from a platform to another. 

Not always but sometimes when I interacted  with those for the first time as well.

This was pretty nice. The dress-up elements were neat and the story between the protagonist and the antagonist was really sad.

The only oddity I faced was a bug that would repeat a specific line of dialogue after any new one.

It did that for the rest of the game after it was triggered.

The line of dialogue in question is "No."

To be honest, I didn't even think that was a bug a first.

Considering how unpleasant the story was getting for the protagonist, I thought that constant "No" was a inner monologue of hers.

It's only when I reached the ending that I realized that wasn't an intentional thing or, at least, I don't think it was at that point of the game.

This game was really creepy and THAT horror scene near the end was really well done.

Navigating and customizing Lucy's Desktop was also a pretty nice touch, and I had a lot of fun because of that.

Interacting with the other users was also very heartbreaking and made me hate the antagonist a lot.

The only thing I didn't like was the ending because it felt out of place in this story.

Maybe if there was some build up through the blogs, the e-mails, and the social media posts, it could have been a bit better.

!!SPOILERS!!

I don't think that the virus segments were enough to build that, personally.

They felt too random and too vague to lead to the ending where Lucy comes back as a vengeful entity.

I can definitely see your CGs addiction from this project ha ha.

Jokes aside, this was a nice short story.

I liked how Lillian was written, especially when she gets put in contrast with Natalia's selflessness.

My only nitpick is that the final interaction.

I think that it would have been a lot better if Natalia had a character face portrait as well.

Not only to highlight her reaction from a visual perspective but because there is not visual distinction in the UI when the characters talk between each other.

So it felt a bit confusing at first.

The rest was perfect, though.

Thank you very much for playing our game!

I was really excited to experience this game after playing the demo.

And in the end, I got the satisfying experience I wished for.

The characters, the voice acting, and the story were pretty good, and kept me engaged until I finished it.

The voice actor for the Hatter did a phenomenal job, by the way.

His performance was my favorite out of all the others.

But I also  want to give  my compliments  on the atmosphere, the music, and the art (all of it, not just the character portraits).

Some of these helped me a lot to immerse in the world I was exploring, and I couldn't ask better treatment from that perspectice.

When it comes to the combat system, I had a really good time with that as well.

I didn't feel any weird difficulty spikes through the game, and most of the boss fights were really satisfying.

I also appreciated how forgiving it was at times, especially towards the late game.

Keep in mind that I played on normal mode, though.

If there is something that made me roll my eyes was the final dungeon.

Its lack of enemy variety really impacted it negatively after the first half.

To the point where I wished I could end it sooner or face a new boss instead.

!!!!SPOILERS ALERT!!!

I bet you laughed your ass off when you made sure that Alice would lose all her Sanity after using the Scalpel.

You left me one hell of a surprise when I used it against the third phase of the final boss.

It didn't hit me as hard as the "Return to the Surface" ending, though.

That depiction of Alice returning to reality was very brutal.

Putting serious stuff aside, I was surprised that the BOING BOING BOING attack wasn't one of the most powerful AOEs in the game.

I mean, imagine if a ridiculous attack like that was able to wipe the entire party.

It would have been hilarious.

The story was very heartwarming for me.

The concept of a dead person helping her friends to discover the proofs of ghosts was genial.

The gameplay confused me a little at first, but I managed to understand it pretty fast in a second.

The only other thing I can say about that is that it fits very well with the base concept.

My favorite aspect of the game was the locations because of the way they're presented visually (this includes the van).

Navigating through them while trying to get the attention of the other ghost hunters was satisfying.

This horror anthology was pretty good.

One aspect I appreciated a lot was the use of different art styles to make certain stories stand out from each other.

From a visual perspective, at least.

The stories themselves were a mixed bag, though.

I loved some, but I found others a bit underwhelming.

My favorites were the Girl by the Window, the Visitor, and the Happy Grotesque Family.

The atmosphere and horror aspects in these three were excellent.

I just wish there was the possibility to save, especially when you had to choose multiple choices.

!!SPOILERS!!!

At last, I have to say that I enjoyed the presence of choices that could end some stories in an anticlimactic way.

For example, the choice that made you ignore the Girl by the Window made me chuckle a little when the second story started right after.

You can't tell me that you didn't see this coming lol.

Experiencing the shenanigans of this blue little guy was really good.

One thing I loved particularly was the antagonist.

Their visual contrast with everything else helped a lot in conveying their hostile nature, and I liked how they attempted to influence the protagonist.

The only thing that annoyed me a bit was the absence of save points.

Considering that multiple choices lead to different endings, it would have been convenient to save at certain points of the story.

Fortunately, the game was relatively short, so that issue didn't significantly impact my experience.

!!!SPOILER!!!

I liked the choice to make the MC kill his friends in different ways.

From the moment he got the hammer, I thought he was going to go postal with that, but I'm glad I was proved wrong.

Variety is always a blessing.

No, I'm not sorry for that.

Jokes aside, I liked the presentation of the story through its visuals.

I'm not really into poetic stuff, but this representation of the cycle of life and death was still pretty nice.

I really liked the aesthetic that you chose for the art here.

Its greyish look fits very well with the melancholic tone of the story.

The role of the MC was also interesting, especially how it gets influenced by the acts of the Angel.

!!!SPOILERS!!!

I was caught off guard by the scene where that poor guy was hit by lightning.

I didn't expect that lol.

No problem, I'm glad that the situation was resolved in the end.

That's weird. 

I have just checked the file that you downloaded with my Norton anti-virus, and it says that there is no suspicious stuff in there.

But just to be sure, I have also substituted the previous downloadable file with a new one (I generated this one from the engine, as I did with the previous one).

I checked this new file with my anti-virus as well, and it seems to be fine.

Can you try downloading this new version to see if you have the same problem again?

Did you also have this problem while downloading any of my other games?

Well...I want to start by giving my sincere apologies because I cheated in the game.

I hope to find forgiveness one day...

That said, I really enjoyed writing down the orders of the customers, especially after I figured out the connection between the ingredients and the indications given by them.

The repetitiveness of the gameplay revolved around making the pizza bored me a little, though.

I think that having more variety would have helped to keep the experience fresher in general, like the introduction of new mechanics, for example.

I vibed to the song that played during those segments, though.

It was so gooooood.

Speaking of the story, I appreciated how grotesque and silly it was.

Seeing the customers gradually changing into horrific creatures was pretty neat, and some of the interactions were hilarious.

The dating sim aspect of the game also gave some charm to these, and I loved how it culminated in the grand finale.

I also liked how not everyone of the creeps wanted to eat some pizza.

That broke the monotony of the issue I mentioned earlier, and I appreciated it for that.

!! SPOILERS!!

I'm going to say this with all due respect.

There were two things I really loved during my experience with the game.

First of all, the bad ending.

Presenting the Earth as the final pizza of the game was just *chef's kiss*.

That was a cool way to end the story.

The second thing, though, is something I feared that I wouldn't have obtained.

Especially after it was mentioned that you couldn't date everyone near the end, and my favorite was one of the most dangerous ones.

But when I saw that the green-haired Creep was one of the possible dating choices, I was so happy.

Out of all the creeps, she was the one I liked the most.

From her trying to kill the MC...

...to growing affection towards him when he started farting non-stop (I didn't expect that would have worked when I chose to make him do that lol)...

...to then end wholesomely and seriously with that simple "I...LIKE...YOU."

What a rollercoaster of interactions with that character.

Out of all the bosses in the game, the final one was the boss that made me fail most of the time due to distraction and repetition of certain actions. 

For example, the yellow ray managed to kill me several times because I got used to avoiding the spikes so many times that I ended up tricking myself into their trajectory.

Despite being pretty difficult, I managed to beat its second phase on the first try, though.

Fortunately, I got used to timing the attack to the Green Guy gimmick, so I didn't have problems at that point.

I feel you, bro ;).

It has been a while since a game has managed to evoke both love and hate in me simultaneously.

Automagoria managed to make me quit several times, but despite that, I always came back because, despite some difficulty issues, I had a great time with it.

I was impressed by the vast amount of content in this game, and it was marvelous to explore the meticulously crafted parts of the world.

If there is a moment that remains impressed in my memory, it was the first time that Automaton reached the destroyed city.

The whole vibe built by the atmosphere, the music, and the visuals really was excellent.

Same thing for some of the bosses.

I really enjoyed the variety offered but their gimmicks, but the ones that I liked the most were the ones from the Doll House and the Theater Dungeon.

The Doll House was also my favorite dungeon, which had the monsters with my favorite designs as well, especially the boss.

The fact that it also had some voice lines added so much more personality to that boss, and I loved it.

That said, it took me a while to get used to the combat.

Timing the attack was a nightmare during certain moments of the game.

The worst one was probably the fight against that green guy, which managed to make me ragequit several times.

That negative experience was so bad that when I faced the first enemy with that gimmick in the monster nest, my first reaction was “Nope, I'm taking a break. I'll continue in a second moment.”.

I didn't have too many problems with those, including the final boss, though.

By that point, I had gotten used to it, fortunately.

That said, let me congratulate you on putting together this little jewel of a game.

You did a good job with it.

PS. 

1) Automaton's design is peak character design, btw.

2) Out of curiosity, but if you're going to make a game about Vanessa (Alesa's granddaughter), is that going to be a sort of spiritual successor to this game?

I was very impressed by the art direction in this game.

You really did a good job with the presentation of the different layers of hell, especially how this one was influenced by the hell from the Divine Comedy.

The only thing that left me a bit confused was the ending.

I guess that the MC could do anything for the person he loved, even at the cost of the suffering of others, but he was also so delusional that he could defy death.

Unfortunately for the MC, death always comes at a certain point in life.

This is one of the interpretations I came up with, though, because, as I said, I had some difficulty understanding the final scene.

Hello, I'm here to destroy your first game :).

I want to start by saying that I enjoyed the atmosphere you built up through the different areas.

It was also pretty nice to have different perspectives of the story (Tami's and her Moms's), so that they could be put together as a puzzle by the end.

That “Game Over” at the end also caught me off guard lol.

I thought for a moment that I got a bad ending or something.

Very short, but still intriguing.

I liked the concept of the song in the story, especially how it leads to a sad but ironic ending.

!!!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!

She received the same medicine that her kind gave to the sailors, but what I find impactful about the ending is that she's completely unaware of being the last of her kind.

That ended up making her death even more tragic in my book.

I was a bit disappointed by the fact that this was just the prologue of a larger story, but the premise that it set up was really interesting.

I'm really looking forward to see to see the ideological contrast between Divinity and Mother Charity in the continuation.

One detail I really liked was also the fact that some of the sinners weren't just actual people but statues.

!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!

The concept of cleansing products of sins was pretty neat, but I appreciated it even more when I realized they looked like Divinity.

I loved the implication that the deity decided to mess with Mother Charity by putting them in her church.

I got them both, but I was talking about the ending where the MC forgives the priest when I used "sad" and "heartwarming" to describe it.

I forgot to mention the bad ending at the time.

I liked the horrors. Being able to choose different parties was also a nice touch. I appreciated the various interactions that changed depending on that.

"I need to find something to cover my hands before I touch that again." This is where I got stuck. I have the ring, but I require another item to open the locked door. 

I didn't see any sparkling light that indicates a key item to proceed, unlike the previous times, though.

EDIT: Nvm, I didn't notice the two rooms next to the one with the locked door. My bad.

This was a fun game. 

I loved the retro art style, especially in combination with its combat system.

I also liked how the characters outside of the MC were in their own bubble through most of the story.

That was silly, but in a good way. 

Same thing for the Hawkzombie cameo. It was hilarious.

I'm loving the environmental storytelling in this work. I'm afraid to say that I'm stuck, though. 

I just got the ring, but I don't know where I'm supposed to go.

I really liked both the aesthetic and the atmosphere that this game conveys.

The same applies to some of the gameplay segments, such as the fighting scenes and those involving the mouse.

They helped to give some dynamism to certain scenes, and they contributed positively to my experience.

The mystery behind the nature of the antagonist was also pretty neat.

This was excellent. The antagonist's slow manipulation of the protagonist was something very engaging to experience.

Especially how it culminated in the end.

Really interesting premise. The idea of exploring the mind of a psychopath is pretty neat, especially from a horror perspective.

I appreciated the mystery that surrounds the world and the characters in this story a lot.

Even if some details got revealed, that aspect remains intact, and helps build a dreadful atmosphere that kept me engaged during my multiple runs.

Discovering the details in question was also very satisfying, especially to get the good ending.

!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

The "good ending".

We will never know if the world out there will eat her alive.

In the same way, we'll never know the nature of the relationship between the antagonist and the protagonist.

As far as we know, the relationship may have been legitimate at one point.

Whatever happened to the world could have broken this one, and led the antagonist to "fix" this.

The truth is that we will never know, and that's good.

This is why I love the mystery behind it.

Good game.

The creepy atmosphere was really well put together, and I enjoyed my experience exploring the other plane.

I also really appreciate that the clock mechanic wasn't just used to build tension at the beginning of the game.

Using it also for some puzzles was an excellent choice.

!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

I really enjoyed this story.

That foreshadowing during the recording section gave me a big grin on my face when I noticed it.

That was the point when I understood I was going in for a good ride.

The concept of the Puppeteer from the previous game was already very intriguing, so seeing a hypothetical rendition of an improved version was great.

The twist at the end was also a nice touch.

It fit well in the context of this new story.

!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

I'm talking about the repetition of some scenes like "consultation with X character", "talk while walking down the street", and "talk in the cafeteria".

I believe that the entire research process took a bit longer than necessary due to these factors. 

That's also why I had the impression that some of these felt a bit redundant, like the consultation with Elizabeth, for example.

There was a certain point where I think that the story could have moved on to the final act without experiencing these scenes again.

About the "I saw it coming from a mile away", I didn't mean negatively, in case you had that impression. 

I just guessed what was going to happen in the end (except for the use of the winning torture device or the warning of Harry), thanks to the foreshadowing through the story.