This might be considered a SPOILER, so consider yourself warned.
During the conversation between Oleander and Grey—which takes place after the sex scene involving him, Simone and Grey (Mark Route), the censorship doesn't work fully. Only Grey is censored; Oleander is not. I mention this because some people might find sexual content uncomfortable. It’s good that censorship exists for such viewers, but it doesn't work in this scene—or at least, it didn't in my case.
Weird question, but can you say "paw" as a word for hand in your native language? I think I found a specific grammatical error in one scene where Barrie is talking to Anita and puts his foot, instead of his hand, to her face to silence her. I don't remember where that scene is. I think it's after the spacewalk and before the bath, but I'm not sure. It was definitely the second update.
To be honest, I've only played a small portion of this game and I can say it's very well written. It has an emotional impact, and the visuals are beautiful. The game seems well-written and mature (not shallow or edgy). I'd like to get to know these characters better and more deeply because I feel invested.
Unfortunately, I'm too afraid to continue playing it. As a religious person and also bisexual, I live somewhat divided between two worlds. Both aspects of who I am are important to me. When I see them portrayed in a conflicting way, I feel a certain unease. I have too many unpleasant memories associated with LGBT people who ridiculed my stance and tried to force me to change my views. On the other hand, there were also people who tried to force me to change my mind about my orientation. I want to believe that this topic will be addressed in the following sections with the greatest possible sensitivity, both for those traumatized by negative religious attitudes and for those who remain religious, and it's simply a part of who they are.
I've seen too much media portraying religious or clergy figures as solely evil... which honestly pains me. So I wish this project well and would like to learn more about the stories, but I don't think I'll be able to, unfortunately.
Honestly, I don't know how you achieved it, but I love and hate this visual novel all at the same time.
I know this sounds controversial at first, but let me explain.
In a very short format, you've packed romance, drama, psychological horror, and also straight-up paranormal horror. You had four main characters to use, and you used them to the fullest extent the short format allowed. You really captured the characters' emotions well.
The plot is simple and short, but full of many ambiguities. You didn't make the mistake of forcing the plot to create a complete story in a short format. Doing so would have stripped the story of its realism, as it would have made the main characters omniscient in this world. Instead, you focused on secrets and bits of information, and it worked brilliantly. Furthermore, this mystery simply made the story more engaging.
I also like some of the scenes where you can feel a sense of unease. There were a few times I didn't understand what was happening, but I knew something disturbing and sinister was happening. And that feeling of not knowing intensified a certain feeling of small shivers.
So why do I hate this game as much as I love it? Because it's a short story. I was truly captivated by the story, and I could see a lot of potential for it to expand. The open-ended ending is brilliant, but it feels like it's screaming at me. The number of puzzles and the lack of better clues raises so many questions that truly demand answers.
I think I'd rate this novella an 8 out of 10. It's simply a very good, well-written short story with the potential for expansion.
Interesting game. I must say that I have had a significant shortage of well-written FVNs lately, since I finished all the games and routes with Echo and while other FVNs that interest me are not written yet. I feel like Echo was a big inspiration when writing this game. A lot of similar elements in the general outline of the plot and even style. (There was even a saying about "running in circles", but it had no significant plot significance and I doubt it was a reference or more of my oversensitivity because I am very autistic towards echo xD) I would like to write a more detailed assessment of the game, but I prefer to refrain from doing so when this is only the first build. So for now I'm just saying that I like it and it's interesting. However, I do have one serious concern. No facial expressions for characters in the game. I don't know if you make the sprites yourself or someone else does them. They are very pretty, but the lack of facial expressions makes me a bit confused while reading. It spoils the way I perceive events in the game. Especially if something dramatic was going to happen and the character was smiling or vice versa. Of course, I'm guessing that adding something like this is either extra time or necessary funds or both. But are you planning to add something like this? In my opinion, this will improve the game a lot.
It was worth the wait. There really aren't many visual novels like this. What I love here, which is a problem for many furry vn, is the focus on the story instead of the romantic relationships of the characters. Of course, something is very subtly visible between certain two characters and it has the potential for a really nice relationship development. And I like it. But the main advantage is the story and telling it layer by layer. I love how there are little hints and bits of information about what could have really happened. It really gives me room for many theories about what's really going on. The solution to the mystery could be anything. And I really look forward to what this story will surprise me with next. The atmosphere building is divine. A ship somewhere in the Arctic does its job. Additionally, moments of tension caused by various unexplained phenomena. A few times I had something like: Okay, this is the moment when something fucked up is going to happen... and you know, it didn't. It lulled my vigilance when something finally did happen that gave me shivers down my spine. Really good job. Most of the characters are written well. I would have a few comments. Sometimes some characters irritate me a little. I have the impression that they sometimes behave extremely emotionally and irrationally in relation to the situation. On the other hand, I partially think that this is their role. They are in a difficult situation and it is justified. Although I think that it looks a bit too strong this way sometimes. However, I do not see any major problems related to this. Other characters are played well. I think Dane is my favorite and I think she needs more time in the game. I also like how Garret's character is made. His thoughts, sometimes mundane and taken from everyday life, add authenticity to him. He is a character who has a rather weak character. Full of fear, complexes and anxieties. Despite this, he seems to have some influence on himself and somehow hold on and perform his roles. There is something heroic in this, but at the same time he remains a very ordinary person. I hope that we will have some nice character building here. I do not want my comment to be too long. It is difficult for me to write without giving spoilers. I am glad that the project is being continued. If the next part is around Halloween time, I'll be really happy, especially if it has a similar amount of content.
I don't agree with this, but I think it may be partly a matter of taste. The main character is more of an introvert and we see everything through his... eyes. He can pay attention to many details because it is his character. I also think that more detailed descriptions help you better imagine things in this world. Even if these are simple things that most of us do not pay much attention to on a daily basis. Of course, stories with too detailed descriptions can be boring, but in my opinion the descriptions here are okay.
Maybe it's a matter of taste, I don't know. I've seen a few visual novels that were poorly written and for me the level here is decent. The action itself is a bit limited because everything is happening on a ship in a closed space and everything is only gradually starting to reveal itself. That's why the atmosphere here and the tension must be built slowly.
Okay... I don't know what to say. I beat the game... I experienced the game practically a few hours after the update. And I wanted to write my opinion, thoughts on what I played right after I finished the game. But all this time I was unable to express my thoughts in words. What I'm going to write now will be long and I'm sure most people won't read it. But I feel I have to say something, and I'm grateful to anyone who reads this. There will be spoilers here, so if you haven't played this game, do so first.
Incredible. This word best describes what I experienced playing Arches. I am usually a critical person when I evaluate various creations of popular culture. I've seen a lot of visual novels and other creations in this fandom, but also in other fandoms. Many of these creations were of very poor quality. I am often disappointed when modern culture tries to show very schematic plots in a very unoriginal way. It's obvious that many plots will be schematic because there are many works around the world, but even a schematic thing can be shown well. And I like many traditional forms, like the fight between good and evil, etc. but any traditional form can be retold in a new way. Also, many modern works of culture try to move people's emotions by causing shock through drasticness, jumpscares and through sweetly sad plots. These works, instead of causing a stir of emotions in me, often cause laughter or embarrassment. In many works, the characters appear artificial and devoid of depth. Many works understand in a very simple and distorted way the problems of the modern world and people. Often looking from a very flawed perspective. Some works try to be artificially moralizing. And I am somewhat of a moralist, but I believe that the moral in history must be shown well. It can't be shown right in the viewer's face screaming: THIS IS GOOD, THIS IS BAD, YOU MUST BELIEVE IT OR YOU ARE BAD. A good work must present its moral and thought in a subtle way to make the viewer think.
Arches does not make a single mistake of modern works of culture. I really haven't experienced something as good as this game in a long time. In a way, I regained hope in modern works of culture. But now to the point.
Arches shows a very genuine and very realistic love relationship between two people. This is not a relationship based on sex. This is also not a relationship based on childish emotional ecstasy. It's not a perfect relationship either. This is a truly living relationship transferred from real life. Not everything goes well in this relationship. Not everything goes perfectly. There are many things that go against being perfect. And paradoxically, thanks to the fact that this relationship is not perfect, it makes this relationship perfect. Problems often arise in relationships with other people. Cameron's trauma and mental issues are a challenge in this relationship here. It is a challenge for him and for Devon, who does everything to support his partner. In life, we often struggle with our own problems, but in a real and honest relationship, we struggle with problems together with someone we love. The purpose of a relationship is not always to be fulfilled for yourself. The purpose of a relationship is to help each other to make each other better and to try to become better ourselves. Devon and Cameron share a strong love for each other and we can feel it. We can cheer them on to solve their problems and to survive in a difficult situation. We can be happy when they are finally together and overcome the problems in their relationship. We can be sad when they argue, but feel relieved when despite the arguments, their love turns out to be stronger. I personally observe many gay couples in real life who don't do well in relationships and quickly break up. I personally experienced such situations. Every couple, straight and gay, should see this game. Especially a couple who have some problems.
The game very realistically shows what trauma is. The end of the game shows it best. We can look into the minds of the characters very thoroughly, even though the narrator is in the third person. For me, it's easier to identify with a character when the narrative is in the first person. That was something I really liked about Echo. It's easier to show the character's thoughts in this way and it's easier to identify with him. The narrative here is third person. However, this is very good, because we have not one but two main characters here. This helps us see what's going on in the bigger picture. It's also done in such a way that we can empathize with each character very well. We can really feel the perspective of Cameron, Devon and even Arturo. Each of them experiences the events of the echo differently. Of course, Cameron's perspective seems to be the clearest here, but others have not been left out.
In the face of the modern wave of mental problems in the world, this game corresponds well with our times. Showing love in the context of the fight for the mental health of your partner (and the fight for your health), which is so strong that it can even endure sacrifices such as the lack of fulfillment of sexual needs. But back to the issue of trauma and struggling with trauma, this game shows hope. There is always hope, even when you feel like there is none. You have to fight for your health. Sometimes you can be too weak. Then a close person and trust in them can be helpful. It's good to have someone like that.
The game also touches on philosophical struggles. At first, the main character seems to be an atheist and a bit of a nihilist as well. At the end, however, there is hope for life after death. We don't know what awaits us when we die and whether the reality after death is good or not. But we can still hope, and I think hope is important here. Hope can break nihilism and give our lives meaning. I myself hope that there is a heaven and I will be happy there. And that everything will be better there than it is in this world. Hopes for heaven and something after death is also a reflection of our hope each day for a better tomorrow. I like that the game doesn't romanticize suffering, but shows suffering as it really is. From the side of thought, from the side of psychology and also philosophy. In suffering, the most important thing is hope, and hope can really save us. However, the game does not impose philosophical views on whether or not to believe in life after death. The question remains open. It's a good decision in my opinion. This does not impose views on anyone what other works of culture are trying to do. At the same time, this does not make the message subjective. This makes the message objective and adequate to everyone.
The game shows well some people's problems with their own identity. When a lot of terrible things are going on in your head, sometimes you lose yourself. You lose a piece of who you used to be. You often behave differently than you want. You often do things you regret. You ask yourself who you really are in the face of doing things that contradict yourself. It is necessary to always remember that if a part of you is broken and you have trouble putting yourself back together, it is always possible to fix it with help.
The last thing is the brilliant psychological horror. This game rarely scares you with monsters outside of you, but attacks you with monsters inside your mind. The atmosphere and tension are very well built. The action starts slowly at first. Then faster and faster. At one point, the action keeps a fast pace and keeps you in suspense, they release that tension from time to time. It's a good thing the game isn't too long, because that could spoil the tension. This can be done by other people and what can happen in the head of a person after difficult experiences is a greater horror than a monster walking in the forest. I think Echo combined these two aspects in a good way. Here the monsters have definitely gone aside. This is completely opposite to the smoke room where monsters are the main bogey in the smoke room. I feel like there are also some direct references to us, the players. One of the monsters looking at the scene where brian strangles cameron seems to me to be us gamers watching the tragedy happen like a spectacle. I will never forget the moment when cameron is staring at us centrally. Such moments additionally involve the players in the events that are happening. It's not a direct fourth wall break, but it's done in a very subliminal and clever way.
To sum up, it's been a long time since there was such a work that would engage me so completely. It involved my feeling, emotions, thinking and everything else. It's a really good visual novel that we can learn a lot from. I also hope that such works of some people raise their spirits and help or raise awareness about really important problems. Thank you very much for this game. It was worth waiting for.
Some spoilers, but mostly theory. I don't know why but I feel like this is going to be a bad ending. There was a scene at the beginning of the game where Cameron was supposedly dying. I won't be surprised if it suddenly turns out that Brian survived and kills one of the main characters or both. There's also the possibility that Duke will do something we don't expect, or some echo beings will do something to us. Maybe it'll be Brian's ghost or something. There's also the possibility that Cameron will only feel like he's dying but he'll live or maybe become a ghost or something. In this universe, life after death is probably sad and full of suffering and existence in some connection with the material world. Maybe it doesn't apply to all souls, I don't know. Maybe it's not even a kind of soul, but free consciousness without a body (in theory, still a soul). It would also be interesting if there is a reference to the scene where Cameron sees his boyfriend hanged, but this time for real. These are my theories only but something feels that the ending will not be happy or not fully happy. The most likely for me is that Brian is still alive and will kill Cameron who will become one of the ghosts in Echo. I think Devon and this feline friend will survive.
Honestly, I never thought about it this way
I love the story and I think it's better than the smoke room. It's no better than the original Echo, and probably nothing will be better than the first game. But I'm still very excited about the sequel in the form of Arches. The game very well shows the relationship of two people, where one struggles with a serious mental problem that affects both of them. Where both people genuinely love and care for each other. The game also has something of philosophy. It's not a philosophy I particularly support, but it's just shown in a good way. I can really feel the relationship between the main characters. They are just credible to me. The game can also scare me, not only with monsters, but also with good tension. But back to what you're talking about.
The psychic powers theme itself is acceptable in the story based on the events of the echo. In the first game, it was normal for a character to see things they shouldn't. Chase sees a ghost fox hanging himself. All over the Carl route, everyone sees ghost stuff they shouldn't. They literally talk to spirits in this part of the game. Every now and then something paranormal happens.
However, you're kind of right about taking drugs to see ghosts. Characters in the previous game didn't have to do this to interact with spirits. So something has been added. Something new in the game.
We can discuss whether that's a good thing. I think the final punch line of the story is important. We can't evaluate it now.
In Echo, drugs were shown rather as something negative. Theoretically, in Arches, it is mentioned that the main character has a problem with the drugs he was given to fight his mental illness. There is a moment of criticism of this, as the main character talks about unpleasant experiences in the past related to drugs. He also says that the treatment of mental illness should not consist of stuffing patients with powerful mental drugs.
However, there is also the thread you are talking about. That is, taking drugs to communicate and perhaps get out of a bad situation in which the characters are. This may suggest that the game says: "drugs are good because they help you escape from a bad situation where the lives of the characters are really in danger." Cameron, however, does not want to take drugs. They are given to him by Brian. He is aware that drugs are hurting him.
Much depends on how the thread will be continued. If the game shows that in the end, taking drugs is not the solution to the problem of two main characters, everything is fine. However, if it helps to get them out of bad situation, we have a problem here. A very bad message in my opinion.
Ultimately, we don't know the ending of the story and a lot of the story is probably ahead of us, so I don't think we can judge anything at this point.
I have a, I think, interesting theory about echo endings. About which ending is real. But before I start, I warn you that there will be a lot of spoilers for Echo and Arches.
Apparently, the developers of the game said that there is no one true ending. Every ending is canonical because it's kind of like a multiverse or a time loop.
The important thing, however, is that Arches exists. Arches is an independent game but is still a continuation of echo and still based on some of its interpretation of the echo game and its endings.
So, answering the question which ending is true, we answer which ending is true for Arches, i.e. for the true echo continuation.
The second important thing for a game where we have a time loop is running in circles.
An often repeated line in the game is that "you are running in circles". Of course, this refers to the player and the spirit of Samuel who controls the fate of Chase. Each time we make different choices and we have different endings but in the end nothing changes. We're still in a circle.
I'll start with the Arches events and Echo events.
In Arches, two characters important for the plot appear. This is Brian and Duke. If they're alive, that means they couldn't die in the echo.
Brian dies in Leo's route, killed in a cave. This is what happens if we pick up a gun in the fight scene with Brian. This makes the two final endings (good and bad) false. This, however, means that the ending where Brian kills us may (but does not have to) be true.
Brian also dies in Jenna route. This makes both endings of this Route false.
In other Routes, Brian does not die. This makes Carl's 3 endings, Leo's 1 Ending, Flynn's Ending and TJ's Ending possible to be true.
The second character is Duke. His death is always linked to the theft of Chase's car. He gets killed by the socket man every time he tries to escape.
In Carl Route, if Jenna stabs us, we see a car and a dead person. It's probably duke. The events of this Route are probably an illusion. Our death breaks this illusion. This means Duke is probably dead in Carl's other endings, but we don't see that.
Duke dies in Flynn and Jenn's ending in exactly the same way.
That leaves us with two endings. End of TJ route and our death by Brian in Leo route.
Now we're going to look at the second important issue, which is running in circles. There is another repeated phrase on this point. That is: They always come back.
Where are they going back to? To the loop. What is a loop? Chase keeps returning to echo. Or otherwise, Sam's return to Echo. Sam is the real main character of the game but he is hidden. This is us as a player.
We as players come back over and over again. And we can do it all the time, but our control ends when it comes to the ending.
For Samuel, the goal is to get out of the echo. However, the death of chase will not result in an escape. How do we know that? Samuel had previously possessed Sydney and Sydney's father. They are both dead, but Samuel's soul continues to circle and possess other characters. Duke also says in one of the Routes that killing doesn't fix things, so he doesn't want to kill Chase but learn from him how to stop the madness. Samuel's soul will just pass on to another person.
The only way to stop everything is for Samuel to escape. It was he who caused evil to appear in the echo. Escape is his goal in every Smoke Room Route. Escape will stop evil.
Therefore, the real ending must be TJ route.
This is the only ending where Chase escapes from Echo before being attacked by mass hysteria. This is the only ending where Brian and Duke live. Duke's death is linked to Chase's car theft and an escape attempt. He can't do it because chase has left. Brian never goes to the mine and he never kidnaps Chase so he stays alive too.
Sam broke free from the echo and Chase did not return to the echo. We know this because in the epilogue after TJ's ending, Chase does not appear. Chase also does not appear in arches.
However, mass hysteria continues to echo after Chase's escape. Why? Here comes another sentence: this city needs secrets.
I believe in the bathroom scene, Chase is talking to the city and the city's bad guy himself. The figure in the mirror is the essence of what this city is. The secret that Sydney was killed by Chase has never been revealed. Brian's brutal murders were never revealed either. Secrets are the thing that keeps this city alive and this city is trying to make sure we don't know the secrets.
Escaping the wheel saved Chasea and Samuel. It led to the fact that the city almost completely died after his departure and was almost forgotten. Only crazy ghost hunters remember this cursed place. Evil, however, lives on because the secrets have not been revealed. Revealing secrets is our goal at arches.
This theory has several holes. One is the events in the epilogue after the TJ ending are different than in the arches.
However I can explain by simply changing the idea slightly by the developers and not suggesting which ending is real. Another option is that events happen a little differently in the real version of TJ's ending but still similar to what's in the game. This makes TJ's ending not true, but it's closest to the truth. Chase's elopement with TJ could be real.
