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akndfkjcdnsrmdldnjjejandesndskj THIS WAS SO GOOD WTF

every daybloom project game feels like stepping into a world that you didn't even know was possible to reach in rpg maker. i was completely absorbed from the first second to the last; the atmosphere, visuals and sounds are absolutely UNPARALLELED. genuinely couldn't believe my eyes haha. and outside of the atmosphere, everything else is top tier as well! i loved the feeling of uneasiness and unknowing i got as i tried putting together what was happening, and that feeling never went away during my entire playthrough. sooooo cool.

(SPOILERS)

first off the aesthetics are off the charts!! the wandering around gameplay gives super close vibes to the woods scenes in the FAITH trinity. love the super simple solid colors contrasted with the detailed shapes and movements. and paired with the vhs filter, it felt like i was playing a screwed up haunted retro game haha. and the switch ups to the realistic style?? unbelievably cool. the notes scattered around the forest, the pause menu, the goddamn shooting scenes! it's SUCH a cool and unique style, and it works super well with the horror; the retro aesthetic gave me kind of a sense of security and separation, so when the style got realistic i felt my danger levels shoot up haha. and the animation of the hand picking up the paper!! and the jumpscare!! and the way your reflection vibrates unstabley in the mirror!! god absolutely everything about the presentation is INCREDIBLE, sorry if i sound like a broken record but it really gave everything a perfect eerie vibe. awesome stuff. (oh and the sound design!! absolutely terrifying in the best way. GOD this game's presentation and atmosphere are fantastic)

the gameplay is really cool too! wandering through the forest felt really foreboding, and every time i found a new thing to interact with my senses became super alert haha. the notes scattered across the zone are really creepy and it made me feel like i was trying to complete a puzzle i couldn't fully grasp. that goddamn smile teleporting around was creepy as hell, made me feel like i was never alone. and of course the shooting scenes! i don't even know how one could code those parts. they were cool as shit and perfectly break the game's immersion to give maximum spooks. and i love the attention to detail, like when you come back to the cabin after the jumpscare, you're smiling! soooo cool, i knew there had to be something that had changed haha. i feel like the player's moving speed is a bit too slow, especially when i was right at the end and had to find the last deer. but to be fair it also helps with the worldbuilding; i felt like a hunter who was walking through a forest and couldn't run or i'd scare away my target.

the smile appearing at random is cool, though when it vanishes it leaves a tile that you can't pass through, and that felt a bit annoying when i was trying to reach certain parts of the map. and while the exploration overall is really well done, i would've liked if there was at least a small hint towards where the next deer is. maybe the smile could appear in the direction of the next one, or something like that? and while the notes, ending and overall story were intriguing and abstract, i would've liked if there were more hints as to what's truly going on (tho that's more of a personal preference thing, i tend to get really lost in stories that are really open to interpretation haha).

this was an amazing horror experience, and a showcase of incredible art, programming and atmosphere skills!! kudos to everyone who worked on this and i urge everyone who reads this comment to play this. SOOO cool.

p.s.: :)

thank you very much, insanity is what i was going for haha. glad you enjoyed it! :D

well for that puzzle, the note progression had to be played in the cow mode (as described in the OXYCODONE letter), so you had to find the button that makes the xylophone play cow sounds :>

and yeah it's something i really struggle with, especially in my puzzle games haha.

thank you very much!! your feedback is very much appreciate, and i respect that you took so much time trying to solve that one puzzle haha. again, sorry for the mixup with my comment, i genuinely forgot you had to have sound on for that one part lol.

i tried to have everything be as intuitive as possible but like i've said before sometimes i definitely got tunnel vision, and certain parts weren't as easy to understand as i thought. and like you said, even if the walkthrough is available, just following it isn't super fun. i'll keep it in mind if i update this game, or make future puzzle games.

still, i'm really glad you enjoyed what i made, and thought the meta puzzles were clever! :D thank you for playing!! <3

wait no damn i'm an idiot! there is a part of the game that requires sound, how could i forget sjdjsjdj-

(MILD SPOILERS)

it's in the xylophone part!

i'm glad you like the meta puzzles! it's such a fun concept in general and they were really cool to come up with and develop :>

you don't need to have sound on for this game, dw. there's a walkthrough available if you get stuck, but if you want just a hint:

(SPOILERS)

you'll need to use an item on the black rectangle on the left of the xylophone, and then check if any previous part of the game has given you a hint as to what to use the xylophone for.

ahhh yeah that makes sense! i kind of assumed that's what happened but part at the end when it parallels the beggining of the game kind of threw me off. and i didn't know you could do that save thing! i kind of assumed i had to download the game again haha. thanks!! :>

andsndnds help this was so silly XD

(SPOILERS)

i really loved the escalation from "awww this seems so cute!" to "woah looks like this girl is a prankster" to "holy shit she's a literal criminal" to "omfg she's getting brutally maimed" lol. it's such a fun progression and i was never sure how far the next part would go haha. and the general map design and story do a great job in guiding you to the next step; i usually get really stuck in puzzles like this, or parts that involve resetting the game and playing again, but the way everything is laid out made the progression really intuitive. and the plot was really fun! opening each present is goddamn hilarious, and the ending is surprisingly touching. i also really like how the plot integrates the myth trope of "if you do this one bad thing on this one time of the year, you'll be cursed", and it feels really natural in this world. i will admit i got a bit confused by the end; she got horrible presents because she opened them early, so does that mean when she travelled one day back in time, all the horrible things she did to the townspeople didn't happen? idk maybe i misinterpreted something.

the art was great!! tricky's design is super cute, and every picture that appears when she opens a present was really funny and brutal. and the ending where she gets actually good presents is adorable!! i also love how her appearance feeds into the subversion where she actually isn't as innocent as she seems, but from the beginning there's subtle signs that lead to it, like her name (tricksterra doucheberg is an A+++ name) or the pentagram on the christmas tree. it's extremely clever! also, the music that plays is great and gives perfect christmas vibes to the whole game (and i love how it cuts out with each present lol). i'm guessing it's intended, cuz of how the global switches in the game work, but i was a bit bummed out that i couldn't open the last three gifts again after i finished the game, cuz after opening the first three it only lets you open your mom's (though maybe saying that i want to see tricky get killed again is a sign that i'm insane. oh well :P).

this was really original and cute! and i don't know what universe this is set in, but if it's somewhere where a random wizard can make birds shit all over my home i am getting as far away from it as possible :D

aaaa thank you so much!! i was looking forward to your comment, and let me say that making people bite their knees in shock and delight is exactly my goal :>

i really wanted to push the boundaries and my knowledge of rpg maker, and a point and click puzzle game was pretty much the polar opposite of what the engine is supposed to do so of course i chose it haha. also making a point and click game has always been one of my life goals and rpg maker is the only engine i know how to use lol. it was challenging but really fun figuring out how to make everything work!

i'll fully admit i definitely suffered some tunnel vision with the puzzles. i tried to make them as intuitive as possible but i could've done a better job haha, and sometimes "this solution would be kind of funny/quirky" prevailed in my mind over "this solution would make sense", which is not great for a logic puzzle game lol. also you mentioning there is no game in your rating review is so cool cuz that was my main inspiration!! (wrong dimension is one of my fav games ever) meta puzzles like that, that both follow the game's logic and also break it, are suuuper fun and figuring out how to take a crack at it was a really neat process. i'm really glad you enjoyed what came out, and thank you for leaving a comment!! <3

:O hehe thank you sm!!

tbh i was kinda worried about this game cuz it's such a big departure from my other ones (it's my only game with next to no horror elements haha), so i didn't know how it'd go. hearing you praise it means so much, i'm really glad you liked it!

thank you for playing!!! <3

omg thank you so much!!

i'm really glad you liked it, and enough to speedrun it?? that's sooo cool and flattering aaaa! and it's kind of funny cuz in testing, sometimes i had to beat the entire game from the start haha, so i also kinda had to speedrun it! (hint: you can get to the phone call in 3 minutes :>)

thank you for playing!! <3

(leave it to me to be so behind that i play someone's game almost the same day they released another one-)

(anyway aaa this was so cute & creative!! 👻👻👻👻👻)

(the concept is super fun and i'm really impressed with the execution. i absolutely love it when an rpg maker game is tweaked and twisted with its mechanics so it looks nothing like an rpg maker game anymore haha. i had no idea how some of this stuff was programmed. it feels like this game goes an extra mile with everything it does, and the result is fantastic!)

(first off, the visuals are amazing! the broodygaming™ style pops off as much as ever, and i loved how every aspect of the presentation is focused on channeling this ghost-like atmosphere (which is really fitting lol), but in a peaceful and fun way. the sky always being dark, the variety of colors, the looping animations, the different textures... it's aspects that have appeared in other games of yours, but here it feels like they have an extra purpose, if that makes sense? in a way, it feels like we're seeing everything through the eyes of the main character; like the reason why everything looks the way it does is because they're a ghost. but at the same time, this ghostly atmosphere is never used for horror or creepiness, it just emphasizes the nature of the game while still being light and fun (obviously there's still darker elements, which the game makes excellent use of). the visual design channels really well the vibe of "what if in a ghost story the ghost was actually nice" haha. and that's kind of the feel i got for the entire game; a subversion of the typical ghost stories that focuses on the more whimsical aspects of it, but doesn't hide the dark parts, instead using them to elevate the central theme of "you're just trying to help your friends"-themed kindness, and i dug every second of it! :> (i realize i've mostly used the visuals part of the review to gush about the game's concept lol, but i also need to mention the font, which is fantastic and fits the ghost vibe perfectly (seeing a new font with every chevie game is starting to feel like getting a surprise christmas present haha. no pressure on actually making a new one for every game ofc, it's just really cool when it happens), and the title screen, which is super cute and uses color extremely well and GOD that's what i call beautiful hair!!! (did i mention the main charater's design was really neat? :D)))

(and that sound design! the music was super good and fit the vibe perfectly as usual, and specifically the main theme?? super beautiful and ethereal and catchy?? hello??? an all timer for sure. and the way the last level switches up the music for realistic forest sounds!! sooo cool. and the little sounds that pop up with the character's actions were really good and distinct as well! the way this game sounds is pretty much as good as how it looks, which is saying a lot!)

(i really loved how the story and characters were handled; it feels both like the plot is non-intrusive and doesn't take attention away from the gameplay, but it's also the core of the entire game, and that's a really cool balance to strike. the beginning and end cutscenes were incredibly well made (using the "conspiracy theory pictures on a board" motif was a stroke of genius!) and emotional, and it's crazy how much the starting minutes of the game made me so invested in helping the main character's friends. and like i said, i loved how the plot uses the darker elements of a ghost story to focus on kindness; it's heartwarming to see the characters being helped by their friend, and it's especially effective due to the ambiguity of... well, whether they know they're actually being helped or not. i really liked how that was kept in the dark, with the final pictures possibly giving hints that go both ways (i headcanon that they don't know their friend is helping them, cuz i like angst >:D though if they know ghosts are real, they probably already guessed that their friend is a ghost lol). i also thought it was a super creative choice to have no spoken words, and leave the story and the character's emotions completely to the visuals, like how the dialogue of the friends at the van is expressed solely through emotion animations (maybe that's the only way main character can perceive spoken words now that they're a ghost... welp, back to the theorycrafting table!). the game's plot, while relatively light, is super well told and it manages to hook you for the entire game with so little!!)

(finally, the gameplay was creative and fun! i'll admit that at the start when every mechanic got introduced, i got a bit overwhelmed cuz it was a lot of things to remember, and while i still think it could've been introduced better, the strong visual distinctions of each icon made the gameplay feel kinda like second nature as the game went on. it's really fun interacting with objects and trying to find out the correct timing to make the characters see your actions. and while it isn't too hard to beat, i think the game balanced its difficulty pretty well; the belief meter restarting if a character sees an action they weren't expecting felt a bit weird and frustrating at first, but it kept me on high alert to make sure not to do the wrong thing by accident, which is easy to mess up if you aren't thinking. while sometimes it's a bit easy to spam the same event over and over when a character is in one room, overall the gameplay loop is a pretty satisfying juggling act of timing and movement that's a lot trickier than it seems at first sight! i will say that due to the main character's size, it was a bit odd figuring out what exact tile i needed to be on so i could perform an action, which was sort of frustrating in the more closed spaces where the characters leave the room pretty quickly. also maybe i just wasn't paying attention lol but i had no idea what the hearts meant, and why they kept emptying and filling up. still, the gameplay was fun! and like i said i have no idea how some of this stuff was programmed haha (also off topic but the fact that the main character can go anywhere and through anything, even outside the van in the scenes between levels, is a super cute detail! :>) (also also sorry for mostly talking about the story and visuals in this review when you explicitly asked for feedback on the gameplay snjdsmjsdj))

(btw, i don't know if this was a bug or not, but on the last level i filled both the characters' belief meters, but the level didn't end, and after trying out stuff i just ended up restarting it. i say that i don't know if this was a bug cuz maybe it had something to do with the hearts? just thought i should say it but maybe it was my fault lmao)

(overall this was such a great concept done really well! games that focus on gameplay but have an underlying story going on in the background are PEAK. and i could honestly see myself playing this on my phone as a mobile puzzle game haha /pos. great stuff!)

(p.d. if you're wondering why i put everything in this review in brackets, it's cuz playing this game turned me into a ghost. idk how you did that but i admire the commitment to immersion!)

i'm extremely late to this but... jesus christ.

this is one of the most emotionally moving games i've played in a good while. everything about this; the dialogue, the characters, the story, just felt so... real. unflinchingly so. it felt like i was looking at real people going through real emotional struggles. the presentation and writing were so incredibly immersive that i couldn't keep my eyes off the screen until the end. i think this game is a real achievement in storytelling, one that i'd urge absolutely anyone to play.

(SPOILERS)

before delving into the plot and characters, the visuals were really great!! i loved the character designs; everyone being a gray silhouette with the only detail being their facial features was a really cool style choice. it made me focus on their expressions first and foremost, which really aided how the storytelling is focused on the characters' emotions. the lack of detail also works in favour of the narrative really well, making you unsure of whether everyone is truly like this or if their appearance is being viewed through a particular lens, further amplified by the realistic objects and textures in the dream sequences (also the "is this person like this or is my perception of them warped?" feeling is REALLY clever for the story, as that's... well, obviously what the main character is feeling). speaking of the facial expressions, they're absolutely amazing in how they shift subtly from one line to the next, how they force you to examine what the character is really feeling and why they're saying what they're saying, how the same face can have extremely different meanings depending on the context... all of these details really help to emphasize the focus on emotions, like i said. and the tilesets were great as well! their level of detail works surprisingly well with the minimalistic characters, and the color palettes were super pleasing to the eye; i really loved how every location has one defining color (like false fruit, iirc) that helps establish its vibe super well. and of course, the dream sequences; the use of photorrealistic objects, textures that move and shift, the colours onscreen getting redder or darker... i wish i could focus on every little detail about them, because they're extremely unique and prove immensely that this game's visuals truly have a voice. amazing stuff.

and the music!! the tracks that played were absolutely perfect for every scene they were in, whether it was calming or absolutely terrifying. and the contrast they have with the large portions of the game that are completely quiet works wonders. the part where you wander around the house after the last dream was one of the HEAVIEST silences i've felt in a game in years haha. the music that plays during the horrifying nightmare scenes?? absolutely insane. my eyes were glued to the screen the entire time. the use of sounds and music is fantastic all around.

the characters & dialogue... GOD i loved both so much. i really like how avery was characterized; they can butt heads somewhat with amias cuz of typical growing pains of being roommates (at least i think they're roommates? that's my headcanon lol), but in every interaction it's clear they care a lot for him, and often try to nudge him into processing his emotions and taking the next step (but i also appreciate that their role is not 100% only helping amias; sometimes they just want him to show them stuff from his childhood and that's really valid haha). amias' mom was also great, i love how kind and gentle she is, while feeling like she's hiding... something every time she speaks. not something horrible necessarily, just something (which tbf is the whole vibe of the game). and amias... god he was so compelling. his more rugged and sarcastic demeanor is a nice contrast with the other two main characters (aside from him also being really funny when he needs to be). it never got annoying, and i like how it's not just "his dad died and that's the reason he's mean" (obviously i assume that had a part to play, but here his attitude is portrayed as just how he is, not a problem he needs to overcome, and i think that's neat). his conflict is shown in a really interesting way; how he both wants to get the answers he's looking for but also chooses to stop going further at many points, how he seems to soften up at certain points but is still feeling extremely lost inside, how he doesn't even know what he's looking for in the first place... i found him to be an immensely compelling protagonist, and finding out parts of his childhood bit by bit was extremely interesting. all the characters support the story incredibly well!! and the dialogue between them felt super natural, with details like small misunderstandings or conversations going a bit longer than you'd expect, really helping with immersion. like i said, everything about the characters and dialogue felt unflinchingly real.

(from this point on i get more subjective than usual so sorry if i get stuff wrong-)

and the story... fuck, what else is there to say? it's told in an impeccable way from start to finish. following amias as he tries to find out who his father was, why is he dreaming about him now, what is he even looking for in regards to him... every mention of his childhood is riddled with anecdotes about his father, or the places he went to, or the things they did together... but as the game goes on, it's made clear that every story amias remembers is not just a simple tale of something childish he did once, or how he'd do stuff with his dad before he died... every story is something that shaped him, for better or worse. it's something he can mention in passing, but in reality it's deeply linked to his very being. just like his dad's death; an event that happened really long ago, that everyone has moved on from, that he feels he should have moved on from, something that by now should be nothing more than a sentence to say when he's asked about it... but it might also be something that has been hiding aspects of itself, aspects that haven't been answered for and that have been hidden away for so long, for different reasons as time went on. this is best conveyed with the final dream sequence (my favorite part of the game) and the nightmares in general, as we can see how amias felt about the uglier parts of his childhood... it could just be the nightmares amplifying those negative aspects, or maybe it could be the very real result of emotions that have been bottled up for years and haven't been addressed properly. his performance at school, his father's expectations, his relationship with tulip, and the moment it got cut short (the most impactful and heartbreaking scene in the entire game), his father's health getting worse... all these things, compressed in the small span of his childhood that meant he couldn't really get to know his father as a person, suddenly bubble up at a random point in his life. and he needs to take care of it, because he needs to know who his father was.

i think it was a really bold choice to leave amias' conversation with his mom completely off screen, and the final lines by avery are thematically rich and a pretty perfect way to end. though, i'll admit that the very last scene felt a bit shorter than it deserved to be, like the game was supposed to go on for a bit more but it didn't. also, while the art & overall style are great, the single-colored character designs do feel a bit out of place in the cutscene images (like the diner or the photo next to the tv), like they're missing some detail. and this is a nitpick but amias' movement animation felt a bit rigid and odd with how wide the spreads his arms and legs. still, these are hardly dealbreakers when put up against the game's qualities.

i think i used every positive adverb in the english language to describe this game haha, but i really do think this is a must play for anyone. a showing of narrative skill propped up to an absurd level. it had me gripped all the way, and i can't wait to see what you make next!! :D

omg thank you so much!! this was wonderful to read! :D

i'll try  not to talk too much about the thought process i had while making this game cuz i feel like the player coming to their own conclusions about it is an important part of the experience (and i also really like hearing people's interpretations of the themes hehe), but you hit the nail right on the head with a lot of it; self pity, heavy instrospection, isolation, self indulgence... it's things i wanted to portray in a way that i would find most compelling. which is, ironically, pretty self-indulgent haha, but i think first and foremost i wanted to make a game that felt a certain way that i haven't really felt anywhere else. that explored themes in a way i haven't seen in any other game. obviously i'm not saying i'm the best developer or storyteller ever when it comes to making a game like this lol. but i wanted to make something that felt truly personal, and hearing people say it struck a chord with them is the highest compliment i could ever recieve!! i'm really glad it's your favorite of mine so far, and thank you for taking the time to leave a review <3

if i'm being honest, i think i've strayed a bit away from this game's general vibe with my recent games... maybe i'll come back to it in the near future, who knows?

ooohh this was a great addition to EMFH's story! :D

(SPOILERS)

i thought william was a bit underused in the first game so seeing him get the spotlight (theater pun intended) is so cool! i love how his demeanor isn't villanous 100% of the time; before the play he acts ambitious and strict for sure, but you could totally buy that he's a normal dude, especially with how he talks to the other teachers and his friends. it also ties into one of the best parts of this universe: the combination of realistic character interactions and aspirations with the macabre concept of a school that teaches how to torture. and i think this game uses this contrast in a really clever way; the point where this "realism" starts breaking (that is, when william starts acting extremely deranged and self-aggrandizing) is when it's revealed that everything was just a fantasy. the vibe of this universe is super unique and it's used really effectively!

the art and music are top notch once again. the character busts and the CG look slick as hell, and it was cool how it paralleled the first game by having the main character be the only one with their own busts (aside from david, marcus and ms. elizabeth). it also played really well into the narrative, as the whole game is a fantasy where william is the main character instead of harry, and once again, the moment where this breaks is at the part where the fantasy stops. and the sprites are great too, super detailed and full of color, and seeing the puppeteer contraption (which was one of my favs from the last game) used on many people in a theater setting was delightfully dark. and the music was once again great and super moody! i did notice that at the very beginning the track felt way too somber for being at the first few minutes, but it wasn't too big of an issue.

for a short spinoff, the plot was really interesting and well written! love how i started by thinking "wait, he's alive? maybe i missed something...", then "wait, he has a position of power at the school? i thought he didn't do that well with his final project?" and when he starts going insane i truly realized that something's very wrong, which lead perfectly into the twist. love how much more depth the plot gives to william; displaying both his ambition and cruelty, and his humanity at the end with his final monologue. maybe this sounds weird but it kind of felt like... the game itself was halfway starting to realize how screwed up everything about itself was? like i said earlier, this world does a great job of balancing the morbid nature of the school with realism and normality, but in the first game there's a moment where that balance starts to break; right at the end, when all the students who didn't make the winning project get tortured and killed. at that point, it felt like the depravity of the school's concept appeared in full force, before going back to balance in the epilogue (i'm not saying this was a flaw, just how i saw it). and in this game, we see it again when william's fantasy breaks. at that same moment in time, when the students are getting killed, the horrible effects of the school show up without any realism to balance it. and that's not only shown by the killings, but by william as well: it feels somewhat implied that his ambition and fantasies of being viewed as a master of his craft come from the competitive nature of the school (after all, any who don't get the best score at the project get a horrible punishment, so it makes some sense that students would get competitive), and then... we see it again with the ending monologue (which is excellently written and super depressing), which not only shows william's human side but also the effects that this failure has on him. the concept of "everyone who comes lower than the best project gets killed" makes him think that he failed his parents and his brother; for not being the best like he thought he'd be, and because he'll literally never see them again. the final scene is probably the biggest standout moment in this series, and it overall feels like a perfect ending for this story. god the writing is so good!

i think i said it in my EMFH review but sometimes the dialogue scenes felt a bit too long and redundant; the king lear sequence was really cool conceptually but it also felt somewhat stretched out. and this is pretty much a nitpick but the design of the halls at the start where you're looking for different rooms is quite samey and i got kind of lost sometimes haha. also, past the start... i kinda wished there was more exploration? i know these games are very much focused on dialogue, but going through more parts of the school like that, even if it's just walking to the next plot scene, would've been pretty cool and immersive.

overall this was a solid and interesting as hell spinoff of this universe!! no pressure to make more content out of it of course, but if you guys do i'll be seated to watch more students using horrifying torture methods :D

(p.s. the vitruvian got perfect scores but the kill switch is slow enough for william to do an entire monologue? smh harry was a nepo baby in this essay i will)

liminnn how can you make me care so much for fictional characters i've known for less than an hour 😭

(SPOILERS)

out of all the games in this universe, this is definitely one of the most original and daring! i love how the story gets crazier and more intricate as it goes on; from thinking about running away, to knowing the townsfolk want to literally kill valentina, the dream sequence and learning about loren's past, the scuffle with loren's dad at the pyre... the plot keeps building and building, getting more intriguing with each sequence, until it reaches its crescendo in a really natural way. i wanted to know what would happen to these two sooo bad, and the ending was absolutely devastating, but it was very much earned. it might be an odd thing to say about a game with a blood witch as one of its main characters, but it all felt... realistic and grounded. like, if these characters were real, i'd 100% believe this is what would happen to them. the plot and characters have a lot of moments of exaggeration, but it feels like the core of the story –these people going through hardships in an unaccepting world– is never lost.

valentina and loren are amazing protagonists! and they do a great job at carrying the story, especially with how the narration POV changes midway through, which was really cool. val was super charming, and her doubts and questioning at the idea of loren running away with her made her feel realistic. her unease at harming villagers that have treated her like shit is a really interesting trait, and her mild (to put it... well, mildly) distaste for her family of witches was really entertaining lol (i also have the headcanon that when the game's narration gets really passive aggressive, that's her inner unfiltered subconscious lmao). and the witch powers she uses at the end was SO goddamn cool. meanwhile, loren was not only extremely charismatic, but her past and motivation to run away from her home was really compelling. her feeling trapped into a role she didn't fit, finding that valentina was the one person who truly understood her... ahhh so good. the flashback sequence was one of the best parts of the game, no doubt. and with the two together, i really appreciated how their relationship wasn't portrayed as perfect, but their love for each other was still made very much clear. val's doubts about loren's violent side and eagerness to run away from home was a really intriguing point of conflict between the two. but, of course, they cared for one another until the end, represented by the red trees at the park that to this day keeps being as vibrant as ever (the use of the word "lovely" when describing the red is especially poignant). overall this is some of the best character work in this universe, and while we probably won't see these characters again, their story was absolutely enchanting :> (also, it was really cool how the first half of the game being riddled with valentina's doubts kinda made it seem like loren was suspicious in some way, only to subvert it with the dream sequence)

the gameplay elements were extremely creative!! the seed planting sequences were quite fun, i was shocked by how satisfying it was to water and gather berries and flowers haha. i think there could've been a bit more resource management involved, like maybe if you don't grab a fully grown batch fast enough it withers away... or maybe that does happen and i never saw it cuz of my pro gamer skills, who knows. and all the other puzzles felt really original and fun to figure out! the flower paths, the piano & letter, the heart painting... they all felt just right in terms of difficulty; it makes you ponder the solution a bit, but never so much that it breaks the flow of the story. and the variety of their mechanics is also really cool; it makes all the puzzles feel diverse. the gameplay sequences were a really awesome surprise and they give this game an even stronger identity!

THE VISUALS AND MUSIC UGHHHH so so so good. the swaying of grass and bushes caused by the wind, the way water moves in the rivers, the leaves and twinkles that fall throughout the screen, the beautiful color palette at the forest, the different designs of the berries and flowers, the CGs (especially the ones at the climax, those were incredibly pretty), the mirror version of loren, the ENTIRE dream sequence with its abstract purple background, blinking pencil-like eyes, beating hearts whose colors mimic the ones of the flowers... you get the gist, this game is fucking beautiful in every way. and the music!! captures the vibe of every scene masterfully, the game really wouldn't feel the same without it. an especial mention to the dream track, sooo chilling but beautiful at the same time. don't really know what else to say, the visuals and audio are top notch as usual, and it feels like with every game a cool new detail is introduced to the presentation!

when i hit "new game" the first two times, the same glitch happened; at the starting cutscene, the scene suddenly changed to cardinal forest. like, the scene would play out normally, with valentina and loren arguing about running away... but it happened in cardinal forest instead. after it was done, i continued from that point in the game but at the log cutting part, spamming Q wouldn't work (not super relevant cuz the bigger issue is obviously getting taken to this map at the start of the game, but i thought i'd mention it since a few other people commented it and the cause might be this). at the third try of starting a new game, this time everything worked perfectly, and tbf i couldn't manage to replicate the glitch again, so maybe it was a SUPER random thing that we just got really unlucky for haha. still, i wanted to mention it cuz it felt really confusing when starting the game, since i had no idea i wasn't supposed to be there at that point in the game lol.

overall this was fantastic!! a super compelling love story with creative puzzles, gorgeous visuals, and a complex and incredibly poignant plot that grabbed me and didn't let go. now all that's left is for you and chevie to fight in a forest yuri battle to the death :D

this was an amazingly atmospheric, engaging, creative and beautiful treat (then again, what daybloom project game isn't?).

(SPOILERS)

i love the mystery surrounding the plot, and how we only get bits and pieces of everything as the game goes on. it makes every little detail important and the open-ended gaps in the story really interesting to think about. right from the start, the game's atmosphere and writing in the dream sequence was really compelling, and then nishiki's letter had me hooked. the way this game toys with your mind and makes you try to peace together every aspect of the plot while only giving you small clues, making you feel as disoriented as natsuki likely is... ughhh it's so good!! everything about how the plot is presented sucks you in and doesn't let go.

i have no idea how you guys do it but with every daybloom project game the art gets like, 10x better each time. the pink and purple gentle colors that envelop every part of each map, the extremely detailed and pleasant pixelart (i cannot get over the backgrounds or the city landscape, GOD it's so pretty and there's so much detail howww), natsuki's sprite and bobbing with her movement, the vhs filter and the way it contorts around the corners of the screen, the shaking text, the cobwebs at yuuka's cafe, the GORGEOUS and super expressive portraits of natsuki... and then, the overwhelming red that appears with the shadowy version of natsuki, the smiling darkened sprites of the nightmares and the expressionless ones in the city, the glitched effects with the warped memories, the scribble-like look of the last image of the nightmare... i could write a paragraph on every single one of these aspects, seriously how do you even make a game look this pretty?? not only is everything beautiful, but it all fits perfectly and nothing seems out of place whatsoever. my jaw was on the floor at some points, kudos to everyone who worked on the art for this game :D and the music!! my god, it's kind of perfect. the funky tone at the driving sessions that feels like something you'd listen on a radio, the calming music that plays whenever you're just exploring around, the super creepy sounds at the warped sections... the instrument choice on all the tracks is goddamn flawless, and makes each sequence feel really distinct, while also giving the whole game a unique identity. both the art and the music are such masterclasses in presentation, i can't get enough of them!

despite this being very much exploration/plot focused, i really appreciated the touches of gameplay that were present. the Z prompt to know what to interact with is genius on a 2D environment like this, i really thanked having it haha. the driving sessions were fun, and avoiding spikes by having them appear when you're going faster is such a clever concept, and it also ties in really well with the pshychological themes of the story (tho i'll admit i didn't even know there were spikes until the 3rd sequence cuz in the first two i went slow to just vibe lol-). and small details like being able to change your clothes, or the health system and how you can get healed (or damaged) with food, or the fact that there's a whole map just for the inside of natsuki's car, goes to show how much effort was put into making the experience as polished as possible, and i applaud that.

i've mentioned the storybriefly  but it really did captivate me. even if whoever plays this game hasn't experienced something similar to these events, it's hard not to relate, or at least empathize, with natsuki's struggles. right from the start it's easy to tell she's got some baggage to take care of, and with every bit of info we get, we get to see more of how troubled she is; the memories/nightmares of her dad were kind of a gut punch, and the shadow encounter or the other weird things natsuki sees make it clear that she isn't too well mentally, and it's... well, upsetting. and without knowing exactly why she left nishiki, it only adds to the notion that she has a lot to take care of about herself, which is something that's definitely easy to relate to. and even if you don't know every single detail about her, you do want to see her reuniting with her boyfriend and make things right... even if you can see coming that it probably won't be as easy as it seems, as the final sequence terrifyingly shows. and natsuki's mom is the final piece of the puzzle, being the counterpart to her father, wanting her to have a good childhood, and helping her even when she can't be physically be there with her daughter anymore (something that probably made natsuki's feelings of loneliness even worse, which (hopefully) was somewhat alleviated by finding yuuka)... the final moment where natsuki wonders what she has left, and her mom appears behind her was honestly really powerful. this was just... incredibly compelling, and super well executed.

though leaving things up to imagination definitely aided the mystery-like feel of the story, i think the ending was a bit too open ended (not something i really mind in jam games though, datelines can be tough haha), and i wish it could've been expanded on a little more. also, it's possible that this is already in the game, but i couldn't figure out how to run and i think it would've been something good to have, especially when you're exploring and backtracking.

overall this was fantastic!! an extremely compelling tale that had my full attention all the way through, and treated its subject matter respectfully. it's quickly become one of my favorites from daybloom project, and it made me extremely excited to find what else is coming!! :D (and i won't have to wait long cuz i played this SO late that you guys already made another game lol-)

hell yeah GOTH 2!! this is some greeeat stuff, abra :D

i really like how this continuation expands on everything from the first game without losing its core. even as you find other people with their own cells that work similarly to senza's, and you start knowing a bit more about what this entire world even is, the essence of the first game is walking through different worlds and figuring out what to do in them, what do they mean, or what senza is even looking for. it's a tight rope of expanding the world and retaining its essence that this game's vibe captures flawlessly. at every point i was at the edge of my seat, waiting to see what new twist or turn the plot would take, and where would senza and his friends end up. it's genuinely hard to think of other small games with a story that has captivated me THIS much! :>

once again, the creativity on display is absolutely mesmerizing. broken cities with living beings as houses and lamp posts, tiles that corrupt you if you step on them, swamps of neon colors, a tyrannical queen, guards that are people split in half, the "nowhere" world and the cafe, the differences between senza's cell and the cells of the others... it's all so original, and the artstyle once again conveys everything beautifully! both in the darker areas (srsly i can't get over the lamp posts at the city, they look SO creepy omg), and the brighter ones (a.k.a. the cafe). this game is so good at using wildly different styles and colours for each zone and making everything blend perfectly. and the characters feel very expressive, even more so than in the previous game! loved all the faces these peeps make haha. and the unique dialogue boxes come backkk hell yeah!! the GOTH series is so artistically peak man (also i didn't know where to put this but the fact that senza split in half is the title screen background, so if you die you go to the title screen and see his fate? sooo clever. and the glitched out visuals when you touch a corrupted tile? sooo cool :>). and the music!! omggg, i love how most of the music sounds "backwards", showing how everything in this world is slowly getting corrupted and warped. suchhh a good vibe. every aspect of the presentation makes the world feel dangerous, but also intriguing! you're afraid of what you'll find in the next zone, but you're also dying to find out what is it! aaaaa this game looks and sounds so cool.

the characters are awesome as well!! nira's carefree teasing attitude reminded me of haxel to a certain extent, and it's always nice to see a more cheery character in such a bleak setting. coal's badassery was really... well, badass, and his backstory was pretty compelling to read (i also liked how you made him know about senza learning about it and thanking nira for telling him, instead of making it so that he has no clue that he knows his story. it felt subversive and neat :>). flik being a disaster introvert nerd with an eternally unorganized house was amazing, and i really love their serious side coming out when they talk about why they're lying to their friends; it added a lot of depth to them, and i hope they show up again! (speaking of which, the way these characters act felt really realistic; they understand the danger of their situation, but they also bicker and poke fun at each other cuz if they didn't have some form of normalcy and relief, they probably would go insane... at least that's how i looked at it) and while senza didn't have a lot to do in this part (understandable, given the amount of characters that get introduced here so quickly), i loooved how his new friends arguing and bickering made him feel a sense of normalcy... while the world and its rules are getting crazier, senza is getting closer and closer to growing up and finding a sense of peace, and i think that's beautiful. he's easily one of my favorite protagonists from you! and last but not least, the cameo cafe was amazing :D and in part 2 there better be a sleep deprived character working on their laptop called noromyxo (jk jk... unless). the characters are not only great, but also feel a lot more grounded, which helps with the feel of "now you're meeting actual other people instead of gods or creatures" and actually feeling like you're progressing. sorry if this was really rambly haha but bottom line, the characters are great!!

the part with the guards was somewhat annoying... i don't mind at all stealth segments, and all things considered these aren't even that long or bad, but they felt kind of unfair. it was somewhat unclear when could the guards see you or not, especially on the bridge part; sometimes a guard would be looking away, but then when you walk past them you get caught because they hadn't turned around 180º, which is a bit hard to figure out since the first few times it happens it kind of seems like a glitch. in the end there was a lot of trial and error (not the worst thing ever thanks to saving being accessible), and i think maybe there could've been a bit more explaining as to how the guards work? like making it clear in the second level that they need to be turned around completely for you to sneak around them. also this might be a me thing, but in flik's room i found it kind of hard to progress, since you had to interact with all objects but the machine at the bottom right could only be interacted from a specific angle (that i didn't find so i just assumed you couldn't interact with it lol)... i ended up thinking to progress i had to help flik find the cushions lol.

ok so on my previous GOTH review i made a big ass theory section, so here's the one for this game!

so according to flik, reality itself has entered this state of "goth", between life and death... seems plausible that this theory is correct, and it checks out with with you saying that "an organism is not literally somebody's body, but more like a metaphor too". the entire universe is dying, but the question is... why? why did it start dying, and why is that making all of these weird things happen? there's a science diagram at flik's home, and i think it's either about the cause of reality's death, or the explanation of why its death is affecting the world this way. however they didn't mention either of these things to senza, so it's possible it might just be an unrelated thing, like the plans to the house's teleportation mechanism, right? well... even if that's the case... i still think there's something odd about flik specifically. they mention that in their cell, every time they left it they experience a memory from a previous life, not knowing if it was theirs or someone else's... that's pretty weird, and it's quite different from how the other cells we know about work. well, in my previous review i said that haxel and lumen jumala could be the "neurons" of this organism (if we consider "organism" to be a metaphor for reality), due to their power. it's possible flik might be one too? due to their intelligence, and the fact that in their cell, they could (seemingly) look into other people's past memories, just like a neuron can communicate with other neurons in the brain. also, isn't it weird how they are the only person who could remember things from past lives by themselves, without it needing to be triggered by sharing experiences with other people? i don't think flik is malicious or intentionally hiding stuff from senza (at least not for evil purposes), but i think there's more going on with them that we know...

but of course, that's just a theory. a GOTH theory!

wow this game is a lot shorter and i still managed to write a review this big huh? haha. there's just SO much to talk about with this universe, from its characters, to its world, to its symbolism, to its writing... ughhh it's all so PEAK. i can't wait for the next part, and thank you for giving us another glimpse into this amazing world and story! <3

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa this was so cute and compelling!!

(SPOILERS)

like cycle, this is another extremely wholesome time with immaculate vibes! i loved spending time with these characters, they're really charming and the art and music were incredibly pleasant. but thanks to the intriguing lore and the twists in the plot, it doesn't feel like a retread of that game; this feels like its own thing. i really liked how every detail in the story got built up; when the final darker part started, it didn't feel at all cheap or unfitting. it was really cool going from question to question as the plot unraveled ("why does almond have a scar in his eye?" "what did hazel do that she can't forgive herself for?" "why is she unable to age?") and seeing how everything was connected by the end. aaah this was so good!

the games in this universe always do a great job at using high magic concepts (outcasts monsters, worlds that have lost their light, dreams...), and this is no exception. i love the contrast between the happy and low-stakes chats with the main four characters, and the revelation of hazel being unable to age and the pain it brought her. despite her looking just like the other, she feels like she doesn't fit in, because... well, she doesn't, since she can't age. she's lived through countless generations and seen all her closest friends die. i love how the writing makes her suffering clear, but doesn't get overwhelmed with it nor makes the story suddenly super dark. it's a really cool twist that perfectly foreshadows the ending part of the game. and like i said, it makes a great contrast with how innocent and cheery everything else in this world feels, and it's really hard to keep such a tonal balancing act this well :> but i also love how chill & fun said world is; the conversations between the characters are really natural and nice to read, the search for the giant nuts was fun (loved how it forced you to talk to the others, emphasizing their importance and developing their feelings towards the hazel situation further, that was really clever!) the story was super well executed, and at every point i was wondering what would happen next.

i probably made it clear already haha but the characters were great!! everyone being called after nuts is so cute lol. pecan (i had no idea that was a nut name tbh-), cashew and almond were really fun, and i especially loved pistachio and hazel; pistachio being an over-the-top funnyman was really... well, fun haha. gotta respect the spinning maestro. and hazel was really compelling and tragic; i loved how reserved and introspective her way of speaking was, contrasted with how desperate and apologetic she acts at the end, and her scenes at night were really interesting. honestly i was sad to say goodbye to these characters when the game ended, they were all so fun and memorable! (also i was not expecting this to be so funny; pecan saying "goodnight me", pistachio being horrified at the spinning nut, pecan looking around the room to find the symbol on the wall... there were so many bits that made me laugh out loud haha)

the art style is once again super pleasing!! love both the calming orange color palette for the fall-themed forest, and the creepy browns and bright blues of the theater/dream world. everything is just so pleasing to the eyes. and the character designs are great too! i really like how at first glance all of them look kind of the same, but there's actually differences in their designs that clearly set them apart from any angle (hazel especially stands out, which once again emphasizes how she doesn't really "fit" in with the rest). also, amazing detail how their expressions change during dialogue!! not many rpg games do that and it's really cool :D and there's too many neat small things to count! the two notes at pistachio's house, the strings holding hazel and the items in her story like puppets, the symbols at the end lighting up with their character's main color, and when i realized that the eyes FOLLOW YOU i literally screamed haha!! sooo awesome, this game looks soo good. and the music fits everything absurdly well!! i don't know if it's original or not, but it perfectly elevated every scene, from the chill ones to the dramatic ones. ahh the presentation is so great!

i compared this game to cycle cuz they're both pretty similar, and tbh i think they're maybe a bit too alike? both games are about going from day to day in a calm forest, interacting with an outcast with magical abilities, and finding out their secrets... maybe it's just me but i couldn't shake the feeling that, until the final part, i was kind of playing a somewhat different version of cycle. maybe not setting the game in a forest would've helped shake that feeling off? (tbf that would make the "nut" motif a bit harder to justify) and i think hazel was convinced to let the others go a bit too fast; i would've liked if they argued a bit more to really set in stone her belief that this is for the best.

overall, this was a really great experience! a pitch perfect batch of wholesomeness with an unexpected dark twist. this universe just keeps getting more and more interesting, and i can't wait to see what's next!! (you could say this universe is like a... cozy void? ehh?? ehhhh??? i'll see myself out-)

i shall steal abra's joke and say that i give this game 5 stars in art, 5 stars in story, 5 stars in music and 0 stars in humanity :D

(SPOILERS)

this is such an original and creative interpretation of the school of dark arts theme, and just an awesome concept in general! the idea of a secret school focused on torture is great on its own but it's super impressive how it's used to its fullest potential. torture methods being a balance between pain and art, the graduation project and the consequence of failing it, even small things like mathematics and biology being some of the subjects goes to show how much thought was put into this world. and on top of a great foundation, the plot is really interesting! i got really invested in knowing if the main characters would come up with a good enough idea for a torture device (please don't take that out of context) :>

before delving into the plot, i have to mention that the presentation is amazing! the pixelart is perfect, everything feels like it has the right amount of detail. the characters being so tall is a neat change from the common rpg maker character style, and the variety of poses and movements they can do is really great. i especially loved the gorey scenes; the messed up look of the tortured people, the big (but not excessive) amount of blood, their small movements as they breathe, the fact that they're usually faceless... from the artstyle i still can't tell if in the presentation projects they used real people or not, and tbh that's really unsettling haha. and the busts are great too! limin's rugged artstyle fits the game like a glove, and the amount of unique character designs is really impressive (at the start i assumed only harry would get portrait privileges so it was a fun surprise to find each new one!). i did notice harry's sprite and busts look somewhat different (maybe it's just the hair color), and at times it felt a bit jarring, but it didn't take me out of the game of anything. and of course, the best art in the entire game, brian's drawings. 11/10 no notes. overall this game looks absolutely fantastic! (almost forgot; the machinery-like dialogue box did not go unnoticed. such a cool detail!)

and the music!! in the first scene when that weird mechanical reversed sound played for the first time, i knew i was in for good shit haha. super atmospheric and well made. whenever a track played it fit the scene so perfectly that i almost forgot it was there (that's a compliment i swear-). super moody. and the sound effects were great as well; their scarcity definitely made each one pop out a lot. the presentation is just top notch!

one of the things that sticks out a lot in this story is how... realistic everything feels. i've already said there's a great attention to detail in the worldbuilding, but the general plot and the succession of events felt incredibly real. like, if there was actually a school of torture irl and this was the graduation project, i'd believe this game is exactly how it would play out haha. the main characters pitching in different ideas while overlooking their flaws, getting advice from different people who graduated, getting anxious as time goes on and they haven't progressed as much as the others... and the way each idea for a project gets picked apart and analyzed, bringing up real concerns of why it wouldn't work, really goes to show once again how much effort was put into the writing. it would've been easy to make everything super over the top but the more grounded feel makes the plot genuinely compelling; i really wanted these guys to make their own torture machine, damn it!

but obviously everything here isn't grounded in silly reality, and when the plot gets creative it's always extremely fun lol. the different graduates harry and his friends go to being actual real life people?? including fucking david szymanski?!?! (AND YOU GOT PERMISSION FROM HIM WTF THAT'S AMAZING?!?!???!?!?!?) it legit took me a while to process it when it happened haha. but it honestly fits the story? like, if the point of this world is that this school actually exists but it's secret to everyone else, using fictionalized versions and/or descendants of real people makes perfect sense. like, you can't prove they didn't attend a torture school, can you? (and on that note the pop culture references (which were really amusing as well, the jojo's one made me actually scream lmao) also work in establishing how everything takes place in the real world!) maybe i'm reading too much into it haha, but it's really clever! and of course, i can't talk about creativity without mentioning the torture methods, cuz... idk if they are original ideas or not, but HOLY HELL they're so clever!! each one is extremely creative and actually getting to see them in action was gnarly as hell. a couple of them made me physically flinch in concept alone lol. i got a little worried that the project harry would go with maybe wouldn't quite reach expectations, but nah man, the vitruvian is actually diabolical. this game is filled with so much creativity and polish!!

i will say there were some points in the story where i felt conversations were going on for a bit too long, or getting somewhat repetitive. the overall banter and jokes are fun and make the dialogue really amusing! but some scenes (like the ones in the cafeteria) could've been a bit shorter, and at the meeting scenes i feel like the group explaining their project ideas could've also been cut, since they've already talked about them before. and this is a nitpick but it got a bit hard to tell apart the members of harry's group that weren't harry, maybe their names could have differently colored text to make it easier to tell them apart visually? also, i found a bug (i played the 1.4 version) where in david's room, next to one of the posters, you can go through the wall. not a big deal ofc! but i thought i'd mention it.

but yeah, overall this game was fantastic!! super original and all the ideas were done great justice. i was honestly a bit skeptical of how this jam's theme could be used in creative ways (nothing against schools of dark arts, it's just not a concept that intrigues me a lot personally), but this game proved it can be used to its full potential. amazing job!! :D

(only 3 stars in pain though; the playing experience was mostly completely harmless. except the moment where we're reminded of the e.t. atari game of course, this should be reported just for that /j)

i think something about this universe that really makes both itself and each game stand out is how everything changes depending on the protagonist. even when the events, world and characters are the same, the way the narration and descriptions show how the main character(s) view it is always incredibly intriguing and it gives a new perspective on everything, and since no two protagonists feel exactly the same, it's really fun finding out what deranged shit will come out of their thoughts haha. each game that takes place in this city feels almost like you're hearing a testimony from each character; they only talk about the things they know, they sprinkle in their own thoughts and experiences, and while you can easily piece together the greater narrative... the way everything is presented makes it feel like you're hearing diverse self-contained stories, so it never feels boring! it's really impressive how well this universe is crafted and interwoven, and how each game still manages to feel unique :D

ok now in terms of this specific game, damn that was a trip!!

(SPOILERS)

a criminal power couple fits this world like a glove lol. adalyn and evan are extremely fun, from the first scene to the last. adalyn's (literal) taste for blood and morbid thoughts, evan's gentleman-like attitude with helping with murder, and both's complete lack of empathy towards anyone else other than themselves were incredibly amusing. but what makes them stand out a lot (aside from the game's gleefully graphic descriptions and visuals of their hijinks, which are also fun as hell) is that aside from everything crime related they're just... kind of a normal couple. when they have a conversation about their future (even if said future is changing their names because they're literal murderers), or helping each other with something, the way they talk makes it clear that they care for each other and their future child. obviously i'm not saying "tHeYrE kIlLeRs bUt tHeY lOvE eAcH oThEr sO tHaT mEaNs tHeYrE gOoD", but it does show the normal in their crazy; they genuinely believe their mentality and actions are fine, so there's no reason they wouldn't act like normal people outside of that. i think it's really interesting how this game shows the surprising depth of seemingly "jokey" characters.

speaking of jokes, wow this was a goddamn riot XD the last game i played from yours was bedrot so it's nice to get something more lighthearted haha. the asshole cashier, the extremely sudden burst into violence, adalyn's comments about how appetizing the blood seems, evan's lack of shock towards everything except adalyn being pregnant, how easily adalia convinces her mother to get poison for her... this is definitely one of the funniest games in the series, and the goofy tone is a nice contrast with how dire the other games can get :>

a liminace game has good art? in other news: water is wet (srsly tho, the art was amazing and everything looks great! love how the tilesets have small details like dust spots or slightly off-center objects, really goes to show how much detail was put into the presentation. and the character design and CGs are incredible! adalyn and evan look both conventionally and unsettingly good looking, if that makes sense. and it feels like with each game the character art is even more polished; the expressions, posing, and level of detail are top notch. and this isn't exclusive to this game but i love the use of colors to emphasize the characters' emotions! overall this game is a MARVEL to look at)

i feel like there could've been one more map and/or walking segment at the end, even if it didn't have any puzzles, so there's a small breathing room in between the dialogue and CGs (idk how much time you had to make this game tho. maybe setting the conversation between adalia and his husband with sprites and a map instead of CGs could've worked? or maybe that would've been even more time consuming idk lmao). and idk how valid this point is cuz i haven't played TCPC chapter 4 yet but... the goofiness of adalia's parents felt slightly at odds with how seriously her actions are treated in TCPC. i understand that it makes sense for a character who's evil in such an over the top way that the people who raised her are also evil in an over the top way, but it almost felt like having fun with adalyn and evan's horrible actions was an indication that the player didn't have to take adalia's too seriously (obviously adalia and TCPC aren't humorless, and again i haven't played chapter 4 yet, these are just my impressions of this game and the first three chapters). maybe if adalyn and evan ashlyn and everett weren't her parents, but her ancestors, explaining the behavior of the whole family tree while still keeping some distance between adalia and these two's goofiness? that would probably have taken a lot of rewriting though lol.

overall this was great!! a really fun ride that both successfully explains one of the character's past, and also makes you really fear for what's to come. now if you'll excuse me, i shall finish this review and take a break over some delicious castor bean tea 🍵

ohhh i see!! that's a lot of interesting stuff i had no clue about :O it's always so so cool to play games where the creator/s put a lot of effort into the background and lore.

i definitely get what you mean, explaining everything can end up being a drag and i understand that in a game like this, loredumping could just be detrimental to the experience. and ooh, i totally missed henry disappearing, that's on me whoops XD ahh he saw the true nature of the kids' spirits, ok ok gotcha (me missing stuff seems to be a common theme in a lot of my comments hahskds).

i'd love to talk more about the game on discord! :>

(SPOILERS)

rule of thumb: if the protagonist of an rpg maker game is a child, they probably have killed/will kill someone.

i think that, out of all your games, this is by far the scariest one. the combination of the atmosphere, the mystery of the story, the haunting music, the creepy artstyle that elevated every event... it was all incredibly eerie. at some points i physically recoiled in my seat cause i thought a jumpscare was about to happen haha. at the very beginning, when you can't move and suddenly two children slowly disappear, that set the tone up PERFECTLY. man this was so good.

the story was really intriguing!! the idea of a children "slipping off" out of the normal world, and being watched over this evil spirit that wants to play with them, is really really creepy. and the fact that this kid is willing to go to another country just to find his little brother, because him disappearing made his parents not even care about him... it's really tragic, but really compelling. even if this isn't a GANA game, i really got the GANA vibe of "something supernatural happening that only a few people can see"! i feel like the beginning is a bit confusing, since it's not immediately apparent if it's connected to charlie or not, and i kept thinking "wait am i playing as the brother of the two kids who disappeared?" but that didn't prevent me from getting hooked into the story so it's not a big deal. oh, and i loved the unexpected twists and turns the plot took! charlie killing the monk was SUCH a shock haha, but it didn't feel unearned, and i think part of that is because of just how much information is always kept from you. every step of the journey is filled with so much mystery, from the opening scene, to meeting the monk and not knowing if he's lying, not knowing who these spirits are or what do they want (the moment they appeared, i ran away like a coward until charlie said they weren't hurting him lol, such a cool moment :D), finding strange places like the wolf head altar, exactly what even is rirou... i think i would've preferred to have a bit more stuff explained, but it's undeniable how much intrigue and dread comes out of the mystery of the plot. really great stuff.

speaking of intrigue and dread, i REALLY love this "other world" where the rirou lives. everything about it is just... incredibly eerie. the all-consuming blue hue, the seemingly random traces of the real world (the trees, fences, streetlights...), and of course the "ghosts" and their strange games. and sequences like the music game and tony made me the most tense that i've been in a while haha. and like i said, not knowing anything about this spirit or this world really helps in building that atmosphere. you said in a comment that you based this game on a dream you had, and honestly it's easy to see it, it has such a dreamlike and ethereal feel to it.

in terms of presentation, wow! this game's visuals are so unique, and great with conveying the feel of everything. the ghosts are super creepy and i love how blurry and ethereal they look, it's hard to make a distinct ghost design but they were extremely memorable! i love the narration text at the beggining and the end, the opening sliding doors at the start of each part, and in general the use of japanese architecture and symbology. really dig how handdrawn the original art feels, damn this is such a beautiful game. and the MUSIC!!! oh my god, the music was amazing. every single one of the tracks was absolutely incredible, and captured the feeling of each sequence perfectly. it feels like it creeps into your head and doesn't let go, forcing you to experience this twisted story and feel as disturbed as possible. it elevated the unease i felt sooo much. the presentation was just fantastic all around.

like i said, i feel like some more things could've been explained, like what is the altar, what do these games the creatures are playing mean... it's not too bad (and in some aspects it does support the "dream-like" feel of the game), but part of me wanted to get slightly more answers. and there's this one point right at the end, before charlie and henry see the monk, where charlie says "i see it all now" and some images of the ghosts appear... honestly i didn't really understand what happened, and i don't know to which extent that's my own fault lol.

overall this was great!! a twisted, bittersweet nightmare that gripped me and didn't let go for a second. if i played this as a kid i would've probably fully believed "slipping off" was a real thing and subsequently would've been scared shitless XD

HELPPPP THIS WAS SO CUTE AND WHOLESOME AAAAA-

(SPOILERS)

the darker elements of a lot of your stories and worlds are always super intriguing, so a much lighter game like this feels really refreshing and unique! i kept waiting for a super dark twist to happen but nope haha, it's just a simple story about family members reconnecting and trying to protect their world, and i was all there for it. the plot isn't too complicated but it's really intriguing, and the pace at which you receive information is really well done. i also appreciated how (relative to your other games) long the game was, it really helps build the mystery and attachment you have for these characters (not saying that short games are bad ofc; just that the bigger length fits this story really well :>).

the visual design is really cool!! like a lot of other worlds in the laxyverse (patent pending), the backgrounds are simple but memorable, and the color palette brims with so much personality. i love how vibrant the mentha forest looks! the greens are so pleasant and nice to look at, i could almost taste the mint haha. it also makes for a nice contrast with how "dark" the characters look. and just when you feel like the over-encompasing green might start to get repetitive, there's always some small but really cool shakeup to the visuals (the antlers with yellow eyes at kareta's home, the river, the amber wall, the dead part of the forest, the flashes of yellow when someone uses a spell...) that keeps everything engaging. and the character design is great as well; i said this in my slumber comment but it feels like your designs evolve with each game, and here the way the elks look is really unique and memorable. love how everyone follows the same design "template" but have small differences, like their antlers or decorations on their heads, that makes them easy to tell apart. this game is just super pleasant to look at.

though i said the story was wholesome, and it is, i think here there's a really smart way that, at every point until the ending, there's always some sort of intrigue that keeps building up. just from learning at the start that there's a monster lurking in this forest, it makes the beginning part super tense. every time the screen went black and sai counted to ten i kept saying out loud "his sister is dead, his sister is dead, his sister is so dead-" lmao. and when she does go missing and you meet the curse of the forest, everything points to him being guilty... but he isn't, and chichi is fine (really clever subversion of expectations btw). and every day i met up with kareta, there was always a lingering sense of "something bad is gonna happen" right until the end. the combination of dialogue and the scenes that were shown managed to keep this sense of mystery alive, and that's really impressive! it would've been really easy to just deflate all tension the moment this monster is revealed to just be a normal person, but this game doesn't do that and i found that to be really clever. neat stuff!

and the plot itself? really simple but really effective. i'm a sucker for stories where the main character learns how to do magic from a wise old mentor haha. and this story wouldn't have worked if the characters weren't interesting, but these characters definitely are! sai is super charming; his love and worry for his family, his curiosity, his playfulness... i love the small moments he has that give him a lot of personality (him talking to himself at night, thinking about his family and his moss ball when trying to do his first spell...). when he didn't tell his sister why he always wins at hide and seek was really funny lol. chichi and the elk mom are really neat as well! chichi's eagerness and the things she says and does (the fact that sometimes she says things twice was adorable) were really endearing; love how much she wants to play with sai even if she always loses haha. and i like how the elk mom is super nice and sweet, but has an edge she only shows sometimes, like when she complains about having to go get water or in the final discussion. but the highlight is definitely kareta; the concept of a father abandoning his family out of fear of them getting harmed, trying to practice spells in secrecy so he can save this world, even if everyone seems him as a monster... well, it's really tragic. the way he speaks clearly lets on a lot of hidden pain and guilt, especially when he shows sai the dead part of the forest. and all of that makes the final scene and reconciliation all the sweeter (also i didn't guess at ALL that he was sai's father, you caught me 100% off guard with that haha. it's a nice bow at the end of the story that ties everything together!). overall the plot and characters were super compelling, and i couldn't take my eyes off the screen until it ended :>

if i had to nitpick anything, i think some parts where you have to walk all the way from/to the hidden part of the forest could've been shortened, since after a while it feels a bit repetitive to manually go through those paths over and over again; maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the game teleported you to your destination? and while the main music track is really pleasant, it also felt a bit repetitive past a certain point and i wished there was more variety in the music. and lastly, my biggest complaint... kareta says that 'pith' is a spell that teleports you next to a tree, but sometimes he teleports to places where there are no trees next to him!!! 0/10 how could you make a mistake like that (jk jk lmao). but srsly tho, that's about it, i can't think of any other big stuff i didn't like.

this was a super neat and well made experience!! i love super dark and tragic stories as much as the next guy haha, but it's nice to play games that, while definitely have their share of tragedy and thematic depth under the surface, feel simply pleasant and fun. great job! :D

Google翻訳がこれを台無しにしないことを心から願っています。このゲームは本当に楽しくてクリエイティブで、続きが気になって仕方ありませんでした！ :D

(SPOILERS)

i love how this game either takes shonen tropes and flips them on its head, or does something completely unique that you haven't seen before. it feels like both a love letter and an evolution of "magical girl shonen" tropes, if that makes sense? (i mean the fact that the main character is a guy is already a tell that this isn't a typical magical girl shonen lol) but subversion isn't the plot's only strength, and there's so many unique and compelling elements that when the credits rolled i didn't want the demo to end.

the plot is super interesting, at both surface and deeper levels. there's definitely stuff you've seen before in similar stories but they're presented in a way that made me really intrigued in finding answers! where does this gem come from, why has it only been passed on to girls, what's the origin of this "poison" that makes items turn into monsters... and there's also stuff i haven't seen in any other magical girl show! like the concept of getting miracles with each monster you defeat, that's just really creative (it's also a really bold choice to make the main character have a somewhat "selfish" reason to want to keep defeating them, so something good happens to him every time he does). and both the opening and final pieces of dialogue were PERFECTLY foreboding and mysterious, really reminded me that you also made burn the red eta haha. overall the plot and magical elements are really unique and intriguing, and it really helps with making this game stand out :>

shiro is a really great protagonist! his narration was always interesting and fun (not only is it really well written, but i love how profane it can get haha), and what he says never felt forced or like it was going on for too long. his resolve to save as many people as possible and to help his grandma were really compelling and made him instantly endearing, and his reactions to everything (both quiet acceptance at the everyday shit he can't do anything about, and utter bewilderment at the supernatural shit that happens out of nowhere) were always entertaining. he's really memorable in general, and it's easy to tell he's a character you've put a lot of thought and care into. and inu... well i can see why he's a fan favorite haha. everything from his expressions to the way he speaks to the extreme emotional responses he has to everything were amazing lol. i honestly can't wait to see more of him XD (tbh i didn't love his more risqué jokes, but tbf i just don't like that kind of humor in general).

this is a visual novel, so of course i have to talk about the incredible presentation! the character design on its own is really great, and it captures a really good balance between looking manga-esque and having its own style. and this game has some of the most expressive emotion changes i've seen in a while (any conversation with inu is fun as shit partly because of all his wonderful expressions lmao). and the tainted one's design was really cool as well! definitely felt unique compared to a lot of typical monster designs. i kind of feel like the abscence of pictures for characters that are present in scenes (like kero's "henchmen" or ma) make those sequences feel a bit empty, but i'm guessing that's due to time constraints and this being a demo so it's not really a problem. oh, and there's so many cool visual details!! the characters moving when their expression changes, the screen showing geometric forms when the gem starts glowing, the brief red flash of a character at the very end... and of course, the best visual sequence in any game ever... THE GAME OVER SCREEN. laughed out loud when i saw it haha. and the music was used extremely well used too!! felt very seamless with how it moves from one track to another, and it always fit the scene perfectly. the presentation was top notch, and it's absolutely one of the highlights of the game!

though the plot uses tropes in clever ways, until inu shows up the story does feel a bit by the numbers, and while kero and mei are fun, during their interactions i was kind of waiting for the fun supernatural stuff to begin. i don't think these scenes should've been cut but i think if they were shorter they wouldn't have felt as monotonous. though again, it's excusable due to this game being both a demo and pretty short, so it's not a big deal.

this was a really creative and fun time!! no pressure in making this into a full game ofc, but if you do i'll definitely check it out cuz this has a TON of potential!! :D

失礼ですが、おばあちゃんがまた歩けるように紙コップを殺さなければなりません, wan.

you did all of it in one map?? :O howww that's legit witchcraft haha. there's so many cool moments coding wise, no idea how you fit it all in one map lol. and you were inspired by my widdle ol game? 🥺 aaaaa whenever someone says that to me i do a backflip- /pos

ooooooh a big romance game that definitely exists? consider me intrigued! :> (no pressure ofc) i definitely get the struggle of writing romantic stories, the pacing of how relationships evolve is suuuuper tricky haha, but i think the way you write romance is really great!

and yeah you're right, you always gotta have hope <3

chevie i am sending you my therapy bill. seriously HOW can you make me almost cry with characters that i've only known for 10 minutes??

(SPOILERS)

i think the slow reveal and overall vagueness of the plot is REALLY effective. no exposition dumps, no overly complicated backstory for the world's state; just the minimum amount of information you need for your brain to connect the dots. and the bits and pieces are really cleverly laid out: how the beginning centers around a compound that "makes them unable to detect you", the writing on the subway (i hope they find abra geroni) that get proggresively harder to distinguish from the cables... it's hard to make a post-acalyptic setting feel unique but i think this game nailed it, and despite not knowing how it even started, i completely understood the hopelessness of the situation, and the feeling of "this extremely risky plan is all we can do". the plot and atmosphere are outstanding and i couldn't keep my eyes off of the screen for a second.

the art was also amazing!! the contrast of the muted colors of the characters and backgrounds, and the striking red as you get closer to the core was incredible. i loved the amount of detail in the backgrounds and character designs, really made everything feel more realistic. and the emphasis on characters' movements worked extremely well; things like people changing their posture when they talk or their movements (or their shadows') as they walk, made them feel really alive yk? and when the art gets less realistic and more emotion based (looove the sketchy pencil-like look), it's absolutely gorgeous. i think it was an really clever choice to make the visuals more realistic and human, if that makes sense; it fits really well with the plot. and the music was phenomenal as well!! perfectly suited the mood of every scene, and goddamn it made the emotional moments hit REALLY hard. love how "tech-like" it can get, like sometimes it sounded like the main theme the machine antagonists would have, if that makes sense. i know firsthand how hard it is to make dramatic music, and this game made it seem so effortless (at some points it was a bit too loud but it wasn't a big deal, and it was mostly at the beginning). absolute kudos to stacy.o. overall the presentation did not disappoint in the slightest :D (also i'm really late for this but the button sfx that sound like a chorus? aaaa so cool)

honestly i think this is some of your best character work yet. i said it already but it's unbelievable how much this game made me care about these characters that i've known for less than an hour. the peeps at the bunker (i'm not sure if it's a bunker but it's what i'm calling it-) are incredibly memorable, i love how you only get tiny bits of information about them and yet you feel like you really do know them. i was a little scared that the goodbyes scene at the start would tug at the heartstrings a bit too early, but it was handled perfectly; not too depressing and not too optimistic (like the entire game, haha... *cries*). they feel so unique and memorable with just a few lines. and on the other end, elle and rose are incredible protagonists. their relationship, their banter, the things they talk about, the things they feel... i think they're really gonna stand out in my mind as time passes. how they care for each other, but also acknowledge how bleak the situation they're in is, but how they don't let that make them lose hope, how they try to make things easier for one another, how they reminisce about how everything was before... honestly i'm a little shocked you haven't made more games based on romance, cuz this and invasive species have amazing romantic storylines (not saying that you have to make more romance stories, or that there should be romance plots in your games more often. obviously it all depends on what the story requires and i think these two games understand that really well). but even with how tragic the story might get... what really stands out is the focus on hope. the small good things that happen, like little guy mouthing a word, or the "i'm here"s under the missing persons, or simply elle and rose thinking about the happy memories they have and how they hope the world can be the same again... the bittersweetness of everything is amazingly done, and i was practically fighting not to cry by the end. outstanding stuff.

i feel like at some points the dialogue got a bit drawn out. the dialogue is absolutely a highlight of the game and the emotions' backbone, and i definitely appreciated the abundance of pauses to save, but the subway and stairs sequences felt slightly long towards the middle. maybe some parts could've been cut, or some exchanges could've revealed a bit more of the story or the characters' past, like the memories scene at the end? (like i said i do like the vagueness of everyone's backstories but i think some more reveals could've kept the interest higher) that's just my opinion tho. also, rose's lines being at the far right (really cool detail btw) making the text appear slower got a bit frustrating. though apparently rpg maker doesn't allow simply aligning text anywhere but left? wtf is up with this engine-

overall this was an amazing game!! one of the best interpretations of a post-apocalyptic setting i've seen in a while, and a hell of an emotional gut punch and combination of worldbuilding, story and characters to boot. great job! :D

alr there's gotta be something about these jams that makes developers want to rip everyone's heart out and stomp them to pieces with their games-

seriously tho this was SOOO incredibly written and devastating!!

(SPOILERS)

the writing is genuinely A+ stuff; i love games where the narration is full of introspective monologues, and here every time var reflected or rambled about his state of mind, his habits or just all the stuff that's happened to him, it felt extremely well done. i think you captured perfectly the feeling of "there's a ton of complicated and contradictory emotions behind what i'm doing". var wondering about things like if him hiding himself away but also wanting people to reach him is selfish, or if he's actually as bitter and cold as his father said he was... it all hit really hard, and it's not really the usual themes you'd usually find in a story like this. i really appreciate how unique the emotions and story feel, and how despite the (seemingly) fantastical nature of the story, nothing feels exaggerated or unnatural. every action or line of dialogue is both believable and creative, and i think that's really impressive :> i feel maybe some dialogue could've been cut down, but it's not really a problem and i never got close to being bored.

the main focus of the game is the story, but i want to take a moment to appreciate the visuals because they're so so good! LOVE the gameboy-green aesthetic of var's house, the way trees look really natural and not like a couple of tiles being repeated, the pheasant's design, the lighting when it gets dark, the static-y effect of the screen when var is going through something intense, and ofc the character busts! their designs are great and super expressive (i feel like i repeat myself when i compliment your art haha but it really is great and expressive!! i'm just unoriginal lmao). really like how barren the snow areas feel; coupled with the white feathers it made the ending sequence really tense. and the use of color in general is superb, especially in the text! i feel like some colors were a bit hard to read, but it wasn't too bad and it never got to a point where it was unreadable. overall the presentation is REALLY great, and it really elevates the whole experience!

i think it was a really bold choice to leave the supernatural elements of the story unresolved, and it paid off extremely well. some people have said it already but the plot feels like a fairy tale; a story of someone who shuts himself off from the world, but receives the one thing they actually want, only for it to be taken out of their hands because of their own fault (i mean technically var couldn't have known but you get the point-)... it's really tragic, unexpected and... well, bitter. and while var's monologue at the end is practically devoid of closure, i'd like to think he got at least some sense of peace with his life, especially after his confrontation with his father. that calling out his abuse in front of him (even if it was all in his head), and that var will choose how to live his own life, gave him some amount of rest, even after bora's vanishing. and no matter what happened in the end, it's undoubtedly beautiful to see var find comfort in someone else; someone to talk to about their deepest thoughts, someone he likes being around with and who doesn't judge him, someone who truly wants to understand him... and possibly the first person to make his heart truly feel warmth (considering his father knows about him liking men, i assume var already had crushes before the game's events, but my theory is that none were as strong as this one). but despite everything... it all ends with his one sliver of happiness escaping his grasp, and him finally accepting the role his cold heart was giving away; a snowman, freezing to death in some mountain.

(ok i hope you do make a game where these two have a happy ending becAUSE MY HEART AAAAA- (srsly tho no pressure, do it only if you want to ofc))

this was such a bittersweet experience, and it proves once again how talented you are at storytelling! your games, and especially your characters, always manage to accurately represent the feeling of being trapped and unable to change your situation, as everything and everyone around them crumble... until they see they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. this game absolutely deserved to be so high in the jam's story ranking :D amazing stuff!

(p.s. feel free to correct me if i got anything wrong with the plot or themes, i admit i'm not the best at analyzing things like that haha)

i am physically incapable of giving this any less than 5 stars, this was goddamn hilarious XD

i love seeing characters from completely different universes interact, and this was not only a fun as hell combination of peeps but it honestly fits really well? like, if these characters all lived in the same world i'd 100% buy that they're all friends and go on camping trips together lol (westwood being a detective in cardinal park fits WAY too well haha). their interactions feel really natural, and it's neat how the humor does come primarily from them bickering with each other, but it's not the only kind of humor there is here. i feel like it would've been really easy to stick to one joke but the variety really helps elevate the comedy.

(SPOILERS)

with that said, the running jokes are fucking hysterical. oliver's mary poppins pockets, everyone bringing the wrong thing coupled with a vine boom (wait how could billy replace the guns if he has noodle arms? 0/10 my immersion is ruined), dead bodies obviously lying around with nobody noticing... and of course, the chase sequence, which is undoubtedly the magnum opus of all of your careers and should be held in a museum (srsly tho! i loved how it cycled between maps and tilesets from all your games and also completely random memes lmao, the best part of the game for sure). 11/10 no notes.

(i do have one question; when voorhees catches you, there's a slashing sound and then a scream... does that mean oliver's mom killed all three? i mean i'm not surprised, she is the devil incarnate. just checking lol)

overall this was fun and endearing as hell, i unabashedly love shitpost games like these and you guys did a bang-up job :D [insert pepeemojiwithsunglasses.png]

you know, sometimes a game is so good that, as i'm playing, i genuinely feel intimitaded by it. like "huh? how can something THIS good exist?? i didn't even know you could do that???". my brain genuinely can't wrap itself around it.

and i'm glad to report that GOTH has earned that spot on my list of "intimidatingly good" games because ABRA WTF THIS WAS UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING!!!

(SPOILERS)

i am genuinely BLOWN AWAY by every single aspect of this game. the incredible art and use of color and lighting, the super unique plot world and characters and how creatively they all interact with each other, the moments of levity contrasted with moments of confusion and dread, the amazing variety of puzzles and mechanics, the writing and dialogue, the humor, the music, the sheer creativity of it all... UGHHH this was so so good, i'm kind of mad at myself that i didn't try this sooner lol. i don't think i can go through everything i want to talk about, but i'll try!

this might sound kind of abstract but i really loved the feel of the game, if that makes sense? the idea of this person being in a room, where every day he has to go through a random puzzle with a random solution, find items to feed his refrigerator, then go to sleep and have strange dreams before waking up and doing it all over again... and then, as the game progresses, things get gradually stranger, rules get broken, sentient characters appear... the sheer weirdness (with a certain set of logics) of everything really captures a specific vibe yk? this feels like a story that knows exactly what it wants to tell and how to tell it, and every step of the way is extremely compelling and intriguing. i was REALLY looking forward to whatever happened next, and what new strange world or character would show up. i'm someone whos pretty easy to make invested in a story, but it's hard to make me this glued to the screen haha.

and speaking of worlds and characters, they are easily the best part of this game!! it doesn't feel like you brought your A game, it feels like you brought a giant truck full of nothing but A+++ game and i was FEASTING. the levels are extremely creative; the tree where you have to give the right items to the leaves and find the light of its heart, the snowy plains with the snow angels, the broken randomness of the haxel encounter... it's all just SOOO creative and memorable, and they all perfectly capture the theme of "random places but with a reasonable level of logic when it comes to the puzzles". so so clever. and the characters!!! omg i think these are some of my favorite characters in... anything?? senza is a great protagonist who reacts to everything weird in a really appropiate (and sometimes really fun) way, but he's also a great way to introduce the player to how this world works, and let us know when things are more weird than usual. and i also really wanted to see him figure out everything; why was he here, what is the purpose of his room, why does everything happen the way it does... the tree was also fantastic! their calm way of speaking was really intriguing, and hearing about what they think happened to them was really compelling, as well as fitting with how strange everything is. lumen jumala was fantastic too! looooove elder gods that are both super wise and kind of playful haha. the way they answered senza's questions in their own unique way was really intriguing. and omg, haxel!! haxel is... tbh one of my favorite characters in any rpg maker game ever. a super old being that acts seemingly randomly, but is actually super knowledgeable and powerful, while still being kind and kinda going with the flow... can you tell that's also one of my favorite types of character ever haha. the way her portrait changes colors, the things she says (the "you've never tried" moment was a total highlight, loved that lmao). she's super fun and honestly i hope she appears in later chapters, she really left a big impression on me :D and there's so many other great characters!! the fish will-o-the-wisp is fun and their puzzle is super clever, the snow angels were honestly TERRIFYING haha, the way the tree's heart's personality changes as the light goes out was super creepy, and 00111111 was absolutely 01100010 01100001 01110011 01100101 01100100. the roster of characters is genuinely one of your best, and i couldn't get enough of everyone here. genuinely outstanding stuff.

and of course, i couldn't talk about this game without mentioning the presentation, because OH MY GOD this game is SO pretty and SO creative and the use of color is SO cool AAAAAA- seriously i think this is one of your best looking games ever!! the way monochromatic and simplistic maps are contrasted with the splashes of color of others, the levels with abstract and weird backgrounds, the use of lighting and weather in so many parts, the way the colors change and shift like the screen is glitching!! god this game looks out of this WORLD, how did you do it? everything just pops in its own unique way, genuinely insane that this was your first published rpg maker project. and the character design is great as well! enza and haxel look great (i love how you have to "unlock" emotions for senza haha), the snow angels look goddamn terrifying, 00111111 doing a dab is a work of art... even small touches like the snowman's face becoming bloody when you leave, or the pulsating light around lumen jumala, are amazing and lets you know just how much effort and care was put into the visuals. and the music was great too!! definitely more of an understated quality of the presentation, but it fit the mood superbly well. and sounds like the one when all the snow angels are praying are suuuper pretty and quietly unnerving (i did notice that one time when i loaded a save file, two tracks were playing at the same time. but when i crossed the room's door it went back to normal, so it's not a big deal :>) aaaaa the way this game looks and sounds is so amazing! i wish i could gush about all the details i noticed but this review would be way too long, even for me lol.

if i had to mention any problems i had... i think the snow angel sequence, while cool in concept, felt a bit frustrating. despite what the diary tells you, the snowing doesn't stop once it's started, and i feel like that kind of approach (parts where you're safe flowing into parts where you're not) would've made the level really interesting. and since the overview of the map goes by only at the start and there's no indication that you can leave without collecting all the refrigerants, it felt a bit tedious to feel the need to collect all of them. aside from that, and the music thing i mentioned earlier, i think the heart chase starts way too fast and since everything is so dark it's kind of hard to see what's happening (in the middle of the actual chase that's REALLY intense, but at the very start it's kind of hard to tell what's happening). but that's about it in terms of issues, everything else was butter smooth :>

so, even though the story isn't finished yet, i kinda wanna give my (probably wrong) interpretation of what's happening: from the text at the beginning, i believe that senza is part of a cell, which is part of an organism. maybe this organism is a supernatural or godlike being, and that's why these super weird things happen in their cells; or maybe the organism is a human, and everything we're seeing is kind of a "heightened" version of what these microbeings are going through. senza, as part of a cell, must provide energy so it doesn't die, like how he has to find refrigerants for his refrigerator. to find them, he must go to seemingly random places and solve seemingly random puzzles; maybe reflecting how the organism needs/does different things throughout the days, and that's why the cells must do different tasks every day (this sounds kind of weird but it's the best i could come up with haha). whatever the case, i think this organism is in the middle of dying (hence the title of the game and its meaning), and all the different parts of its body are melding together as a result of the decomposing process. that's why worlds and beings start to cross over through each other's realms; they're different parts of different systems (blood cells, antibodies, neurons...) i think haxel and lumen jumala are the organism's neurons, due to them having such strong powers (maybe haxel isn't, since she herself says that her powers aren't that strong). and as this body is falling apart, they try to help senza survive any way he can, as its host and sole purpose of living slowly dies.

(ngl i feel like i probably misinterpreted or missed a buncha stuff but oh well! that's kind of par for the course when it comes to theories haha. i hope it was at least interesting! :D)

aaaaa if you couldn't tell by my constant gushing, i really REALLY loved this. such a creative and incredibly well told story, with some of the best presentation i've seen in a good while. this felt so personal, and it's the kind of game that reminds me why i love indie games and game developing so much.

if you do make the second chapter (no pressure of course!), save me a seat at the front row :D

dangg that's a lot of time working on one game,  that's so cool tbh!

and ahh i see! thank you for the correction :>

this was so great!! one of the most unique horror games in style and writing that i've played in a while :D

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i really love how intriguing the plot is, i genuinely had no idea where it was going at any point haha. made it super interesting to slowly put the pieces together. and even the way it's presented is really creative; love how the perspective changes from this one guy, to some reporters, to mysterious words appearing onscreen, to different devices' screens... it not only elevated the presentation, but also made the story really memorable. it was overall just really compelling and interesting to follow. and it tackles its themes in creative ways too! love how this pathogen views humans as being in a constant state of misery (which is proven to be not entirely untrue), and that's how it lures them into being infected; and how it's contrasted with how gloria sees her children's "birth" as something amazing and beautiful. it's definitely an exaggerated (that word sounds kind of reductive... "elevated", maybe?) way of portraying these themes, but it works really well considering... well, that the strory isn't trying to be super subtle haha (not saying that it's a bad thing ofc!). the plot and how it's presented is really creative and intriguing overall :>

and the gameplay! mannn whenever i see a quasi-3D sequence made in rpg maker my brain explodes haha. so so so cool. i really appreciated how the only times you could turn left or right was when the game told you so, i usually struggle with 3D movement in games like this so that was nice lol. i think sometimes it was a bit unclear what i had to do, partly cuz of elements like the police car not being visible from afar (tbf drawing that would probably be a nightmare lol), but it wasn't really an issue to figure everything out. the feeling of walking across this street is excellently done, and having to walk everywhere manually makes everything feel more real, if that makes sense? definitely felt the inspiration from the REC movies in that way :D

and OMG the art is so cool!! i love this color palette of extremely saturated red and pink, it's such a striking visual presentation that works really well with the overall vibe of the game. also love how detailed everything is, from the character design to cutscenes to miscellaneus objects and locations; it makes everything, again, feel a lot more real. speaking of which, the character design is really great! really dig how everyone looks, and the little movements they have then they talk or do basic actions are really well done. but what REALLY sells me on the presentation is the huge amount of small touches: the intro sequence with the fake browser (SO awesome haha), the "REC" layouts that appear, the way the screen glitches and changes color and the screwed up text that shows up after, the way the dialogue boxes change depending on who is talking, and of course... the gore :D!! :D (srsly tho that was also really well done and creative, and it was really clever how it used colors different than red so it'd stand out!) the presentation just POPS with such an incredibly creative visual style, great stuff.

if i had to mention any problems i had, sometimes the dialogue would go on for a bit too long, and it was especially frustrating cuz it doesn't let you skip until the character stops moving their mouth. not a big problem since the dialogue is overall very compelling to read, but i feel like some lines could've been cut for conciseness. also i got stuck at one part of the map and couldn't move or turn around; i don't remember the exact sequence of events but it was on the far end of the street. sorry that i can't offer much detail as to what happened haha, but i thought i'd mention it. other than that, i had a pretty seamless experience.

overall this game was so unique and well made!! i think it would've done really well at the jam, but i really respect working on it longer so it could be the best version of itself :> really good job all around!

TLDR: "we hope that the condemnation of this reality was worth fucking our mother" is the hardest line of all time.

damn this was REALLY effective and unnerving!

rotting away is just a neverending source of dread and self-reflection in concept alone, and this game makes excellent use of it. just the writing style and the way the environment & descriptions changed subtly which each day was not only tense but... honestly really depressing at the same time. i think the way the narration works is really clever; splitting it into the main character and a "narrator" makes everything seem even more unstable, like yeah at this point i'd also start talking to myself like i was two people haha. and how the dialogue and descriptions balanced dark humor with genuine moments of the main character thinking was really neat. it felt uncomfortable... but in a good way? like, that's definitely the feeling the game is trying to convey, and it does so extremely well.

(SPOILERS)

i think it was a really clever decision to not reveal a big "event" that sparked why the main character feels this way, instead just letting you get lost in these feelings, knowing as little as they do as to why everything is like this. and everything going further wrong (emma dying, food and trash filling the room, the power being cut) just further emphasizes how what they're doing isn't helping, and they know this, but can't bring themselves to change it for reasons even they don't know. it... well, it hit surprisingly hard haha. it's not difficult for me to get invested in a character getting lost in their own mind (idk if i should be worried about that but oh well), but the way it's done here feels like it takes a really unique angle :D

a liminace game having good art? wow what an original compliment- no but srsly tho, i really loved how the presentation aided the storytelling here. not only is the main character's design great (their baggy eyes and constant resting bitch face are a highlight), but the room itself becomes a character with a say in everything. every time i woke up and found something new, i couldn't tell if it was there the whole time, if it had changed, if it was normal or if it was supernatural... not helped by how moldy and disgusting everything looks lol. idk if that feeling of not knowing what changed and what didn't was intentional but it was a really immersive touch that made me connect even more with the character.

this is probably the most subjective complaint ever but... i don't love the visual novel UI? (the save, load, log, etc.) it probably needed to be there considering how much of the game is pure dialogue, but it broke my immersion a bit whenever i was really getting really invested. or maybe i'm just really used to your games not having those buttons lmao (also i think the log mechanic kind of breaks with messages that are too long? idk if that's a plugin and you can't really fix it but i thought i'd mention it). on the other hand, point and click!! i'm sure it's a lot easier to implement than it looks like but it genuinely breaks my brain whenever i see it in rpg maker games haha.

overall this was a fantastic game!! and a really disturbing thinking exercise to boot. genuinely impressive that this was made in 4 days, fantastic stuff.

ahhh they weren't bugs! i agree it does make the experience feel more weird, but i think there should've been a way to go back if you encounter one of them, just so you didn't have to reload. that's just my opinion though :>

in terms of rirou and goth, man i REALLY want to play them aaaa i'll try to find the time! :D

ohh this was REALLY gosh darn creative and creepy.

(SPOILERS)

i absolutely love the atmosphere here; the incredibly dark levels, the monochromatic color palette, the twisted and super creative designs that lie around... much like the main character says, this game feels like a twisted dream. but at the same time, it's not overwhelmingly dark; the sense of confidence and tranquility the protagonist gives off and the seemingly friendly conversations you have with the NPCs do a great job in balancing the disturbingly strange with a sense of security. like yeah, this is all super weird and creepy, but the characters being so chill and the game being divided into straightforward puzzles does give you a certain sense of safety... like when you're having a nightmare, but you realize it's a dream so nothing can happen to you :> until... well, the end of the game, where suddenly everything comes crashing down (that was sooo creepy). i'll fully admit that i'm not a diehard fan of games based on dreams/the subconscious, but the way everything was executed here was really effective :D

in terms of art, this is probably your best game yet!! (i still have to play GOTH though, its artstyle really peaks my interest :>) i loooved the use of black & white and lighting, and the designs of the creatures were really strange and dreamlike. and even aside from those, there are so many images here that are just beautiful (that title screen is goddamn gorgeous). and the music!! extremely effective and expertly captures the feeling of how a dream's "music" should sound like haha (this jam seems to be full of amazing soundtracks :D). the presentation is just really great, definitely felt like you brought your A-game here.

(also! didn't know where to put this but i loved the moth motif, and how it plays a part in the ending)

the puzzles were also really creative! the abilities and what they do? sooo cool. the first time i used the reverser my jaw actually DROPPED haha. i love how they're really simple, but at the same time fit really well with dream logic if that makes sense? and the way you have to combine them at the end was super cool. i did find a few bugs with them though; in the second stage i tried to use the reverser, but the mc said something like "i shouldn't use this here", and i was stuck in a messed up reversed version of the map without being able to reverse it back. and in the moon level, if i used the jumper too close to the low part of the screen, i'd get stuck outside the map. not huge deals since i could just load a previous save, but i thought i should mention it.

and that ending!! man i try my best when i interpret themes and storylines but sometimes i don't think i'm smart enough haha. so the main character was actually a dream from the moth king? instead of the other way around? that'd be really cool if true, and the scene itself was super disturbing haha. overall this was a great experience!! and i've never wanted to lucid dream less in my entire life :D

this was really cool!! games where you walk from one place to another with cool visuals and effects are my jam haha.

(SPOILERS)

i LOVE how this game looks. the tileset and sprites are amazing and all tiny movements (the walking animations, the bubbles bursting...) feel super polished. and the colors! the overwhelming blue tint, the darkness in the screwed up sections, the neon lines and squiggles on the ground... and the cgs!! i absolutely love how expressive they are, even when it's only a closeup of two eyes; it's really impressive. and the filters!!! the wobbling of the screen, the black outline that only lets you see a circle... everything about the presentation is top notch, and on every sequence i really wanted to see what new visual tricks i'd get caught off guard by. the music is amazing too!! so calm and mysterious at the same time. i restarted the game to listen to the main theme and i kinda wanna put it in the background while i do stuff, which is one of the biggest compliments i can give to a song haha. and the sound when you get transported is so startling! i remember i was thinking "this is nice but i wonder if the entire game is just this?" and then the first teleport happened! such a cool way of subverting expectations :D the way this game looks and sounds is overall amazing!!

i really like how vague the storytelling is! everything being centered around loops and similar things happening in each level was really intriguing. following undine, seeing how her expression becomes more and more scared, hearing parts of stories and legends around her, watching different characters trapped that we can't reach (was that motherfucking HYDROS???)... it was all really engaging, i love stories that are open to interpretation and give small clues as to what is actually going on! things like the main character becoming faceless or, in the last level, there being more bubbles than usual (i don't even know why but that was really uncanny) work wonders to amp up the tension and mystery.

i feel like the level layout is a bit repetitive, and even with the amazing visuals sometimes i got a bit frustrated with how slow the character was moving and how nothing seemed to really happen for big chunks of my playthrough. maybe if you could run, or if the layout was more engaging, it wouldn't be as much of a problem? getting transported to the dark levels did make it more interesting though, so it's not that bad.

overall this was a great short horror experience! my theory with the story is that undine some kind of water creature that was made to lure people into the hands of its creator (maybe hydros?), for whatever reason (and this game is a nightmare she has about the victims she's managed to trap, which she didn't want to but was forced to). i know it's not the most complicated theory ever haha, but it's what i picked up :> great stuff!

well that was one way to destroy my heart and stomp all over the bits.

(SPOILERS)

damn, this was a REALLY effective interpretation of the subject matter. tying everything to the main character's nightmares really made me feel lost and disoriented, which worked perfectly with the narrative. i loved how in each "level" technically has a path to take and a way to beat it, but instead of feeling like you're progressing, it just seems like you're sinking deeper and deeper into trying to find an answer, a way to turn things back, anything that will tell you that everything will be okay (and this is especially poignant with the narration)... it was incredibly powerful, and the contrast it had with how quiet and quaint the real world scenes are just drove the point home further.

all of this would've been great on its own, but when you pair it with the art? WOW this game looks incredible. the tileset is moody and richly textured, with amazing uses of color. the sprites are great too, their movement is really well done and i love the variety they have (normal humans, abstract squiggles, gray human shapes...). the icon expressions!! they were incredibly creative and fluid, and honestly made the main character really memorable (i LOVE that it's the only way we see her communicate until the end; it was a great way to show how strong her emotions are, but how hard it is for her to express them), the game wouldn't have felt the same without them. the character busts were amazing too, i love their style so much and how expressive they are, they really left a big impact (the picture at the end?? GOD i'm gonna cry-). and there's so many small details; the gray circle that surrounds the screen in the nightmares, the way the font perfectly captures its child-made charm, the screen being less saturated at some points, the abstract backgrounds, the flower cursor!!! such a neat little touch haha. the presentation is amazing on all fronts, and it made everything in the nightmare sequences FEEL wrong and disturbing. gave me yume nikki/omori vibes at some points :D

and the MUSIC oh man, so so great. it feels chaotic and disturbing, like the tracks themselves don't know what's going on. it gave the presentation even more of a punch, and perfectly emphasized how twisted the nightmares are, and how much poppy is struggling to process anything at all. at some points it did feel a little too chaotic and annoying, and i think i would've liked it more if it was a little softer (even if i understand it's a tight rope to walk on haha), but it does the job really well (and the calmer tracks are amazing too!).

the gameplay was super creative as well!! maybe i got the game completely wrong but it's interesting to see a story focused on loss that doesn't explicitly use the five stages of grief as blueprints for its levels (not saying that it's wrong to do so, or that this story doesn't use the stages of grief at all; just thought it was neat to see how these levels took a more subtle and original approach with it). the part where you try to make everyone quiet down and every tile you step on gets destroyed was really cool. the tag game with the squiggles was great too and the way it makes you feel tiny with the zoom and every room being extremely big? sooo awesome. the first and second levels were a bit frustrating cuz of how you had to repeat areas and walk in circles (maybe there was a better way to do it and i didn't notice lol), but! the sprite turning around and then moving opposite so your inputs! so so so cool. the levels are really original and they tie into the story extremely well (nothing in the house feeling "right", trying to find a way to make everything okay if you walk down the hallway, wanting everything and everyone to be quiet, playing childhood games to try to cope with everything...), amazing stuff.

in terms of stuff i didn't love... i'm not sure if was a technical issue with me or not, but the opening sequence was... kind of weird? the combination of the music, the car crash audio and the extremely quiet voiceover was a bit too much to process, and poppy moving on her own all over the house with animations that i hadn't registered were the emotion icons yet (that's my only real issue with them tbh; it's not clear at the start that they're supposed to be emotion animations) felt kind of disorienting. maybe it's just a me thing but the opening scene being confusing made it a bit hard to get gripped by the story (tbf on a replay that sequence is much easier to follow, it might be just a first impression thing). and i found two random glitches; the first time you can walk in the backyard the fences can be walked through, and in the tag level if you pause the zoom goes back to default (honestly that's an issue with the engine itself lmao, but i thought i'd mention it).

man... i'm still thinking about that ending haha. what a gripping and emotionally resonant experience. it's easy to tell that you gave it your all to make this as respectful and effective as it could be, and i really admire that. fantastic stuff!!

(when i started writing this i thought "okay this game is about a pretty heavy topic that i'm not super knowledgeable about so i won't write much" and welp... never doubt the random swings of inspiration the writing muse will give you XD)

oh this was REALLY creative and fun, i love the concept and the characters so much!!

(SPOILERS)

a world that's all about dreams is an idea that's begging to be explored in creative ways, and the way dreams work here is really unique! i like how they're kind of the natural state of haetaes, and when they aren't doing tasks or going on with their day, they're in this dreamworld where only good things can happen; that's a really interesting concept. and when you die you turn into a statue that sleeps forever? that's... honestly a bit scary, but like in a good way? i honestly can't decide whether i'd prefer to just disappear or dream happy things for all eternity haha. oh, i also love how the designs and colors all revolve around dreams! the ground being made of clouds, the temple's architecture, the pastel color palette... it all evokes a sense of comfort and safety, which works amazingly well with how the dreams in this world are supposed to be... well, comfortable and safe. and it provides a GREAT contrast with how intense everything gets when things go wrong. and i think the sprites have improved! (they were always great but this really feels like an evolution of that style) i love the haetaes' designs and statues they turn into? sooo pretty. and the music!! usually music isn't something i focus on, but WOW the tracks here are really good, perfectly soothing or creepy when they need to be (and there's a very clever use of silence when the plot demands it). the aesthetic in your games is always top notch and makes everything feel truly otherwordly, and this was no exception! :D (also the world being called snooza? 11/10 no notes)

the characters are great too! i really liked wispers and stew; it's easy to tell they're friends but the little moments that set their personalities apart are really well done. wispers is a great protagonist, their curiosity and kindness were really endearing and i really wanted them to figure out what was happening and solve everything! elder yume is great too, i love old mentor characters they're so cool haha. and akumu!! god i loved him so much; his mischievousness, the way he talks, how he distorts everything in fun ways, the way he toys with people by trapping or mocking them... he was a blast, and i loved every single conversation with him haha. he's such a fun character, but he's intimidating when he needs to be! love how everything (even the screen margins in the dream sequence) gets red and messed up when he's around, love the mad laughter painted on the edges of the screen, love how he can seemingly do and manipulate anything in reality... and the way he's defeated? i love poetic justice haha. honestly i think he's probably my favorite character in all your games! the characters and writing overall are great :>

if i had to mention any problems i had... AKUMU DID NOTHING WRONG! he just didn't like dreams as much as everyone else and he got ostracized and ignored for it, and the only reason he hurt other elders was because the power of the immortal peach was too overwhelming, and after years and years of being trapped alone with his thoughts of course he'd go insane!! and instead of finally achieving relief with death, he's forced to dream forever, something he's made very clear he dislikes! #AkumuDeservedBetter

(ok seriously though this whole point is kind of a joke, cuz yea akumu did do bad stuff- XD on a more serious note, it kind of feels like the game is blaming akumu's evil simply on the fact that he doesn't like dreams as much as everyone else? but on the other hand, the reason he doesn't like dreams is because he wants to have unlimited power and get everything he wants, so honestly it evens out haha. but i think he could've been a bit more malicious, or done more evil things, so his role as an antagonist feels more deserved. that's just my opinion tho)

overall this was an amazing game!! one of my favorites from you for sure. i love playing through the stories of these otherwordly places and universes, and i can't wait to see what comes next! :D

ahhh this was so great!! i love mind-twisty mystery games like these, and this was super intriguing and creative! :D

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love the setting and overall vibes; it really made me feel like i was in the middle of nowhere, investigating something and getting no results every day. and an arctic wasteland is a perfect choice to cultivate isolation and dread of the unknown. i got really frustrated every in-game day (but like, in a good way haha) with how few answers i was getting, and more questions kept pilling up. left me wanting to know what was going on sooo much.

i think the repetitive nature of the gameplay has its pros and cons, but it's ultimately a really clever choice; it's a bit frustrating to do the exact same things every day and only having minor shakeups, and sometimes while i was playing i kinda wished you had different assignments every day to keep things fresh; but on the other hand, it makes the small events that do happen all the more intense. things like the energy system not working seem just as important as a colleague getting injured when you're going through your tasks, trying to find any clues as to what's really going on. it's really effective in that regard :>

i really liked the characters as well! and THANK YOU for not doing the obvious "main character is suspicious but all their friends just think they're being paranoid" (that trope is so annoying-), cuz everyone being on board, discussing their viewpoints and trying to piece together what's happening is a LOT more interesting. i loved their discussions and how they found out more odd things with their combined knowledge (the scene where they realize they have pretty much the same memories was really eerie, and the dialogue felt really realistic). and their plans and deductions always felt reasonable. and speaking of characters! i really love how things that seem like odd character quirks (like the professor not leaving the room or the one guy who's always sleeping) end up also being things that indicate something is very wrong. that was really clever!

(also i didn't know where to put this but the busts change depending on your outfit?? such a neat detail)

if i had to nitpick stuff, i feel like while the repetitive aspect of the gameplay is really effective, some parts of it took a bit too long, like using the drill or changing clothes. and on the way to the laboratory, the map you go to in the middle of the map is flipped in terms of the direction you're facing. and this is probably really unfair cuz art is really difficult, but i kinda wished there were character busts for the other friends too. but like i said, these are just nitpicks!

overall this was a super intriguing and creative ride! and OHHH a mimicry of life!! cuz the scientists are trying to mimic life!!! aaahh that's so clever. i love that sm haha. great stuff.

ahh yeah! i think i read the word "quiz" in the game page and assumed it was a literal quiz, not a game. my bad haha.

(side note: sorry for taking so long to try your games! i wish i could be quicker but real life responsabilities get in the way lol T_T)