itch.io

Just played through the demo. Firstly, it's truly mind-boggling what you've managed to achieve in real-time using a slim selection of Ren'Py shaders, Carrot! Some of the stuff, like the introduction sequence, would be done as video in other VNs. But here? Pseudo-3D effects, picture-in-picture animation, and such fluidity that it was just as much a joy to read as it was to watch.

The group dynamics are gloriously set up almost immediately. From the "brothers from another mother" duo of Ze and Grady trying to touchdown poor Gum into an apple bucket to wash off their hair dye to the pillow fight to the glorious gadfly who is Grandma Marsh, this was a great read, and I can't wait for things to go downhill so I can feel all the horror feelings.

Also, is it just me, or is Gum written like Iggy 2.0? The two are definitely different and their trajectories are clearly different from each of their beginnings, yet they share some suspicious similarities, namely an introvert struggling in their chosen field and have been out-of-contact with their friends for awhile. Not complaining, just asking. :D

It's gonna be OK, Carrot. As others here have said, games naturally get deindexed no matter what when their pages are edited. Take deep breaths, find a friend or partner in whom you can confide, and do what you need to do to regain peace. Know that you are loved, even by those who are whole continents away from you, you are worth everything, and that help will come if you ask for it.

Very much enjoyed my stay in the Lovecraft-like jungle. The natives were lovely, though it's only after consulting previous travel reviews comments did I notice precisely how off they were. Now if you'll excuse me, I need someplace dry and warm....

SPOILERS AHEAD:

Thank you, dev, for including the Unicode representation of the Morse code at the game's end! I could barely make out the low-frequency version of it otherwise (I blame age), not to mention I'm not used to hearing Morse code.

Found it supremely ironic that the password spelled out the protagonist's fate. Yes, he survived the cave thanks to the preserved gas mask and trapped the spore hive-mind on the island, but he'll become one with the spores one way or another.

As alluded to in the non-spoiler section, I did note that the tribespeople were the same color as the spore found on the human skull and, noting the extreme overgrowth in certain parts, figured that the spore grew on the people until the ending showed me that the tribespeople are the spore. However, I missed the finer details, like how they deliberately lacked an idle animation like the professor, that the reason for the lack of any non-plant life on the island was due to the spore's desire, to phrase it in its own wording, to be the most hungry, and I also missed the professor's final diary entry, which made the fact he got terminally(?) infected overnight, likely due to closely interacting with the tribespeople, unlike the protagonist, quite clear and also tied into why the tribe's description of things was so...earthy.

Played through, and it was definitely a delightfully-curious experience. Nice to see some Disco Eylsium-style RPG mechanics.

While it is nice to have a physical version of the Anders Cyclopaedia, I'd much rather have it available in-game. Typical, I know, but not everyone's going to want to print it out when so many other games provide what would've been print-outs in the past in-game - and include notes sections which the player can freely write in.

It would be nice to eventually get gear Ash could use to better analyse the world for when their senses are insufficient, if not outright dangerous or lethal.

Also, I will echo a previous statement of the [REDACTED] getting me when fleeing into the cabin. Given its capabilities per the in-game observations of Ash's fellow lexocologists, it would seem like it'd simply materialize behind Ash again once they fled the cabin - or, perhaps, in front of Ash given the limited lines of sight in the cabin itself - and immediately using its surprise.

Don't know if anyone's ever gotten it before me, but I did manage to get the secret ending and solve the mystery of the obelisk's inscription. (Mercifcully, unlike the text adventure games this is styled after, once the ending is triggered, the puzzle is solved automatically instead of spending hours figuring out what to do.)

One important thing I'd add to the developer's hints: the idiom is the same as the underlined one used by the Oracle, but sand is replaced by "time".

Also, if you're not sure you've successfully clicked on the redundant element at the right time, click on it before getting to the idiom's second appearance and remember what happens when you do click it. That will give you the experiential reference you need to know.

OK, if you're down here and are the dev, some questions about the ending:

* Is the ultimate solution to the obelisk's elevator functionality to have three people who have recently been...transferred?...to stand at the positions indicated by the inscription with the bowls, and one still-living person to do the same? I know it doesn't matter since, regardless of the solution, the game auto-solves it for you, but as someone who's played a lot of adventure games, graphical, text, and hybrid, I'm still curious. :D

* When Olivia arrives at the artists' chamber, does she lose her face at that point, given she's doomed to a different sort of eternal life than in the bad ending?

*Aside from explaining how the paintings get made, what is the office-like artists' chamber meant to represent? I must admit the symbolism there, if any, is lost on me.

Anyways, I didn't like the ending at first, until I realized what the Oracle meant when she was talking to me, the player: I can't cheat Olivia's ultimate fate - she will enter into the afterlife one way or another (not exactly sure if being transferred(?) or managing to enter the artists' chamber counts as dying). But I can make that fate bittersweet.

But yeah, without the hints you provided previously, I'd have no idea how to achieve the secret ending. Even if I'd thought to go back and enter Olivia's actual dying words to the Oracle, the idiom sounds like "when the sandy blood of Tyler flows (slips) through your hands, exit the game using the in-game exit button", not "when this idiom is repeated similarly in the game, exit the game using the in-game exit button"...though that's my adventure game brain working there. While I agree the solution is definitely overly-obtuse, I do think a simple change would make it much easier to achieve. Specifically, if you've gotten the Oracle's advice using Olivia's true last words, that locks you in to the secret ending. As such, once the idiom is stated in dialogue, Oliva suddenly realizes the Oracle's meaning and, thus, knows it's time to LET GO (possibly allowing the player to actually type that in).

Very rarely do I come across professional-grade projects in game jams (of which, I admit, I've only voted in some of and never developed any games for) - but this? I feel like I just played a demo of a professional puzzle VN which got featured on a Steam VN Fest. The writing, as others have also noted, is very natural. Not only that, it actually takes into consideration the language barrier in a realistic fashion.

The audio is expertly sourced and used effectively. Not to mention the original music is incredible in its composition and setting moods.

The story...man, what a well-executed series of twists! I can't really talk about them without spoiling them, but suffice to say I did not expect the ending to give off Deus Ex 1 vibes.

Also, I just have to ask: did you take some visual inspiration from Cryo's early adventure games, namely Dune and Lost Eden? The way the characters are composited into the scenes feels like an evolution of those games' wide shots.

I can't wait for the full game so I can get resolutions to that cliffhanger of an ending.

When I saw someone review this on YouTube, I didn't expect this to be a Lovecraftian tale of toxic friendships. Just gorgeous all around! My only complaint is that there's no way to naturally leave the scenes and go to the world island map, but 1) it's such a nitpick that it doesn't affect my rating for the game, and 2) it's something I'm sure will get added after the jam is finished (if the devs decide to release a post-jam version, anyways).

While I'll miss some of the old art, such as Orlam's original sprite, I can't deny the new sprites and art as shown here are definitely an upgrade.

Looking forward to the remaster, and looking forward to what projects you make in the meantime!

What an excellent little game inspired by Iron Lung! While it would've been nice to have a run button for a certain late-game complication, the gameplay is excellent, and the ending is very well foreshadowed if you pay attention to notes and the particulars of the machinery you're operating. Glad the finicky itch.io algorithm recommended me this game to try!

How on Earth is this so...complete? Were it not clearly mentioned on the page it was made for the O2A2 game jam, I'd have believed this was merely a masterfully-built puzzle game that gets in, teaches you its mechanics and shares as much story as you need to know, then escalates the difficulty from there to a final challenge, all in the span of ~5 minutes. Instead, this is all that, but made in 10 days. Incredible!!

Repeat what you did to achieve Ending 1, but with your new colleague instead of your old one.

It may have been posted literally 10 hours before the deadline, but man, the work that went into this is truly AAA-tier (minus the typical saminess modern AAA games have). Phenominal art, a simple but clever "will" mechanic, and a great love story all tie this together into a package that is just perfect. Bravo!!

Such a wonderful, sweet love story. Rarely has a game, especially a short one, brought tears to my eyes - and I'm proud to say this is one of them.

Also, my Carrot, you have truly outdone yourself with the art here! It's still clearly your style, but the shading, the detail...this is top-tier work! Bravo!!

Managed to get all the non-secret endings (assuming there's a secret one) - and boy, was it worth my time! This not being a part of a creepypasta jam massively helped this game's quality in all aspects. Like, going from the previous two titles (never got to play the actual very first one as I'm too late to the party) to this is night and day! Absolutely looking forward to the next entry.

Also, I need a hint on how to find the game's one secret. I believe I have the means to unlock it, but not idea where to find the secret. Do I need to do something like do specific things on specific days or something?...

Just read the latest devlog. Since I can't comment there, I'll say it here: you have people who care about you, Carrot, both online and offline. Find them, and ask for their help. That's what helped me in my darkest hours. I hope it will do the same for you.

Just finished playing through all the endings. Really great story, Aspen is a delightful MC, and Crowe has just the right mix of Tsundere, cabin fever, and eccentricity.

I will say, though, the way the story was going, I felt like the Sweet Ending could've benefitted from a platonic (brother-sibling) love path as well as the love-love path. However, considering the VN's origins as a game jam game, how choices were likely made per that consideration, and that, based on how the story goes, if the Sweet Ending couldn't have two variants, just having that be a romance route, albeit a healthy one not involving deals with demons, I feel, was a good choice. Otherwise, if the Sweet Ending was platonic love only, then the only ending where Aspen actually romances Crowe would the one where they both become blood-bound psychopaths...and I get the distinct feeling from playing that this VN is not that kind of game!

Given the loyal rabbits' rabid behavior and tastes, I would assume a trail bomb is made from humans or something they'd find similarly-irresistible.

Firstly, finally got to play through the whole, complete game, and MAN was it worth it! I can see how you grew in all ways, Carrot, as the arcs went on, and just how the characters evolved.

I loved the ending in which Iggy, after letting others dictate his whims, finally takes control, not just from others, but from me, the player. I also love how that gets foreshadowed when given a false choice as to whether to get on the boat. I also like how no, the characters keeping all their future knowledge and experience doesn't magically make everything better. The whole unintentional erection incident which led to Genzou's blinding still happens. Iggy still lashes out at Gidget for winning the coding challenge. But in all cases, they listen to each other. Iggy is WAY more of a true friend this time. Genzou finally learns how to let go of Iggy. Orlam, while it's clear he and Genzou will never get along, finally has friends, real connections. Bucks - oh man, how she busts herself and Hunar out of their wedding. SO in-character for her! Oh, and of COURSE Orlam is a businessman. (I could write up a whole fan-fic short about how Orlam brings in a misbehaving employee treating those under them like pigs for the slaughter and verbally rips them a new one as only Orlam can.)

I also like when Iggy enters...I dunno, the Wishing Tree's inner sanctum? We finally get to see what everyone wished for, what Iggy's first wish was, and while seeing Saydie die along with the Tree was quite sorrowful, given the bizarre, supernatural circumstances, and given how Sadie is effectively being kept in a strange sort of undeath, I'd do the same thing as Iggy. She needed to finally rest in peace.

Now my one big criticism is this: why is the Wishing Tree, a maternal entity as old as mankind itself, if not older, holding the same views as Gidget's mother? The story leading up to the Tree's proper introduction to the characters seemed like it was just sick and tired of its wishers' hypocrisy, among many other vices, to the point of madness (what with wishes being her life-blood), when it lashed out to the characters, she'd point out all the flaws in their wishes. Orlam? You wanna make the rules, but all you're doing is running is running from the rules meant to help you find happiness - not to mention sealing yourself off from all aspects of life, even the good parts. Gidget? Your true self is a man, but you sacrifice it all for your mother's flawed view of the world and a pointless, destructive obsession over a biological man who can never satisfy you the way you OR your mother wants. Genzou? You want to see with Iggy so badly, you're willing to be blinded by his own emptiness to the point of sharing it and its active harming those who truly care for you - like Orlam. Bucks? You want your daughter dead...how do you think you got into Wonderland these last six times (at least)?! Iggy, though? The Wishing Tree's diatribe against him fits perfectly (and is a nice fourth-wall break).

OK, with that out of the way, but before I get into my non-review questions: final verdict? My good carrot, this is a masterpiece. Full stop.

This is worthy of a commercial remake. Get the money and team you need to bring the rest of the arcs up to Arc 5's level, make original backgrounds, music, etc.; hire on voice actors, like asexual Michael Kovak and pansexual Elsie Lovelock (my personal choices for Iggy and Gidget, respectively); and get more semi-animated and animated scenes in.

Okay, for the question and one 'critique' that's so minor it's a nitpick:

Why are the scenes of Orlam's Event Horizon-level flesh-orgy and Sadie's mangled corpse censored even with censorship off? I realize these scenes can easily be EXTREMELY triggering, if not upsetting and/or disturbing, but I feel those who are willing to brave the depravity should be permitted to see the images in all their horrid detail as, in context, they cement, respectively, just how completely uncaring and unhinged Orlam has become without his heart, and just how far the Wishing Tree is willing to go to get her 'perfect' wish.

Also, I don't know if this is just a limitation of Ren'Py or what, but in the scenes with false choices, the player could still be made to think that they can make a decision, but no matter which they select, they get the same scene, complete with options in the background. Just something to enhance those scenes' bait-and-switch.

Thanks for reading, Carrot, and I look forward to your next endeavor!

Wait, so how the heck do Jerry and Gidget's aide get into the real world? And why is Jerry a buck-toothed human? I (don't actually) NEED ANSWERS!!

You are a legend, my dear carrot. Take breaks as you need them, don't burn yourself out, and otherwise take care of yourself. I've found to first please others, I have to take care of myself - 'cuz otherwise my brain is mush and I'm little use to anyone. :D

Also, I can't wait to see all the different permutations of The Final Choice. Given how your previous works' endings have had the theme of "how well can you read people", I'll be interested to see how all the various choices combine. Certainly better than the "press one of 4 buttons" approach!

Reading this made me think more about how Ending 2...ends. As Genzou does the deed, the question arises: for whom does he weep? Iggy, for having to deny and demean his one true love? Orlam, for whom he shockingly feels sorry for? Both?

...just good writing and imagery throughout, but man that little detail is amazing.

Dang, you took the words out of my mouth! I don't mind, though - it's too good a game for that. :P

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

Anyways, here's how to get all three endings:

Ending 1: Be as uncooperative as possible. Defend Iggy, choose the snarky answers which are at Orlam's expense, etc. Seal your fate with an uninterrupted "fuck you" rant to Orlam.

Ending 2: Mix up your responses between submissive and self-deprecating as well as being uncooperative. DO NOT rant at Orlam if given the opportunity.

Ending 3: Be the sub to Orlam's dom. Capitulate to Orlam at every available opportunity, and be sure to snark at your own expense, never Orlam's. (This ending prevents you from ranting at Orlam.)

Bite-sized Our Wonderland story as the VN equivalent of code golf. What's not to love? Really like the simple premise of "how get introvert ace boi into me". Have yet to get said ace boi to say "hi" in person, but I still love this little peek into their lives and personalities.

I feel like there's more to write, but this is my first O2A2 game of any kind, so I'm out of my depth here. I'm used to game jam games having lots of content and/or depth despite a time and/or theme limitation, not the mandatory minimalism of "you can only use one of any asset" of a O2A2 jam.

Man, this was an amazing first part. Just too much to write about. Though I will do my best to note the parts I liked and disliked the most.

I really liked how Cecil ends up being contrasted between Iggy in that Cecil is the better friend to Gidget than Iggy is, his selflessness contrasted against Iggy's selfishness...even though he's slowly coming to terms with that. The attention to detail in the writing, like how pre-revelation (as in "before their final confrontation with Cecil") Gidget described instructing the Iggy dolls as "programming" them instead of, say, "commanding" them. The "we're not doing 'lethal vs. non-lethal' choices again, you sadist" joke made me laugh hard :D . I also like how you took the animation lessons you learned from Our Fantastic Wonderland and applied them here - the novel has never looked so animated.

Speaking of which, shame no-one seems to remember the events of Our Fantastic Wonderland. Having Orlam, now surely fully-aware of Wonderland's abilities, take his revenge on Jerry for, just one loop, taking over his self-made role of King of Wonderland would be F U N. In an Orlam kind of way. That and Hunar revealing he and Bucks used to play D&D together would've clicked more with Iggy, being like, "Oh, so that's why one of the loops had Wonderland become a D&D session," and in hindsight, making Our Fantastic Wonderland akin to a standalone Bucks arc.

Speaking of Orlam, darn you, crispy critter! You made me think, at first, Orlam had something to do with Gidget's out-of-character acting being a result of his interference rather than something self-inflicted, what with her (that's what I'm pronoun-ing pre-revelation Gidget so as not to confuse myself) mannerisms, way of speaking, and the choice of music being suspiciously similar to the choices used for Orlam's.

On a minor note, it's a shame there weren't more sound effects in parts. Though I do understand that the (likely) very tight budget regarding third-party asset licensing for the assets you can't get for free likely is a factor there.

Finally, given the intro narration to this arc, I can't help but wonder if there'll be a choice to make at the end: chop down the tree because we humans are inherently flawed, and the poor tree needs to be put out of its misery, or have Bucks surrender the baby to the tree, no blood sacrifice needed, so 1) the baby can be raised by a better parent (sorry, Bucks :( ), and 2) so it can heal and maybe figure out how to live in a world of flawed, guilty, and impure humans?

Looking forward to the conclusion!!!

I look forward to the madness. >:)

Believe it or not, I had neither played nor commented on Limbo Line until you brought it up. Well, now I have, and it is everything I'd hoped it'd be! Left a lengthy comment on that game's page, too. :D

OK, so whoever isn't the dev and is reading this: HERE BE SPOILERS.

Wow, this is excellent! Unless you look very closely (or look at itch.io's handy sidebar of links), you'd be hard-pressed to say this was made in one month - or even for a game jam! The characters, the lore, the puzzles...oh, it's so good! I love how the admins of Limbo are basically Great Old Ones, that Loki, upon his (their?) timely demise, got locked into a particular form, dumped into manager detail for all eternity, and foisted with a decidedly-uninspired pseudonym, the janitor is better at sucking up compliments than actual garbage, and the resident symbiote is not an ice queen by choice, but rather because literally having multiple persons inside a single host body means displaying emotion is chaotic and decidedly undemocratic (they can't all be Dax from Star Trek, I suppose :P ).

The side puzzles and content on the PC and the phone truly elevate this game beyond a typical VN, making it closer to something like Snatcher (the good parts). And the micro-ARG/unfiction puzzle was clever as well...though I will say the password was difficult to understand once translated, even when slowing down the tempo and upping the volume. Thank goodness I got close enough Google auto-corrected my answer to the real one!

Anyways, love the MC's reaction to Deadly Desires' "funeral package". Honestly, I would've loved for that number and its choices to lead to a number of comedic bad ends, whether it be from being damned for having a private orgy with Romeo during probation or the MC being completely insane and accepting the "funeral package".

My two complaints are nitpicks, especially given this was done within the timeframe of a one-month game jam: I wish there was even more and more fleshed-out content, and the male voice actor for Loki has worse line delivery than the female voice actress. In fact, it sounded like the latter was doing a bad impression of the former.

Lastly, my one actual critisism, which was to let Loki speak as they preferred instead of sticking to one type of voice - I mean, the player got assaulted by an energy demon and introduced to Limbo by a robot-headed being of some kind, so hearing a voicechanger's natural voice couldn't possibly be weirder than that - but having gotten all the endings and artwork, I see now that would ruin the revelation the player can come to in that "Kiol" is really Loki.

This VN strikes me - in the best of ways - a shorter, lower-key, and more intimate version of the obscure PC-98 VN Mirrors. The deliberate limitation of on-screen colors is masterfully used to help convey the story's ever-foreboding tone, as well as provide the sharpest photorealistic images at 640x480 I've ever seen in a modern RPG Maker game. The dialogue pacing is excellent, not to mention acts as a sort of silent voice acting by stopping, starting, and varying speed like voiced dialogue would. The characters are well-written. Overall, fantastic!!

While I do have some nitpicks, like the "Fast" option speeding up all dialogue, unread or not, I suspect it's merely due to the third-party plugin chosen and not a willing choice by the author.

Playing this right after Dawn of the Damned really showcased to me how much better your writing is than the material being adapted here! I mean, I will not deny the voice acting, art, and use of environmental audio cues is excellent - considering that all this was done in less than a month. But I feel even the writing exclusive to the VN outshines the rest of the adapted material. I guess that's just me watching a lot of Twilight Zone and other such anthology series.

But yeah! All things considered, you did great adapting what was given. I honestly wish that the adapted material was used as inspiration for an original story - now that would've been amazing.

A wonderful adult fairy tale of obsession and greed. The graphics are wonderful, the music is quite suited, the voice acting is quite good for something likely done in less than a day, the writing is so good, and the interactive bits are a nice touch. I also appreciate the nice touch of character expressions changing based on the dialogue.

A very fun little fantasy VN with some unexpectedly-clever navigation puzzles thrown in. I would say the ending is abrupt, but given the game's page explicitly states this a prologue to a much bigger story, the abruptness is apt for its purpose.

The game doesn't feel like something made in a month - it feels like a professionally-made product! The art, writing, music...it all has a level of polish I would never expect out of a game jam game. Bravo!!

A Lovecraftian story, I feel, which actually was hindered by the game jam time limit. The story feels rushed at the end, story details feel like they're missing meat, so to speak, and the puzzles, especially the final one, are clunky and, at worst, unclear. However, the art style is lovely, and the writing is excellent. 

As an aside unrelated to my review, I do wish Ren'Py had better shader support as some of the scenes, such as those where the brightness is cranked up, could really benefit from bloom to emphasize their brightness.

It frustrates me so that I can't get into the usual details I would in my comments on a Carrot Patch Games production, especially since I don't want to spoil things for newcomers and cause people to pre-judge the game for the game jam. It frustrates me because this really good. Not only is this a standalone story set in Carrot's Our Wonderland universe, but it also directly connects to the events of that VN as well! (Kinda like the demo for the wonderful horror game Mothered, but...well, without spoilers, not quite.) Excellent writing, fantastic cast chemistry, wonderful animations, and a very nice twist towards the end.

Also, I know you're hiding it, Carrot. The game raters know what I mean. DON'T MAKE US SUMMON JERRY!!!!!

As someone not very familiar with the Commodore 64 and Commodore Plus/4 microcomputers, what are the differences between the two versions of the game?

Meme I didn't have time to include: https://imgur.com/a/BrGoGGY

Wow...this has got the be the most personal feeling of the arcs. Like, my carrot, my fellow human: take a break after this. It feels like this time, you are not exaggerating the pain this arc put you under, and I want you to be healthy and, most importantly, alive.

I say all of that knowing you're probably doing all of that already. But still, just felt it needed to be said.

OK, personal note aside...

THIS ARC WAS AMAZING AND I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY AND PROUD YOU HAD THE COURAGE TO PUT IT TOGETHER.

When someone tells me, "I don't feel comfortable with sex," I feel like I can honestly respond, "I get it," after experiencing this chapter. If one isn't comfortable and is just thrown into it or forced to do it, whether by themself or by others, it is deeply horrifying and not something I would ever wish upon even my worst enemy.

Like, I feel like this is the benchmark for "artfully and tastefully-put-together morality play regarding why sex is a choice"  - and it makes me sad knowing most people will never see it just because of how obscure it is.

I could go into how Cecil is the opposite of Gidget's mother, in that when he says, "This isn't you," it's because he truly cares for Gidget and wants what's truly best for her. I could go into the sheer perfection of the audio and visual choices. I could lament in length how Gidget, so obsessed with fulfilling her mother's selfish wishes, failed to realize Gidget gave her the man she actually wanted. But the arc speaks for itself.

Like, the only criticism I have is the blood and gore lack the visceralness of the previous chapters. It sounds strange to say, but I've found you know how to execute such things in an artful way. It's gross, but it's appropriate. Yet given the subject matter, and given just how personal this arc clearly was for you, Carrot, I don't mind it at all - in fact, I feel a bit like a masochist just for mentioning it.

Also, looking forward to The Arc Where Everyone Else Joins Orlam in Remembering, And In Which Orlam Tries to Become Destiny (God).

This is going to show my nerdiness, but judging from the default application icon for the game demo, I'm assuming you're using GameMaker? If so, it handily includes a function which tells you exactly what OS the game is running on.

Otherwise, I'm gonna have to go with a generic suggestion and say the Windows SDK does include a way to detect what OS version the game is being run under, which works as far back as Windows XP and as current as Windows 10 and beyond (at least according to the most current documentation I can find).

Hope that helps!

Just wanted to report that, under Windows 11, the game crashes once the player attempts to leave the first character's house. The issue seems to be due to the game defaulting to using DirectSound instead of XAudio. While the game, thankfully, has an external configuration file which can be modified to change this and fix the issue, given the lowest OS the game supports is Windows 7, I feel XAudio should be made the game's default audio driver. All supported Windows OSes natively support XAudio, and using it will prevent future issues stemming from sound drivers - if not Windows support - slowly removing or screwing up support for DirectSound features and functionality.

Very nice demo! Quite a lot of game compared to what demos normally give these days.

I love the game's environmental storytelling! A small, connected community in Sweden(?), the world from the Stargate movie - which I appreciate the kids having no idea about given the film first released in 1994, 5 years after the game starts - looking to have been studied by humans, only to have been attacked, the reality-linking apartment complex which feels straight out of Control, and the torn-apart town after the apocalypse.

The writing is also quite good. Nails the feeling of kids grown up on material far above their age range.

My main complaint is a lack of polish. Houses you've already trick-or-treat'd at don't let you interact on their doors again so the player can be reminded they've already been there, the abandoned military base well off the beaten path in the first area doesn't have the characters comment on it, areas feel emptier than they should (i.e. the ruined town should have more things to look at, read, etc.), the kids have no comments on repeated dialogue once they return from Stargate World (i.e. after the big kids inviting the kids to see their fireworks, there's no confused conversation where the kids think the fireworks have already been set up), and so on. Just a lot of little things like that which add up.

There's also some areas which feel big enough, but would really benefit from the kids being able to run - especially when backtracking or searching for the next thing.

As for hinting at the safe puzzle's solution, there could be a note, a diary entry, something which gives the perfect, succinct hint you gave to another player: the safe's combination is something stupid. And if the player keeps guessing the combination incorrectly, that can trigger a conversation where one of the kids suggests trying the actual solution, with the others being incredulous because what adult would use such an obvious password?

All said, for what is probably an alpha, this was fantastic. I can't wait to see where this goes next!

Ah, I see. Glad to hear the low-down on Gidget. Sorry for making you make the kinda-sorta open secret official. I just wanted to express my concerns is all.

(Also, I swear my "I just want Gidget to be Gidget" statement wasn't meant to be prophetic or anything. :D )

EDIT: Removed spoilers. To those who think they saw spoilers: you didn't see anything.