No me he enterado de qué sucede al final, porque mi explorador tuvo problemas después de haber entregado el poema, la receta, etc. Pero el equipo me avisó que hubiera sido mejor descargar el juego...
Habiendo dicho esto, me sorprendió que para un juego de un jam de un mes, hayan creado estos espacios 3D y los personajes están bien desarrollados. La ambientación me recordó a la prosa de los pueblos cercanos al mar que alguna vez escribió Lovecraft. Supe que algo estaba mal desde que los peces atrapados venían de todos los mares y profundidades imaginables; lo que pude ver de la trama me gustó. ¡Felicidades!
What could improve: The only glitch I found was that I couldn't get to the good ending even if the game held my hand while taking me to it, it kept looping back to a worse one.
What is great about this game: It's impressive that a single person did...everything. The heartfelt, raw story—with great voice acting and range—has its conclusion obvious to the player (but not the main character) from the start: that's a big difference with most experiences in the jam. What draws you in isn't finding out where the character is headed, but rather how and, more importantly, why will we get to that point. The choices are subtle, compared to most VNs. Yet, with every decision, there's a feeling that something more important is happening in the background.
The plot unfolds at a steady pace that gives you a three-dimensional glimpse into Bea and Tristan's journey. Nicely self-contained! The music is so whimsical, as are the designs; if there had been no content warnings, I wouldn't have been bracing myself for the emotional impact of people met with harsh—if not impossible—circumstances.
Fellow whale/sea game! We were treated to a little cutscene? Whaaat? Impressive. Also, the unsettling atmosphere kicks right in, aided by the beautifully grotesque designs on backgrounds and characters both, and they're nicely paired with the writing. It was reminiscent of the vibes I got when I read The Shadow over Innsmouth. Great job!
Loved the nostalgia it brought to me. As someone who played old computer games that included dungeon crawls, as well as the prose being modeled after older sagas, the vibe is so well thought-out and executed. The voice acting was so cinematic and grounded, I was taken aback in a good way. Being a mythology nerd that can read Greek (I don't speak the language) got a plot twist spoiled for me, but that also means the game was planned in a way that the player's knowledge has an impact on the experience!
Something I haven't seen being mentioned and I wanted to add: once I adjusted the settings to my reading speed, I loved the writing's pacing as it adapted to certain beats, the stuttering or pausing as effects were added. There are some writing structures that remind me of older horror novels, as well as even older texts, that helps you be immersed in the world right off the bat.
Short and sweet, to the point, and funny. Loved how unserious this was (not like I wasn't warned by the title), great voice acting, and charming expressions on the characters' sprites!
The absurd nature of the plot didn't faze the team. Somehow, the art, UI, music, and voiceover team members went full send and indulged the plot, I'm so grateful to them for going all out. Thank you for playing (unrelated: I got Oni-ga-shima on my queue btw); I'm glad the darker tone of our humor was well received!
Yyyep, our team loves to celebrate the international nature of our composition! Also, reading the journal only happens in one specific branch, so you made interesting choices~
Thank you for your kind words! We're sure even Tzihuactlayahuallohuatzin would appreciate them (which, fun fact, was the name of an Aztec noble of yore).
I can't speak for others, as I'm a voice actor and I didn't oversee others' activities, buuut...when I started looking at characters' designs, my reaction was the same. "You didn't need to make this one so hot, wow. Oh, the same for this one! And that other one! And..." not knowing Lorenzo would also be stunning, haha
I agree, you can tell the people in charge of coordinating were so passionate while working on this demo to make it feel right and polish the details, I'm glad it can be felt on the released product. I'm so proud to work along with them, please stay tuned for updates~
The ideas behind this game are gold. The way the UI is designed, the little details—down to the planchette pointer—are so appropriate. While some bits could use polishing (there are essentially no "camera movements" like close-ups or pans to make the scenes more dynamic, the cards could use some animation to give the card-drawing an immersive flair), looking at the credits tells you the team wasn't the largest. This means plenty was accomplished for a single-month jam, congrats!
The story is unveiled in a manner that feels close to a tease, but with far darker undertones, the imperfect repetition builds the world to make the conclusion far more satisfying. And the voice acting is great. While being gently guided by the narrator (who isn't alien to emotion), I can feel how the Old Friend is holding back in their attempt to arrive to the best (?) outcome, the Other Friend's otherworldly nature that's incapable of understanding humans. Congrats on this game!
The reason why this VN stands out is that the characters feel like real people, from mannerisms and texting/speech patterns to ideology. Silly and scary. All of them feel like the potential secret lives of people you know. The art and voice wrap the plot up in such a pretty package, too. As both a gamer and a VA myself, I just appreciate the attention to detail. You guys rock.
Thank you so much for your kind words! It's fun to make a small contribution to a well-thought plan and voicing the friend-shaped discourse entity is so rewarding ✨
So glad to read this. There's a super passionate team and impressive coordination behind the scenes. I can't speak for others, but voicing Korako is so much fun when the story's continuously hinting at bigger things that have yet to be revealed. Thank you for playing!
Streamed some of it today and, despite making a small contribution towards this project, I didn't expect the plot twists as the story builds up through its slow burn. The sense of unease as you start putting together the puzzle pieces before the characters can is rewarding. And horrifying. Can't wait to finish it and figure out what's happening to them.
NGL I picked this game out of curiosity because I recognized one of the VAs. I didn't foresee this story would have so many difficult but beautiful parallels in the characters' journey. Great job!
Whomever wrote the story really remembers that middle school social angst. Beautiful designs, hilarious voice acting (or awesome growling in Mr. Monster's case). Great job!
