This was definitely an interesting experience. The art is good, writing itself is decently well-written, with feeling and tension, but I did find myself a little disappointed with the predictability of the story despite the tension it sets up -- or perhaps because of that tension and how it genuinely feels interesting. A lot of the plot points are pretty quickly set up, and a lot of the story is padded by daily routines that, while in some cases making the main character feel more human and gives us a sense of the days passing, end up feeling a touch repetitive. After finishing it, I can't help but feel as though it was the setup to a story that maybe should've been bigger, or incorporated choices to make it more of a visual novel game than simply a novel experience on its own, especially for ten dollars. I do appreciate the messages the story gives, but I also feel like they could have been expanded on, or played out in ways that end up preserving more of the tension or surprise once a dramatic moment finally comes to fruition. I found myself very unsurprised by the third act and ending, and with a feeling of a lack of catharsis that wasn't necessarily because of the way it ended, but because I just really wanted there to be something -- anything -- more to it. Perhaps the intention was to be vague and let the lesson speak for itself, but I feel like most of the game already spoke that lesson (almost to the point of hammering it in) that the ending felt kind of like a sad shrug of "well, what else did you expect?"

All that said, I would love to see more games out of Mado, and think they could absolutely make future bangers of games with a bit more time and planning. For a game that was made more or less in six months by one person, it's definitely an achievement to be proud of!