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I just read this on my phone and kept making faces like I was being punched in the gut. Deliciously nasty and hot, with a surprising amount of worldbuilding depth for a 2k word story.

I barely have words for how heart-pounding this experience is. I expected the cute art style to provide a buffer between myself and the game's more disturbing content, but it somehow only served to make it more intense.

All three of its main characters are fully fleshed out and their dynamics with each other are so perfectly awful. I could read 100,000 more words of this. And the collage art???? Actually one of the most visually pleasing (and upsetting) games I've ever played.

Fairy Chess will make you feel like you're a specimen being prodded and observed. The medical diagram style art and research paper opening perfectly sets up the disconnect between the game's two characters, and it only gets more intense from there. The prose is flowery and complex in a way that made me feel disoriented, or like I wasn't smart enough for this game, only to realize I was feeling exactly like its protagonist: playing a game where I didn't fully understand the rules because I needed to know what would happen at the end. And that end was one of the most wild and incredible scenes I've ever seen depicted in a game.

If I ever meet someone who talks to AI chatbots, I'm sending them this game. An uncomfortably real depiction of what it's like for kids who are growing up right now. The fact that Dani says, right at the beginning, that she knows Snowy isn't real, makes everything that happens after hurt that much more.

The google search results screen is one of the best examples I have ever seen of show-don't-tell storytelling in a visual novel. You get years of this character's life and implications on how she feels about herself, all on one screen with no dialogue. Genuinely incredible.

I adore these characters. Equal parts trans love and trans rage, there is something almost painfully real about the way these girls talk to each other.

The paper cutout style for the sprites is just genius, and really serves to complement the already adorable character art. And then also serves to make the harrowing scenes (like the hands CG!!!) that much more intense and shocking. I wanna give Alice a hug.

I didn't expect this to hit me as hard as it did. I never swam on a team, but I did grow up on a beach and basically lived in the water until my feelings about my own body started to become a lot more complicated. I haven't swam since coming out, but this game has encouraged me to try it again.

I really really liked the watercolor visuals and faceless characters, giving the whole thing the vibe of a hazy, half-forgotten memory. Then having real camera footage of the actual swimming, to me felt like saying "this is the only part of the memory that's concrete." The ending had me clenching my fists on the edge of my seat, and the music is so good. Truly amazing stuff.

This belongs in a museum. The amount of gorgeous art packed into a relatively short game is almost unbelievable. I said "wow" aloud multiple times while playing because I was just blown away by how pretty it all was.

The writing is at times poetic and at times clinical, and evokes the protagonist's feelings perfectly. The doctor's office scene gave me actual chills. Even if you haven't experienced any kind of chronic medical condition, this game will speak to you simply as a human with a body. The two endings complement each other really well, and I legitimately cried at the Sun ending.

Let your intrusive thoughts win, girl!!!

This game immediately sucked me into Emma's warped view of herself and the world, and I related to her a lot. It's also completely unafraid of being sexy, openly depicting Emma's unconventional desires in a very genuine and unabashed way. I could read about her forever.

I also really appreciated how the ending choice seems like an arbitrarily subtle difference, but results in two very different scenarios, which is certainly how real life feels sometimes.

This one gets the award for: Closest A Toxic Yuri Jam Game Got to Actually Making Me Throw Up

This thing is intense from start to finish and does things with its engine that should not be possible. The art is gorgeous, and it has some of the most unique monster designs I've ever seen. The demons appearing differently to each person, and the way that fact is used in the story, was an extremely effective touch. I could probably read this game ten times and continue to find new metaphors and subtle things I missed each time. Truly incredible.

I've played/read/watched a lot of things that attempt to capture the feeling of being in a dream, but this takes the cake. 

Like trying to run from a threat, but the harder you pump your legs the slower you move. Like pouring your heart out to a loved one but when you look up at them they've morphed into someone completely different. Just, beautiful writing and visuals paired with a soothing classical soundtrack that helps lull you into the dream scenario even further. Amazing work.

It was SO fun getting to beta read for this game. 

The presentation on this thing is absolutely incredible. The opening animation (and the music!!!) immediately pulls you into the scenario and makes a tone promise of something much darker than the game's beginning would otherwise imply. And then it just keeps amping up the tension the entire time until it reaches its inevitable conclusion. Fantastic CGs, fun characters, great music. I would be obsessed with this game even if I had nothing to do with it!!

Honestly unbelievable that this game was made in only six weeks. All of the art, audio (the foley work???) and writing are top-notch. Separating its chapters into "stages," with the accompanying visuals and relevant literary quotes, just showcases how tightly-made the whole package is.

And then there's the story itself, which is maybe the most deeply relevant thing I've ever read. As someone who had a callout post made about her on 2010s tumblr, this captures the moralizing language of that crowd to a T. It was legitimately cathartic. Thank you for writing this.

Marisol must be protected at all costs!!! 

Incredibly polished sprites and CGs, and a story that will make you desperate to give its main character a hug. There is a moment near the end that uses the medium of visual novels to perfectly portray what it's like to be stuck in a situation like Marisol's, without having to directly say it. This game is full of care and empathy, while still feeling very harrowing and uncomfortable when it needs to be.

Incredibly beautiful prose and art that connected with my brain on a deep level, such that I felt myself being moved and getting emotional even when I didn't consciously "get" the literal meaning of every individual piece. We are all still capable of connecting with one another despite the boundaries placed between us.