Love the aesthetic and flow of the game, very well done all around!

This was the first time I played a RenPy game so I was excited to see what it was like! I have a fondness for IF in text form, but have not played many (if any?) visual novels!

What struck me initially was the pacing that text scrolled, paced bit by bit, put me in a mood. The retro and grainy presentation and art style married with the writing very quickly established myself in the position of the unnamed character. I found the writing reflecting similar experiences that I’ve had as a freelancer and sometimes writer, feeling a bit disconnected from the people around me, so I become more sucked into the text itself as it appeared rather than the changes in the artwork. I noted that the characters changed, but usually after the fact. My attention was really on the teletype effect of the test, eagerly waiting to see what next part of the story would reveal itself, so I could see where it would go.

I find myself haunted a bit by the unresolved play I had (there was a bug?) so I didn’t play to completion. There is a deliciousness, though, in the unresolved mystery of WHO WAS THIS CHARACTER? WHY IS THE SRI-SHAPED CAT HEADPHONE GIRL MEAN AT FIRST? And of course the nature of the world as my understanding evolves.

This is a very interesting style of writing that I’d like to try sometime myself; I find myself reacting to my experience with the game primarily as a writer, not a video gamer, and that’s a super interesting response to have. Some of my favorite stories from childhood (pre-Disney Winnie the Pooh, for example) have these wonderful illustrations that never are incorporated into the text themselves, and I find the idea that this could happen very exciting! Looking forward to seeing how this develops!

Gorgeous game, really nice atmosphere and fun character designs. I’m not sure if the whole “things change if you do X / repeat yourself” was added in this build or not, but I love where it’s going