Take care of yourself, sounds difficult <3
Sister Sunny
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oooooohhhh this was GOOD SHIT. Very satisfying, can be read in two hours, with a good plot and some moments that are genuinely scary. I liked that I was able to figure out the twist in time to get the soonest possible good ending, but honestly... and this is a rare thing indeed... I think, even after choosing literally every 'bad idea' option offered, the worst ending is still really not that bad. A rare, strangely hopeful horror game. Perfect for a Halloween you intend to celebrate but without skipping on sleep
OKAY.
Here's the thing. I'll open with the worst part of this game.
The translation. By god, the translation from Russian to English was done so poorly. Get ready to be confused for things like calling the protagonist 'plastic' to mean they're 'flexible' because of a direct translation.
But, on the other hand, the translation really doesn't get in the way of enjoying the story, funnily enough. Usually, I'm the first one to bow out of a poorly-translated story--it's happened, for example, with danmei books--but here, the art, the music, and most importantly, the characters themselves, kept me more than hooked by themselves.
Let us begin with the art. Oh my god. Impeccable. Every single asset in this VN look like blood, sweat, and tears went into lovingly hand-crafting it. It makes even just looking at any given scene a pleasing experience. And the CGs, when they come, are just gorgeous.
Next, the music. For some reason, the different songs are set at different default volumes, so you might have to adjust the volume throughout the VN, but every one of the songs was pleasant to listen to, they never got annoying despite there (as far as I know) not being a moment of reprieve. And of course, they added so much to the important moments.
Finally, the characters. This is really where the writing shines, which only makes the shoddy translation all the more tragic--the writers really knew what they were doing, and the main cast of three had my heart locked down for them through the entire story. The side characters varied in how much I liked them, but that was never a problem, with the protagonist always viewing everything through an interesting lens.
Oh yes, the protagonist is so severely autistic he can barely function. I see pieces of myself in him, it's endearing to me. If you aren't autistic and find his behaviour rude, I think it'll still be interesting, because the VN takes place entirely from his unreliable perspective, so it's fascinating to see what the narrator puts forward, whilst trying to discern what he's missing between the lines.
All in all, a fabulous game, which should be read despite the translation, as the core of it is what matters.
And if you can read Russian, oh my god, you have no excuse, just go read this VN now
A Demon Within Shelter - First Release! ( + 涓枃 ! ) comments 路 Posted in A Demon Within Shelter - First Release! ( + 涓枃 ! ) comments
I fucking screamed. Twice. The funny thing? I saw the first 'jumpscare' image on bsky the day before. I looked at that and went 'is this supposed to be scary? Maybe it's a contextual thing.' And then I looked at the alt text, which was something something 'disturbingly wide smile' and I noticed indeed how wide it was; how wide the eyes.
There wasn't context. Just a constant atmosphere of dread, so much dread, and a soft 'thump' as the image appeared. I screamed.
One hour long read, and it wasn't even the last time.
Amazing visuals, writing, and oh my god, sound design. Bravo
It's amazing to see how much you progressed in art in such a short time between WIKY and WIFL, but honestly the writing was just as good as always. In fact, I liked Callum as a character more than Mylo for the simple fact I feel he made fewer mistakes in the first half. I just basically loved every character, honestly, despite everything that happens. The plot kept me hooked, Marcus had me hooked, their relationship had me hooked, just, yes.
Also, I screenshotted Marcus's appearance at the end of WIFL so I could refer back to it throughout my readthrough because oh my god he just looks so real and beautiful and boopable
Well... damn. I was not expecting this to be as good as it was.
Listen, early on, you're going to be hit with a major hurdle to continue reading: tolerating the protagonist's self-sabotage. It's there, and it's infuriating, but it is not a core character trait, and it's very satisfying watching him better himself (and be bullied into being better) as the story progresses!
No the art isn't Michaelangelo but it has its moments, and anyway what shines brightest is the writing. It's honestly so well written, hilarious when it wants to be, and genuinely crushing when it tries. And boy, it tries a few times throughout. This is, ultimately, a very hopeful and happy story, thank fuck, it didn't leave me sobbing, thank fuck, but it's just so well done.
A good idea, well executed. By the way, am I the only one who feels like JJ's Wasted Love (Austria's Eurovision winning song) is a perfect fit for the first third of this story? Jakob really do be making us feel that way iaeluvbeiljbvae
Just finished rereading it.
It makes so much more sense. Enjoyed it just as much as the first time around, maybe more. I understand. Somewhat. Not everything, gods no. I think the only person who understands it all is the creator.
It's not the best visual novel I've ever read.
It's the best story I've ever read. Ever.
Wow. This was the best visual novel I've ever read. And yes, I've read Adastra, Echo, Shelter, In case of emergency, etc... it's just that good. Absolute mindfuck. Absolutely raucous laughter almost throughout. Absolutely unabashedly loveable characters. Ian is baby. Kurt is fun. Even the side characters, Andrew... Fisher, were amazing. Everything just. Blew me away. Art, yes, that too. If this were priced at a hardcover book I'd buy it instantly. Oh my god. The micro-expressions. The amazing comedic timing. I still don't understand everything that's going on and that's the beauty of it. I think I'm going to reread it from start to finish to better appreciate all the twists. I think I may have to do so multiple times to truly understand what happened. Wow
On My Science Fiction and Furry Media Problem comments 路 Posted in On My Science Fiction and Furry Media Problem comments
Some little changes / Quelques petits changements comments 路 Posted in Some little changes / Quelques petits changements comments
Holy. Shit. I read the dev log mentioning that the writing would be toned down and rewritten in future updates, and whilst I understand why, I just want to say, I LOVE IT. My first experience with this game was having it muted whilst I quickly finished an email, coming back to it, unmuting it, and being blasted with the main menu song going unnecessarily hard with the gorgeous art in the background. The cryptic intro was giving me that amazing feeling of the sublime that I absolutely love, and even more than that, the amount of worldbuilding. Granted, this was one feature that I think actually was a bit distracting, as worldbuilding nerd that I am, I stopped reading every time a notification popped up to get the lore, but maybe just making the notification discreet or even nonexistent would fix that, just by making it so you only read them in longer, more spaced-out bursts, instead of getting the urge to read them every time? idk
also, listening to the soundtrack rn as I write this and UGHHHHHHHH shit FUCKS so hard, I've never gotten such cinematic vibes from a VN before, except maybe soulcreek? but even then, soulcreek has like one song that slaps and the rest is just really good sound design, this vn is one chapter in and there are like, a good six I'd happily put on my playlist. Okay, that's a lie. Maybe eight.
I feel obliged to keep talking about the writing. It's so UGH YES, just MMMM yes. I'M ONE CHAPTER IN Y'ALL and it's serving total cunt at every turn from poetry to cryptic verse to witty banter, and just, it's the small things, like 'LOOM' tying into the motif of threads, or the first time you see the LOOM entry it's corrupted with Kavir(?)'s commentary near the end. The attention to detail is just fucking fabulous.
Also, the premise is yes.
And it's just so original? Like, yes, frostbitten worlds are a trope. But has literal storytelling magic ever been done before? A youtuber I watch (Nakari Speardane) has a somewhat similar idea of magic manifesting what people believe to be the truth into it, but still, that's not even close to the way this interlinks with the post-acopalypse of the world, and IBSIHCBEWLHJCBHIBV
just oh my god. Have I ever been so thoroughly hooked, lined, and sinkered so quickly before? I don't think so. This VN is unique in that way
Tl;Dr please don't change the prose too much I love it so much
This made me shiver in fear, and cry with emotion. I am not your average Goodreads keysmasher; I do not cry for nothing. No, it takes beautiful writing, and wonderful music, and gorgeous art, and this VN had all of that in spades. You can clearly see the effort that went into it, and more importantly, the love.