One way or anotha, I'm gonna find ya / I'm gonna get ya get ya get ya get ya
Sorry. I had to. Mean Girls was a staple of my teen years.
Speaking of Mean Girls, this VN gives off the feeling of a mid-2000s comedy film. Which means it could either be terrible or hilarious, and I'm glad to say that this falls on the latter. This VN is genuinely funny, unhinged and ridiculous, and it got good laughs out of me. The plot is pure nonsense but honestly, who cares? There's a surprising amount of characterization here, which I appreciated. The hand-drawn sprites are also quite nice.
And yet, despite being a very ridiculous twisty VN, it also brings forth an interesting perspective about being aro/ace in a society so focused on sex and romance. I really appreciated that. I may be a gay dude who's terminally horny, but I think we need more aro/ace representation.
I could fix Fleetwood
Overall, very entertaining VN. Pure comedy fiction normally doesn't really work for me, but this does. I laughed. I had a good time.
Listen, as a fan of horror movies--whether they're dead serious, silly, or somewhere between--and as someone who wants to make them someday, I appreciate this. This VN is goofy as hell and I'm all here for it.
This VN is simultaneously a slasher and a parody of the slasher genre. As such, it has all the things you could wish for: characters with the intelligence of a wooden crate, a cool killer, stupidly funny lines, and effective suspense. The story also sort of twists the "final girl" trope into a "final gay" scenario (can we get more of that please). This also gets bonus points for a twist that I genuinely didn't predict, though I guess I just had my brain off while reading and enjoying the VN lol.
Beyond the story, the music is cool, and I do love a good soundtrack (speaking of which, justice for queen Joy). The sprites are well done, though I would have wished for a few more expressions. I get that it's a jam game though and there's a time limit--Lord knows I do. The UI is unique and I liked that, although there was one particular line where the text got so long that it went behind the quick menu and I had to open the history menu to read it.
Overall, this VN set out to be a silly slasher with some silly gays and that's exactly what it did. And I ate it up like I do a large popcorn every time I go see a movie.
My main problem is that this takes itself too seriously. With a premise like this, I think it could work well as an absurd/surreal comedy. And at times, the VN seems like it wants to lean in to the humor that can be derived from this wacky premise. Yet for most of the game, it seems like it wants the reader to actually take this idea seriously. It does use the overall premise of a nudist society to deliver a message about one's place in society, which I can appreciate, but I just wish it was executed better. I would suggest leaning into the absurdity of the premise. It can be hard to use a silly idea like this to give a thoughtful message, but it can hit hard if done right (an example that comes to my mind is Oz Perkins's The Monkey).
Other than that, I guess the use of the visuals is fun. This VN did what it could using only pre-made assets, which I can kind of admire. The music choices were surprisingly fun, though I would not suggest using an epic battle song for an argument. The prose was clean for the most part; there were a few sentences that baffled me (e.g. "the hour is getting late", "it's time for me to think about getting a good night's sleep").
Overall, I'm afraid I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy this. I love good surreal humor and I thought I was going to get it from this, but this VN seemed more interested in taking its silly premise seriously. As a result, it just fell flat for me, even with the playful visuals and clearly delivered message.
This is a nice Western story with a satisfying end. That title theme was awesome and I liked the animated cutscenes. I will say though, I do wish the VN did a bit more to explore Javi and Nate's relationship. I get that this is a jam game and it's going to be short, but I feel like a few more scenes between the two that show their developing relationship would be beneficial.
Although the presentation is solid, I would recommend darkening the text box more. There were times were the text felt a little hard to read.
Congrats on releasing your first VN! That is a huge accomplishment and you should be proud of yourself. I look forward to seeing what you do in the future.
Damn, this one was cool! The art was awesome (as per usual with Jimmy lol), and the presentation is fantastic, even with the default Ren'Py UI. Between the tense atmospheric buildup, the intelligent prose, the themes and the way the narrative connects everything, I would consider this a worthy entry to the Gothic horror genre of FVNs. Great work!
Good game! I appreciated the atmosphere and character moments. The art slaps, like holy heck. The musical elements did a great job of immersing me into the world of this game. The writing could use some polish (there were a few sentences that admittedly didn't make much sense to me, and I'm afraid I'm one of *those* people). But overall, good jam game. Nice work, Fantom Fandisk.
Horrifying in every way. Incredible art and writing, and a tense abrasive score that worked together to create an atmosphere that made me feel uneasy the entire time. The jumpscares in this VN were the first to ever make me scream, and I applaud the creators for that. Later in the VN, I even found myself looking away when I had to advance to the next line for fear that a horrific image would pop on screen. I made the mistake of reading this in the middle of the night and I ended up losing sleep because of this (I call it a mistake but really I don't regret it lol). And even long after I had finished, I found myself shaking, looking at every dark corner to make sure I was truly alone. No piece of horror media had ever made me feel that way, and this is coming from a jaded horror fan.
"All Under Control" is terrifying, unrelenting, and hauntingly beautiful. I say without a shred of doubt that this is the scariest visual novel I have ever read.
