this blew me away. the aesthetics are 100% on point, the sound design is great, the concept is really interesting -- did we have the same time limit or ??? i would love to see where this goes!! good luck!!

I think, and it's coming from someone who despise visual novel, that it is a clever and interesting, well-document story that kept me interested from the beginning to the end.

The two protagonists were well-written and their relationship was believable, the actual plot was similar to Junji Ito stories (which I'm very fond of), and the choices really impact the story so it made me think I was really investigating the mystery.

What I don't like about visual novel is the lack of interesting visual, which help to emphasize the text. Your game has an interesting artistic direction and don't throw too much reading at once, everything is very digest.

I just think you could have gone further into horror elements, because it feels like the game end after much build-up, the mystery is "solved" before protagonist encounter real difficulties in their investigations. But maybe time limit was the problem here ?

I encourage you to continue the development of the game, I think you can make a greater mystery, more investigation mechanics, you have in fact everything to make a great game. 

Ahh this was fun. Love the 1-bit graphics for the locations, and in general all the visuals had a very eerie feel. The audio added to that quite a bit -- I think my favorite bit was the BGM with the reverse piano. 

The story's compelling for sure in that it keeps you reading, but I definitely found myself wanting more at both endings, but maybe that's a good thing. I would've loved to learn what the last two tapes were in the reporters' backstory were -- that was probably the most compelling part for me. This sort of reminded me of the VN "Return to Shironagasu Island" both for a lot of setting similarities, and that the plot touched lightly on a bunch of different horror devices without settling on one. While I think it results in a less "tight" story it's definitely a fun one.

But yeah, very neat! Thanks for making this!

This might be my favourite submission. Everything about it was carefully crafted, it's incredibly charming, and the manual adds an extra layer of immersion.  The real life inspiration makes a great premise for a mystery game. Extra props for the similarities to early Japanese adventure games, including the island's namesake. I didn't even know you could make games like this in Ren'Py!

This was great.

I'm not much into visual novels, but this was able to hold my attention and kept me invested the whole way through. Great stuff considering it was done in a week.
The writing of the little audio tapes in the flashback scene was standing out to me in particular, had a lot of fun reading those.
There were a few things that I found a little distracting tho, mainly the way the story goes into a lot of different ideas and horror concepts from the main premise of the mass hallucinations, to the aliens and the clown story,  just for all of it, to not really be linked to the microchip thing as far as I can tell. I also think that the theory of the microchips came a little bit out of nowhere as well.

I only did one ending though so I might not have the full picture here. But anyway, this was a good read and I definitely enjoyed my time with it.

Phenomenal work, everything from the pixel art to the sound design to the character and story writing is absolutely outstanding. The flavor dialogue really made me love the characters and I'm obsessed with the main duo's dynamic (was that an AI Somnium Files nod?). I can't believe this was done in Ren'py! This was a really cozy read and such a pleasure to play, great work!!

This game has probably been my favorite of all the entries so far! The design, the pacing, the music cues, the development of the story and the alternate routs, man this is a really good game, I even loved the fact you can unlock the codex at the end, giving you some extra rewards of information. 

I also loved the use of minimal art, it reminds me so much of old nintendo games, I realized as well as "kastelpls" The Portopia Serial Murder Case! reference! Hahaha I was grinning from ear to ear. 

I enjoyed all those small hints at retro tech, it was a very nostalgic experience. I think I ended up learning a lot from playing your game, I felt the same thing as Kastelpls, I would love to see more of this! 

Overall a great experience in all areas, was very satisfied with it! 

Very cool. The interface reminds me of earthbound.

Okay, so the UI made me think, "Hmm, I wonder if this developer is into old Japanese adventure games. They seem to understand why the system worked so well." I didn't look at the page, so when I saw the word "Protopia Island" appear on the screen, I let out screams of joy.

I really, really dig the art style. Minimalist, just lines. It's a new take on the Famicom detective mystery game look and I was impressed this was done through Ren'Py.

And I'm also a fan of what this game is doing when it comes to the intrigue and mystery, but I'd like to see the game develop into something more elaborate. The characters are interesting and I'm personally interested in the "clown" that the islander saw. There's a lot of potential in the game. If anything, my complaint is that it's too short. I wanted to know more.

I enjoyed this game a lot for how unique it is. I hope it does well in the jam!