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Finally managed to play it and wow, that was a trip! Definitely one of the most memorable visuals of this jam.

Thank you or making this game!

"I really, really like your eyes."

Really fitting music and spooky atmosphere. The CGs looked absolutely gorgeous. Loved playing musical chairs with ghosts! Enjoyed all the spooky characters especially the Collector and the Baron!

Absolutely outstanding visuals and haunting story. The speech bubbles make it feel like watching animated series while the various phones chats, logs and diaries add some interesting variety and depth to the story. The cinematography is absolutely amazing! Like seriously, that camerawork must have taken ages to do!

The partial VA really drives the emotions home. I grew really attached to Pavel throughout the story, the characters were amazing with very memorable designs. That whole team did an amazing job!

Thank you for making this game!

Absolutely outstanding visuals and haunting story. The speech bubbles make it feel like watching animated series while the various phones chats, logs and diaries add some interesting variety and depth to the story. The cinematography is absolutely amazing! Like seriously, that camerawork must have taken ages to do!

The partial VA really drives the emotions home. I grew really attached to Pavel throughout the story, the characters were amazing with very memorable designs. That whole team did an amazing job!

Thank you for making this game!

Such a amazing romance! The whole team did a great job! The characters are very well written and felt grounded. The chemistry between Emy and Ayaka felt very believable. I was really rooting for them!

Thank you for making this game!

Such a amazing romance! The whole team did a great job! The characters are very well written and felt grounded. The chemistry between Emy and Ayaka felt very believable.  I was really rooting for them!

Thank you for making this game!

This game is so cute! The character expressions are amazing! I loved how our crowchild was hopping on the shoulders of the other character! The ending was so heartwarming!

Thank you for making this game!

Thank you! :)

"It turns out relationships aren't like a GAME at all!" 

Great art style. That hologram animations looked really cool. Loved the backgrounds and reading all the game titles. The parents going HAM was so funny. I love that the game leans heavily into the cringe of being socially awkward while never being creepy but in fact surprisingly wholesome.

I actually called myself Karl on my first play trough which cause some funny confusion. I spend a few minutes thinking I had been cloned by another projections thing. :)

Thank you for making this game.

"It turns out relationships aren't like a GAME at all!"

Great art style. That hologram animations looked really cool. Loved the backgrounds and reading all the game titles. The parents going HAM was so funny. I love that the game leans heavily into the cringe of being socially awkward while never being creepy but in fact surprisingly wholesome.

I actually called myself Karl on my first play trough which cause some funny confusion. I spend a few minutes thinking I had been cloned by another projections thing. :)

Thank you for making this game.

This magical girl has amazing character design.

The UI looks amazing. The magical girl transformation left me in awe! Seeing her magical girl form made me laugh so much. The humor has been pretty great and you really nailed middle-school angst. The VA-team did a great job and really brought the characters to life! Demo definitely left me with wanting more!

This magical girl has amazing character design.

The UI looks amazing. The magical girl transformation left me in awe! Seeing her magical girl form made me laugh so much. The humor has been pretty great and you really nailed middle-school angst. The VA-team did a great job and really brought the characters to life!

Demo definitely left me with wanting more!

"How many rats do make a king?"

Absolutely amazing visuals. The lovely backgrounds and cute character designs perfectly enhance the horror this story delivers! Also, really loved talking with Nathan about loneliness. That was very well well written! Thank you for making this game!

"How many rats do make a king?"

Absolutely amazing visuals. The lovely backgrounds and cute character designs perfectly enhance the horror this story delivers! Also, really loved talking with Nathan about loneliness. That was very well well written!

Thank you for making this game!

Thank you so much for your review! <3

(Longer response on the ratings page)

Oh, gosh, thank you so much for your comment! It means so much to me!

I still have trouble coping with people being nice to me, so I had a difficult time gathering the strength to even respond. Just know, you really brightened my day with your review and made me grin like an idiot. <3

I am so glad you could relate to Ida. Honestly, one of my biggest worries was how to make her relatable to other people but I guess the right people will just understand. It is probably not very big secret that I am very socially anxious myself so writing her came very naturally.

By the way, as for character designs, I had such a fun time working with heartsoulstudios. Normally I have trouble conveying to artists what I want but this time it was me just giving a general description and they immediately came up with a sketch and I just exclaimed "This is my Ida!". They have drawn both amazing sprites including different expressions in like a few hours. Absolutely insane.

As for the unemployment, well you are a Spooktober goddess or well before it gets into your head and you go full Rhime, lets just say Visual Novel Developer. You probably brightened the day of a lot of devs with your many and very kind reviews. There is this horrible notion under capitalism that only earning money "counts", when that couldn't be further form the truth!  That is why I tried to show how much of a difference Ida makes in other people's life without her even realizing it.

I am glad to hear you get along with your father. Thank you for sharing this with me. Yeah, just having one positive attachment figure can make a huge difference in a person's life and dramatically increase resilience.

And I am just happy to hear how people relate to my little story, no need to apologize for any ramble. It is me who has to thank you.

I am sure the day when you stand up against you mum will come! You are such a strong, intelligent and kind person, I am sure you will be alright! <3

"Don't forget to feed the cat!"

An absolutely amazing horror experience from my favorite Spooktober writer!

First of all, the UI looks amazing. In the fact the whole game looks amazing. A total trip. And the sound design, perfect! The whole team did a amazing job. I tried both pairs of male and female sounding voices and they all were superb.I am in awe of the scale of the project and how you managed to direct all of it in one month!

SPOILERS BE BELOW HERE

My first reaction was: Oh yeah, cool horror story, you made me unreasonable invested into playing Simon Says just to rip out my heart, good job! Then I saw the "credits" and absolutely lost it when Li went "Who the fuck is Melancholy Marionette" and realized there is even more.

Going meta is kind of hard to pull off but it worked well for you. I could see people getting really annoyed by the game quitting itself and making it hard to see all the content. Though part of the charm is how unpredictable it is. It is what makes the game so amazing and a work of art. I just just hope people don't start to copy you. Only you can get away with these kind of shenanigan! My first play trough I just acted like myself and tried to be nice but it still ended with Li getting killed because I kept being persistent. The second time, I went full psycho. Yes, I went back and killed the cat. I just had to check if I could. And there was a CG for it! Oh, gosh! I hate you but also love you for that. 

Thank you for making this game!

"Don't forget to feed the cat!"

An absolutely amazing horror experience from my favorite Spooktober writer!

First of all, the UI looks amazing. In the fact the whole game looks amazing. A total trip. And the sound design, perfect! The whole team did a amazing job. I tried both pairs of male and female sounding voices and they all were superb.I am in awe of the scale of the project and how you managed to direct all of it in one month!

SPOILERS BE BELOW HERE

My first reaction was: Oh yeah, cool horror story, you made me unreasonable invested into playing Simon Says just to rip out my heart, good job! Then I saw the "credits" and absolutely lost it when Li went "Who the fuck is Melancholy Marionette" and realized there is even more.

Going meta is kind of hard to pull off but it worked well for you. I could see people getting really annoyed by the game quitting itself and making it hard to see all the content. Though part of the charm is how unpredictable it is. It is what makes the game so amazing and a work of art. I just just hope people don't start to copy you. Only you can get away with these kind of shenanigan!

My first play trough I just acted like myself and tried to be nice but it still ended with Li getting killed because I kept being persistent. The second time, I went full psycho. Yes, I went back and killed the cat. I just had to check if I could. And there was a CG for it! Oh, gosh! I hate you but also love you for that. 

Thank you for making this game!

Summertown Romance!

The custom-drawn CGs looked absolutely amazing. I really like the character designs. I can tell that you took great care to find some fitting music that enhanced the mood.

Kael's childlike wonder and enthusiasm were so cute and really won me over. I enjoyed the friendship between April and Cora. I think Brannan might be quite an interesting Character. Funny enough, I picked his route first, because I was excited for the cult stuff. Kael felt like more like the main route though, as we spent more time with him and that Kiss CG was amazing. I felt like it was a bit of a personal happiness vs (possibly) greater good choice and that made it interesting. Thank you for making this game.

Summertown Romance!

The custom-drawn CGs looked absolutely amazing. I really like the character designs. I can tell that you took great care to find some fitting music that enhanced the mood.

Kael's childlike wonder and enthusiasm were so cute and really won me over. I enjoyed the friendship between April and Cora. I think Brannan might be quite an interesting Character. Funny enough, I picked his route first, because I was excited for the cult stuff. Kael felt like more like the main route though, as we spent more time with him and that Kiss CG was amazing. I felt like it was a bit of a personal happiness vs (possibly) greater good choice and that made it interesting.

Thank you for making this game.

Thank you! Yes, that has been the reaction I have been going for. And yeah, Xen is a bit ambiguous. I tried to avoid the classic "manic pixie dream girl" and tried to portray two people with their own struggles trying to build a relationship.

I am glad you liked it!

Oh thank you! Yeah, I really feel you on the claustrophobic comment. I also prefer to have some variety and I guess it shows. Was my first time drawing background myself so I was pretty nervous but I guess it worked out. :)

Cute fairy tail with the appropriate level of violence!

Theodosia felling the beast with an axe was absolutely bad-ass. Loved the character designs. The backgrounds also fit really well. Thank you for making this game!

Cute fairy tail with the appropriate level of violence!

Theodosia felling the beast with an axe was absolutely bad-ass. Loved the character designs. The backgrounds also fit really well.

Thank you for making this game!

My favorite kind of romance!

The whole presentation was mind-blowing. So much animations! It felt like watching a animated series! The speech bubbles give a a totally amazing vibe. Alise ha a really cool character design. You got me really invested in the romance between the two characters.

Thank you for making this game!

My favorite kind of romance!

The whole presentation was mind-blowing. So much animations! It felt like watching a animated series! The speech bubbles give a a totally amazing vibe. Alise ha a really cool character design. You got me really invested in the romance between the two characters.

Thank you for making this game!

Thank you! :)

"McTagonist is right for once"

Freak yeah, I loved re-visiting the Freakaversity and meeting all the lovely characters again! Everyone did an amazing job in the VA department bringing this characters to live! Oh the art looks absolutely stunning and fits perfectly for the mood of the game!

Thank you for making this game! Looking forward to more college adventures next year! :)

"McTagonist is right for once"

Freak yeah, I loved re-visiting the Freakaversity and meeting all the lovely characters again! So many funny moments. Siegfried forcing himself to eat food with garlic. Phoebe buying coffee, that cute BeleyXGee ship. honestly I loved everything. I had some genuine laughs. Also that technicolor ending absolutely nailed it.

Everyone did an amazing job in the VA department bringing this characters to live! Oh the art looks absolutely stunning and fits perfectly for the mood of the game!

Thank you for making this game! Looking forward to more college adventures next year! :)

Riddles with demons!

I really loved the interactive map. The option to get hints for riddles was very appreciated and the option to skip them is a important accessibility feature. That scene with death was my favorite! Character design was also great and fit the mood.

Thank you for making this demo!

I absolutely adore the character design. All four of them are so cute! Such an interesting mood!

Thank you for making this game!

Cute and spooky game! Very adorable character design.

I love the option to just sleep in and call it a day. :)

Thank you for making this game!

Oh gosh, I absolutely love it!

Amazing art. Such a tender and melancholy story.

Thank you for making this game!

Oh gosh, I absolutely love it!

Amazing art. Such a tender and melancholy story and really made me feel for the main character.

Thank you for making this game!

I like that it loops back after you die so you can try again. Definitely died way too often because I apparently have the short term memory of a fish, lol. Interesting world building and game concept.

Also the character sprite of the guide looks amazing!

Amazing mood. Your use of videos was super creative and caught me off-guard. Love the VA acting from both of you.

Thank you for making this demo! Hope to see more from you!

Promising demo! I definitely dig the black and white backgrounds! The demon lady looked pretty cool. Hope to see more!

Thanks for the fish!

Absolutely adore the art. The VA has also been top-notch. Very fitting music and general mood!

Really loved your take on mermaids. Cute but dangerous!

Chop, Chop, Choppity Chop!

This game is an absolute trip. Really enjoyed the mood!

I really love the art style. Really interesting demo! I hope we see an updated version soon! :)