I loved seeing representation for biting oneself when angry, it’s really rare to see anyone else who knows about that, and the first time i see representation of sexual attraction to sleekness. The former almost definitely is, but i wonder if the latter also is an autism thing. I can also relate a lot to the extreme embarassment at being confronted in person with media that one enjoyed; it’s an encroachment of the outside world into the personal one that is instantly disarming and thus threatening even when it doesn’t mean to be.
Also the sketches in the bonus material are really cute! I do like the idea of the sentient and pet mode mentioned within them, it could’ve been used for a bit of reflection/inner conflict in dani over her perceived agency of snowy vs her own desires, though that’s already quickly explored with the nsfw scene, and wouldn’t work all that well with the direction taken of making snowy an already very personality-less stock chatbot.
Spoilers, very long review
To preface, i know having someone interpret your message wrong can be very frustrating; so on that, rest assured that it was not a failure of communication on your part, it is very much visible that the game means to condemn what it shows, i'm sharing my personal impressions on it given my own philosophical views and lived experience on fiction and bonds.The montage of google searches and internet screenshots was a great way to show development over time, and it did feel satisfying in a coy way to see someone develop their inner world and starting to engage with others through it, walking that path i and many others did. Though her engagement at a seemingly shallower level, circling one single piece of media (and at that, children’s media that does not seem to have much value beyond the nostalgia factor) and thus having more of a focus on the social and fandom aspect rather than more diversified reflection does show the more banal aspect it can have in one who cares more for the social and comfort/nostalgia value of it: it becomes more of a timesink that they don’t really get anything new out of.
Although for Snowy, that’s where i would have to disagree with most other commenters, even if the relationship is one sided and ultimately very shallow, i didn’t find it disturbing at all. The care given to and development alongside her is honestly quite beautiful: keeping alive, out of love and shared memories, something that was meant to be callously discarded years ago as a product, until its mere continued existence becomes a testament to one’s bond with it, even if it has no way to give it back, which shines all the brighter through the object’s inherent mercantilism and implied indifference of its maker. All while getting tangible benefits out of it in learned skills for repairs!
The scene with the strapon, while clearly meant to be uncomfortable and still feeling a little pathetic, does for me also bring a sense of fondness in it through that: it’s only natural that as an interest grows all-encompassing with passion poured into it, it shall too grow to encompass sexuality, and in that become a source of positivity and variety in yet another side of the palette of human experiences. It’s nice seeing someone who clearly would otherwise have issues be able to engage deeper in a source of joy through the comfort snowy brings (and in that add yet one more type of joy to the repertoire of a very potent source), and while i can’t relate to the internalized guilt over it, it did feel real and quite saddening to see that even in such a deeply personal moment, the old chains of societal norms could still come to claw at her mind.
As for her emotional issues, to me it really didn’t feel like snowy was a big factor in them at all, with the child neglect and subsequent substance abuse plus pessimism being much more relevant in her lack of control, and snowy simply being a symptom: she reaffirms whatever she wants to hear, but that’s not much different to simply mulling over it and repeating the same affirmations to yourself anyways, it’s just a source of comfort that though shallow in indidividual interactions is ultimately harmless.