Are You Certain About That? Well, I'm quite certain this visual novel has tons of comedic elements and it does have shine with its funny conversation and slapstick jokes revolving the game Jam themes that they picked. Seriously, I'm pretty much certain it IS a gem of a comedy too.

So Are You Certain About That? is a whimsical and light hearted comedy kinetic novel about four characters (not certain of their relationship tho) and out of the two, Wanda and Ellie, are able to transform into magical girls. The story and dialogs are well written with some funny bits here and there and can get hilariously weird at some points, certainly in a good way. The character art is well drawn for the visual novel genre and the characters have facial expressions of their own. The CGs are really nice with good color composition and layout. The UI and graphics use is well made and does fit well with the story genre. Its a nice short comedy that teases the game jams themes so basically the developers manage to pull that off with a laugh. I got to enjoy the character dialog and and had a few chuckles here and there which stands out as something fresh for me compared to all the entries in the jam.

This was a quirky kinetic novel!

I enjoyed the characters. They had good designs, and fun personalities that bounced nicely off each other. The story never took itself too seriously, starting with the Wumpus (now there's a vintage reference!) and continuing on with puns, gags, and references. It was maybe a touch sillier than I expected... not really a criticism though.

I did have trouble judging what era the setting was supposed to be. I thought it was Victorian, but then the backgrounds seemed more modern. Maybe it's a fantasy/alt reality setting? (Beyond just the presence of Magical Girls)

I like interactive elements when I read visual novels, but I do understand that this is meant to be a kinetic novel. The length felt about right for what was there, but I did find myself wishing there was just a bit more story. It seemed this novel was more focused on just the interaction of the 4 characters. Maybe an encounter with the Wumpus or some other action/drama could spice it up a little.

Still, I enjoyed my time reading this. Nice work!

Thoughts recorded during my playthrough

+ = I liked it

- = I didn't like it

* = Comment/neutral

====================

+ Nice quick intro

- What is with these faces? The style is kinda rubbing me wrong.

- It's not always clear who is talking. I don't know which name belongs to which character since 2 are presented on screen at the same time.

- In the first scene, it's hard to tell where the characters are supposed to be. It looks like a train? But then there's something about "messing with a crime scene?" They were talking about a wumpus appearing, but I can't tell if they are visiting the aftermath of a wumpus attack or simply chatting about it in some remote location.

* OK, when the background changed it seems like we're supposed to be in an apartment that was attacked by a wumpus.

+ OK that transformation line, followed by the reasoning, is legitimately funny.

- I'm not clear about what these other characters have against Wanda

- The writing is all over the place. I know we're going for a silly tone here, but the jokes are just failing to land.

- I don't understand the characters' motivations or what their purposes are.

Summary

There were a few cute moments here. I noticed the jam themes were mentioned during the course of the story, but the story itself is so weak that it doesn't hold together well. I think I would enjoy the story more if the characters' purposes and motivations were more clearly defined from the start, rather than revealed over time.

The wumpus line does a great job of setting the tone early on. Ellie is probably my favourite, but all the characters have amazing chemistry and great lines. The character art is great, too, both the designs and the drawings themselves. Wanda reminds me a bit of Bean from Disenchantment because of her hair colour and expression.

I'm less of a fan of the backgrounds, in most cases I can squint and say, yup, that's a fantasy Victorian England, but there's also one with a modern city bus or delivery truck visible in it. I do like the setting but I also feel it isn't being fully utilized here.

The meta ending kind of works for me. It still feels like a "crap we're out of time and ideas and we need to end it" ending, but it's executed better than most, and just barely slides by on the chemistry of the characters. The Super Monkey Ball reference is also appreciated.

There are two minor issues that take away from the overall polished appearance a bit; there's some visual weirdness with the border of the text box, and some of the transitions reveal that the character graphics have no legs.

I'm also on the fence about having both music and ambiance playing at the same time.

Generally I'm not a fan of kinetic novels- I expect games to have gameplay (bit of a cheap shot, sorry). This one I liked the art and writing enough to get by but I think if it was much longer I would start to get frustrated.

Overall one of my favourites of the entries I've played so far (though I've only played a quarter of them I think).

EDIT: I do like that the themes were worked into the girls' powers, but it did come across as just a bit ham-fisted.