This was just the right length. The UI being so small really added to the cramped feeling, I felt trapped right along with the characters and like anything could happen in that tiny space. And then the bit at the end...! Really good story here.
I wasn't sure about this one until the twist started to reveal itself, then I was hooked. What a ride. It feels like it ended really abruptly though, to the point where I wonder if it was meant to have more.
Yeah, I agree - I've definitely played games that have more disturbing content in them (though this one definitely does have some disturbing content). It's more the oppressive feeling of tension without release.
I found myself getting weirdly attached to the voice. Maybe it's because I was clicking the dialogue options for it? But I hope that things will be okay for it in the future. It was cruel, but in a way where it didn't understand it was being cruel or really what it meant to be cruel, because it was never taught that. And its fear is real, too. I'm glad Garbage held onto it instead of giving it away - it feels like a metaphor for not letting your trauma control you, but also not burying it or trying to remove it. It's still a part of you, after all - trying to get rid of it is neither feasible nor healthy.
I could tell while I was playing this that I was going to have no idea how to write a review for it. There's so much in this story and it encompasses so many emotions that I feel like I don't have the words to easily sum up how I felt after reading it. There's enough in here to write an entire essay about. I actually had to take breaks while playing it because it was just too tense to play all in one go - I remember when I took one and then loaded it up again an hour later and immediately went "HOW AM I ONLY HALFWAY THROUGH?!" I felt like I had no idea how long it was going to be or how far through I was, which admittedly was a little frustrating, but I think strengthened the themes really well. The good and the bad started to blend together a bit and it felt like watching lives play out rather than reading a story, I had no way of telling what was going to happen next so everything felt like a surprise.
The cycles of better again, worse again, better again, worse again were really intense. It was nerve-wracking watching some people get better while others got worse, or some people get worse while others got better. The whole thing felt like watching someone balance plates and just waiting to see which one fell first. It tied in well with the...puppygirl factory? Which I did keep wanting to see explained but wasn't holding my breath for, since I could tell it was very metaphorical in nature. Where there's a cyclical churn of some sort going on. It really did feel like it highlighted how disposable society tends to view trans people as.
I think my favorite scene was the one where everyone was coming to Audrey for help, it was so nerve-wracking. It was soooooo much to watch her get increasingly drunk as just about everyone she knew started coming to her for advice on stuff.
This was soooo interesting. It felt like such a neat little character study. It was really interesting that Mira withheld her actual interest in Ada from Irene - it makes me wonder if, on some level, she understands that she's being parasocial and unhealthy about her hero worship.
THAT'S ONE OF MY FAVORITE INTERACTIONS WITH HER. I agree soooo much, I feel like it really blows her character wide open. She LOVES being a big fish in a small pond, she's not interested in engaging with you on equal terms at ALL. She's so high on her own fumes about how she can destroy planets and you can't that she's unable to view your death as a problem for you instead of an experience for her.
OH WOW that's great to know, I had no idea! Thanks so much, you've saved me an esoteric headache and three hours of confused googling somewhere down the line. I'm going to go push a 1.2 release where I change those, just in the event that someone wants to save and reload a game.
They're in there, but I don't expect anyone to actually guess them - it's partially just for fun for me, but also because then if I do something else that reveals them, someone could come back here and get a fun little surprise.
There is something new if you name yourself Marduj and ask ABOUT Marduj, though...!
There are two ways, but one of them is harder to find!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, thank you for this lovely comment! I'm glad you liked the lore enough to replay it and seek out out!
As for other writing...this is embarrassing to admit but the only things I can think of are a few NSFW pieces I published elsewhere (unrelated to this setting). I'd like to make some more VNs, though, both in this setting and unrelated. Or even just prose pieces! So keep an eye out.
Yeah, she's actually the ship itself. The "body" you interact with is grown in a vat and remote-controlled. It's part of why escape is effectively impossible - it's like a mouse trying to escape a snake's stomach after being eaten.
Oh wow I can't believe I didn't give those special reactions! I absolutely should have! Thank you for pointing that out, I'm going to work that into the 1.1 release. I can even put in special comments about the second and third pets, the ones you don't know the names of, in case people guess them...! It's so awesome you thought to try those things, I'm sorry in my haste I didn't provide anything for them, I wish I could reward that adventurous spirit! I'm so glad you liked it!
I wanted the focus in this one to be the journey, not the destination - I wanted to explore feelings of lacking agency while still being able to react to events around you.
THIS COMMENT IS GREAT, you really picked up on the feelings I was trying to go for with this game! I was trying really hard to make something where replays were not so much about "how will this turn out differently" as "what new understandings can I come to about the events".
You're SPOT ON about not milking it for cruelty, that was actually something specific I was going for. Cruelty is a tool Kataja has as her disposal, but her goal is just to exert control - so she's willing to be cruel but not inherently interested in it. And she's more interested in what her various pets do than getting specific reactions out of them, so when romantic intent is projected onto her, she mirrors that more out of curiosity to see where it leads than a similar desire. You're her pet, and while she won't object to you reading that in a romantic sense, she won't push it there herself.
I'm so glad you found the worldbuilding compelling, I did a bunch behind the scenes too to try to come up with a bigger picture so everything could fit together, it makes me happy when people are interested in it.
YES she absolutely does, she drops a lot of hints that she really enjoys being a big fish in a small pond and feeling strong. I'm glad you picked up on that!
The dynamics here are so fascinating, the slow burn was really good. It felt like such a tragic tale. I knew it would end badly, but the actual way it ended was still so sad and surprising...
I was worried this one might be a bit rough for me since I've struggled with disordered eating but I'm glad I played it, it was pretty good. The whole thing felt uncomfortable in an interesting way, with Delilah being extremely pushy and then it being revealed to be sexually charged. I was also surprised by the reveal of who dealt with Josh!
It's very sweet how they're both clearly trying but don't know how to recognize it properly. I think it's really funny that Selene is so bored and likes toxic yuri, like, same, girl.
This one kept me thinking the whole time. About baggage we leave behind when we move on with our lives, about people we think we'll always be with, about how sometimes the best thing something in our lives can do is...end. It feels like a story about holding on but also about letting go. It felt like, in the end, they both accepted how things had to go. You can ride that train until you're an empty husk but it'll never reach the station.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!! Especially since you were worried you wouldn't!
I'm sooooo glad you liked the reveal, I went over that scene several times trying to make it feel right. I struggle with visualizing so I had to kind of work around that for writing out what her "domain" was like (it's actually a spaceship!) so it's wonderful to know that it worked really well for you!
I felt transfixed while reading this. I have a lot of friends with DID and this touched on a lot of feelings I have for them, and experiences they've talked about (like having to "share" a relationship, or having to figure out who's responsible for some self-harm). I really felt for Zuzanna and the struggles the system was going through.
This was fantastic, it did a great job putting me in Sun's head. It's really sad how they just slowly dissolved under the weight of depression and trauma. It feels really interesting that our religions don't line up with the religion of heaven, but that that doesn't matter - it exists independently of us.
I'm so glad you liked it! I do think I want to write more for this setting in the future, though I feel this particular story is finished - I don't think I could capture an entire life with the same style of narrative freedom/lack of agency. Whatever Perlinja experiences is left to her and Kataja, I think.
I couldn't tear myself away from this one. These three kept pulling each other down further and further, it was like watching a car crash in slow motion. Something was so obviously off about Anny, with how pushy she was, that it was almost a relief when the other shoe dropped! After a certain point it feels like you start to see the trajectory and it becomes impossible to avoid it.
I really liked the "twist" where the toxic yuri happened before the current relationship, and it was causing problems with the present relationship. Sort of an examination of the lasting damage a toxic relationship can cause.
I felt so bad for Irina, she's clearly trying so hard and Seraphine's problem isn't even her...though maybe that makes Irina a little bit obsessed in her own way, too! Especially once you learn everything she knows. It's interesting how hard it can be sometimes to tell the difference between forgiving someone for their faults and turning a blind eye to them.
Brutal read. The prose is almost like poetry and the story really kept me guessing. It's kind of chilling how quickly Mary was able to reinstate herself as a controlling presence.
This felt very much like watching someone be lifted up only to be dropped from a greater height. I'm deeply curious what Eden's story was, she felt like a mystery. Maybe too much of one; it made her feel more like a force than a person to me. Which might've been intentional, since that's kind of a pet-like view of an owner, but it made it hard for me to feel like I understood what she was getting out of the deal (especially given the ending).
