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Jemika

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A member registered Jan 02, 2020 · View creator page →

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Spoilers ahead for this comment

This game says that it "contains mentions of suicide and self-harm." But that's a little deceptive... It's what the whole plot circles around. It's not just a central theme, it's THE theme. It's not subtle. It's the major plot point of all 4 endings, and in the worst way possible with the most common ending, judging by the percentage of people with each achievement and by how the game is structured.

Now, I get that some of the shock-factor and harshness is very much intentional. But I have to question where the value lies. I don't really think someone in the middle of dealing with a similar situation on either side of things in real life would find any comfort here. It's not particularly therapeutic, coming from someone who's dealt with suicide in the past and gotten over that hill, but I can see how it might be for someone else. Everyone's life is different.

I think the danger of it is it's such a brief story, there's not much time to develop the characters. Devs did an amazing job at it, I don't think they could have done it any better in anything so short-form. But the problem is, suicide and self-harm ends up being the only defining aspect of the key character. Yes, they do talk about her hobbies and I appreciated that they recognized the importance of finding a specific source of happiness etc. but it all happens in conversation between characters. Exposition. There's no active scenes where anyone pursues that. But what does get active scenes? Suicide and self-harm. That's really the only strong visuals in the whole game. The optimistic endings fade to a sky background with text on it. The dark ones get mildly graphic imagery that's much more specific to what happened. The result is characters who are defined by nothing except suicide... even when that's not the ending you get. Just 5 more minutes of a more concrete ending that feels more like part of the story and less like an epilogue would go a long way.

My other main critique is kind of tough... because I understand the importance of what they're trying to do... of how all it takes is just someone reaching out to prevent the worst from happening. How it doesn't matter if you haven't always been a perfect friend or don't know what to say, just showing you care can be enough. And maybe this was just me, but there's a STRONG sense of guilt and blame if you fail at preventing the suicide. Especially on the first play-through, when you're just picking what seems best and trying to experience a quirky little romance. The game is billed as 'a modern romance.' It's not. If you pick the romance, it makes you feel like a bad, selfish person. It's not healthy to perpetuate that thought that I can't do anything for myself, I always have to drop everything and be there for my depressed friend. That's not sustainable.

I think much of this would do a lot better in a slightly longer, more developed story with other plot points that would help the main characters feel more well-rounded. Let us develop the romance without losing our roommate to suicide (that would be a unique but wonderful message! Let us have our own fulfilling life while still being there for someone!). Let us do something more active with the roomie instead of only conversing. Let us experience a little more of the college life (I think it's a college setting). Things like that... Give it a more optimistic feel... even the optimistic endings left me in the dumps.

In the end, I can't recommend this game because I'm not sure who I would recommend it to. I really think it would be pretty harmful for someone who is currently suicidal or who recently lost someone to suicide. I don't think it would be very encouraging to someone who's walking through this with someone else or who is trying to move past that, but I do see how it could be. And it wouldn't be relatable or engaging for someone who has no experience with it.

Idk why you are being downvoted, you do have a point.